Work More by Doing Less

I’ve long been a believer in long work days. I work all the time really. After all, startups generally happen to the exclusion of everything else, right?

That’s just how I’ve always done it. I spend my 14 hour days sitting at a desk concentrating on work. Not necessarily working, but thinking about it.

I work on big software development tasks, branding and marketing. Some sales here and there. Oh, and a ton of email and IM.

It’s all basically valuable. You’d call it work at least.

The problem with constant connection

The problem is, I check my email literally every 5 minutes. And my Twitter notifications. And Facebook. Medium. Sometimes Macrumors (I’m a sucker for a new iPhone).

Altogether they probably contribute to an hour or two of my work day. Maybe slightly more some days. That’s not a huge problem.

What is a huge problem, is that every time I check a notification, or dive into my inbox, I’m forced to switch tasks. I’m distracted.

Even this Medium post is a result of getting distracted from my cup of coffee. During it, I’ll probably get distracted by something else.

The hidden cost of task switching

There’s this hidden cost in task-switching. Even if it’s just for a moment. Even if you dive back into what you were doing originally. You’ve still lost focus.

You can’t do your best work when you’re not focused

Switching between tasks takes a huge toll on your workday. One that can’t easily be accounted for by time alone. There’s just no way to measure the effects.

Environment can promote distraction

The trend towards open offices and coworking is exacerbating this too. It’s creating a distraction-filled environment.

Your Slack channel lets everyone know everything that’s going on at the expense of nobody really doing anything. Your water-cooler moments are taking your attention away from your servers being literally on fire. 🔥

When someone bursts into your office, or when a phone rings, your concentration’s screwed.

Some tasks just need deeper concentration than an open office can give. Especially creative tasks.

Writing. Designing. Anything you need to really dig into. Deep work as Cal Newport would put it.

Design your life to do better work

For me, I find writing super simple when I’m sitting in a room on my own at 4am. Before the world wakes up. Before the emails start pouring in, the cars start driving round, and the people start moving.

Those days I can easily write a 1000 word blog post in 25 minutes.

But as soon as someone bursts through the door to ask how I am, that’s it. I’m done. Those last few words take an eternity.

It’s really hard to get away from notifications these days, but there’s still some things you can do.

• Wake up early
  There’s a reason successful people tend to wake up before dawn. It’s quiet, there’s fewer distractions, and it’s easy to get into a flow state doing deep work.
• Go to bed late
  If early’s really not your thing, try going late. You can cram in a few hours after the kids go to bed, and finish your day on a high.
• Schedule time for deep work
  Make time in your schedule and force yourself into working deeper. If you put aside the time, you’ll be more likely to stick to it.
• Turn off your notifications
  Notifications kinda suck when you’re trying to concentrate. Your coworkers can cope without you for an hour. You can contribute more by doing your best work than you can with a super fast email response.
• Be ruthless about your schedule
  Say no to that coffee meeting. Ask if you really need to be at that standup. Don’t join that committee. Do whatever it takes to make time for the work that really matters to you
• Take a workation
  If all else fails, try to get away from it all. Take some time away from your usual environment to do a few days of deep work. Leave your phone off. See how much work you get done disconnected.

There’s always a way to make work, well, work. If you find what’s best for you, you’ll be able to make a more meaningful difference to your project, startup, or team.

I’m not saying to cut your hours. I’m still not buying into that idea. But cut the quantity of tasks. You’re still going to email, just do it separately to your deep work. Give yourself a chance to shine.

Then you’ll be able to do more by doing less.