“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.”
Cal Newport – Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Ladies, do you realize the value of deep work and deep concentration and how they contribute to your success. I hope you do!

Yesterday, I had some important tasks to get out of the way. But since I was distracted with a lot of other pending tasks and certain personal issues, I ended up dragging the tasks on.

Having the kid home and going through a meltdown added to my inertia. Morning turned to evening. The tasks were still pending, the unfinished documents and 15 opened tabs on my computer, were wagging their tongues out to me. I was quite annoyed and disappointed in myself.
Then I remembered that just two days earlier, I was grappling with yet another deadline. But since I had intentionally woken up an hour earlier, when there is relatively more mental agility and clarity, personal space and lesser interruptions, I was able to get the urgent tasks out of the way quite easily. In fact, I was still left with time to go for a walk in the evening as a personal reward. This made me realize the value of doing deeper work versus doing shallow work.

Worth Listening to! The Productivity Dragon | Deep Questions With Cal Newport

1. Quality Differs

The quality of work is different. When I am doing shallow work in a distracted manner, quality suffers. Consequently, I have to do lots of edits and corrections later.

2. More Work Doesn’t Mean Worthwhile Progress

You are working in both cases, but the results and outcomes vary. For instance, when I do tasks superficially, I may end up cramming more tasks in my To-Do lists. There are times, I do end up doing more in terms of quantity, but they are superficial gains. For instance, I would put up lots of social media posts, but I wouldn’t be able to write new articles or listen to a productivity podcast, even read a good article (Because when the attention span is lesser, it’s harder to do solid stuff but easier to create social media posts).

At the end of the day, I am tired, but feel accomplished. I end up wondering: I was busy all day long! I did do a lot but didn’t feel accomplished! I am not sure they were even worth the time.

Also Check Out: How the busiest people get ‘deep work’ done

3. Getting More Done in Less Time

One productivity gain from deeper work is improvement in concentration and speed. This means that since you are solely focused on a single task, you are able to finish it much earlier.

4. Social Media Distracts & Lower Productivity

Despite the importance of social media engagement, one must admit that our ever-on-the buzz social media feeds create distraction and inertia. There are times when I switch off the WiFi, put my phone out of my reach, and set a time blocking app to ensure that I am able to work without distractions.

5. Multitasking Doesn’t Help

The desire to be fast and the urgency of things tempt us to cramp a lot of stuff in our To-Do list, making it unrealistic. Therefore, when I am doing deeper work, despite the temptation, I try to focus on one task and one alone. Moreover, it is perfectly OK if your To-Do list has only 3 tasks requiring deep work as opposed to 10 tasks that are unimportant, requiring shallow work.

6. Recognize Your Most Productive Hour

The time of the day when we undertake work is important. Our energy and proficiency varies throughout the day. If I have slept well the prior night, I would be able to get up early and start my work with the freshest of mindset. But if for some reason, I had a rough night, waking up early and starting work is counterproductive. I then try to get more rest, take superficial tasks out of the way and then approach the one requiring work (by mid afternoon usually) in a less distracted and more focused mode.  

7. Go Off the Grid

There are days when everyone needs a piece of me: my child, partner,  friends, mom, relatives, work acquaintances. Flattering as it is, sometimes, I do need to prioritize my personal life and goals above everything else. Thus, I no longer feel guilty about  putting my phone on silent, closing my door when I am working, delay responding to a WhatsApp messages till my work is done. Social media apps do create a faux sense of urgency and the subsequent need to connect, which can be detrimental to your productivity.

Rotate between Shallow Work and Deep Work

Don’t get me wrong! Shallow work is not bad. There are tasks that require shallow work: doing urgent and important housework like clearing away the table, putting clothes away in the hamper, going through an email superficially and formulating a decent response, sorting newspapers away for recycling. Imagine trying to dedicate your deeper cognitive energy to each of these tasks and losing your entire day to them, as a result!
In fact, there are even times when doing shallow work helps us get a lot done, while still retaining our energy for deep work later.

There are days when I am not feeling up to the mark and choose to take up tasks superficially, so as to not overtax my already depleted energy.

Then there are days when I choose to start my day by getting a task requiring the deep work and then tackle away all the superficial tasks in the later part of the day when my energies are down.

Conclusion

The work life balance swings between deep and superficial work. There are things that require deeper attention and those that require superficial attention to get the task completed ASAP and out of the way. What we choose to do when and how we do it determines how successful we are. Ultimately, the deep work we do helps us create an enriched life, having deeper values and meaning.