24 lines
No EOL
1.6 KiB
Markdown
24 lines
No EOL
1.6 KiB
Markdown
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title: Deep work is unnatural, real, and non-negotiable
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date: 2023-05-11T20:48:10.313Z
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slug: 2023-05-11-deep-work
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author: Thomas Wilson
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---
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By nature I am very opinionated, so I try hard to make my opinions changeable. It's the least I can do for other people.
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There are a handful of beliefs that you shouldn't flex on. One such belief is that the kinds of problems I like working with demand deep work.
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I build software and (increasingly) teams that build software, I make clothes, I run/cycle.
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The quality of work that comes from uninterrupted, narrow, intense *thinking* needs to be treated as a particularly rare animal that you desperately want to live in the habitat of your life or your work.
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Unfortunately, deep work is not particularly natural, or urgent, or sturdy. The overgrown vines of life will push it out – a full calendar, messages/emails, an early appointment overrunning by five minutes.
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The cue for deep work is rarely self-evident or pressing, though we long dream of the empty calendar block.
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This means that culture, the people around you (who are not you), need to recognise deep work as a real and non-negotiable kind of work.
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I am trying to be that kind of colleague, that person who's pushing others re-prioritise (at least a little) deep work. I'm trying to pump up the Social Approval Dopamine, to counter the Replying To An Instant Message Dopamine that the deep work competes with.
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Because the deep work is so hard to attract, and then to keep around - I think having to convince others of its existence and benefits would be too much. It would be unwieldy, and twice the work. |