Introduction

I’ve just returned from my honeymoon with my wife, where we chose to stay at an all-inclusive resort in Rhodes, Greece. Between going on cruises and exploring the local towns, I found myself with plenty of time by the pool - which allowed me time to catch up on some reading.

Recently, I finished “Deep Work” by Cal Newport. I wanted to summarise the points that resonated with me most, and outline how I plan to incorporate them into my workflow moving forward.

Rhythmic and Bimodal Philosophy

Since getting married back in Feburary - I’ve found myself more focused than usual. My typical weekday routine involves waking up at 6:30 and dedicating an hour to studying before getting ready for work around 7:30.

I try to maintain this streak by making sure I sit down at my computer each morning. Once I’m there, I find it much easier to get started. I then additionally do more work in the evenings and/or during the weekends, however this can also be more streamlined.

This aligns with the Rhythmic philosophy Cal describes, which emphasizes the importance of showing up and engaging with your work consistently every day.

While I plan to continue this approach, I’m also interested in adopting more of a bimodal strategy. I hadn’t fully appreciated how crucial sustained focus is for deep work. Multitasking can lead to what Cal calls “attention residue”, can leave your problem-solving abilities divided between tasks.

To address this, I want to ensure that my study sessions are dedicated to a single task, minimizing context switches as much as possible. I want to also work on my ability to switch on and off from being able to deep work and be more leisurely.

Tallying and Top-End Deep Work

Another practice I’d like to implement is keeping a tally - not just to track my streak, but also to record the number of focused hours I achieve each day. I’ll also highlight any hour in which I learn something particularly significant.

This approach is intended to ‘gamify’ the process of learning and productivity, making it both more engaging and effective. I’m eager to see how well this works for me.

Cal suggests that the upper limit for deep work is about four hours per day. At the moment, I’m averaging around an hour, but I’d like to increase this-either by waking up earlier or finding additional time elsewhere in my day.

One hour of deep work feels too comfortable for me right now, so I’ll like to at least extend this to 2 hours.

Embracing Boredom and Productive Meditation

The idea is to become more comfortable with being bored. With technology so easily accessible, it’s very easy to end up on Instagram and doom-scroll. I can be quite bad for this when I have downtime or am in a queue.

This cuts into your willpower to stay in deep focus when you’re doing harder tasks. I intend to work on this and become more comfortable with stillness.

Similarly, Cal introduces the concept of productive meditation: using activities like working out or running as opportunities to think through problems or plan tasks. I already do this to some extent during my commute, but I’d like to create more opportunities for productive reflection.

By allowing myself to sit with boredom more and incorporating ‘productive meditation’, I should significantly increase my concentration.

Shutdown Ritual and Fixed Schedule

Cal recommends having a strict cutoff for work or study-related thinking - he suggests 5:30 p.m., though since I finish work at 6:00, I’ll need to adjust this to fit my schedule.

The rationale is that once you’ve exhausted your deep work capacity, any additional effort is likely to be subpar. It’s better to rest and recharge so you’re ready for the next day.

I do enjoy coding or working on projects in the evenings from time to time, so my plan is to ensure that the bulk of my focused work happens in the morning. If I choose to study later at night, it will be more casual and pressure-free.

To help shift from ‘work mode’ to ‘leisure mode,’ Cal suggests having a phrase or ritual. I’ll come up with something I can say to myself to mark the transition and ensure I take intentional breaks.

The Grand Gesture and Lag/Lead Measures

The Grand Gesture is the idea of going on some sort of retreat to focus on your work without distractions. The novelty of going somewhere specifically to work can freshen up your day-to-day experience and allow you to focus more.

Interestingly, I was able to experience a bit of this on my honeymoon. Of course, I wasn’t just thinking about work, but having time by the pool allowed me to read and think in a different environment, which was refreshing.

I’m hoping to plan small retreats every six months or so as a way to reset. I’d like to enjoy being somewhere new, but also dedicate a few hours per day to studying or working on something that excites me.

When it comes to goal-setting, Cal discusses ‘lag and lead measures’-the idea is to set goals that are achievable and not overly specific to a single task.

I’ll think of a nicer sounding goal, however it’ll be along the lines of improving my general IT/coding knowledge whilst being more physically fit.

As the book quotes:

“I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there is.” – Winifred Gallagher