Rule #3 of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, asks us to quit social media, sort of. Deep work requires space to think without distraction. To find that time, like space in a desk drawer, something needs to be cleared out. The author suggests spending less or no time on high-distraction, low-value work. In most of our careers, social media fits that bill. The point is less a rant about social media but rather a need to evaluate the cost of an activity and compare it to the benefit.
In Week 3 I documented a laundry list of “tools” that vie for my attention regularly. At least six are social media sites – I am a little fuzzy on the definition. Newport’s discussion of the “any benefit” rationale for using social media (or any tool) is quite stinging. The gist is that any perceived benefit is enough to rationalize utilizing a tool. I am amused by random Far Side cartoons therefore that is enough benefit for me to spend time, sometimes a lot of time, doom scrolling through Facebook. When I first began my podcast in January of 2007, Twitter was new. In those early days, there was a first-mover effect in combining the two media. I was able to build an audience. In 2021, X is a cesspool I rarely visit and podcasts are not “new.” I judge the podcast still has value to my practice, X does not. The unstated however is that I still visit the account, although I have all notifications turned off. I recognize that once you have invited a tool into your toolbox, they are difficult to remove. I have five active email addresses on three separate platforms. I felt they had some value in the past, what that was in some cases is now a mystery. Taking back control from the diversions is important to clawing back time for deep work.
The author lays out an approach to determine whether the cost of a tool (social media or application lifecycle tool) is more or less than the benefit delivered. The process
- Identify main-level goals. The goals are a few top-level goals or OKrs. They are the big things – writing a new book or being a better friend.
- Identify a few (Newport suggests 2 or 3) of the most important activities needed to satisfy your goal. When I tried this activity I had to fight to keep from creating a mindmap with as many of the steps as possible. After a few the level of importance declines.
- Using the (short) list of activities, review each tool and ask yourself what the impact (plus or minus) the tool contributes to completing the activity.
The tools that get in the way should be gotten out of the way. Even though this chapter’s title is Quit Social Media, it is about all tools. Social media and collaboration tools are just the most pernicious of the distractors. In my experiment with this approach, I decided that having and using three whiteboarding and two mind-mapping tools was a level of overhead I did not need. I am working on extracting data from three of those five tools. Horrary me! I am also pulling X and Threads off my phone, iPad, and laptop to see if I can avoid signing in for thirty days. If I can, I will let the accounts atrophy.
A final item in this chapter is the idea of structuring free time. Structuring free time helps to eliminate the pull of social media and doom surfing. Structuring time breaks the pattern of reaching for the internet as a narcotic and allows your mind to recharge. I am still chewing on this. To gather some experiential data, my wife and I decided to experiment with the idea. We receive an allocation of food from a community support agriculture group weekly. Over the past few weeks, things have piled up. In a structuring experiment, we put processing (prepping, cooking, and freezing) on the calendar for each Wednesday evening. After week one, we have dessert in the freezer for the next six months – we had a lot of rhubarb and apples. A structured approach to free time is tasty if nothing else.
We are two or three weeks from completing our re-read of Deep Work. I am interested in your suggestions for the next book in our re-read series.
Remember to buy a copy of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World and read along.
Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – https://bit.ly/43fGAMX
Week 2: Deep Work Is Valuable – https://bit.ly/3TznAVd
Week 3: Deep Work Is Rare – https://bit.ly/4afglsG
Week 4: Deep Work Is Meaningful – https://bit.ly/3vRso09
Week 5: Work Deeply – https://bit.ly/4aQ5Uvq
Week 6: Embrace Boredom – https://bit.ly/3JoBDIB
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