Day 341: longer Deep Work sessions
I got a late start on my walk today but enjoyed listening to the Deep Work audiobook. I finished the chapter on learning to disconnect from the work entirely at the end of the day, and I realized that I might not do that. Sometimes I’ll think about the fantasy serial novel and do a bit of work on it. I originally started that as a way to play around, but maybe my brain sees that as “work” also. After all, eventually I’ll hopefully be publishing that. So maybe I don’t get as much downtime to refresh my brain as I think I do, even though I’m not working on the Hawaii book.
I wonder if that’s why I’m a bit tired today? That might also be because my IBS was bad last night, though, and I didn’t get a very restful sleep. Anyway, tonight I’ll really disconnect and do something else entirely, like read and knit. I have to make sure I realize that any work I do on the fantasy serial novel has to fall under “work time."
In the audiobook, he also talked about doing conscious internet blocks to practice being able to focus and not give in to the desire to be distracted when we’re bored.
I already started doing this a few months ago, in shunting all my internet related work to weekends. I did this mostly because social media was causing me stress, not out of a desire to learn to focus better, but it might have helped me to be able to train myself to resist the internet. Or maybe because social media was causing me stress, it was easy to shunt aside to only one day a week and resist the distraction of the internet.
My problem is that I still have a fear of being bored, so any time I have to myself I’ll usually open the phone and do something, like read a book or go through my Japanese flashcards. I have a feeling that’s the reason I usually have problems focusing. When I’m working and I get bored, I get distracted or I’ll distract myself.
I haven’t finished the audiobook chapter yet, so maybe the author will give other hints for how to train yourself to not be distracted. I have a feeling I need to get over my fear of being bored and learn to take time for myself to just do nothing. And that might improve my ability to focus for longer periods of time.
Normally I’d do email and social media and self-publishing stuff on a Saturday, but I’m almost done with this book, plus it’s overdue. :( So I’ll be working on it today to try to get it done as fast as possible. Even after I do the self-editing pass, I still have to make a copy and then cut it down to 25,000 words, so I actually still have a lot of work to do on it.
Today I’m going to try a 2 hour Deep Work session to see if I can do it. I think I can, since I was able to do 90 minute sessions yesterday, which really surprised me. After all those other days where I was so distracted, I didn’t think I’d be able to focus intently for so long, but somehow I did.
According to the Deep Work book, there’s a mental trigger (my description, not his) that occurs when you perform a grand gesture like booking a hotel room so you can be uninterrupted. The grand gesture is a way of fully committing to the concept of intense, focused work. But I think that since I had determined to try to experiment with the concept, then maybe that helped me to also be able to fully commit to the concept and trigger that mental shift in me, too.
My focus isn’t perfect, I don’t think. Random thoughts still occur to me while I’m working, and I have to struggle not to give in and move away from the work. But there were 30 minute stretches yesterday when I completely lost track of time and was able to really focus on the book, so I think I’m getting there.
I was also pleasantly surprised by how I refreshed I felt after my second walk yesterday. I think I might try that again today, taking another walk in the afternoon, to try to refresh me for another session or two.
***
I’m a bit disappointed that my first session was only an hour and 11 minutes. I got a text from my husband and my phone is not set up to silence his texts, so I got distracted from the book.
I also felt a little stiff, so it made me wonder if sitting for 2 hours isn’t very good for my back.
However, I do want to get to a point where I can intensely focus for a couple hours at a stretch. If the Deep Work book is correct, then if I can concentrate for a longer stretch of time, it’ll really help me write better and be more productive.
***
I did another 2 hours (a little less) and the entire time today so far was devoted to editing a single scene. The good thing is that I was able to finish editing the scene, but it took a lot longer than I had hoped. The majority of my time was spent doing research for notes I’d left for myself. I’m torn as to whether I should have just done the research at the time I was writing or if it was better for me to have waited until now to do it, since it involved doing internet research. I wasn’t sidetracked, but that doesn’t always happen.
I suppose it was better to do the research now, since it was super tedious at some points, and when I’m writing I should try to eliminate as many distractions as possible. While I don’t want distractions while editing, either, the very nature of the editing necessitates that I have to look things up online occasionally. I hate how so many websites have ads. The visual movement is very distracting, which is what I don’t want especially when I’m looking up a word or trying to decide on a synonym to use. So I suppose that’s a good enough reason to leave off on anything internet-related when I’m writing and relegate that to the editing by necessity.
