Distractions, Dopamine, & Deep Work:

Protecting what matters most in a distracted, noisy, option-filled world.

Foreword

About five years ago, I began researching systems of work, the impact of distraction, and the modern notification-centered workplace (and world!). Nerdy, I know, but I was beyond exasperated. Some days, I'd be in tears due to my inability to focus on one thing long enough to complete the task. It wasn't that I didn't work hard or was lazy. I kept losing sight of what mattered in the ever-changing stream of information in front of me.

I'm not outwardly hyper, but I have all the tell-tale symptoms of ADHD. Since I was young, I'd set out on a task and forget what I was doing ten seconds later. That happens to all of us, but it happened to me a lot and carried on into adulthood. Maybe you can relate. There's more to ADHD than forgetting a task, but this isn't about me or ADHD.

My purpose in mentioning ADHD is to be honest from the start. I'm not here to tout my success or position myself as a guru. I've grown greatly by using various systems and forcing myself to operate within them. I know a lot about this topic, but it's because I've required much help. But let's be clear: I'm not "cured." I'm still me, and it's because I'm still me that these systems matter. Without the right approach, I'll be off on some tangent, doing who-knows-what because it seemed important (or interesting) at the time.

You're likely less distractable than I am. My goal isn't to pit your distraction against mine but to share years of research from experts who helped me. I strongly encourage you to read the referenced books, articles, and resources.

This is a manifesto of sorts—perhaps even a dirge to the current status of work. The following content started its life as a pitch and a business brief, not a blog post or article. So, if it reads with a bit of company-wide, missional flare, that was its original intent. If this benefits you or your team, I'd love to hear from you!

Here's to focusing on what matters,

Paul Tucker

Values & Beliefs

Values instruct our behavior, so starting with several values that govern the following content seems necessary.

• Deep work is a byproduct of reaching a state of flow around a specific area of focus, allowing work to operate with linearity and intentionality. Deep work describes how you approach your work, not the type of work you do.?
• Our best work is determined by its long-term value. Valuable work takes time and uninterrupted, focused effort. As such, deep work must be protected, while unnecessary interruptions, announcement meetings, and context-switching must be vilified.?
• Most tools and systems wrongly reward presence over productivity; prioritizing seeing you working online (presence) rather than seeing your work output (productivity).?
• Without concerted determination, our time and focus are splintered into less valuable tasks. Reviewed months later, these splintered efforts fail to significantly contribute to our objectives or provide any meaningful fulfillment in our personal drive for achievement.??

“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”?

― Greg Mckeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Objectives

• Primary: Create a culture that values and protects uninterrupted, focused, deep work, prioritizing productivity over presence and results over busyness.??
• Secondary: Eliminate meetings, notifications, and behaviors that do not result in tangible results, decisions, or value to everyone involved.?

Problem Statements

Problem statements are simple nuggets of truth that explain the roadblocks we'll face in reaching our objectives (see above). In other words, the following list explains what we're up against. Brace yourselves!

• We crave distraction because our brains love dopamine, the little hit of “feel good” that rewards us after positive social interactions. Our harmful habit of indulging in distractions is often reinforced with a momentary, positive feeling (dopamine), making these habits much harder to reshape (see References #1 and #2 for additional data).

“Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”?

— Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

• The fundamental human longing to provide value is easily distorted in the work environment by a subconscious fear of becoming invisible. The subtle lie that “visibility equals value” leads many to align their behaviors around presence and availability rather than productivity and results.?
• Many meetings result in no changes, action items, or decisions—essentially a monologue or string of announcements. Many recurring meetings often hold little to no value to the attendees, amounting to an “effort at visibility” that only interrupts productivity and value. Significant time is lost (meeting duration x the # of attendees) sharing information that held no actionable value to the attendees or could have been simplified into a list of bullets or a Loom video.
• Undiscerning Slack usage and poorly planned meetings allow for a self-focused culture: “I need what I need, and this is the easiest and fastest way for me to get it.” Dopamine cravings, FOMO, and learned reward pathways often play an unconscious role here, too. All factors lead to less valuable, less rewarding work.?

