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You are listening to Making Sense of Work with Jean Balfour.

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Hi everyone and welcome to Making Sense of Work. I'm lucky enough to be back from a fabulous week in Bali. I went to do some deep work and writing. So it wasn't really a holiday, it was more of a work retreat, I guess you'd call it. Over the past few months, I've been looking for ways to write and to spend longer periods on my writing. In December, I was beginning to feel really in quite a bit of despair about it. I was doing a little bit of writing, but I wasn't getting down to the projects I needed to complete, and I wasn't doing the creative work I'd planned. I found myself putting it off and really actually feeling quite frustrated that I wasn't getting anywhere. I was managing to do the podcast, but I wasn't getting to other deep work projects. So in January, I decided to go back and have a look at what was getting in my way and to see if I could really improve the way I was working to come up with another way of getting down to these kind of big projects, these important projects in my life. To be honest, I was a bit frightened that I've actually lost the ability to focus for long periods of time on something. I was actually beginning to wonder if I was a victim of what's happening in our modern world and that I was essentially distracted endlessly and not able to sink into the things to get something done. And in this podcast, I'm going to share my thoughts about this journey and a bit about productivity and time management, and particularly about how we can focus and get more projects done. I'll share with you some of the thinking from my recent reads, and I'll also share with you what my own journey was like, and I'll tell you how Bali went towards the end of the podcast. To give you some context, I have been a productivity junkie. I read Getting Things Done by David Allen about 15 years ago, and I even went to hear him speak a few years ago. He wrote that book, which was really about a complete way for time management and productivity. And I read his book and I put all of his strategies into place. I bought a filing cabinet, I had folders, and I used his lists of sort of doing brain dance, getting everything out, and then putting it in the right place. I tried his brown on zero inbox and never looking at emails more than once. And it lasted for a little while and then it fell by the waveside. Since then, I've tried endless apps. I've bullet journaled. I've tried to eat frogs. For those of you who know the book, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. I had a file of facts to manage my time. And if you're younger than Cersei, you'll probably need to ask somebody what that even is. And I did a lot of other little things. And the truth is that I wasn't bad at it. I've been pretty good at managing my time and getting my big projects done. But over the last few years, it has felt harder and harder. And I was feeling very torn about this. I wanted to do more projects. It involved me doing deeper work, spending longer periods on things. I had a very personal drive to do this more focused work, but I was really struggling to get down to it. So I really set myself a project to see if I could do something about it. I was also aware over the last year, a couple of years, about the talk about improving productivity, this idea of getting more done in less time. And usually what people were writing about was so that we could get more done, so that there was space to do more. And this always felt a bit wrong to me. I really felt like surely we could be working differently to free up time so we could not work 10 hours a day, so that we could solve some of this perennial work-life balance problem that we really have been struggling with. And some of the productivity tools are talking about things like inbox zero, which I've tried. But when I talk to my coaching clients about this, particularly if you're in a large organization, that's a fantasy. The idea that you will ever clear out your inbox is really hard. And all these time management theories, so that we could be more productive, so that we could get more done, I've always had a bit of a theory that they were designed by people who were already quite organized to control people who weren't very organized, that time management was actually designed by the people who were good at time management for the people who were bad at it. And it was a bit of a kind of punitive tool. When I was thinking about this get more done in less time, I ended up feeling quite stressed because it felt like I was working towards an end product. So for me personally, I wanted to be productive, but in a way that gave me space and time to think more deeply, to do more deep work, to spend quality time on projects that mattered to me and not to get productive so that I could push things through. So here I was, and here I've been with a problem that I'm quite interested in and I was struggling with. I wanted to do something about it. So I went to the place that I would normally go, and that is that I decided to read. I went looking for the books that I thought would help me. And in fact, this has been going on for about two or three years during COVID, probably a little bit before COVID. And I've kind of come to a place where I think there are where I think there are four books that have that have helped me think about it and helped me come to an outcome that I'm actually quite happy with. So the four books are Stolen Focus by Johan Harry, 4,000 Weeks, which was only recently published by Oliver Berkman, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and perhaps most impactful, Deep Work by Carl Newport. And I'll make sure there are links to all of these in the show notes. I'm going to share a little bit of the learning from each of these books and then bring you back to how I've applied them in my own life. I'm going to start with Stolen Focus by Johan Harry. And I'm starting here because his book is describing some of the cores of our problem. He's really talking about how tech has taken over our lives and how it is designed actually to do that. It's designed to distract us and to draw our focus away from that whatever else we're doing into the device, into the product itself, or into the app itself that we're using. And he talks about how something as simple as having your phone in the room with you when you're trying to focus on something causes a problem because when we see it out of the corner of our eye, our mind is instantly pulled away to wonder what's going on in it. He talks about volumes of interruptions that we have in our daily lives, which won't surprise you. You're experiencing this. We're all experiencing