Deep Work Blueprint

Do you know the feeling when you are busy the whole day but
when you have a look at what you accomplished it turns out to
be very little?

Switching from task to task, checking the phone, hopping to

social media and to e-mails, always busy but never focused.

This is the shallow and distracted work that most people do.
They do not get results even when they work long hours. It is
draining and unfulfilling. The mind cannot unfold its potential
when it is scattered.

Professor Sophie Leroy from the University of Minnesota

studied a phenomenon called “attention residue” which occurs
when you switch from one task to another. Switching tasks
divides your attention and the more intense your “attention
residue” is the worse your performance will be.

It is not only switching tasks that hurts your focus and

performance. Even small distractions like checking your phone
or e-mails are detrimental for your concentration and
performance. A study from the University of California Irvine
showed that it takes over 20 minutes to refocus and get back
into the task after you have been distracted.

What’s the solution?

Deep Work

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What is deep work? Cal Newport defines deep work as:

“professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free

concentration that push your cognitive abilities to their limit.”

In other words, you define a clear task and work on it in an

environment that blocks out all distraction so you gain
maximum focus.

Neurologists have studied the brain and discovered that during

deep work the brain produces Myelin, a layer of tissue that
helps neurons fire faster.

It literally puts your brain into power mode.

Deep work allows you to finish tasks that usually take 8 hours
and do it in 3 hours.

In a world full of distractions, those who will be able to focus

and cut through the noise will stand out from everyone else.

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Getting started with deep work

Take same time to go through the steps below to define how you
are going to bring deep work into practice:

1. Define a goal: Find a task that requires deep work and that
you continually want to work on, like writing a book. You
can break down the different chapters into different deep
work sessions.

2. Create a schedule: Set times that are reserved for deep

work only and block out everything else during that time

3. Construct a frame: Define where you’ll work, how you’ll

work and for how long. Having a place only for deep work
can be a benefit as your brain will start to associate that
place with deep focus.

4. Set rituals: Before I get into a deep work session I

meditate for 5 minutes and drink a green tea to get myself
“into the zone”. Find a ritual you can perform before every
session to let your brain know it is time for deep work.

5. Be lazy: When you are done with your work allow yourself
to relax and stop thinking about work. The work you will do
in the evening is not productive anyways. To ensure a high
quality of work your brain needs rest.

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Improve your ability to concentrate

In order to concentrate intensely your brain needs to be able to

block out distractions. This is not easy in today's world where
everything is competing for your attention. Once your brain is
used to distractions it will hardly be able to break the habit
when it's time to concentrate. That is why you need to train your
brain to not rely on distraction.

The number one skill to improve your concentration and the

ability to resist distractions is meditation. A daily practice of
meditation will dramatically improve your ability to do deep
work.

Another important aspect is to embrace boredom. Nowadays

we are used to reaching for our phone even at the slightest hint
of boredom. Resist this urge to distract yourself when boredom
arises.

The fact that it’s uncomfortable only shows you how much you
need to do this. With time doing nothing will become less
draining and the need to grab your phone all the time will go
away.

Remember: You need to train your ability to resist distractions.

Now that does not mean that you are never allowed to be
distracted. You do not want to be distracted involuntarily. You
are the one who decides. Which brings me to the last point…

Schedule times for distractions.

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Set times during the day where you allow yourself to play with
your phone, browse the web or do whatever you want. When
you find yourself wanting to check Twitter you can say to
yourself “wait, it’s not the time yet”. This makes saying no to
distractions much easier.

Whatever you do, keep in mind that your work sessions and
how you live your life are not separated. When you binge watch
tiktok the night before you can’t expect to be focused the next
morning. Every single thing you do affects everything else you
do.

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The perfect deep work session

After we have laid out the foundation, it is time to start your first
deep work session.

First you should set a specific goal for your work session and
only work on one thing during that session.

Once you have determined the task you want to work on, block
out a time slot to work on it. You should have nothing else to
think or worry about at this time.

Activate airplane mode on your phone and put it in the drawer

or somewhere else where you can’t see it. Sometimes even the
thought of our phone can be a distraction.

Before you start, drink a cup of green tea to give you a

concentrated energy boost. You can also drink coffee but I find
that it kicks too hard and causes nervousness while green tea
delivers a calm and concentrated focus. If you want to stick to
your coffee I recommend adding L-Theanine to your coffee to
reduce the effect of nervousness.

Once everything is set up, it’s time to get to work.

For extra focus listen to concentration music. I like to use the

music selection from brain.fm but you can also listen to
synthwave or binaural beats. Simply typing “concentration or
study music” into youtube will also work. Many people find
great success with the music from Hans Zimmer. Find what
music works best for you and only listen to that. This will prime

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your brain to associate the music with a concentrated state and
will help you to focus faster.

Take a 5 min break every hour or every 45 min (what works

best for you) to stretch yourself and take some deep breaths.
This will increase blood flow and give you extra oxygen to keep
you sharp.

When you are done give yourself a little reward. Do something

that you enjoy and relax. This will connect positive feelings with
the completion of the work and makes it easier for you to do it
again in the future.

That’s it.

Follow these steps and you can easily double your productivity.
With practice you will get even better at this. While you might
only be able to perform 1 hour of deep work in the beginning
you can train and work your way up to 4 hours. I would not
recommend doing more than 4 hours a day of deep work as
your ability to focus will decrease strongly after that time. Go
hard for 4 hours and then go out and enjoy the rest of the day,
you earned it!

If you want to take your productivity to the next level and get
better results effortlessly, check out my course Flow and Focus.

It’s the exact system I used to build my online business while

only working 4 hours a day. It’ll help you to replace overwhelm
with clarity and exploit the power of momentum instead of
relying on discipline.

>>> Enter Flow.