Deep Work / Cal Newport

Rules for success in a distracted world – sounds good. Professor Cal Newport reflects on the way the world is going and what it means for our work. In his 2016 book he picks up on the increasingly rare ability to put your mind to demanding mental tasks. We are much rather busy than to think. But thinking is the muscle that is need in many settings.

Focus wins over time

Newport positions Deep Work as the differentiator in today’s world. With the advent of social media, instant messaging and open collaboration, we have lost an environment for reflection and focus. Most workplaces are noisy, distracted and not suitable for extended periods of deep dives. But many problems require deep involvement to unlock new insights and progress.

Deep Work proposes to develop this skill afresh. With an intern disposition and training the discipline for focus you can create better value. Deep Work over the course of time will yield many benefits to yourself and those you work with.

Rituals for Deep Work

Newport tracks the biography of many world-class thinkers. From Carl Jung to Albert Einstein to Marie Curie. Deep Work didn’t just happen for them. They turned it into a ritual. And this ritual allowed them to find Deep Work often and make the most of it.

To help with developing rituals, Newport offers these four avenues: find a place (where) that is reserved for your Deep Work. Whether a building, a place in nature, a cafe – tag it for getting yourself into reflection mode. Next, find a time that is reserved for Deep Work. Some do morning, other take a Think Week (like Bill Gates), others do it on set times in the week.

Third, find a kickoff activity. Whether it is putting your shoes on to walk for a routine, sitting down in a dedicated chair or starting your journal. Habit connections help to ease the mind into Thinking Avenue. Finally, find ways to support your Deep Work ritual. Whether it is a cup of coffee, a timer, a dog you take on a walk etc. Deep Work benefits from tangible support items.

4 Ways of Deep Working

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to Deep Work. Newport identifies four approaches how to fit Deep Work to your schedule, demands and personality. The monastic approach dedicates all (or most) of one’s work to one topic. Either set in an isolated location or blocked from distraction it has the most benefit. You may know it from papers for school or uni. Extended single focus. Expensive but great.

Next, the fixed-slot model. Find a few spots in the week to Deep Work. Friday afternoons, Sunday nights, Wednesday morning. I witnessed Senior Managers who went to home office every friday and blocked all meetings. I assume they were sorting things and found time for some serious reflection.

Then, rhythmic schedule. Either yearly, twice-yearly, quarterly to get away for a day or days. This is the Bill Gates mode. It is ideal to have place that allows for staying there and is natural, beautiful and distraction-free, such as our Tiny House.

If all this chunking of time does not work, a journal can get you there. Zuck has one, Darwin, Einstein and Edison were into it. Moleskineing your way into a thought is a way to capture inspiration when it strikes or notice strange questions. This is a good way to stay flexible and fit Deep Work into a busy bodies life.

The Four Superpowers

Newport highlights four mental disciplines that make Deep Work the Big Thing. In his view, just taking time is not enough. Approaching the time in a certain way makes the difference.

First, focus on the wildly important. Rather than just trailing thoughts and questions, Newport suggests to go for the biggest levers. Use the time for Deep Work on the biggest opportunities. Keep them at the forefront of your focus.

Next, act on lead measures – the behaviors that make the difference. Rather than focus on the results. The current KPI-drenched workplace is almost completely geared towards outcomes. For you personal development and digging into the biggest opportunities, eye find a way to count what makes a difference in the leads, not the lags. Thinking rather than likes, fans rather than revenues, writing rather than page views.

Third, keep a compelling score card. Newport suggest good old paper and pencil to track the progress on Deep Work. How many times to you spend in deep work? How many insights are gathered? etc.

Finally, build in accountability. Either through a buddy, a tracking or simple setup that gears towards doing the things that matter. Social media and endless consumption is easy and non-productive. Shut off what doesn’t support a-priorities and stir your habits towards fruitful endeavors.

 

Deep Work is a timely reminder on working on what matters. The structure of our current world drifts towards the easy and superficial. Value is created by digging. Newport’s approach is not new or completely revolutionary. A good does of common sense with a framing for why it matters is enough to make this a standout work. And a pragmatic guide on how to get going and making the most out of Deep Work.

Touchpoints – managing in the between spaces

Small moment carry big meanings. This is the insight behind Touchpoints – a book on leadership that came out in 2011. Some good insights here, so I will provide a visual summary.

