Deep Work: Meditation, Inversion, Shutdown
Three concepts from the book that I experimented with.
Cal Newport wrote Deep Work in 2016. He had no idea how extreme the battle for our attention would become. I’ve recently finished reading it. Its key message is:
We need disconnected long periods of time, where we can do work to achieve great things.
Deep work is where important breakthroughs happen, where you connect ideas and explore new perspectives. This newsletter exists because of it. On the opposite side is shallow work. Small tasks which don’t require much attention. Creations of deep work are rewarding, shallow ones just bring an illusion of being productive.
This year, I’m chasing every possible moment of productivity. Except for a 10-day silent retreat, where I took a valuable break.
To be completely honest, I wanted to be productive even during my silent retreat. I started to write articles in my mind, but because you’re not allowed to write anything down, I forgot everything. Then, frustrated by this fact, I gave up. It was the correct thing to do to focus on meditation and being there in the moment.
Silent retreat meditation taught me one powerful benefit: presence. Focus sharpens as a side effect. When I got back to the outside world, I was the most razor-focused on everything this year.
Unusual focus remained for a few days. Deep Work offers many tools to dive into. These three are the ones I tried myself:
Concepts
Productive Meditations
I run around 30 to 40 km every week. What happens with my thoughts? These often drift, with no clear direction around the latest context of my life.
Cal Newport proposes a different way to spend activities like taking a shower, having an easy run or a walk, anything that doesn’t require dedicated focus. The author encourages you to aim your thoughts at a specific problem.
So, I started trying “productive meditations”, and even though it requires discipline to bring thoughts back, this practice works. This paragraph has been largely drafted in my head while walking. I decided on the shape and form of my recent public speaking speech during one of my long runs.
However, I need to point out an important thought-habit. Give your mind permission to wander every day. Sitting for 10 minutes with eyes closed and doing nothing is a great habit, even without doing any meditation activities like scanning your body or doing visualisation.
Inverting The Time Block
I tried to put everything into a calendar, but it rarely works for me. I use calendar slots only for meetings and appointments. I practised calendarising for a while after reading Winning the Week, but it’s not a thing I can stick to. I prefer to keep working until I finish, rather than keep everything in assigned time slots.
There is one type of calendar block that works for me: distraction blocks. Unlike work slots, you can cut these short without regret. By inverting the time dedicated to work, we have time dedicated to distractions.
I have two calendar blocks, each lasting an hour, for the time dedicated to distraction. The Freedom app runs these slots automatically. Outside dedicated time, it blocks every distraction. I don’t have any push notifications, so I don’t know about new messages or new emails. These slots are my time to check messaging apps and all blocked notifications.
Time blocks dedicated to distractions made me much more focused, as my brain knows the rewards are coming at some point. To close open loops, I keep adding to my 'Later Actions' note for anything that can wait.
Shutdown Rituals
The Zeigarnik effect is a phenomenon stating that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
The author of the book described his own “Shutdown ritual”. The theory behind it is that spending 10-15 minutes reviewing all pending unresolved issues and moving them to the next day releases our brain from the need to keep track of pending issues.
Committing to a specific plan for a goal may therefore not only facilitate attainment of the goal but may also free cognitive resources for other pursuits.
— “Consider it done!”, Masicampo & Baumeister
It works for me. Before closing my laptop, I capture pending tasks and sketch quick notes for the next morning. It feels much better when I don’t have to remember what to pick up in the morning.
Final Thoughts
I first came across the ideas in Deep Work two years ago, thanks to a Tech Books article. That was enough to get the main ideas. The full book still feels relatable and goes deeper. It took me longer to get to it, but it was worth it.
Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on.
— Winifred Gallagher
Train your focus. Tame your distractions. You can learn it.
Thanks for reading,
— Michał
Post Notes
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Great content which I’ve read/watched recently:
TED: How I created OpenClaw, the breakthrough AI agent by Peter Steinberger
Substack Almost Killed My Product. Here’s What I Did by Orel
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I like the idea of distraction blocks, will try it out.
Shutdown ritual is super useful. I regret not learning about it only recently, it might have saved me a couple of years ago. So simple, but never had the habit.
Who we are is indeed the sum of what we focus on. It is so tough to guard that focus with a little one in the house, but these rituals make it possible. I am glad your silent retreat gave you such a sharp sense of presence. Keep up the great work, Michał :)