Came a question on Twitter from Joel Petit:
What activity would you suggest for deep mental work?
And the short answer is: the opposite of Twitter.
Close your door, exit Slack or any other messenger programs you’re running, actually log out of Twitter, put your phone on mute, off vibrate and turn it upside down, put on your headphones and some great music and just focus on one task. You’ll experience mental freedom.
But to some, this will seem like torture.
Technology, notifications and the news media are vampires that suck our time and energy.
They’re designed this way.
And the brutal truth…
If you want to hear it…
Is that the vampires are winning.
Most people are really stupid.
We can talk in terms of people who can focus as being smart and those who can’t as being stupid.
It’s that simple.
To get into deep work, or ‘flow’, you need to sit with a single task or problem and not deviate until it is done.
And this is simply not possible when you are constantly switching contexts. One 5-minute distraction from Twitter or Instagram or can set you back an hour.
When I write these emails, I set a timer for 25 minutes.
Sometimes it’s done in 7. Sometimes I push it into the 20s-
But it’s always done within the limit.
Because I can focus.
On a broader spectrum, an easy way to tell if someone is stupid is if they do not read new books, have deep conversations with friends or pick up new skills.
Because they are too “busy”.
What do I consider deep work activities?
Coding.
Writing.
Graphic Design.
Recreationally…
Chess.
Meditation.
Language Learning.
But really, it could be anything. The point is that when in deep work, you are pushing your cognitive capabilities to the limit.
And getting smarter.
It’s the gym for the mind.
If you do it every day – and are truly pushing yourself – you’ll start to get really, really good at your chosen pursuit.
If you want to read more about deep work, it just so happens that there’s a whole brilliant book on the subject, written by a man who doesn’t have any social media accounts and somehow still breathes enough to love, laugh and be free.
Paul French