I had forgotten I have Bible study today, which breaks up my Deep Work sessions. However if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to do another hour or so of editing after Bible study and get a little more done.
Since this book is already late, and since I have other people depending on me, I think I’m going to work tomorrow even though it’s Sunday. I really need to finish this soon, and additionally, the need to cut out 10,000 words is going to be a huge chore.
I’m actually looking forward to working on the Regency again after this. I’ve been missing it. I hope to finish reading a particular nonfiction research book before then, though, so that I can have more information before I start writing. I’m excited to try out these focused, concentrated writing sessions when I’m writing the Regency and to see how the writing goes. If it goes well, I might be able to not only write my best but also work even faster. I have to work on eliminating distractions so that I can put all my mental energy into the writing for long stretches of time without being jarred out of my writing world.
***
I finished editing all but the 2 last scenes, both of which are very short. I was tempted to keep going, but I’m getting rather tired and I don’t want to do a bad job on the self-editing, so I’ll pick things up tomorrow.
The editing for the first two scenes of the book had taken quite a long time, but the editing for the others have gone really fast. I can tell at which point I switched to the slow, deliberate, editing-as-I-go writing style rather than trying to race through and write as fast as I can, and personally I think the writing is stronger.
I was able to do a 2 hour session and really focus on the task without being distracted, but I did notice that my back was a bit sore at the end. The problem is that I don’t trust myself not to be distracted when I get up, and I don’t want to lose momentum if I’m concentrating and focusing.
I don’t know if I really was able to enter into that deep flow state the author talked about in the book, but I did feel like I was able to put all my attention to the work. I’d like to continue to practice doing longer sessions to try to train myself to focus and concentrate for longer periods of time. Then maybe I’ll get into a deep flow state and my work will be even better than before.
However, I felt my energy flagging in the last few scenes. I hope the editing wasn’t sloppy because I was feeling tired.
Hopefully I can finish editing tomorrow and also get started on cutting 10,000 words from the book. If I’m lucky, the chopping won’t take long and I can finish everything tomorrow! That would be wonderful!
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 4 hours, 4 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Total number of words: n/a
Writing: Overall writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 29 minutes
My takeaway for today: Even though it’s tedious, continue to leave research for the editing phase, to eliminate distractions when writing, because the research websites can be really visually distracting.
I wonder if that’s why I’m a bit tired today? That might also be because my IBS was bad last night, though, and I didn’t get a very restful sleep. Anyway, tonight I’ll really disconnect and do something else entirely, like read and knit. I have to make sure I realize that any work I do on the fantasy serial novel has to fall under “work time."
In the audiobook, he also talked about doing conscious internet blocks to practice being able to focus and not give in to the desire to be distracted when we’re bored.
I already started doing this a few months ago, in shunting all my internet related work to weekends. I did this mostly because social media was causing me stress, not out of a desire to learn to focus better, but it might have helped me to be able to train myself to resist the internet. Or maybe because social media was causing me stress, it was easy to shunt aside to only one day a week and resist the distraction of the internet.
My problem is that I still have a fear of being bored, so any time I have to myself I’ll usually open the phone and do something, like read a book or go through my Japanese flashcards. I have a feeling that’s the reason I usually have problems focusing. When I’m working and I get bored, I get distracted or I’ll distract myself.
I haven’t finished the audiobook chapter yet, so maybe the author will give other hints for how to train yourself to not be distracted. I have a feeling I need to get over my fear of being bored and learn to take time for myself to just do nothing. And that might improve my ability to focus for longer periods of time.
Normally I’d do email and social media and self-publishing stuff on a Saturday, but I’m almost done with this book, plus it’s overdue. :( So I’ll be working on it today to try to get it done as fast as possible. Even after I do the self-editing pass, I still have to make a copy and then cut it down to 25,000 words, so I actually still have a lot of work to do on it.
Today I’m going to try a 2 hour Deep Work session to see if I can do it. I think I can, since I was able to do 90 minute sessions yesterday, which really surprised me. After all those other days where I was so distracted, I didn’t think I’d be able to focus intently for so long, but somehow I did.
