Thinking about Deep Thinking

Covid-19 has thrown us into different routines, spaces and modes of communicating, both in our professional and private lives. Finding the time and resolve to enter ‘deep work’ — focused, intentional, distraction-free thought that stretches the mind has become as hard as finding bread yeast during lockdown. But this isn’t a new phenomenon. Prioritising deep thinking over other modes of cognition has always been hard. With attention spans narrowing due to the vast amount of information available, instead of dedicating time and space for deep-thinking we revert to checking the news, emails, creating lists and scheduling meetings after meetings. We feel ‘busy’, but are we contributing to long-term personal or business growth?

The concept of ‘deep work’ was first devised by Cal Newport, who suggests that in order to make a difference with your work, you need to engage in professional activity that is “performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit, creates new value and improves your skill”. It’s rare that this activity will consume all of your time, but if you’re not intentional, hours, days and weeks will gravitate towards activities called ‘shallow work’: “Non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted, and are easy to replicate”. For example, shallow work is filling out a weekly report but thinking about how the reporting structure can better serve the end user is deep work.

Deep work is one that’s championed by leaders around the world, the most notable and vocal being Bill Gates. Gates spends seven days a year at his hideaway cottage to partake in a process called ‘Think Week’. Whilst we may not have the luxury of a secret two-story cabin and a full week to dedicate to the activity, we can build micro-moments into our day that indulge more ‘deep’ and less ‘shallow’ work. This type of work can be anything from dedicating hours to experimentation and big picture thinking, to building time into programmes to stop, reflect and think about the challenges at hand.

This isn’t to say that ‘shallow work’ doesn’t serve an important and valuable role in specific situations. With a global recession on the horizon, budgets under pressure and an anxious workforce, ‘shallow work’ serves a dual purpose:

1) Ticking off tactical tasks increases our feeling of control

2) Delivering immediate business impact is vital during crisis management to help focus on safety and business continuity

But what often happens in times like these, is that ‘deep work’ is set aside for when the storm blows over. In reality, in moments of crisis as a leader you need to promote both ways of thinking.

To make ‘deep work’ truly work, four components need to be considered: Rhythm, Space, People, and Purpose. These need to be championed by employees at every level.

Rhythm

Finding the right rhythm for deep work — or finding a routine that’s implementable longer than a day — is key. One strategy is dividing work into ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ activities and dedicating at least one hour each day to an unknown task.

Similar to ‘shallow’ work, ‘known’ activities are repetitive tasks with familiar steps. You know what you need to do, you just need to do it. For this reason, it’s ‘unknown’ tasks that lend themselves to ‘deep work’. With these tasks, you know they’re worth exploring, but you need to dedicate uninterrupted time to thinking through the how and the why.

This process of dividing ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ activities is not dissimilar to the way we create structured innovation portfolios and an evaluation framework to prioritise ideas: is the idea an immediate change to be implemented now, or is it a business opportunity to be explored in the longer term?

Space

Finding the right space for deep work is one of the biggest challenges. One solution is finding a physical environment different from your everyday work setting, or finding a tangible signifier that you’re entering deep work — such as noise cancelling headphones.

However, space doesn’t just mean geographical space; it can mean personal space too. Virtual meetings mean we now spend more time ‘always on’. The temptation to fill awkward silences, multitask (ticking off your checklist with other work whilst you appear present on the call), flick between tabs, and draw on existing material from your desktop, has become commonplace. Hardly any of these would be possible, or accepted, in a physical setting. The question here is: how can you create the right online space that minimises distractions?

Setting clear boundaries upfront for what you expect from the session — cameras on, tabs closed, active listening skills at the ready — can go a long way in mitigating some of these challenges.

People

A myth surrounding deep work, and one often attributed to innovation, is that it has to be a lone activity driven by charismatic geniuses. Leave someone alone with their thoughts and they’ll produce something magic. That might work for Bill Gates, but deep work doesn’t have to be at odds with collaboration. As Newport writes: ‘they feed into one another beautifully: time spent learning from others can be explored in more depth once we’re alone in deep work mode.’ The difficulty comes when you try to combine the two simultaneously. Having run design sprints over the last couple of months, this is one of the main barriers virtual technology presents us with. The time to reflect and ruminate on a challenge individually is often hindered by the feeling of being watched. Similarly, collaboration tools don’t always encourage the right behaviours, creating an addiction to push notifications and the fear that we’ll look like we’re slacking if we don’t respond immediately.

The most effective sessions happen when there is purposeful time built to collaborate on a problem, the space to work solo on the challenge (minimum 45 minutes) and the permission to let your mind wander (sometimes tangentially from the set objective). Often it’s these deviations that provide the most fruitful results.

Purpose

Finally, before entering deep work, ask yourself: how will I measure success? The objective can change depending on activity, space and time. Create a goal and ignore other activities that don’t help you achieve this.

This can be as small as setting desired behaviours (‘I want to maintain focus without checking social media’) or desired outcomes (‘I want to explore what phase 1 could look like’). Setting self-imposed time limits can also be effective in injecting urgency and reducing the need for distraction.

So, for those questioning whether they’re engaging in deep work or shallow work, ask yourself: ‘Am I stretching my brain and shifting the needle, or am I keeping myself busy? Whilst this activity may come more naturally to some than others, it is a mental muscle we all need to exercise. Much like meditation, you need to practice how to focus, and give yourself the permission, space and freedom to build deep work micro moments into your working week. Whilst the recent shifts in working patterns have made this harder, it’s crucial to think about what you want to have achieved when we emerge from this crisis. And if you’re stuck on how to answer these questions, then set aside time for deep work and get going. Starting is the hardest part. Trust me, I’ve had this waiting in draft for weeks.