If you have been reading about productivity lately, you have probably seen the endless back and forth about the value of to-do lists (or lack thereof), and one of the favorite buzzwords right now is something called “Deep Work” (not to be confused with “Deep Throating”).
It is said that Deep Work is currently the most elusive and valuable commodity, as both a skill to be mastered, and the resulting work product. It is harder and harder to come by, because our lives and habits have made it more impossible than ever. Why? Because it is the product of distraction-free and focused mental energy. It has become so difficult to achieve because of bad multi-tasking, addiction to mobile phones, social media and the fact that most of us can only focus on an activity for around three minutes before we want to switch to something else.
Most people treat multi-tasking like spinning plates. All of the tasks take longer, and the quality suffers. Multi-tasking only works by stacking non-competing tasks that can concurrently be done without your attention.
Because it takes over 20 minutes to regain focus after being interrupted by a distraction, it means people are chronically putting out less than their best work. Individuals who can cut through madness to focus and achieve Deep Work will be the ones who succeed and reap the most significant earnings and return on their time and energy.
For example, the moment I wake up, dozens of things enter my consciousness. They range from new project ideas to things I want to get done at JuicyAds, as well as tasks related to my strategy and consulting business. My mind is racing before I even sit down at my computer, where I get bombarded with a continual flow of distractions from four huge computer monitors on my rig.
In the early years of running JuicyAds, even when I was away from the computer, it did not end. Running the platform single-handedly for years, I had to be “on call” 24/7 because problems could occur any time, day or night. I needed those text messages to wake me up to fix issues that arose. Many years later when my daughter was born, it became harder than ever to get any amount of quiet and distraction-free time. More importantly, sleep became the most valuable commodity in our house. Her ability to wake up from any noise forced me to do the unthinkable — I muted my phone. It has been muted now for nearly two years.
That one decision has lead to grand realizations about the cost of distractions. These days, I ignore my phone during the day and it sits face-down on my desk. I wear a Fitbit synced to my phone that alerts me to urgent phone calls and text messages. I ignore all the time bandits like app notifications, messages and Facebook friend requests (sorry). I choose to engage with them when I want to, rather than them barging into my life and commanding attention all day.
The only way to capture “Deep Work” is by saying “no” to distractions. Even with the most organized and prioritized to-do list on the planet, distractions pull you away from ever getting those tasks done. There will never be enough hours in the day, you may start making poor life choices related to family, friends, love, health and fitness, and ultimately end up sacrificing everything that matters for the sake of working more extended hours to compensate. All because of the lack of ability to sit down and do the work. How is it possible then to achieve Deep Work when our entire world is filled with addictive distractions?
Separate Tasks Into “Deep Work” and “Non-Deep Work”
Deep Work can only be completed in a distraction-free state, and you will most likely need to schedule that time into your day. My wife and I both take full advantage of our daughter’s two-hour nap in the early afternoon. We use that time to work on the most challenging tasks and those requiring the most focus. The remainder of the day is spent on “shallow work” tasks that can be completed with distractions, such as email, making smaller decisions and other random daily things.
Do One Thing at a Time
Pay attention to the task you are working on. It may help to write down the task you are working on, the start time and the finish time. When distraction occurs, train yourself to say “no” and write them down to be handled later. Even if something will “just take a minute,” the deviation from your primary task causes loss of focus, and it will take more time to finish … just like if you keep changing positions every minute during sex.
Use Deep Work to Battle Procrastination and Perfectionism
Giving in to distractions may be the manifestation of perfectionism and procrastination. I think John Perry, a philosophy professor at Stanford, put it best: “Perfectionists aren’t people who do something perfectly. Perfectionists are people who fantasize about doing something perfectly.” The best way to get things done is to get started. You’ll never build a successful company by doing everything perfectly all at once. You create a successful company by doing little things every day.
Multi-Tasking is a Distraction
Most people treat multi-tasking like spinning plates. All of the tasks take longer, and the quality suffers. Multi-tasking only works by stacking non-competing tasks that can concurrently be done without your attention. I commonly read while spinning on my bike indoors, which allows me to train and do my workouts while accomplishing work tasks. If I delegate some tasks to our team before I hop on the bike, it means I can efficiently get three things done at once without deviating my attention.
Understand the Difference Between a To-Do List and Your Endless Pile of Work
What most people get wrong is that even though you have a thousand things that you want to get done, none of them belong on your to-do list. A to-do list should only contain the things you need to get done that day, like meetings, deadlines or scheduled items with real-world time frames. Once this paradigm shifts in your mind, it is possible to understand how to pick up a new task, focus on it and work on that one task, even if it takes days or weeks to complete it.
Focus on Progress, Not a List
Doing work usually creates more work, and the data suggests that most people underestimate how long tasks will take and approximately 40 percent of all to-do list items never (ever) get completed. That means that every time you make a to-do list, there’s a good chance you will fail to achieve it, or resort to “workaholism” to finish. The behavior leads to demoralization, lack of motivation and even procrastination. The only way to win is not to play that game.
You will never finish everything you want to accomplish, ever. Collecting and completing tasks within the time you want to spend on them, will allow you to live a more balanced life. Push tasks step by step towards completion, rather than trying to rush through items to strike them off a list for the feel-good dopamine spike.
Being able to master the art of Deep Work will not just help you get more done; it will help disconnect you from work. Learning it will allow you to recharge with activities you enjoy, like being present with your loved ones instead of living in that feeling of being incomplete and somewhere else.
Juicy Jay is the CEO and founder of JuicyAds, the Sexy Advertising Network. You can follow Jay on Twitter @juicyads, JuicyAds.com or Facebook.com/JuicyAds.
