![]() ![]() Identifying these as problems is important and valuable in itself, but real progress will come from being able to properly put deep work into practice. We are easily distracted and find prolonged period of focus difficult. The type of work that is valuable in the modern economy involves long periods of serious work and focus. ![]() ![]() How do I generally reduce #distractions anxiety and noise? We’ve made two theses so far: 1. Distraction seems to be a well established problem but nobody wants to take it seriously or knows how to fix it. Technology companies know and use this and we are ill-equipped to defend ourselves. The randomness makes the action of checking addictive. When you pull to refresh Twitter or Facebook or your email you don’t know what you’re going to get – it may be nothing or it may be a really cool email. #Social media and apps use the same principles as slot machines: intermittent reinforcement. As a 90s kid I’ve grown up with the internet and all its benefits – but also can’t help myself from switching tabs the second I need to think about something difficult. The internet “is designed to be an interruption system”, and we are “addicted to distraction”, argues Nicholas Carr. The latest annualised productivity growth rate was minus 0.4%. There are no end of op-eds and studies arguing we are hopelessly hooked and most people I know have problems with internet addiction and we’re creating a culture of distraction – and the economic data says the same thing: the US output per hour (a standard measure of labour productivity) has decreased from an annual rate of 3% between 1945 and the 1970s to 0.5% since 2010. As Alain de Botton commented up top, we’ve experienced an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything in recent years and this is a problem. For you that may mean something similar any sort of computer work and the concept stands. For me that typically means writing of some kind and project #planning. Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction So why am I so bad at doing #deep #work? And how can you start using it in practice? Are we getting more distracted? Deep work requires prolonged periods of #concentration on hard problems. ![]()
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