What's Inside:
🤓 Deep Work
🩺 Med-Diaries: #8
✏️ Insights - This week's podcasts, movies, books and other cool things
Deep work is the answer to getting everything done in a shorter amount of time, to the same or even a better standard.
I've been reading Deep Work by Cal Newport recently. It's not the best book in the world, but this lesson was a good one.
If I organise my life in such a way that I get lots of long, consecutive, uninterrupted time-chunks, I can write novels. If I instead get interrupted a lot, what replaces it? Instead of a novel that will be around for a long time...there is a bunch of e-mail messages that I have sent out to individual persons.
- Neal Stephenson
These days our version of 'deep work' is accompanied by notifications, emails, phone calls and other little distractions. It's very rare for someone to completely go off the grid for a couple of hours to complete a piece of work, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't.
The modern workplace is all about collaboration and working together, so being on standby for calls and emails makes sense, but it comes at the cost of real deep work. The type of deep work that leads to the greatest novels and discoveries of all time. I doubt as much discovery would have happened in history if they had the distractions around that we have today.
The type of deep work I'm talking about is locking yourself in a cabin with no form of contact, with only the items you need for work in front of you. Obviously, that's pretty impossible to achieve unless you have a big budget and flexibility - which most of us don’t. But I know that, so I laid out the steps that I take to achieve deep work from any location.
Definitnion of 'Deep Work': Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
- Cal Newport, Deep Work (Book)
How I do Deep Work
My phone is off, out of reach and sight. I find that even if I can see my phone, it acts as a distraction.
I tell any colleagues, flatmates, family members or loved ones that I won't be available for a few hours so no one distracts me.
I clear my workspace of all decorations, plants and distractions. They look pretty, but when I'm doing a serious piece of work they all go.
I set out what it is that I want to accomplish with that work session - keep this to a maximum of one thing - i.e. I will write the first draft of this blog post.
The aim is to work for a prolonged period of time (a few hours, with breaks) so you can completely immerse yourself in what you're doing. It takes around 45 minutes to reach what people call 'flow', known as the optimal level of focus. With deep work, you should be even more likely to achieve that and once you do, ride it until you finish what you're doing.
The Deep Work Schedule
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” — Benjamin Franklin
The idea of deep work is nice but finding time for it is difficult. That's why planning is essential.
Personally, I find that early mornings are the best times to do deep work. That's usually when everyone else is asleep so you can get some uninterrupted alone time. Social media isn't active. No emails or texts come through. No distractions.
The difficulty is waking up at that time consistently, which is something I'm working on. I’ll do a post in the coming weeks about sleep routine once I have it on lock.
How to Set Your Routine
Mornings are my thing, but I understand that they aren’t ideal for everyone, so here's an alternative approach.
For the next week, make note of the times of day when you feel most energised and ready to tackle work. After a week of collecting that data, you will know roughly what time of day is your peak productivity period. Ideally, you want to get some deep work in this time slot, or close to it.
The final step is to plan and execute.
Success lies in your ability to stick to that plan. I know that's not easy, so if you need advice on the organisation or discipline you might want to read these older blog posts below:
Issue #28: How to do To-Do lists
Issue #26: Focus
NOTE: If you're planning your work (well done to you!) but keep in mind, you're human and you need time to relax, so ALWAYS include fun activities in your plan along with the work. It helps. The main thing that gets me through my work is knowing I can see my friends, play football or go to the gym once I’m done. It’s those fun activities that will get you through the tough work period.
You got this.
Next time you have an important piece of work to do, try to find the space and time for deep work, I promise you won't regret it.
🩺 Med-Diaries #8
This week was great. My anatomy sessions all went smoothly because I did all the prep work ahead of time and understood it all (after some hard work), Alhamdulillah. I have a gym buddy now and we’ve been training regularly (shoutout Fahed) and I had one of the most enjoyable 5 aside games of my life this week. Oh, also my health is back to normal, Alhamdulillah².
I’ve kept on top of Dermatology and Head & Neck. My new study method seems very efficient and pairing that with daily planning and Deep Work is going to work wonders 😍
This next week I have a few social events planned with friends but I’m done with the late nights (except next weekend, that’s an exception). I’m being a little more strict with my sleep schedule going forward because I really want to do get into exam mode for December. I’m on a mission to convert all my friends into 6am morning people.
What are you enjoying right now?
I’m loving my new friend group, my new block (Head & Neck) and my gym/football sessions. I’ve got this sudden urge to just try my best in everything and it feels really good.
What are you looking forward to?
There’s a big dinner next weekend and a HUGE gathering with some friends happening, I’m really looking forward to those because they will be my treats for working hard through the week.
What is your biggest worry?
Getting ill again. I WILL NOT allow that to happen. I’ve had enough of the flu this past month. I’m staying consistent with sleep, diet and exercise to stop that, insha’Allah.
✏️Insights
🎙️ Podcast: Thich Nhat Hanh: How to Listen with Compassion
Podcast Intro: Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, sits down with Oprah to discuss his dedication to mindful meditation and his legacy of nonviolent opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1966, the spiritual leader met with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War.
This episode was a good listen. If you’re into mindfulness and want peace in your life, I recommend listening to this. So many learning points. Thich Nhat Hanh is an author too if you’re into reading!
📚 Book - Wherever You Go, There You Are
This is my next read, I finished The 4 Agreements - I’ll be writing about it soon! This new book is about cultivating mindfulness. Someone recommended this to me a year ago but I never got around to reading it, so I’m starting it now
🎥 Movie: La La Land
This is a classic but I was reminded about it earlier this week by a good friend. If you’re into romantic movies, pianos and musicals you seriously need to watch it. Solid 9/10.
📸 Night Photography
This week I went stargazing at the lighthouse with my friends and I took my camera with me for some star photography. To say I used a 50mm lens and it was my first attempt, I didn’t do too bad. Take a look ⬇️
PS. If you like my photography, you can see more here.