2-3-4 Friday - I’m pretending to work - are you?
‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’
1 thought
When COVID-19 forced us to work from home in April 2020, that was when I realised that most of the work I did could be done in 2 hours. I saw how much of the time spent in the office was time spent pretending to work, rather than time spent working.
Cal Newport, the author of "Deep Work", argues that the optimal amount of time we can spend in deep work is about 4 hours. He defines deep work as:
Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
Things like email, messaging, aren’t deep work. But we may be spending most time in offices doing that, because it’s easier.
Perhaps a more helpful way is to explore what are the biggest drivers of value for your work.
- What are the goals for a top-performer in your job?
- What are the 2 daily actions that will contribute to that?
For example, as a salesperson, your biggest goal may be to increase revenue. The two most important actions are for you to prospect potential clients, and to meet clients.
When you start focusing on the most important actions, you work less. And you stop pretending to work.
1 talk
Are you working, or pretending to work?
1 tip
The hustle culture is oh, so seductive.
Telling people you’re busy with work, is much more attractive than telling people that you’re actually just sending emails around. Even when you’re not very sure what sending emails contributes to.
There are better ways to spend your life than sending emails or replying WhatsApp.
One way to overcome this is to enforce limits onto your working hours. If you had to go home everyday at 5, you wouldn’t be wasting your time.
P.S. Want to think differently about a problem you're facing? Let’s chat (and no worries, there's no fee!)
John
Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love