Distraction is part of life and being Entrepreneur, needs to be in constant communication spare. It leads to most time getting distracted and missing the most focused work. We can’t avoid replying to emails, chatting with co-workers, answering calls, and be part of the disruption. There is always a need for distraction-free time.
Cal Newport details focused work in a book called “Deep Work”. He defines Deep Work as a distraction-free and cognitively demanding task. Deep Work is a skill that allows you to master complicated tasks and produce better results in less time. Entrepreneur fights for time and tries to give away things which are shallow by nature.
We can do shallow work in distraction. Such work needs less cognitive juice, repetitive, and can be done by anyone with a strict way to do it guidelines. Shallow work is to generate documents or adding a software line in 200 pages of your web app or JV entry in your bookkeeping software.
Shallow work can’t be taken away but can be reduced.
An entrepreneur can do super well with Deep Work and create wonders at the firm. Cal Newport’s Deep Work book inspires the idea of Deep Work. My ideas will help you quickly jump to focused and cognitively demanding tasks. That is Deep Work.
Keep slot for Deep Work
This blog started with a note on the distraction world around us. It can’t be avoided completely.
Avoiding mail from most prided customers can be bad for your business. Similarly, avoiding government compliances, the buzz from project head-on the hurdle he is facing, a message from a loved one, and even notification of auto-debit on your credit card. You can miss them. Try reducing them or keep away all these for some time in your day.
A distraction-free slot is your time. Choose it. I read somewhere; successful entrepreneurs rise early from bed every morning for just this slot. Rising early when everyone is sleeping will keep you distract-free. Some entrepreneurs work late for this slot. I leave it to you for your preferred slot.
If you don’t do it yet, then plan with a smaller slot and try to improve. Increase the slot time or frequency. When you get the hang of it, you will crazily wait for this slot.
Shallow Work is post Deep Work
When you master your Deep Work and set guidelines to do it. That is when you can push it out for Shallow Work. Shallow Work is repetitive and less cognitive. Let’s say you found a trick to mine data or clean data after the perfect Deep Work round. This trick can be mastered. Pass to the team, so that they do this shallow work. Repeat it constantly to increase the speed of delivery.
When you champion doing something in Deep Work. The team can take that up to do repetitive work.
Business is all about repetitive work. 9to5 work is only about repetitive work and the biggest firms of
the World have championed repetitive work by making sure it comes out of Deep Work.
Always thrive to take up the work, set benchmark, make it repetitive work, and pass it to the team down. Shallow is out of Deep Work.
Train to pick the right thing for Deep Work
Deep Work is about evolving. Something which you are doing today as a Deep Work, might become Shallow Work sometime. Always look upon Deep Work vs Shallow Work.
This is a process that will never end. You need to master your choices and push for training yourself on what needs your cognitive and what can never be part of it. People do things like file returns on their own or doing work of data correction, or even posting marketing feeds on social media thinking that it’s Deep Work.
I am not in the opinion that they might not be Deep Work for someone. Being an Entrepreneur, you need to make the right choices on what will be in your Deep Work slot.
Champion this in your way.
Read Cal Newport to strive in Deep Work
I recommend you read Deep Work. The book rightly helps you to practice Deep Work. It revolves around strategy like cognitive juices of your mind and how to develop myelin in your brain to fire more effortlessly.
Cal also talks about the residue of attention when you switch from task A to task B. In case your task A is of low intensity and unbounded, then you create a residue. This residue will follow in your task B, leading to poor performance of task B.
Clarity about what matters will lead to an understanding of what doesn’t matter.
It even talks about the focus on wildly important, acts on the lead measure, gets compelling scoreboard and cadence of accountability.
There is great value in reading this book for Entrepreneurs.
Our mind is the laziest part of our body and pushes us to drive day in autopilot mode. Deep Work is a need for every Entrepreneur.