As I read Deep Work by Cal Newport, it’s amazing to read about the way people have succeeded in their lives through intense focus and concentration in their work/ task/ realm.
Point to note: Deep Work has got so much of taste – a universal sensibility to its content and ensuing message – that any person regardless of his/her profession can accomplish a lot more if he/she goes all-in to get it.
Whether it’s Bill Gates ‘Think Week’ schedule or Adam Grant’s total immersion in his work to produce the best teaching content and articles, there is enough and more evidence to how, counter to the multi-tasking age we live in, much value in giving your highest peak of focus to your work.
No work is sub-par; it demands you to work at your peak intervals of optimum focus to realize your results.
As is true from a personal branding standpoint– when you start creating valuable content on the Web that is radical yet refreshing, you are ‘in’ for the long-haul in developing thought leadership.
And more so, while deep work may sound a bit reclusive when you get to work, but we need more retreat-centered office complexes, and, of course, a mindset to understand why when you put yourself to deep work, you can do the hard work rather easily once your start deliberately practicing on a daily basis.
Think about failures – they sound more empowering when you know deep down inside that you can improve when you go all in, over a period of time, to achieve your dreams. Adam Grant talks about failure enrichingly when he says that is resume is 32 page long: failures/ success in a binding thread that propelled him to launch in his teaching career splendidly well in Wharton. He pulled himself together and learned the teaching profession by writing massively more and having a voice that steered clear in the competitive teaching stake.
While not all professions may need deep work, but if you really want to create your voice in the Web noise (not always noise, though), you need to go tunnel-like with your focus and have your own retreat/ concentration zone despite the open cultural scenario we experience in our workplaces.
It’s not the exactly the cultural make-up we see in our corporate lives where we have to constantly juggle between a lot of tasks; it’s about understanding how much better you want to be in the overall performance at your work when you operate at your best.
No brand is built with anything less than deep work; even the Instagram pictures you put out creates your personality canvas for others to observe and take notice of. And to tell you something? People notice more when they see an effort put into an image, text, look, function, feel, and message.
So get deliberate; be intentional; be a little provocative – but put in your best, or at least get better.
No compromises on anything sub-par; good is just a commodity; better is agreeably a north star that you should always focus on.
Now, this doesn’t imply that you shut your smartphones or stop being present on social media. All you need is to find your area of ‘flow’ when you connect with your craft on a transcendental level.
Go all in! Or be all-out. Don’t be in between – your mind becomes sharper with this approach over a period of time.
