Deep Work_ Rules for focused success in a distracted world ( PDFDrive.com )
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about the rigid rituals followed by many great creative th<strong>in</strong>kers.) And because you’re<br />
will<strong>in</strong>g to abandon your plan when an <strong>in</strong>novative idea arises, you’re just as well<br />
suited as the <strong>distracted</strong> creative to follow up when the muse strikes.<br />
To summarize, the motivation <strong>for</strong> this strategy is the recognition that a deep work habit<br />
requires you to treat your time with respect. A good first step toward this respectful<br />
handl<strong>in</strong>g is the advice outl<strong>in</strong>ed here: Decide <strong>in</strong> advance what you’re go<strong>in</strong>g to do with<br />
every m<strong>in</strong>ute of your workday. It’s natural, at first, to resist this idea, as it’s<br />
undoubtedly easier to cont<strong>in</strong>ue to allow the tw<strong>in</strong> <strong>for</strong>ces of <strong>in</strong>ternal whim and external<br />
requests to drive your schedule. But you must over<strong>com</strong>e this distrust of structure if you<br />
want to approach your true potential as someone who creates th<strong>in</strong>gs that matter.<br />
Quantify the Depth of Every Activity<br />
An advantage of schedul<strong>in</strong>g your day is that you can determ<strong>in</strong>e how much time you’re<br />
actually spend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> shallow activities. Extract<strong>in</strong>g this <strong>in</strong>sight from your schedules,<br />
however, can be<strong>com</strong>e tricky <strong>in</strong> practice, as it’s not always clear exactly how shallow<br />
you should consider a given task. To expand on this challenge, let’s start by rem<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g<br />
ourselves of the <strong>for</strong>mal def<strong>in</strong>ition of shallow work that I <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> the<br />
<strong>in</strong>troduction:<br />
Shallow <strong>Work</strong>: Noncognitively demand<strong>in</strong>g, logistical-style tasks, often per<strong>for</strong>med while <strong>distracted</strong>. These<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>ts tend not to create much new value <strong>in</strong> the <strong>world</strong> and are easy to replicate.<br />
Some activities clearly satisfy this def<strong>in</strong>ition. Check<strong>in</strong>g e-mail, <strong>for</strong> example, or<br />
schedul<strong>in</strong>g a conference call, is unquestionably shallow <strong>in</strong> nature. But the<br />
classification of other activities can be more ambiguous. Consider the follow<strong>in</strong>g tasks:<br />
• Example #1: Edit<strong>in</strong>g a draft of an academic article that you and a collaborator<br />
will soon submit to a journal.<br />
• Example #2: Build<strong>in</strong>g a PowerPo<strong>in</strong>t presentation about this quarter’s sales<br />
figures.<br />
• Example #3: Attend<strong>in</strong>g a meet<strong>in</strong>g to discuss the current status of an important<br />
project and to agree on the next steps.<br />
It’s not obvious at first how to categorize these examples. The first two describe<br />
tasks that can be quite demand<strong>in</strong>g, and the f<strong>in</strong>al example seems important to advance a<br />
key work objective. The purpose of this strategy is to give you an accurate metric <strong>for</strong><br />
resolv<strong>in</strong>g such ambiguity—provid<strong>in</strong>g you with a way to make clear and consistent