The Magic of Deep Work
November 12th, 2020
I had an interesting experience recently. My friend described it as being “struck by my muse”, which I guess in this case was the MCU.
On Monday evening, I couldn’t get this idea out of my head. It was an idea for a video about the connection between magic, science, the mind, technology, artificial intelligence, spirituality, cosmology, and consciousness.
There’s a lot that’s gone into my inspiration around these seemingly different topics: classes I took in college, books I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to, videos I’ve watched, and experiences I’ve had.
It still seems like there’s so much we fundamentally don’t understand about the Universe, even qualitatively. Our models of reality seem to go through phases of slow, incremental change and improvement, and then phases of paradigm shift and upheaval. And my gut tells me we’re overdue for a shake-up.
The video used different clips from different movies throughout the MCU. I chose different ones to splice together based on their dialog and the stunning visuals. I was partially inspired too by some amazing supercuts that I had seen recently.
I didn’t really think about how long or complex this project would be, I just kind of let it flow and I just worked.
So the hours passed, and what I had started on Monday night was done by Tuesday evening.
I posted it in various places and got a good amount of positive feedback from my friends. It was just a pure exercise in creativity. I did it because I wanted to and because I could. I created a 3-and-a-half minute aesthetic experience for the world.
When reflecting on that focused time, I learned a lot about myself and my creative process.
First, it can be very taxing to go into those modes. During that time I skipped meals and workouts and I didn’t get as much sleep as I needed. This impacted my mood and energy levels and that had ramifications on my other responsibilities and self-care. The bottom line is that level of work isn’t very sustainable for long periods.
Second, it highlighted the importance of having strong support structures in place for that kind of work. I was able to focus on that one project because I was in a good headspace going into it, I didn’t drink the prior weekend, I had been working out a lot so physically I was feeling healthy, I had a good workspace setup, I didn’t have other responsibilities in the evenings, etc. Maintaining a balance of all those things takes time, effort, and preparation, which cuts into time that could be spent on deep work.
Third, finishing projects is always an educational experience. It’s a rush to put something out there in the world and to share it with others. It’s also interesting to rewatch my own stuff and reflect on what I thought was good, and what I could do better next time. Cuts I could have made differently, the narrative flows that I would have changed, shots I might have swapped in or out.
I also typically learn more about a specific piece of technology or skill by working on new projects. Which in itself is tricky, because the best way I think of learning is by doing and getting the first-hand experience. But on the other hand, it’s easy to hit roadblocks, fall into anti-patterns and also not push me further. It’s easy to get complacent with a certain style and then just plateau. This is the importance of mentors and continued learning through tutorials and courses. There are still so many things about project organization, cameras, lenses, file types, lighting, audio, scripting, and color-grading that I want to learn about. But I think at this point I’ve committed to the journey.
And finally, I always learn a lot about myself at the end of these projects. What kind of stuff do I focus on? What feedback do I value? What feelings do I have at the end of things? Who do I choose to share these projects with? and sometimes almost spiritual
It’s a tricky balance trying to make the decision of when a project is done. On the one hand, time is limited and the more time spent on a single project, the less time can get spent on different projects. But on the other hand, I tend to regret rushing trying to get to the finish line because there are cuts or things that I think I could have done better. Now, do I think other people typically notice or would even be able to give that kind of creative feedback? No, and that helps take the pressure off a bit. But I do value excellence, and I always see ways that I could have done better.
I’m in a weird spot too where I tend to feel an urgency to finish projects and get them out of the way because I feel like there is so much stuff I want to get to. But I’m also learning the value of patience, and taking my time to go deep into something so I can make it really good. It’s also kind of an attitude, where I approach things with a certain lightness and flow, where I can focus on what’s in front of me and just do it in a calm focused, but intentional way, rather than in a frantic flustered way.
All in all, I’m really happy with how things have been going lately. I’ve been deprioritizing things that aren’t as important to me and focusing on things that are.
I’ve also been trying to build out “tree trunks” to support different projects I want to work on. This was a thought I had the other day, combining what Elon Musk said about building a knowledge tree, and the analogy of filling a jar with golfballs first.
These tree trunks have been running the Tomorrow People meetups every Wednesday. We just finished our 5th one, and are slowly growing the number of people on the invite list.
Peter did our first podcast together and have the whole setup down. Now it’s just a matter of doing it with more consistency:
I also set up a Patreon account for myself:
And I have a good workflow set up for backing up my raw content to Google Photos (which will now be my primary way of viewing and sharing that kind of content over Mac Photos).
I’m also exploring setups for managing teams on Google, Slack, Airtable, and Facebook because at a certain point there will be enough moving pieces to The Tomorrow People that I’ll have to start delegating and automating more.
It just helps massively to have these larger systems in place that can help structure and contextualize complex efforts. Which is what the Tomorrow People is. I’m trying to bring together a group of remarkable minds to work on some of the toughest problems humanity faces. Having the right frameworks and structure in place is going to the key to whether or not we are successful as an organization.
I won’t go too deep down that rabbit hole, but I will say that just working on this stuff has been a tremendous learning experience for myself of what I’m capable of and what I’m actually passionate about.
And I’m looking forward to sharing those experiences here and elsewhere because they really are the closest to magic that I know of:
