This article is influenced by the book “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” by Cal Newport . Click here to purchase this book from Amazon. Or, listen to the audiobook for free from audible.
How to Stop Multitasking And Learn How to Focus
If you are someone who is finding it challenging to stop multitasking and trying to focus on one task at a time, then you are at the right place as here we will let you know-how can you stop your mind from being diverted to other tasks and start focusing on one task at a time.
As of today, we know how quickly the world is changing in front of our eyes, and in no time we see that many of our daily jobs, which we perform while being distracted or semi-distracted, will be shifted to robots or will be done with the help of a software. So if you want to keep yourself in the job, implement a technique in your day-to-day task known as Deep work.
If you do not implement this technique in your daily life, then anyone can take your place and fulfill the task even at a lower price. You need to understand that with each passing day; the population is increasing and the competition with it.
People around us don’t have any knowledge about this deep work technique, making it rare to be used in today’s world. So, letting you know more about this technique, we are going to state examples of the two most successful personalities of our current times who have used this technique to make themselves successful. The first is known as the owner of Microsoft Bill Gates, and the second is known as the author of the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling.
Types of work
There are two types of work.
- Shallow work.
- Deep work.
What is shallow work?
Shallow work is the type of work in which a person works while his mind is diverted toward other things, for instance, chatting with friends while you must do your work in the office or while you are out with your friends talking, but your attention is diverted towards your phone or listening to songs in the background while working on the presentation.
Shallow work includes all the things which we ignore by saying we are multitasking. Some people consider shallow work a timesaving tactic, but in reality, the diverted mind means less productivity, and it also causes more time-wasting.
To be more exact, all that work which one does while working, for example, scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or replying to your friends on WhatsApp, all these types of things that will not improve your life in the long run, are known as shallow work.
Why is shallow work terrible for you?
To make you understand the downside or the negative side of the shallow work, we will let you know with the help of a concept known as ATTENTION RESIDUE.
Suppose you are working on a project with undistributed and undivided attention. Suddenly, a notification popup on your phone; after checking the notification, you return to your work, but now the change you feel is because your 30% attention is still diverted towards your phone.
Now you are only left with 70% of the attention through which you are trying to fulfill your task, so the 30% attention you lost while checking the notification is known as ATTENTION RESIDUE.
So if you perform shallow work or multitasking while performing a task, then you must know that while switching from one work to another, a lot of attention is lost, which is very hard to recover again to perform your 100%.
So if you want to make yourself unique and valuable, then shallow work is not an option; you will have to shift yourself towards deep work.
According to research, the attention span will shrink to less than 8 seconds because of digitalization in the future, almost the same as goldfish.
So the one who will implement the deep work technique from today will be successful as he will be the one who will have the ability to produce world-class work and will be considered as rare, valuable professionals.
What is Deep Work?
Deep work is the type of work that is mainly pursued by professionals, as in this type of work, one tends to find a place where one can work in a distraction-free environment.
Deep work is a challenging task to perform, but it is essential, especially for people who have to complete a task while being undistracted for a long time.
Working in a distraction-free environment or deep work is important for people because it increases the person’s thinking capability so much that it makes the idea of the person highly valuable and makes it impossible for anyone to replicate. Deep works make your work and ideas very new and unique, and powerful.
More successful examples of deep work are listed below for our readers to read and understand.
Mark Twain, a successful American writer, used to work in such an isolated room that his family members had to use horns in order to make him come out of the room.
Bill Gates also isolate himself for two weeks in a year in his lakeside cottage to read more books and think about new ideas for his company.
Why does one need to implement Deep work in its life?
You must wonder that if I perform my day-to-day work without being distracted, then why do I need to implement deep work in my life. To answer your question, I must let you know that whatever work you do now with a distracted mind or with an undistracted mind will be replaced by machines or with heavy-duty software.
Suppose you have not implemented deep work in your life, and you are still performing a task while your mind is diverted towards other things; In that case, your job is at risk as there is a huge chance that you will be replaced by thousands of people who will be more than ready to perform the same task and that too at a lower price because of two main reasons: the overpopulation and unemployment.
So you need to implement deep work and should leave shallow work, as it will be replaced somehow in the end.
How to implement Deep work?
The author Cal Newport has stated Four methods of deep work.
1)Monastic Deep Work
The type of work in which a person isolates himself, leaving everything behind to pursue a single goal like a monk, is known as monastic deep work.
Bill Gates also implemented the same routine in 1970 constantly for eight weeks. In that isolation period, he made the first version of basic, which became the base of the multi-billion dollar company Microsoft.
But leaving everything behind and pursuing a single goal like a monk is not something that everyone can do or follow, even if by following it one can reap tons of benefits.
2)Bimodal Deep Work
The bimodal technique is for those who are not able to isolate themselves from the world like monastic.
J.K. Rowling had also followed this bimodal technique when she was writing her last book of the Harry Potter series as she was facing distractions because of her kids and her dogs.
So she used to work like a monastic in a hotel room when she had to work on the book and spend the rest of the time with her family.
This is the technique that you can also follow in order to be successful whenever you need to work; just turn off your phone and start working as soon as your work is finished, you can enjoy your normal routine.
3)Rhythmic Deep Work
This technique is the easiest one to pursue. You just need to set a calculated amount of time daily for your deep work, and after your work is finished, you can follow shallow work. Through this method, you can enjoy both parts of your life and will not feel the stress of work.
4)Journalistic Deep Work
This type of technique is for those people who are busy throughout the day. In this technique, you need to work as a journalist; suppose if you know that in your busy schedule, you will be free for an hour or half in that time. You can isolate yourself, turn off your phone, and start working.
This Journalistic method is also pursued by the author himself whenever he gets free time in his busy schedule; he sinks himself into the deep work mode. This type of technique is fully customizable according to the needs.
An extreme example of this technique was used by Peter Shankman once he had to write a manuscript of a book; in a short period, he applied a unique but powerful idea he booked a round trip business class flight from America to Tokyo as there will be no one who will disturb him during the flight so during the 30-hour trip he got into a deep work mode and finished the manuscript of the book.
These are all the techniques applied by different persons, but the end goal or purpose is the same. To work in a distraction-free environment, you can also use any of the four stated techniques in your life to make your life successful.
Conclusion
I learned from this book that there are two types of work: deep work and shallow work. Deep work is valuable because it is rare to see someone pursuing it, and deep work can be done through four techniques: 1) Monastic deep work, 2) Bimodal deep work, 3) Rhythmic Deep work, and 4) Journalistic deep work.
In today’s world, if you will have this ability to work without being distracted, then you can be as successful as Bill gates or J.K Rowling.
I have learned all these things and life turning points from the book Known as Deep Work, written by Cal Newport. So if you are willing to learn all these things in a more exact and detailed manner, you can also read this book and see your life-changing in front of your eyes.
