Deep work can tremendously increase productivity. Many people have engaged in deep work to skyrocket their productivity. Before understanding how to practice and use deep work to boost productivity, it is essential to know what exactly deep work is? Deep work refers to focus work where the mind is free of attention residue. As a result, the mind becomes capable enough to reach its productivity peak. Deep work takes care of attention residue which basically means your attention is not entirely on the work that you are doing because it is stuck in the past activity. Here are five ways to practice deep work, especially working from home.
1. Schedule your deep work session
Deep work requires deep focus and therefore, you need to schedule it and keep it from additional tasks like checking emails, chatting on various messengers such as GBWhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Plus or giving your friend a call. You can decide whether you want to engage in deep work every day or a set number of times in a week. Depending upon the effort and focus that the work requires, schedule the deep work sessions. Further, when scheduling the deep work, ensure that it does not overlap any other project.
2. Train your focus and concentrating skill
Just like your body requires exercise to keep itself fit, your brain requires mental exercise too. Improving your focus or concentration skill is like building your musical skills. It takes time. To train yourself to focus, you need to resist the temptation of all the distracting elements. For instance, if you are creating a paper for your research, resist the temptation to open any distracting tab while working on your laptop. At first, resisting this urge will be difficult. However, over time, with training, you will be able to focus for long hours. Start on working by focusing for a small-time duration and then gradually increase this duration.
3. Create a deep work routine
Your deep work requires you to have a proper routine. If you want to engage in deep work from your home, you can create a home office and keep the door closed to avoid any distraction from other family members. Secondly, decide on the duration of the deep work. We recommend you to have two 45 minutes blocks starting with a five-minute break between the focus duration. The third step requires you to create a structure. For you, it can be like keeping the phone in silent mode. If you need to work in an offline mode, you can keep all the devices off until you complete the work.
4. Decide your goal
Even though working deep is tempting and something new, pursuing deep work is not easy. One needs to have a powerful motive to engage in deep work. What is the goal that you want to achieve through deep work? Keep your priority straight when you start deep work. Before engaging in deep work, choose a goal for yourself. Secondly, commit to this goal. Ensure that by the end of the deep work session, you end up completing your goal. Take it as a challenge that you need to fulfill.
5. Know when to stop the deep work
You require a clearly defined time duration for your deep work. If you know when to start the deep work, you should know when it ends. Give yourself a prescribed time limit and stick to it. Further, once the deep work duration ends, stop working on it. It is essential to end the session right then to avoid any burnout. If you are new to deep work, start with a small duration. Keep assessing how you are performing in this deep work. If you are making improvements, you can gradually increase the duration of the deep work.
You train yourself to engage in deep work by default when you practice deep work day in and day out. After completing your deep work session, take a good break. Keep working on engaging in deep work until you become an expert. Once you see the outcome of the deep work, you will be addicted to it. Last but not least, keep all the distracting thoughts and notifications in the off mode.
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