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The article is right: Deep work hates interruptions (including everything synchronous) However, the kind of rigid scheduling it proposes goes against the freed

The article is right: Deep work hates interruptions (including everything synchronous) However, the kind of rigid scheduling it proposes goes against the freedom deep work loves. It is not the lazy/mindless kind of freedom I’m referring to, but the freedom from over-quantified environments : IMO it is counterproductive to aim at always rigidly controlling that "in the zone" experience.

Arcanum-XIII 4y ago
Lot of people doing deep work do it on a schedule - and a very hard one at that. It’s based on the creation of habit, instead of relying on luck to be in the zone. The most important thing after all is to show up!
- LunarAurora 4y ago
  > Lot of people doing deep work do it on a schedule - and a very hard one at that Indeed, and I was not talking about zero/low-schedule, but the minimum necessary. That is, no micro-self-management beyond that. > based on the creation of habit, instead of relying on luck to be in the zone I also agree. That is why I said not the lazy freedom. Habit is important, but a habit-mindset is not always the most creative/productive. Also, habit has that automaticity that can prevent the kind of useful essentialism mentionned in the article. So, it is a balancing act. schedule/habit are only half the story.
r_hoods_ghost 4y ago
For me it isn't about maintaining my own schedule it is about managing the expectations of others, be they managers or colleagues. I have "office hours" on my calendar where people can book in with me and then the last couple of hours of my day people know I'm interruptible. Outside of those hours I don't check email, don't have any chat open and my phone goes straight to voicemail with a message to call me again if it is an emergency, which will make it ring. I start work very early (05:30-06:00) and am most productive in the mornings, so my office hours and interruptible time is when I'm starting to wind down and my capacity for deep work is reducing.

Arcanum-XIII 4y ago

Lot of people doing deep work do it on a schedule - and a very hard one at that. It’s based on the creation of habit, instead of relying on luck to be in the zone. The most important thing after all is to show up!

LunarAurora 4y ago
> Lot of people doing deep work do it on a schedule - and a very hard one at that Indeed, and I was not talking about zero/low-schedule, but the minimum necessary. That is, no micro-self-management beyond that. > based on the creation of habit, instead of relying on luck to be in the zone I also agree. That is why I said not the lazy freedom. Habit is important, but a habit-mindset is not always the most creative/productive. Also, habit has that automaticity that can prevent the kind of useful essentialism mentionned in the article. So, it is a balancing act. schedule/habit are only half the story.

r_hoods_ghost 4y ago

For me it isn't about maintaining my own schedule it is about managing the expectations of others, be they managers or colleagues. I have "office hours" on my calendar where people can book in with me and then the last couple of hours of my day people know I'm interruptible. Outside of those hours I don't check email, don't have any chat open and my phone goes straight to voicemail with a message to call me again if it is an emergency, which will make it ring. I start work very early (05:30-06:00) and am most productive in the mornings, so my office hours and interruptible time is when I'm starting to wind down and my capacity for deep work is reducing.