Improve your focus with the 90 - 30 method
Edition #071
Hey friends, I hope you're having a fantastic week!
One quick thing to share with you this week and that is a new video.
Top 10 Mac OS Tips for Productivity
I'm enjoying creating varied videos over on YouTube and love the feedback, if you have any videos you'd like to see from me then hit reply to this email!
Alrighty, let's get into the Filter.
One Lesson
Improve your focus with the 90 - 30 method
Every 6 months or so I fall into a productivity slump. I start working longer hours while getting less done.
In the past I thought the antidote to this was to work harder. Only when I did that I'd make bad decisions, spend time going around in circles until I'd burn out.
But recently I realised my productivity slumps all coincided with changing the way I work.
Ever since reading Deep Work I've adopted a method of working in 90 minute sprints followed by 30 minute breaks.
Every time I sit down to work I set a timer, remove distractions, and focus.
For the 90 minute block I try to focus only on the task at hand, no checking email, twitter or grabbing a snack.
Once the time is up I set a second timer for 30 minutes. These 30 minutes I'm completely free to do what I want. I typically go for a walk, scroll social media, read a book or make food.
When the 30 minutes is up I settle down for another 90 minute block of deep work repeating this 3 - 5 times per day.
I don't quite get this right every time but the sessions where it clicks I get 3-4 hours worth of work done in 90 minutes.
Paul Jarvis draws parallel to this type of focused work like driving a car. But for me driving a car is a little too laid back. I can't be sat there passively listening to a podcast and getting on with work, I need intensity.
Maybe a better analogy would be like driving an F1 car (minus the adrenaline). I'd assume driving an F1 car requires a heightened sense of focus, there's no passive podcast listening or scrolling Twitter it's just you focused on achieving 1 thing for 90 minutes.
Every time I slip away from this way of working things tend to go to sh*t.
When I try slog out a 12 hour day I work without intensity, I become passive and get as much done in those 12 hours as I would if I just worked 6 hours with intensity.
Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman describes this way of working "like a workout for the mind".
There's a lot of talk about habits, tools and tips to be more productive but people often overlook the act of actually doing the work.
If you've been feeling unfocused and ineffective lately I recommend giving the 90 - 30 method a go and let me know what you think.
Two Ideas
I.
Whatever choice you make, someone will always tell you to do the opposite.
Knowing this you might as well focus on doing things that excite you.
II.
Stories are more persuasive than facts.
This is why rational people believe conspiracy theories.
Three Favourite Finds
Planning Ahead is the Key to Living With More Spontaneity: I find calendar blocking kinda icky. The anxiety I feel when viewing a full calendar is too much but Nir Eyal raises a good point in favour of timeboxing in this post.
He reasons that blocking out your time helps you live more spontaneously as you're able to make the time to do spontaneous things without having that nagging 'I should be working' anxiety in the back of your head. Timeboxing gives you permission to do things without feeling bad about it - I've been testing this out recently and I will report back on my findings.
The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship : This is an interesting read on the psychological tole of entrepreneurship. This topic is fascinating to me as there's a lot of pressure involved in entrepreneurship which takes a certain type of personality to deal well with. Here's the most thought provoking quote from a founder in the article:
"It's like a man riding a lion. People think, 'This guy's brave.' And he's thinking, 'How the hell did I get on a lion, and how do I keep from getting eaten?"
Choose your status game wisely: Every game in life ends up being a competition on some level. Each with their own perks and downsides. While people will say not to play status games, it's difficult not to in reality.
The problem with playing status games is whatever game you play you'll end up optimising your life around:
"Choose money and you’ll end up working all the time. Choose beauty and you’ll always want to look better. Choose fame and you’ll constantly be seeking attention."
Nick Maggiulli says that the best way to prevent status games from controlling your life is to play multiple games at once and not hang your self-worth on one thing.
"Instead of linking your entire identity to a single status game (i.e. richest, smartest, etc.), have multiple things going for you. In other words, diversify what brings you status."
End note
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Have a fantastic week!
- Stephen