The Danger of Piecemeal Work

With my calendar getting filled up week by week, I find myself trying to slot in 30 or 60 minutes here and there for the focused activities I wanted to do, like writing, researching, and thinking through ideas to grow Speaking Your Brand into a training and development company.

But, this strategy of piecemeal work wasn’t cutting it. I would start to get into the groove, and then I’d have to stop to get on a call or go to an event.

I would get frustrated with myself for how easily I would lose focus and absentmindedly check Twitter and Facebook to see what was new.

Then I read a book that instantly changed the way I approach my work and my schedule: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.

In Deep Work, author Cal Newport argues that in our increasingly distracted and multi-tasking world, we’ve lost the ability to go deep, to work on something with intense focus for several hours (or even days) at a time.

As we jump around from our inbox to Facebook to doing a Google search to answering a call or text, our brains are actually becoming wired to resist focused work.

This has profound consequences for ourselves and for our businesses.

Without this ability to go deep, we can’t produce our best work, be creative and innovative, and truly set ourselves apart as leaders in our industry.

I’ve realized that I have to re-train my brain to be able to focus for long periods.

I’m now aiming to block off at least two mornings plus one full day a week for deep work (no meetings or calls). I’ve also re-committed to my morning meditation practice. I can already tell the difference.

What obstacles are standing in your way of achieving your goals – not the weekly tasks you diligently check off your to-do list, but the larger goals and vision you have for your business and your life?

What strategies do you use to do deep work? Comment and share below to let me know. I can always use some more!

Worth Reading

See above – Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport.

Worth Listening To

Podcasts are my addiction. I listen any chance I get – when I’m driving, cooking, cleaning, walking my cats (well, not so much the last one).

Here’s a good podcast episode I listened to this week: “Dear Music Fans…” (Season 3, Episode 4) from StartUp (if you’ve never listened to StartUp, go back and start with Season 1 because they are so good at storytelling). 

In this episode, they examine the rise and fall of Grooveshark, an online music streaming site. Interesting tidbit: When I spoke at the B.I.G. Summit in 2012 in Orlando, one of Grooveshark’s co-founders was the keynote speaker.

Worth Watching

One of my favorite TED talks is by Amy Cuddy, the author of Presence. (Think power pose!) Here’s a short 2-minute video from her on talking slowly and using pauses.

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