[smcguinness]

I recently had to go through the process of "re-learning how to work." I didn't realize how bad I was at deep work, as the article references it as, until I quit my job and set out on my own full-time.

I found that I was replacing the normal interruptions of the office - meetings, email, phone calls, lunch; with getting distracted on social media, general reading, checking alerts, etc. It was like my brain was conditioned to expect a distraction and thus made me seek it out.

It took some effort, but making sure I am organized for the week has really helped as I know what I need to get done. Also, I've now been able to use my "distracted level" as a litmus test of how organized I am. I know when I'm not focused as much as I should, I need to spend some time on my planning.

edit: grammar

[peterbsmith]

whew! you're nailing it, good thing you're not taking silly breaks like going on hacker news and posting comments instead of working!

[s3arch]

Deep work is not only about spending maximum time on what you really want to do. It more on how you get the maximum efficiency out of it.

And oh yes, "deliberate distraction" is highly recommended while doing deep work. So there is nothing wrong posting comments related to deep work on HN. :)