Deep Work_ Rules for focused success in a distracted world ( PDFDrive.com )
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predicted, given the connection between depth and skill development highlighted <strong>in</strong><br />
the last chapter), and perhaps most important, “a better product delivered to the<br />
client.”<br />
This motivates an <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g question: Why do so many follow the lead of the<br />
Boston Consult<strong>in</strong>g Group and foster a culture of connectivity even though it’s likely, as<br />
Perlow found <strong>in</strong> her study, that it hurts employees’ well-be<strong>in</strong>g and productivity, and<br />
probably doesn’t help the bottom l<strong>in</strong>e? I th<strong>in</strong>k the answer can be found <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
reality of workplace behavior.<br />
The Pr<strong>in</strong>ciple of Least Resistance: In a bus<strong>in</strong>ess sett<strong>in</strong>g, without clear feedback on the impact of<br />
various behaviors to the bottom l<strong>in</strong>e, we will tend toward behaviors that are easiest <strong>in</strong> the moment.<br />
To return to our question about why cultures of connectivity persist, the answer,<br />
accord<strong>in</strong>g to our pr<strong>in</strong>ciple, is because it’s easier . There are at least two big reasons<br />
why this is true. The first concerns responsiveness to your needs. If you work <strong>in</strong> an<br />
environment where you can get an answer to a question or a specific piece of<br />
<strong>in</strong><strong>for</strong>mation immediately when the need arises, this makes your life easier—at least, <strong>in</strong><br />
the moment. If you couldn’t count on this quick response time you’d <strong>in</strong>stead have to do<br />
more advance plann<strong>in</strong>g <strong>for</strong> your work, be more organized, and be prepared to put<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs aside <strong>for</strong> a while and turn your attention elsewhere while wait<strong>in</strong>g <strong>for</strong> what you<br />
requested. All of this would make the day to day of your work<strong>in</strong>g life harder (even if it<br />
produced more satisfaction and a better out<strong>com</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the long term). The rise of<br />
professional <strong>in</strong>stant messag<strong>in</strong>g, mentioned earlier <strong>in</strong> this chapter, can be seen as this<br />
m<strong>in</strong>d-set pushed toward an extreme. If receiv<strong>in</strong>g an e-mail reply with<strong>in</strong> an hour makes<br />
your day easier, then gett<strong>in</strong>g an answer via <strong>in</strong>stant message <strong>in</strong> under a m<strong>in</strong>ute would<br />
improve this ga<strong>in</strong> by an order of magnitude.<br />
The second reason that a culture of connectivity makes life easier is that it creates<br />
an environment where it be<strong>com</strong>es acceptable to run your day out of your <strong>in</strong>box—<br />
respond<strong>in</strong>g to the latest missive with alacrity while others pile up beh<strong>in</strong>d it, all the<br />
while feel<strong>in</strong>g satisfy<strong>in</strong>gly productive (more on this soon). If e-mail were to move to<br />
the periphery of your workday, you’d be required to deploy a more thoughtful<br />
approach to figur<strong>in</strong>g out what you should be work<strong>in</strong>g on and <strong>for</strong> how long. This type of<br />
plann<strong>in</strong>g is hard. Consider, <strong>for</strong> example, David Allen’s Gett<strong>in</strong>g Th<strong>in</strong>gs Done taskmanagement<br />
methodology, which is a well-respected system <strong>for</strong> <strong>in</strong>telligently manag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>com</strong>pet<strong>in</strong>g workplace obligations. This system proposes a fifteen-element flowchart<br />
<strong>for</strong> mak<strong>in</strong>g a decision on what to do next! It’s significantly easier to simply chime <strong>in</strong><br />
on the latest cc’d e-mail thread.<br />
I’m pick<strong>in</strong>g on constant connectivity as a case study <strong>in</strong> this discussion, but it’s just