Doing deep work by being messy?

I came across a review written by Mathew Guay on zapier.com of two recent books “Deep Work” by Cal Newport and “Messy” by Tim Harford. These books appear interesting enough to be read in full.

Guay says that the former preaches the evils of distraction and how our scattered workdays are leading to less fulfilling work. The latter entices your creative side, suggesting you embrace frustrations and make greatness out of the chaos. They’re opposite—and yet, not quite as opposite as they seem.

“To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction,” writes Newport. That’s the core idea behind deep work. You need to block out distraction and work on only one task without anything else in your mind—and you need to do that for as long a period as possible, every day. That, according to Newport, is how some of the greatest work is done. Newport suggest that High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus).

Newport argues it’s crucial to achieve deep work, and suggests 4 tips to make it possible: Work deeply: set aside time to work on projects without distractions, times when your colleagues know you are not to be bugged. Embrace boredom: stop checking your phone all the time. Learn how to concentrate, meditate, and focus on the task at hand instead of constantly looking for a hit of dopamine. Quit social media: simple enough. Don’t keep social networking—or other distracting things—around because they provide some value; instead, only keep tools that bring the most value to your work. Drain the shallows: scratch the least important work. Reduce commitments that don’t bring as much results, to focus on the things that do help achieve your goals.

Tim Harford’s book points out there can sometimes be a certain magic in mess. Somehow, that out-of-control craziness that life throws at you can be where the best sparks of inspiration come from. It’s not like every mess is good, that you should dump your wastebasket on your desk and keep social media open all day to stay on your toes. But it is true that it’s easy to get bogged down in work or a routine, and that it can take something to jar your attention and spark new ideas. In lieu of creating senseless messes, Harford recommends keeping multiple projects going at once. “In truly original work, there will always be impasses and blind alleys,” says Harford. “Having another project to turn to can prevent a setback from turning into a crushing experience.”

Guay suggest combining ideas from both these books. 1. Do The Most Valuable Work – It’s increasingly obvious that just doing stuff won’t cut it anymore. You need to do your very best work, keep learning throughout your life, and push yourself to try new things. 2. Set Quality Goals—Don’t Just do Busywork Make sure those goals are about the most important things. “In the absence of clear indicators of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs,” reminds Deep Work, “many knowledge workers turn back toward an industrial indicator of productivity: doing lots of stuff in a visible manner.” Don’t do that. Instead, figure out what matters, and do that. “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”