Deep Work
For a while now I've suspected that I have a problem when it comes to work. I have shared about this before, but this post looks at the issue from a different perspective.
For years I've been writing and using online sites like Pandora for musical companionship, and Thesaurus.com, Google, and Wikipedia for research, which I leave open on my desktop so I can go back and forth quickly. Facebook also stays open so I can get notifications from readers and my author friends. I looove social networks, but it didn't take me long to realize that leaving FB open made me susceptible to the temptation of scrolling through my very busy timeline (3,500+ friends), responding to comments and addressing questions that often aren't even directed to me personally.
And it was getting worse. It had gotten so bad that I realized some days I would spend 50% of my precious writing time on my social networks responding to notifications. As I've said before, I have the attention span of a gnat, so it doesn't take much to yank me out of creative mode. Also, I am a slow writer who needs every precious second in which to get my work done. As it is, I have only been able to complete to full-length novels per year, and I'd love to write more.
One day last week, I read a blog post by an author who found herself in a similar situation. As a result, she ran across a book that turned her writing life around. The book is entitled, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
The Amazon description says "In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four 'rules,' for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill... DEEP WORK is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world."
I got the audiobook and a PDF so that I can keep reading no matter what I'm doing. The book is fascinating so far, and it sheds light on what's happening to our ability to concentrate on our work since the advent of e-mail, instant messaging, and social networks. What I like about it so far is that the author lays out his premise at the beginning and spends the rest of the book instructing on how we can reclaim our focus and concentration in spite of all of the distractions. The book isn't just for creatives, In fact, the deep work idea actually became popular with computer programmers, and it's beneficial for everyone who works on a computer most of the day.
Newport gives detailed accounts of well-known individuals who learned how to shut out the distractions and maintain a specific period of time in which they perform "deep work." It might be only four hours a day, but it is directed, concentrated effort on that task alone. That means no Internet, no phone, nothing that will take you out of your zone.
If I can master this technique, maybe this will no longer be me...
I'll let you know how it goes.
For years I've been writing and using online sites like Pandora for musical companionship, and Thesaurus.com, Google, and Wikipedia for research, which I leave open on my desktop so I can go back and forth quickly. Facebook also stays open so I can get notifications from readers and my author friends. I looove social networks, but it didn't take me long to realize that leaving FB open made me susceptible to the temptation of scrolling through my very busy timeline (3,500+ friends), responding to comments and addressing questions that often aren't even directed to me personally.
And it was getting worse. It had gotten so bad that I realized some days I would spend 50% of my precious writing time on my social networks responding to notifications. As I've said before, I have the attention span of a gnat, so it doesn't take much to yank me out of creative mode. Also, I am a slow writer who needs every precious second in which to get my work done. As it is, I have only been able to complete to full-length novels per year, and I'd love to write more.
One day last week, I read a blog post by an author who found herself in a similar situation. As a result, she ran across a book that turned her writing life around. The book is entitled, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
The Amazon description says "In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four 'rules,' for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill... DEEP WORK is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world."
I got the audiobook and a PDF so that I can keep reading no matter what I'm doing. The book is fascinating so far, and it sheds light on what's happening to our ability to concentrate on our work since the advent of e-mail, instant messaging, and social networks. What I like about it so far is that the author lays out his premise at the beginning and spends the rest of the book instructing on how we can reclaim our focus and concentration in spite of all of the distractions. The book isn't just for creatives, In fact, the deep work idea actually became popular with computer programmers, and it's beneficial for everyone who works on a computer most of the day.
Newport gives detailed accounts of well-known individuals who learned how to shut out the distractions and maintain a specific period of time in which they perform "deep work." It might be only four hours a day, but it is directed, concentrated effort on that task alone. That means no Internet, no phone, nothing that will take you out of your zone.
If I can master this technique, maybe this will no longer be me...
I'll let you know how it goes.
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