Rule 4
Rule #4
Drain the Shallows
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Reduction of workweek at Basecamp eliminated shallow works but did not effect deep work.
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People had to make sure things get done in time so they opted to spend their time more doing deep work.
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This resulted in reducing low-impact shallow work but didn't cause any problems with the core important work being done.
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Removing shallow work completely is not possible. You need some of them to function properly in modern society.
- Don't try to eliminate it. But do try to tame it.
- You can only do deep work within your cognitive capacity. If you push, you will get exhausted.
- This means when given 8 hours to work a day, if you have a capacity to work in a deep state for 4 hours, you are safe to spend time on shallow work for the rest of the 4 hours.
Schedule Every Minute of Your Day
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We spend a lot of our time on autopilot, not giving much thought to what we do.
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Schedule every minute of your day, with 30 minute blocks.
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You will quickly find that your estimations will be wrong.
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Reschedule if you are falling behind.
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The goal is not to stick to a schedule religiously.
- You are most likely going to deviate from your schedule.
- The goal is to be mindful of the what you are going to do moving forward even if you have to re-do the scheduling every time you finish a block.
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Sometimes deep work will spark you with an important insight and will override all the schedules you have made for that day, and this is okay. It is an exception worth making.
- This is allowing spontaneity in your schedule.
- Again, scheduling is not about constraining yourself, but is to be thoughtful of what you are going to do moving forward.
- treating your time with respect.
Quantify the Depth of Every Activity.
- You can't eliminate shallow work, but you do have to evaluate how shallow some works are, so that you can prioritize.
- Ask yourself, how many months will it take for a fresh college grad to learn to do this task successfully?
- If the number is high, prioritize it higher.
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