The Pursuit of Deep, Productive Work
Inefficiencies in today’s work culture
Introduction
We live in an interesting time for knowledge work. We currently have the most knowledge, best tools and latest technological advancements at our disposal. As a result — productivity as a whole has increased in the past years and is continuing to increase.
Yet, do you truly feel productive? Do you always feel like you’ve accomplished something meaningful at the end of your workday?
It is likely that the answer to those questions is not a resounding “yes”, at least not consistently.
Why is it that we cannot consistently have productive sessions? With all that we have in our disposal, we should be able to achieve more, no?
I argue that the big barrier to this is a lack of focus — or in other words, distraction.
For various reasons, our mind is under a constant barrage of distractions.
Nowadays it is considered standard to work in large, noisy open-plan offices resembling warehouses. It is considered standard to be constantly “on” — engaging in instant messaging that interrupts you throughout your whole day. This results in a day ran through a frenetic haze, jumping from one mindless task that just popped up to another…
