Recently, I finished reading Cal Newport’s Bestseller “Deep Work” and I have been obsessing over it since. I wanted to know if this would be applicable to my life and began wondering how best to put it into practice. I work as a UX Designer and at my workplace, we work in teams and often our tasks depend on each other due to the collaborative nature of the work. Can you really work deeply as a designer? How to get your work done in less than half the time estimated?
Cal Newport coined the term ‘Deep Work’ and defined it as “the ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks.”
I’ve always worked in focused stretches during which I won’t be distracted unless someone/something physically disturbs me. I had assumed it was only limited to people interrupting my work, but as it turns out, the tiny notification beep also started to get in the way. So, could I create quality work when there was a notification from a co-worker staring right at me?
Working in a fast-paced, Internet-connected, constantly pinging environment is a hard place to get into Deep Work. I had to figure out workarounds especially when my work demanded that I reply to DMs within 30 minutes of receipt. I tweaked my existing routine a bit and the results were astounding:
- If I estimated a task would amount to X no. of hours, I more often than not, got work done in less than half the estimated time.
- I didn’t need breaks except for when my body demanded a stretch
- The quality and speed of my work increased significantly
- I could now, therefore, spend more time on things that mattered to me
How did I do this?
- Have a dedicated workspace and try not to do anything apart from work here.
- Set up your calendar first thing before you start your workday. As Cal says in his book, “Schedule every minute of your workday”
- When a task is scheduled to start, close all other tabs and turn off notifications. If keeping the Slack/Chat window gives you a flashing notification, TURN THAT OFF.
- Put on headphones and play your favorite playlist on repeat. Or set a queue for the Deep Work duration before you begin so you don’t unnecessarily pick your phone up to change the song. Note: The likelihood of that happening is very low since you will be so focused on the task at hand that you won’t notice which song is playing.
- Get started on work.
- Set an alarm at a 30 or 45-minute mark to take a quick break to reply to any high-priority message. That is all. Close the chat window after replies are sent.
- Once the task you set out to finish has been completed, you can then do whatever suits your liking.
I have begun experiencing the effects of Deep Work and it is simply mind-blowing. I believe it’ll be my approach towards any task that needs knowledge work hereon.
