Chasing Octopuses
Getting into some deep shit.
“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.” - Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In a Distracted World, outlining his philosophy on distinguishing between purposeful activities and meaningless waste.
All of a sudden, I pull myself back to reality, seemingly escaping from some alternate universe in the palms of my hands, as I ask myself, “what am I still doing here?” This scene was a common occurrence for me throughout high school and into my first year of college, where I would often enter the bathroom for what should’ve been a 2-minute visit and find myself still sitting on the toilet 20 minutes later, scrolling through social media feeds like a constipated zombie. Whether it be crawling through Reddit rabbit holes, falling prey to the black hole that is Instagram, or bouncing from one stranger’s Snapchat story to the next, the end state was always the same: spending a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. In hindsight, I have experienced a handful of benefits since nearly entirely removing social media from my life — such as mostly escaping largely unscientific and politically polarized war zones — but the separation of meaningful and productive content from addictively aimless and purposeless fluff was the original driver that took me off of the net.
In his book, Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In a Distracted World, Cal Newport describes this contrast between what Alan Levitnovitz — espouser of the unprocessed information diet — might call empty, “information calories,” and what Newport refers to as deep work, or fulfilling, focused, and productive activities. Newport, a Georgetown computer science professor, views this relationship through multiple perspectives, mainly focusing on how deep work can help you maximize your time, productivity, and happiness, while the lack thereof can lead to subpar output and an unfulfilled life. If you are familiar with Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Work Week, then you will recognize some of Newport’s favored techniques and principles, such as batching and the Pareto Principle; however, you will also encounter some of Newport’s unique thoughts on how and why you should structure deep work into your schedule, as well as tips for maintaining focus, creativity, and productivity in a world filled with distractions and time-sucks. In particular, I value Newport’s insights regarding how dedicating blocks of time to solely concentrate on a given topic without interruptions or tangents allows you to more thoroughly navigate problems, complete projects, and think freely. In addition, I appreciate how Newport balances this philosophy on deep work, in that he concedes to the importance of occasionally pursuing mental detours when spontaneous sparks of creativity or curiosity beg for exploration. I suppose that this combination of approaches supports the saying, “all things in moderation, including moderation.”
“Your goal is not to stick to a given schedule at all costs; it’s instead to maintain, at all times, a thoughtful say in what you’re doing with your time going forward.” - Newport emphasizing the importance of thoughtful action.
Regardless of whether you choose to entertain Newport’s philosophies and dive into the world of deep work, or if you resign yourself to a life of playing in the shallow end, the clock will continue to tick on by. With this in mind, my goal is to spend more of those ticks committed to the people, places, and things that make me the happiest and most fulfilled, rather than the shits that don’t.
Profound