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Giving up These 6 Things Can Get You Closer to Doing Deep Work
The more preparation you have to do to start work, the less deep work you will do.
Deep work is the holy grail of productivity.
NakedPoppy CEO Jaleh Bisharat describes deep work perfectly.
You know that feeling of being in flow where your mind is alert, you’re deeply focused on a difficult problem, when time stands still and work stops feeling like work? That productive state where every move you make is purposeful? That’s “deep work.”
Writing is my difficult problem. It takes everything I’ve got. When I write, time stands still. Writing isn’t work to me; writing is a must. Writing is how I escape the problems of the world and attempt to enter the reader’s world. Perhaps you can relate.
Deep work gives you a lot more meaning than shallow, busy work. You feel elated when you complete a session of deep work. Cal Newport popularized deep work. He called it an economic advantage and a way to “manage your attention.” When your attention is darting all over the place you can’t effectively do deep work. So you accidentally do shallow work.
I wrote a story a few years ago called The Power of Only Doing One Thing. This was my first taste of deep work, although I had…
