Protecting deep work
The most valuable work needs long stretches of uninterrupted focus. Protecting these blocks in your calendar and environment produces more than any productivity trick.
Key ideas
- Deep work needs blocks of at least sixty to ninety minutes.
- Schedule deep work like an important meeting.
- Your environment should make distraction harder.
Step by step
- 1
Identify the work that needs your full concentration.
- 2
Book two or three deep-work blocks in your calendar each week.
- 3
Remove distractions: phone away, notifications off, door closed.
- 4
Start each block by writing the outcome you will produce.
Example
A researcher books three mornings a week from 8 to 10 with her phone in another room. She finishes a paper that had stalled for six months in five weeks.
Your drill
Schedule two deep-work blocks for next week and prepare your environment the evening before.
Common mistakes
- Leaving deep work for whatever time is left over.
- Keeping the phone within reach during deep work.
Check yourself
Why schedule deep work in your calendar?
Show the answer
Unscheduled time gets filled by others' requests; booking it protects your most valuable work.
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