Resonance & Learnings!

Lately I noticed a fall in attention. There was a gnawing need to checking social media, email or WhatsApp. I became very dissatisfied with life. I am making my way back. Trying to change and failing, I picked up this book! The key learning I have received is to, ‘give the mind something meaningful to do every minute of the day’. I have been practicing it and I do feel a change in focus and happiness.

The book is good, however, to be read multiple times due to the scholarly nature of the text. Sharing here few nuggets that I learnt from the book, hoping it will help others.        

PART 1: THE IDEAS

Professional Life

·???????? Core abilities needed in the new economy are to be able to (1) quickly master hard skills and (2) produce at quality. Both require deep work or intense focus without distractions. One may say that I can ‘switch attention’, but attention never switches as fast as we assume that it does.

·???????? When we switch from task A to B, attention does not just follow! A residue is left. How can we produce quality work without diving into deep work, especially if our days are full of meetings? I found few good suggestions as, (1) don’t be quick to take decisions. Take notes in meetings and filter them late in the day. (2) Have structures status meetings on daily basis to manage projects, which would help avoid ad hoc messaging through the say. I wish I knew these when I was managing teams!

·????? ‘Follow your passion’ has been extrapolated a lot in the world. However as per deep work approach, if one sees one’s work as craft and focuses on it with respect, care and attention, it can generate enough meaning into it to make it interesting.

·???????? Somehow, I had forgotten that I am a knowledge worker. I am into education working with teachers, curriculum and learning design. All require deep thinking. Knowledge workers need to systematically develop their ability to go deep. It is not easy in the times of quick facts on internet but needs to be built to retain quality and mastery. I had fallen into shallow work, tasks performed while distracted, and reduced the capacity for deep work. The internet chipped my capacity for concentrated work.

Life in General

·???????? Deep work isn’t about professional work alone. It is to live an intentional life with a clear focus on what is important and good for one’s life. It could just be ‘movies, walks and a 6:30 pm Gin’! The foundation for the same is a skillful management of one’s attention. If you knew that your world is nothing but an outcome of what you pay attention to, how would you respond?

·???????? There are individuals who have rewired their brain in such a way that they focus only on savouring the good. Hence, they are ‘happy’. These could be individuals suffering from illnesses or financial difficulties. As says a survivor, “I will choose my targets with care and then give them rapt attention. I’ll live the focused life for it’s the best that it!”

Systematically develop the capacity for deep work by respecting every minute of your day. But how do you do that? The next section gives that in detail as it explores the Deep Work very deeply, with tools for practice.        

?PART 2: THE RULES

1. Work Deeply: The will power is finite, hence create an environment that helps extract value from the brain. Have a supporting environment.
2. Embrace Boredom: It is when one is bored that on looks for distraction, and that becomes a dependence. Create a practice for staying focused ‘on boredom’ in order to continue using the mental muscles fruitfully when bored. I now create space for activities to be done in leisure time that help us stay alert and not get into the mindless scrolling.
3. Quit Social Media: What!! This is not to quit fully, but to use it intentionally. Not for mindless scrolling, which when it starts is hard to stop (my experience). A good craftsman would only choose the best tools available for his work. On the same note, a knowledge worker would carefully choose the factors to give success and happiness in professional and personal life. Ask: What matters most to me and what contributes most to it
4. Drain the Shallows: Treat every hour with respect, create a day plan that accommodates the best time for deep work. Take a break from deep work to do some shallow work. The rest of the shallow can be drained from the calendar!

?The last perhaps is most important as it impacts all the rest of it! systematically hunt and drain all the shallows from the day.         

CONCLUSION

Carl Jung frequently retreated from the world. This was not to escape from the professional life but to advance it. He indulged in Deep Work, that is, “professional activities performed in a state of distraction free concentration to push your cognitive limits further”.

I take yearly thinking, writing or reading breaks to clarify my thinking and add new value to my life. Reading the book has given me a perspective into the ‘why’ and more importantly ‘how’ and ‘how to bring the same quality in the day-to-day life’. The book has few good tools to exemplify the same, however it requires daily practice.

I am in the process of redefining and choosing the activities I wish to indulge in. I have switched my work from intensely online to intensely face to face. Someone I met after a long time said, “I can’t imagine how anyone can look as relaxed as you do right now!”

                          A deep life is a good life.