Anything of value that you wish to create will require a significant investment of time. Brilliant work is expensive.
I recently came across a new phrase while reading the book Essentialism by Greg Mckeown – “monk mode”. Mckeown was reflecting upon how the process of writing a book was taking a toll on him, especially in light of his existing commitments to business, family, and friends. He determined that he was going to go into monk mode for the following several months, declining all new invitations and opportunities, until his book was completed. He dedicated 5am to 1pm every day for nine months to the process of writing his book.
While appealing in concept, most people who hear this story would say “that’s great if you can manage it, but I don’t have that kind of discretion over my time.” I agree that most roles don’t allow this kind of latitude, but I’d challenge you to consider how the core principle might be applied nonetheless. You don’t need to dedicate eight hours a day to one project, but you can still carve out dedicated time for your most important work while closing the door to distractions and interruptions. Start with an hour or two a few times per week, and set it on your calendar.
Cal Newport calls this process “deep work”. He argues that the most effective way to produce high quality output on a project is to routinely dedicate chunks of time to its accomplishment. This is contrary to how most people I encounter in the marketplace actually work. Instead, they do their creative work in the “cracks” of their already busy meeting schedule, or in-between the more urgent e-mails beckoning them from their tyrannical inbox.
I’ve experienced the same effects through long periods of uninterrupted, focused time on a project. I’ve found that assigning time blocks to specific projects or tasks is often more effective than putting them on task lists, because it gives me permission to focus on one thing at a time. Brilliant work is expensive, because there is often a lot of “churn”. It may take two hours in order to get 30 minutes of solid, productive work done because there is always a task-switching penalty to be paid while trying to put yourself in the frame of mind necessary to think deeply about the problem.
You must be willing to invest large chunks of time in yourself and your work. Efficiency is great, when you can achieve it, but you cannot sacrifice long-term effectiveness on the altar of short-term efficiency.
1. Choose a particular project that’s important to you, and dedicate three blocks of time (at least an hour each) this week to working on it.
2. During that time, turn off all notifications, and if possible remove yourself from potential distractions.
3. If something comes up that could interfere with your plans, then politely decline and say that you already have a commitment during that time.
If your work is important to you, then it deserves dedicated time on your calendar. It’s an investment in yourself and in your body of work.
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This is such wise counsel. I wish I had read this before I lost money working with a book coach. This advice is insightful and thoughtful. You obviously care very much about aspiring authors. Thank you!
Read Mason Currey’s “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work,”from Kafka to Maya Angelou, Benjamin Franklin to Van Gogh, it’s fascinating to see what these great minds did every day. A major commonality in everyone was the time they’d set aside to do their work. They would be furious if interrupted or if their concentration was lost. They also would make sure they took time to take breaks, especially going for walks.
Loved that book, Matt. Found it very interesting, for sure.
Thanks for mentioning it, Matt. Sounds like a good jumping off place for sculpting our own artistry lives. Definitely going to look it up.
But, can I tell you how many strange looks I get when I tell people I don’t listen to music when I work? That I don’t answer my phone? That I work on one thing at a time? That I have civilized rituals like tea at 3:00? If you want what’s in my book, you’ll have to put up with my eccentricities!
Ritual and focused effort. What an antiquated idea… :)
Not taking the time to invest is a two sided coin- conceit on one side when we suppose we can do great work while focusing on other things, and devaluation on the other when we do not believe our work is worthy of our dedication. Why do we suppose we can turn out a work of any magnitude if we are cramming the making of it in around the edges? And yet we do. Thanks, Todd, for investing your time in your work today and leading the charge in one of the biggest paradoxes: that investing in our creativity benefits us all.
it amazes me the saying “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” I have read at least 3x that I should block out hours to do my important work. Go figure…coincidence I think not.
Yes – happens to me all the time too. Sometimes, we’re not in the frame of mind to internalize advice, then BOOM – it hits at just the right time.