According to the Deep Work book, there’s a mental trigger (my description, not his) that occurs when you perform a grand gesture like booking a hotel room so you can be uninterrupted. The grand gesture is a way of fully committing to the concept of intense, focused work. But I think that since I had determined to try to experiment with the concept, then maybe that helped me to also be able to fully commit to the concept and trigger that mental shift in me, too.
My focus isn’t perfect, I don’t think. Random thoughts still occur to me while I’m working, and I have to struggle not to give in and move away from the work. But there were 30 minute stretches yesterday when I completely lost track of time and was able to really focus on the book, so I think I’m getting there.
I was also pleasantly surprised by how I refreshed I felt after my second walk yesterday. I think I might try that again today, taking another walk in the afternoon, to try to refresh me for another session or two.
***
I’m a bit disappointed that my first session was only an hour and 11 minutes. I got a text from my husband and my phone is not set up to silence his texts, so I got distracted from the book.
I also felt a little stiff, so it made me wonder if sitting for 2 hours isn’t very good for my back.
However, I do want to get to a point where I can intensely focus for a couple hours at a stretch. If the Deep Work book is correct, then if I can concentrate for a longer stretch of time, it’ll really help me write better and be more productive.
***
I did another 2 hours (a little less) and the entire time today so far was devoted to editing a single scene. The good thing is that I was able to finish editing the scene, but it took a lot longer than I had hoped. The majority of my time was spent doing research for notes I’d left for myself. I’m torn as to whether I should have just done the research at the time I was writing or if it was better for me to have waited until now to do it, since it involved doing internet research. I wasn’t sidetracked, but that doesn’t always happen.
I suppose it was better to do the research now, since it was super tedious at some points, and when I’m writing I should try to eliminate as many distractions as possible. While I don’t want distractions while editing, either, the very nature of the editing necessitates that I have to look things up online occasionally. I hate how so many websites have ads. The visual movement is very distracting, which is what I don’t want especially when I’m looking up a word or trying to decide on a synonym to use. So I suppose that’s a good enough reason to leave off on anything internet-related when I’m writing and relegate that to the editing by necessity.
I had forgotten I have Bible study today, which breaks up my Deep Work sessions. However if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to do another hour or so of editing after Bible study and get a little more done.
Since this book is already late, and since I have other people depending on me, I think I’m going to work tomorrow even though it’s Sunday. I really need to finish this soon, and additionally, the need to cut out 10,000 words is going to be a huge chore.
I’m actually looking forward to working on the Regency again after this. I’ve been missing it. I hope to finish reading a particular nonfiction research book before then, though, so that I can have more information before I start writing. I’m excited to try out these focused, concentrated writing sessions when I’m writing the Regency and to see how the writing goes. If it goes well, I might be able to not only write my best but also work even faster. I have to work on eliminating distractions so that I can put all my mental energy into the writing for long stretches of time without being jarred out of my writing world.
***
I finished editing all but the 2 last scenes, both of which are very short. I was tempted to keep going, but I’m getting rather tired and I don’t want to do a bad job on the self-editing, so I’ll pick things up tomorrow.
The editing for the first two scenes of the book had taken quite a long time, but the editing for the others have gone really fast. I can tell at which point I switched to the slow, deliberate, editing-as-I-go writing style rather than trying to race through and write as fast as I can, and personally I think the writing is stronger.
I was able to do a 2 hour session and really focus on the task without being distracted, but I did notice that my back was a bit sore at the end. The problem is that I don’t trust myself not to be distracted when I get up, and I don’t want to lose momentum if I’m concentrating and focusing.
I don’t know if I really was able to enter into that deep flow state the author talked about in the book, but I did feel like I was able to put all my attention to the work. I’d like to continue to practice doing longer sessions to try to train myself to focus and concentrate for longer periods of time. Then maybe I’ll get into a deep flow state and my work will be even better than before.
However, I felt my energy flagging in the last few scenes. I hope the editing wasn’t sloppy because I was feeling tired.
Hopefully I can finish editing tomorrow and also get started on cutting 10,000 words from the book. If I’m lucky, the chopping won’t take long and I can finish everything tomorrow! That would be wonderful!
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 4 hours, 4 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Total number of words: n/a
Writing: Overall writing speed: n/a
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 29 minutes
My takeaway for today: Even though it’s tedious, continue to leave research for the editing phase, to eliminate distractions when writing, because the research websites can be really visually distracting.
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