How to do Deep Work
My Favorite Brain-Training Exercise/Productivity Enhancement
As I wrote about previously, Cal Newport completely convinced me to implement ‘deep work sessions’ into my schedule. Now that I’ve been experimenting for a few months, I’d like to share some findings and recommendations.
~90 minutes is the sweet spot
Just as they say an hour and a half is the time it takes for a full sleep cycle, I’ve found it’s the ideal amount of time for a deep work session. I split this time into three chunks of roughly 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break time. Timing myself is key, otherwise I either spend too long and am not at my most productive or I give up mid-way through.
Enlist help to prevent distractions
To time my sessions, I use an app called Forest. In addition to being a timer, it doesn’t let you use your phone for whatever time period you set. Of course, I can still use my computer for distractions — but the inspirational messages help as well. Then you can tag the timed period with whatever you worked on and set a timer for a break, in which you can use your phone.
Warm up
I got this tip from a friend who is a writer. It takes some time for your brain to get in the mindset of whatever you’re working on. She starts with a ‘Soundcheck’ of putting whatever comes to mind about the topic onto paper (I use OneNote) — total freeflow. Spend a full 25 minute chunk on this if you need it. Then use the next two chunks to organize your thoughts into a coherent whole.
Reward yourself
When trying to build any habit, consciously rewarding yourself is a massive brain hack — it shortcuts the otherwise slow process of your frontal lobe connecting the arduous 90 minutes you just went through to nebulous improvements in your career. Instead, your monkey brain can link the deep work session with easily understood (and immediate) joy, and you’ll be more likely to do it again the next week.
For example, you can lie down in bed for a few minutes and think about what a great job you did. Or, my favorite way to reward myself is to take some activity I normally do but feel negative about, such as wasting time on social media or eating junk, and turn it into an earned reward. This has a two-fold benefit of encouraging the good behavior and enabling you to actually enjoy the bad but pleasurable behavior. Eventually, your brain starts to understand why the good behavior is good in itself and you won’t be beholden to the reward. And just like that, you’ve trained your brain.