this. He talks about how most office workers are not getting an hour a day to focus and sometimes not even an hour a week. He also talks about something key here, which is that it's not just the focus and this ability to kind of get into things that's missing, it's also mind wandering. And I've also been reading about this because I've been reading about part of our brains called the default mode network. This is the part of our brain that's working when we're not concentrating. So when we're not thinking about anything, we our brains are actually working quite hard. They're processing things. And what the researchers are saying is that when we're focusing on our computers, on our devices, on our phones, actually we are focusing. Our focus is a bit narrowed. And our default mode network, which holds a lot of creativity, actually isn't in operation. And that we maybe need to step away from our devices in order to let our minds wander. And there's a bit of a trap here because the default mode network and that wandering can turn into rumination. So we have to be careful to kind of direct it with a question towards creativity, but actually stepping away from those things that are drawing us and that are distracting us is really important. So from his book, there's a couple of really key takeaways. The first is he talks about flow, he comes to this idea that we need this uninterrupted time in order to get into creative and flow states, because that's where we get our best work done. And whilst his book is not a practical book, it's not a book with loads of tips, I think this is one of the areas that he does provide some practical suggestions. He talks about how, in order to get into a state of flow, it's important for us to focus on a single goal and then to push ourselves to the edge of our abilities in that. So to really stretch that. And I'll talk about how I was doing that in a short while. The other is back to the piece about mind wandering, to step away. So he said that one of the things that he's learned from his research, and he did some personal research, which is really interesting to read, is that he goes for a daily walk without listening to anything. So he sets aside time for his default mode network to process things, to ruminate, to kind of wander around things, to kind of take some creative questions apart. I guess the simplest way of thinking about this part of the brain is that it's presumably working when we're in the shower and we have those bright ideas. And so he's saying we need to actually plan time when we're allowing the default mode network to work because some good creativity sits there. The second book that I'm just going to talk about briefly is 4,000 weeks by Oliver Berkman, which was published recently. So his premise is that we cannot possibly get everything done that we dream about doing, and that we will never be on top of things, and that the more we try to fit everything in, the less time we make for what's really important. And his point is that we only have 4,000 weeks in an average lifespan. And it's really worth thinking about where do we want our focus to go in those 4,000 weeks? He really makes the point that when we are more productive, we just try to squeeze more in. So he's talking to that point I was mentioning earlier, and that maybe we just have to learn to live with a feeling of being overwhelmed. And in his words, instead of clearing the decks, we need to decline to clear the decks. We need to appreciate that in our modern world, it's not possible. There will always be more. We just have to let that concept of more go. And instead of squeezing and rushing, we need to prioritize what's meaningful. This resonated with me so much. My to-do list and my emails have been ruling my life a bit. And the projects that mattered to me were actually being squeezed by those. They were being pushed to the edge of my desk and my time. And that was causing me some upset. And so if I think about how am I spending my 4,000 weeks, actually, I needed to re-prioritize and do something differently. So as I said, I think perhaps the book that's impacted me the most is Carl Newport's Deep Work. And I've read this book two or three times because it made so much sense to me. And he's saying that our problem isn't productivity, it's focus. So very much like Johan Harry, he's saying that our problem is our commitment to focused work. And so in the middle of last year, I came back to it actually to begin to think about how I could apply this in my life and work. So he actually centers his book around this idea that in order for us to thrive in our current economy, in our work, there are two abilities that we need to develop. The first is the ability to master hard things quickly. And the second is the ability to produce at an elite level and in terms of both quality and speed. So he's saying we need to do things that may be challenging and we need to do them quickly. Now, neither of these we're going to achieve in five-minute sprints in between emails, WhatsApp, and meetings. And he really goes on to say that if we don't produce meaningful work, we won't actually thrive. That this is so important in our modern knowledge economies. But this is so hard. And we have to be really intentional about creating the conditions for this. If you think about when you need to write a report for your boss or the board, your career depends on you having focused time to work on it. If a client needs a good proposal for something, or a colleague needs a considered response to an email, then these all need us to step away and to stop and focus. So his solution for this was to look at the idea of time boxing and batching, and particularly batching deep work. And he shares the examples of Adam Grant. So Adam Grant talks about that he has periods where he's writing and researching, and sometimes during those periods he is in his office, but he puts an out of office on, or when it's turn time and he is teaching and he needs to be available to students, even then, he's only available in time slots. I've done a lot of work with academics, clinical academics, who are really their lives are completely full, and they will all describe this way of working. They'll have maybe one day a week where they're completely unavailable to anybody, and they sit down and they sink into their projects on that day. Now, for most of you, for me, most of that isn't possible. So we have to find a different way of doing it, but still use these principles. Time boxing, that's creating clear bits of time where we're doing that work and batching it. So saying in that clear bit of time, this is the work I'm doing. So for example, you could, if your job allows you, decide to do your emails three or four times a day in some particular slots. This morning