There are worse places to write about deep work than sitting by the pool at a house just outside of Palm Springs, CA. Honestly, though, I struggled to concentrate this week despite finding so many things within Cal Newport\u2019s book that could eventually be life changing for me. When I opened the book and saw words like \u201crules\u201d and \u201cstrategies\u201d I nearly set it aside for a time when I could give it better attention. Instead, I read through the book and decided to choose one or two things on which I could \u201cmarinate\u201d throughout the week. This turned out to be a really good strategy.<\/p>\n
I try to meditate every morning; not the kind of meditating Newport talks about, but meditation in which I give my full focus to breathing and centering prayer. This week, I chose to spend time meditating on Newton\u2019s Rule #1: Work Deeply. Each day I focused on one or two of the strategies for this rule (Decide on your Deep Work Philosophy; Ritualize; Make Grand Gestures; Work With Others; Execute Like a Business; and Be Lazy. I wasn\u2019t sure if this would have any effect on me, but I figured it would be worth a try. I won\u2019t go into the details of every day, but the first two days really clarified why Newport\u2019s ideas, rules, and strategies are important \u2013 at least for me \u2013 when it comes to surviving and flourishing in the deep work of our program.<\/p>\n
On day one, I tried to imagine myself using the various philosophies suggested and realized that the philosophy I gravitate toward is \u201cRhythmic.\u201d I like to set aside a particular time every day to work on my weekly assignment and particular days to work on research. I set my timer for one hour at a time and take a 5-minute break when the timer goes off. These are rhythms that help me stay focused.<\/p>\n
On day two, I pictured the rituals that keep me focused \u2013 my desk, the way I organize my books, my preferred highlighters and post-it tags, the way I take notes \u2013 these signal my brain that deep work is about to happen. I have my coffee and water close by and try to minimize any distractions. I had never realized how these things help me focus and slip into the deep work necessary to do the work I do each week.<\/p>\n
What strikes me as most amazing is the way Newton\u2019s ideas have settled deep within as I practiced the strategy, \u201cBe Lazy.\u201d I have rested and relaxed more this week than I have in ages. Sunshine, warm water, and a lot of sleep have recharged my batteries and I find myself thinking creatively again, looking forward to research and writing. My husband and I are moving into a new place in a few weeks and I keep thinking about how I will set up my work space, which hours of each day I will work, how many days each week I will do research, and when I will rest. Newton doesn\u2019t call it a Sabbath, but that\u2019s what his \u201cbeing lazy\u201d idea is all about. It\u2019s part of the ritual and cycle of deep work. All the rituals and strategies will only take me so far. If I don\u2019t rest, I will wind up in a place where no deep work can happen. I\u2019ve spent some time there recently and it is a horrible place for a creative person. If I had one criticism of Newton\u2019s book it would be that I would like to see him put more emphasis on this rest part of the cycle. I love his ideas, but I think we emphasize strategies for work and forget to emphasize strategies for rest. Maybe that can be his next bestseller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are worse places to write about deep work than sitting by the pool at a house just outside of Palm Springs, CA. Honestly, though, I struggled to concentrate this week despite finding so many things within Cal Newport\u2019s book that could eventually be life changing for me. When I opened the book and saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[956,961],"class_list":["post-12731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-deep-work","tag-newton","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12732,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions\/12732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}