Let’s start off with the idea of touchpoints. These are the moments of interruption, of chance meeting, of encounter opportunties that can easily be overlook or pushed aside. But these chance enounters are the stuff where leadership comes alive. Every touchpoint is a chance to influence.

In every touchpoint, there are three ingredients presend. The leader – the person – the issue. As the issues surface, it is a chance to live out leadership and provide clarity and guidance.

As you listen to the issue, three items might appear. First, the issue is their issue. They own the responsiblity and know most about the topic. The leaders chance is to teach how to drive better decisions. Rather than taking the decision, the leader teaches the other how to move forward. Second, the issue really is the leaders issue. If this is brought up in a touchpoint, the leader makes the call and provides clarity and the issue and direction. Finally, the issue might be shared between leader and employee which provides a chance to share insights and emphasize teamwork.

The leader enacts touchpoints well if he brings together head, heart and hand. The head identifies and frames the issue. The heart means emphathizing with others, being clear why you lead and who you are. And the hand is all about clear and confident action. Let’s look at these in turn.

The heart of well-executed touchpoint is the commitment to reflect. It is about acting with integrity and being clear, why you lead and what your code of operation is. These standards are all about walking the talk and making sure you stay true to yourself.

The hand in a touchpoint is about commitment to practice. It is about listening to where people are and understanding well how they perceive an issue, as well as getting the data and issue surfaced. It is about being tough-minded and tendered-hearted in interacting with people.

And the head is about being specific about your personal leadership model. You have an edge and clear understanding of what brings out the best in people, as well as what supports ever better performance.

The emotional touch combines the head, heart and hand with the four magic words: “how may I help?”. In connection with people around them, the leader is able to provide an atmosphere of support and encouragement that leads people on.

As three musical notes form a chord, so the three ingredients of the masterful touchpoint are here. First, you listen intently and deeply understand people – their energy, their concerns, the heart of issues. Second, you frame the issue in summarizing what you learned and understand the world from their point of view. Finally, you put the issue on the agenda and make calls to find resolution and forward momentum. That is what leadership all about.

Sometimes people say actions speak louder than words. Well, it is the action in little moments that speak volumes. When people encounter leaders, the air is ripe with teachable moments and relationship building and forward momentum. This book is a great guide to maximize those moments and make the most of it.

4 Hour Workweek – Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss broke onto the scene in 2007 with a bold claim: you don’t need money to be rich. “The new rich” are the ones who dream, do what they want to do and escape the 9-5 dreadmill. This is visual summary of his key ideas – there are four sections. Ferriss calls them DEAL – define, eliminate, automate and liberate. Here we go…

1) DEFINE

We start joining the new rich by defining the life we want. What do we hope for? What excites us? Tim Ferriss offeres us an exercise Dreamlines (blank PDF) including spelling out the cost (excel sheet). Once you have this, you are off to a good start.

2) ELIMINATE 

The second big idea is to eliminate effort that does not support your dreams. The Pareto principle is well known and gets big airtime in Ferriss. Some activities are more important than others, and so you should focus on those.

The Parkinson principle says that wor spreads to the time alloted to it completion. So, work with deadlines to manage the effort going into time.

Finally, go selective on information. Only what is actionable and needed should be attended to. So, skip the interesting stuff and trash everything you don’t need.

3) AUTOMATE

The third big idea is to shift as much work as possible to someone else. Delegation has many good aspects: you need to define what is wanted, how it should be done and how decisions are taken. That in itself will be benefical. Either, you can give to other people, or outsource (even to the likes of virtual assistants in India).

Income autopilot is another nice idea – setting up businesses that generate cash without your involvement. This might be the weak point of the book – while the idea is intruiging, this is not easy to do or to replicate for people without Tim’s skills. However, if you can pull it off, the results might be stunning.

4) LIBERATE

The final step is another biggie: remove yourself from the busyness and oversight of others. Only then are you able to realize some of the more exotic life setups. Home Office is an easy way. Technology allows us to work from anywhere and access our infrastructure via internet. With that, you can sip your cocktail in Thailand and still be connected to your work.

A good book with many intruiging concepts. While I didn’t get down to 4 hours, I spend much more time with what I love doing. And it saved me many hours.