The 4 Philosophies of Deep Work

Day 290 / 365

This is another blog post based on the Carl Newport book “Deep Work” that I am currently reading. We have seen the importance of Deep work in yesterday's blog. But just knowing what the right thing to do is easy; what’s tough is how to actually execute it.

We could just use sheer will power to force ourself to do deep work. But you would soon figure out that this approach is not sustainable, as our will power is not infinite, and will get depleted over time. What you have to do is develop a philosophy that suits you and that would enable you to do deep work. Carl talks about fours such philosophies in this book -

The Monastic Philosophy

This philosophy believes in eliminating all shallow work and responsibilities to maximize deep work. Consider the famous computer programmer and writer Donald Knuth. He has not had an email address since 1990. He has a postal address, and his secretary goes through all his mail and only forwards him the important stuff.

Bimodal Philosophy

This is similar to the monastic philosophy, but it limits the isolation from shallow work for a fixed interval of time. This interval usually has to be a few days for it to make any effect. Many writers and CEOs often isolate themselves in an off-the-grid cabin to work on something important.

The Rhythmic Philosophy

This one is probably the most suitable for everyday office workers, who can’t close their email account nor disappear in a forest for a month. This philosophy suggests creating a daily ritual for practicing deep work. You need to fix the time, the duration, and the task you will be doing. The ritualistic aspect of it allows you to slip into a deep work mode easily with time.

The Journalistic Philosophy

This one is the toughest one, as it involves getting deep work done whenever you get time during the day. It’s named the Journalistic Philosophy as a journalist is expected to get into a writing mode at any given time. This is not meant for beginners.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Culture of Connectivity