I decided to do my emails between 8:30 and 9. I set a timer, I put the timer on, I went through them, and actually I got them done really quickly because that was all I was doing, that was what I was sinking into. So time boxing is setting aside those boxes of time and then batching, doing particular types of work in those times. So you can do it. You can say, okay, for the next 30 minutes, I'm writing this report, you set a goal for it so that you're focused on that goal, put on some noise cancelling headsets or some music and get writing. But you're thinking to this and thinking, how can I do this in my team? Well, have conversations with your colleagues. Everybody is struggling with this. And there may be ways that you can cover each other, that you can think about how we can do this, how can we set aside time so that we can focus on our work? The final book I want to come to is James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. And of course, this is a book about creating habits. But for me, this book's been really helpful in looking through the lens of how do I create a deep work habit? How do I create a habit where I am making time for focus and that is really working? And there are two things that I've done and taken away from this book. The first is he talks about small steps in habits and building up. So he is it's like with any exercise routine or anything. He said it's better to do five minutes every day than to plan for 30 minutes and not do 30 minutes. So, for example, if you are time boxing and you think 30 minutes is even too long, start with 15 minutes and try to do it every day. As I said, I use a timer so that I can get that going. The other thing that I have found really helpful is he talks about creating environments that support the habits that you're building. So this means starting with putting your phone in another room, closing the other apps that are open on your computer if you're working on your computer. I have a deep work playlist on Spotify, which I was listening to as I was writing this. Sometimes I light a candle, sometimes I have a particular place in the apartment where I like to do writing. So I move my laptop there and I sit there. Um, whatever it is, but creating an environment that says, okay, in this 30-minute slot, I'm doing a piece of deep work, I'm focusing, that's what I'm doing. And the environment creates the context for that. So how did Vali go and what happened? Well, prior to going to Vali, I was doing a bit better. I set aside in our most days, I did my little rituals, I made tea, I lit a candle, I put my music on, and I was getting better at writing and the other deep work projects. I noticed that, particularly in January and February, I'm recording this at the end of March. I would look at my watch after longer periods. So at the start, at the beginning of January, I was lucky to get to 10 minutes before I'd think, oh, I've been working so long, oh, only 10 minutes. But by the time I went to Bali, that was really getting to 45 minutes, and I was just sinking into the work, doing the work, and then 45 minutes would be up. So Bali was a bit of a test to see if I could go longer than an hour. I really wanted to get a lot done on this particular writing project I was doing, and I wanted to see how it would work. Well, it really did work. I decided what I would write in the mornings and I played with things, having breakfast before or after I started doing some yoga during the morning. But basically, I said, I'm going to set aside four hours and I'm going to aim to have three hours of deep work in two or three slots during the morning. So that would mean that I worked for an hour or an hour and a half, and then I took a break for 10 or 15 minutes or even 30 minutes, and then I went back to the next slot. And then in the afternoon, I would talk to the team, do emails, do other work that didn't require that kind of level of focus and deep work. And by day three, I was really stunned to see that I worked for an hour and a half before I even noticed that I'd gone for an hour and a half. I didn't even get up to make coffee. And it was such an enormous shift for me because I got masses done, absolutely masses written. I enjoyed it, I had such a sense of satisfaction, and I really felt like I was doing something meaningful. I was doing what I wanted to be doing in my 4,000 weeks. And sure, I was in a beautiful environment that helped. I had people cooking for me, that also helped, but actually, I had such a strong sense of working on something that was aligned with my purpose and that I was making time for it and focusing on it. So it was a great learning that all of my reading on this is has really paid off and the kind of things that I've put in practice. Of course, this week's been a bit of a test. I've been back in the office all week and I've had loads of meetings. So it's been a bit harder. But even sitting down on a Friday afternoon to write this, it was kind of easy, actually, because I know, I know that I haven't lost that ability to focus and I haven't lost that ability to do deep work. It's about discipline. It's about making the time and making it happen. And so I really encourage you to think about this. How could you make the time to work on those projects that really matter to you? Put the time in your calendar, prioritize it, and do it. And treat it as a muscle that you need to develop and kind of like going to the gym. See that this is something I'm gonna have to make myself do. I want to finish with some insights from Stephen Pressfield. He is a novelist and he also writes a lot about the creative act and particularly about the process of writing. His view is simple. He says we need to put our backsides in the chair and get on with it. He doesn't use that word. Whatever it is for you, whether that's writing a report or a presentation, writing the next best seller, preparing for an exam maybe, or crunching numbers for the CEO, we shouldn't wait for inspiration at this point. We just need to make ourselves do it. We need to set the environment, sit in the chair, and do the work. I really hope there are some insights here to help you think about your own ability to focus and get meaningful, deep work done. As I said, I'll put links to all the books in the show notes. I'd also really love to hear from you what you recommend, books that you've read or the practices that you're using to help you get your meaningful projects happening and moving and coming out with a good output.

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Thanks for joining this episode of Making Sense of Work. If you enjoyed it, please go and subscribe, rate, and review. If you have a topic you'd like me to explore in the podcast, please follow the show notes and send me a message.