DEEP WORK: How can you retrain your mind to concentrate?

I will be giving a talk on the subject of "Deep Work" at the Therapy Leipzig. Here you can benefit directly:

Modern working days are full of interruptions such as email notifications, social media updates and calls from the boss. Yet these distractions are a significant waste of time and talent. Because every time we respond to a signal or distraction or check our phone, we lose our concentration. Deep work, intense and focussed work, is necessary to perform better and be creative.

Cal Newport, author of Deep work: rules for concentrated work in a distracted worldt, describes the practices of a number of prominent intellectuals who have consciously disconnected from the outside world in order to think deeply. However, not all of us have the brilliance of Jung or Rowling, so the question is how we can avoid replying to our boss's email or returning his call.

Newport advocates having a dialogue with your boss and specifying in your job description what deep work is for you. Based on this, you can set a few hours a day during which you are completely unavailable and focus on the work that adds value to your organisation. However, this requires a radical change in the way we communicate and what expectations others have.

There are also tips on how to retrain your mind to focus, such as refraining from using social media, not responding to emails or phone calls, planning your week and observing a nightly ritual. The deep work is not meant to create a life where inspiration is impossible and work-life balance is an illusion, but to create a life where inspiration is possible and work-life balance is not a fiction.

You don't have to be a member of top management or the "big boss" of a company to be involved in deep work. You could also be a newcomer and this could be your first job. As long as you are able to clarify your manager's communication expectations and, most importantly, deliver results, you should be fine.

Of course, you can't make time for deep work by playing video games or surfing the internet. So is deep work only reserved for engineers and accountants? Not for creative people like us? It's easy to ignore serious work as inappropriate for artistic professions. Newport disagrees with this assumption: "Very creative people are surprisingly organised in their approach to the day." "...excellent creative thinkers manage their time like accountants...they are very controlled and methodical with their time, but they produce the most brilliant and creative discoveries."

I didn't have to go far to see this idea confirmed. One of my contemporaries, an amazing journalist whom I adore, divides his day with the precision of a timetable, yet still manages to deliver incisive insights into the subject he covers, read a lot of heavy books, squeeze in a workout and paint. To me, he epitomises the famous Chuck Close quote: Inspiration is for amateurs. If anything, creative people are better suited to serious work.

How can you retrain your mind to concentrate?

There are various tips for training the mind to concentrate better:

1. Plan fixed times for concentrated work without distractions.
2. Switch off your phone during the Deep Work phase.
3. Avoid using social media during working hours.
4. Use special apps that promote concentration and minimise distractions.
5. Create a detailed to-do list for your tasks and prioritise them.
6. Reduce your e-mail communication to a minimum and only reply to e-mails at certain times.
7. Create a focussed working environment that is free from distractions.
8. Use Pomodoro techniques to focus on a specific task.
9. Avoid interruptions by employees or colleagues.
10. Talk to your line manager about how you can organise your working hours so that you can practise deep work and negotiate this if necessary.

The aim of Deep Work is to create a life in which inspiration is possible and work-life balance is not an illusion.

If you are curious and would like to find out more about Deep Work, I recommend you get in touch with our digital society expert, Sanjay Sauldieand arrange a free initial consultation.