#worknotes

March 23rd, 2020, when the government announced a lockdown suddenly, initially like most, I also took it as an extended holiday. But as it turned out, this became a painful experience for most. The life at home was not normal for many of us.

Recently I encountered this word ‘lockdown’ in a very different context. This was while listening to an audio podcast on ‘uncluttered and focused’ work hack methods. The author simply said that we need to lockdown, be detached and be in solitude in order to do quality work or ‘deep work’ as Carl Newport says in his research on the same subject.

I have spent a considerable part of my life in Bangladesh for professional reasons in late nineties. Very often there would be this extended ‘Hartals’ for political reasons which would force people to confine themselves at home. Very much like the lockdowns these would sometime extend for weeks and months at a stretch. But, now I can recall generally nobody complained for being at home for this extended period. I wonder what made that difference.

I now realize the answer lies in the methods and principles of doing a deep work.

1. It is all about time management. I am a great believer in scheduling work. ‘It’s what gets written, is what gets done’. Schedule every second of your time. And here it is not about your work only. Every activity whether it is work or otherwise needs to be scheduled.

2. Define ‘Deep Work’ and ‘Routine Work’ for yourself.Set your long term and short term goals. What will bring results for your goals defines what is Deep work for you. What actions projects needs to be undertaken is defined by the goals that you set. Block time for the ‘Deep Work’.

3. Quality work is about less distraction. In order to be able to do quality work, one has to remove all distractions. Emails, phone, social media, meetings are all distractions. Unfortunately for most of us our daily work is basically attending to these distractions. Random phone calls, unnecessary meetings, social media is what generally keeps us busy.

a. Schedule specific time in a day for Emails and Social Media. Avoid if you can totally. Research says Social media is being developed with an addictive algorithm. More you consume the more you get addicted. I too had the withdrawl symptom when I removed all notifications and a deleted some accounts. But, now it has helped to concentrate and focus.

b. Say ‘NO’ to meetings. Alternatively keep it short. Not more than may be 45 mts.

c. Keep the phone away. While on a work, keep the phone away. Inform concerned that you are not available for couple of hours. Believe me nothing happens. Incase someone has to reach you on an emergency they will by some means.

d. Schedule your routine work. Club all your routine work and schedule it. Routine calls, Emails, follow-ups, reports, review meetings, block a specific time of the day for this rather than randomly looking at it.

4. Define your work hours: The endless hours at work, bringing work at home during the weekend results in burnouts. Restrict your work hours 4-8 hours a day. Don’t schedule work during the weekends. Restricted, scarce work hours would lead to focused work.

5. Life Beyond Work. This is what Lockdown has taught me. The constant busyness at work is killing. It affects your health, relationships, social worthiness, even you intellectual thinking. There is life beyond work and you need to participant in that. I realized my friends in Bangladesh had invested in their relationships. Over a period of time they invested in the social network and mobilization very strongly. These connects helped them survive the extended physical distancing. Their own network supported each other. Work was not the only priority.

6. Replace Digital time with Physical Creative time.Important that we find physical activities which can be replace during the time we spend of digital media. Family interaction, reading, hobbies is what I’m trying to get back to last few years. Our children’s have to learn this very fast.

7. Create ‘Side Hustles’. These may be creative pursuits which can pursued outside the work hours. These may lead to alternate financial income sources in future. Many of us have realized the importance of the same during these lockdowns.