“The source of our lack of fulfillment is not just that the best of our intentions often get knocked away from us. The deeper reason is that we feel unfulfilled when there is a gap between what is most important to us (the realm of personal leadership) and what we are actually doing with our time (the realm of personal management).”?

— Matt Perman, What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

• Slack and meetings can become a path of least resistance and consensus-seeking that reduces personal growth: “It’s easier for me to ask the question here, rather than putting in the work to understand the context, exercise my thinking, and make an informed decision—or pose a well-considered question.” See Reference #4.?

Myths & Legends

Few people object to the value of deep work. So why don’t we see these ideals and principles more widely adopted? I believe we've adopted myths as truth and, as a result, approach our work with less clarity than it deserves.

But before talking about one of the myths, remember, as mentioned in one of our early problem statements, that our brains actually enjoy distraction. If we’re not brutally intentional, we rationalize the long-term adverse effects of our distraction to get the short-term brain candy we love, namely, dopamine.?

One of the most common myths is simply, “My role or task isn’t suited to deep work.” Perhaps because of the constant switching between tasks or other duties, many assume their role isn’t suitable for deep work. Why is that? I believe it's because we've bought into the myth of “multitasking.” If we buy into the multitasking myth, we stop defending ourselves against distractions and instead add any new distraction onto our "multitasking stack." This is a classic example of how our tasks or work can assume the driver's seat and choose our working method.

The great danger of any myth is that we genuinely believe it. That danger certainly rings true here. There’s some part of us that wants to believe that we can do five things at once. But that's a myth. In reality, we’re doing five things ineffectively—switching our focus between them at random. It's true that some people are better at task-switching (my wife!), but as the excellent Forbes article reminded us, “There’s No Such Thing as Multitasking.” This short read illustrates the long-term damage to our brains, mental health, and productivity that occurs by seeking to operate within the confines of the multitasking myth.

Put bluntly, our brains were created to single-task their way through the day. This means that we must structure our work around our method rather than build our methods around our work. That’s not to say that you should necessarily require yourself to work in multi-hour uninterrupted blocks of time like a book author, but rather to emphasize the importance of doing one thing at a time with unrelenting focus.

Terminology & Skeptics

I use the term “deep work” throughout this article, not because it is necessarily the most effective terminology but because it is the most familiar. When you hear “deep work,” you shouldn’t picture a type of work—but rather how you approach your work. The deep work methodology prizes single-tasking, minimized interruptions, and reaching a flow state. Every role benefits from this approach. “Deep work” is how you approach your work, not the type of work you do.?

Some might be skeptical of single-tasking through Slack or your email inbox without darting down various rabbit holes. The rabbit holes abound, no doubt, but we get to choose the paths we walk. You aren't the hijacked passenger of your own brain.

Want to know what I do when reviewing Slack or email? First, remember that you're doing one task: Zeroing out your Slack messages, for example. Don't task-switch until that task is completed! Next, set a timer for 25 minutes and begin reviewing your unread Slack messages. Read through all messages: If a message simply requires you to read it, do so and move on to the next. If the message requires something of you that will take less than 2 minutes, go ahead and complete that item—keep an eye on your timer—and move on to the next. Last, if the item requires more than a few minutes, write it down and appropriately prioritize it on your daily task list.?

This is one of countless approaches that will allow anyone to work in a single-tasking way that reduces anxiety, minimizes distractions, and fights context-switching. David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” and the Pomodoro Technique are popular methods, among many others. I've created a printable daily task list I use alongside a Pomodoro-esque technique. No matter what method you employ, you will need a method to get out of the bad habit of multitasking and work on single-tasking your way through the day.?Method first, then work!

Understanding Tools & Expectations

Reset expectations

I've yet to find a company that hired someone with “keep up with Slack” or “sit in meetings” listed in their job description. Managing noise isn’t your job, core responsibility, or how you'll get ahead in life. Yet, for many, keeping up with Slack and sitting in on low-value meetings accurately describes a significant portion of the day. That’s not to say that meetings and Slack are pointless and should be avoided entirely, but simply that they’re not—in and of themselves—the vital purpose for which you were hired.?

“…Slack is a particularly ‘scary offender’ in stopping people getting their work done because it encourages them to be constantly distracted. It's scary because messenger-based systems directly tap into how humans seek to reward themselves, and the long term result is unhealthy.”

— How Slack ruined work

Your job is to progress toward weekly, quarterly, and annual goals—not manage Slack and attend meetings. Your job description is, in a nutshell, to add value in the ways that best suit your strengths and areas of expertise. The most effective people eliminate whatever steals their time and attention away from what they’re best equipped to do.?

“The most unproductive thing of all is to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”?

— Matt Perman, What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

Slack isn’t the enemy, but rather how we use it. With constant interruptions, the angst of unread notifications, and the fear of appearing invisible, we slip into the belief that availability and visibility are our chief concerns. Slack offers instant messaging, and through it, we’ve unwittingly accepted a new world where we’re always available for interruption and distraction—and rewarded with dopamine! You don’t need Slack notifications. If there’s a big “fire,” your teammates can always use the telephone to reach you, you know, the old-fashioned way.?

Meetings are an excellent way to collaborate, brainstorm, and plan—and being remote, just talking with a coworker feels like “a meeting.” I have no hatred for meetings! Again, the problem isn’t the medium. The problem is how we use meetings. Meetings to share announcements or a monologue typically waste people’s time. Likewise, catch-all, “talk about everything” meetings quickly lose value. As a rule of thumb, no meeting stew: one meeting, one purpose, with only the people required.?

“Meetings are a symptom of bad organisation. The fewer meetings the better.”

— Peter Drucker

What’s Best Next?

We’re fortunate to be presented with an avalanche of possibilities and choices. The ability and opportunity to choose is a tremendous blessing and responsibility. Yet it’s a hoarder’s error to believe we can have it all and do it all. Keeping too many good things results in clutter, disorganization, and confusion—watch any popular hoarding-related TV show for proof.?We have to say no to good things!

There’s no way to do it all and have it all. We will have trade-offs, and some will be more painful than others. You must understand that the pain of saying no to a good thing is foundational to the ability to say yes to the best things. We can easily drown (as individuals or a company) in good opportunities, failing ever to achieve what’s best. “Death by opportunity” is a real thing, and for most, that death looks like constant mediocrity.

We will have trade-offs as we prioritize what matters most, neglecting lesser-yet-valuable tasks and requests. This reality of trade-offs places exceedingly high importance on our ability not only to execute but also to discern what’s best. You must grow your judgment to successfully cull from endless good possibilities what is genuinely best at this moment, identifying the greatest possible opportunity based on your skills, expertise, and areas of responsibility.?

“Almost everything is noise, and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is the justification for taking time to figure out what is most important. Because some things are so much more important, the effort in finding those things is worth it. [...] We can’t have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate options. Once we accept the reality of trade-offs we stop asking, “How can I make it all work?” and start asking the more honest question, “Which problem do I want to solve?” Only when we understand these realities can we begin to think like an essentialist.”

― Greg Mckeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Last Words

Thank you for reading this so-called manifesto. Many great resources are linked throughout this article and below that are worth blocking your calendar to read. I've also written a guide to complement this article, providing a list of actionable positive and negative behaviors and habits. Learn more here: Deep Work: Our Way.

Additional References & Resources

1. The cost of interruption: A U.C. Irvine study shows that it takes 23 minutes to return to a task after a distraction.
2. Wired: How Slack Ruined Work
3. If Tired of Pointless Meetings…Then Read This!
4. Video: Kill pointless meetings and Slack thread: express intent vs. seeking permission
5. Book: "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less"
6. Book: "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World"
7. Book: "What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done"