Power of a Break during Deep Work

We are all trying to get to the bottom of this one- how do we do less work but more quality work all the while increasing productivity? Basically as the old saying goes, work smart not hard? Don’t try to be 100% productive all the time because that leads to burn-out and lack of energy.

Take a Break. There I said it. Research shoes purposeful breaks (thought out and well timed) from 5 to 60 minutes can help refresh your mental energy to get to the task at hand with even more energy. This can be whether you are sitting at your desk typing away or at work doing a mentally/physically demanding task that is draining.

The research behind this shows purposeful breaks don’t just let you relax but can help boost productivity while reducing stress, blood flow, oxygenation of blood vessels, and helping consolidate memory!

These are some short breaks to try on yourself-and NO getting on your phone to look through the repeated stimuli on Instagram or Twitter does not count.

Here are some healthy ways to take your next break

🌿 Get into nature if you can & take a walk

🌿 Meditate

🌿 Take a shower (a cold shower even better to boost circulation)

🌿 Cook something healthy or make a snack. An apple, nuts, or Greek yogurt are wonderful in my opinion.

🌿Organize your surroundings

🌿 Movement- get some exercise in through the way that feels good- pilates, running, yoga, lifting etc.

🌿 Make a call or have a conversation in person to a loved one. Connecting with others can help relieve your stress.

🌿 Deep breathing exercises

***Do not….check social media or respond to emails. This will often stimulate you into the headspace of whatever you were working on earlier.

Biohacking: One Social & Health Trend That is Not Going Anywhere

I first came across biohacking on Social Media where influencers would claim to be boosting their performance either athletically or intellectually by changing some part of the traditional health routine whether skipping breakfast (quoted in the past by many as “most important meal of the day”) or supplementation of their diet to increase their brain productivity. After hearing Tony Robbins in a podcast talk about his own ways of optimizing health (and that man has ENERGY to the 10th degree), I was compelled to dig deeper. Here is what I found and you may like to know:

🌿 Forbes Contributor Bernard Marr described it has “human augmentation or human enhancement” that is a “do-it-yourself biology aimed at improving performance, health, and wellbeing through strategic interventions”

🌿 Biohacking interventions can take the form of supplementation (e.g. Vitamin C or glutathione), intermittent fasting, meditation, exercise regimens, cryogenics (using cold therapy), meal replacements and many other ventures.

While this blog is not intended to give medical/health advice in any shape or form, these are some ideas I have considered to optimize my health to the next level you may find interest in as well:

1) Sleep 🌛: Sleep is necessary for maintaining optimal brain function and nurturing your physical health yet so many of us fall pray to the hustle culture and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is thrown around more often than I can count. A lack of sleep has been linked to a higher risk for certain medical conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, mental health issues, and high blood pressure- not to mention lower lifespan. Sleep on an even more microbiology level can help clear toxins, metabolic wastes, from our system and help sustain our memory due the housekeeping processes that take place. One technology on the market currently helping monitor sleep hygiene is the Oura Ring, a beautifully crafted ring that tracks 3 daily scores in the form of “sleep, readiness, and activity” to understand not only what the body is feeling but it needs to optimize your waking experience.

2) Diet 🥗: What you eat is so important because you become what you put in your body from physical appearance to cognitive ability. Food Rules by Michael Pollan is a great book to pick up and start reading to get simple, actionable, and intelligent steps to change the way you think of food today. A healthy diet can consist of nutrient dense, whole foods including lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, and organic fruits and vegetables.

3) Movement 🏃‍♀️: We have all heard of how exercise can help improve the health of our heart but what is more important in my own personal life is the fundamental shift it creates for me mentally through the release of endorphins (chemical signals that can help block the perception of pain & increase feeling of wellbeing). Daily movement in a form that makes you feel good is importance in increasing joint functionality, better sleep hygiene, relieve pain, and improving mental health to name just a few. There are so many online subscription platforms currently catering to pilates, dance, yoga, barre…you name it…that make exercise easy and convenient. My all time favorite has to be Melissa Wood Health because of the energy, warm, and mindfullness she brings to make movement attainable for anyone.

4) Creating a Why ⚡️: Finding a purpose or creating goals (even if short term) that fundamentally drive you innately can bring massive shifts to way the you approach the work you engage in and bring color to relationships and life in general. Taking time to introspect and move away from distractions can help bring on this clarity for us all.

5) Fostering Strong Relationships 🤝: Research has time and time again shown deep, quality relationships cam help us live longer and deal with stressful situations better. Satisfaction in relationships can be a powerful buffer against even physical and mental health problems and often the key underlying thread amongst people with long lifespans living in Blue Zones (areas of the world where people are speculated to live longer than the global average due to their practices. diets, communities etc).

Importance of Deep Work: Takeaways from “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success” in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

The way I have come to understand perceive deep work is a focused state that pushes your concentration to its cognitive capacity in order to accomplish a depth of work in your professional activities / goals that would not be possible when time is filled with shallow distractions.

If you are looking to optimize your level of focus on projects you are meaning to set out on, but have been distracted from doing in past, or take your work to the next level, deep work is the concept to implement and “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” by Cal Newport is the book to pick up.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from this incredible read that is set to change the way you approach your hardest tasks requiring the most brain power:

👉 The most simple way to get into a state of deep work is to create a simple, regular habit focused on consistency:

• You can get rid of the extra energy it takes to push yourself into this type of work (decision, analysis paralysis, motivation) by making a habit of scheduling it in.

• Set a starting time & do the work everyday.

• Solid Quote to share from book: “Build rituals of the same level of strictness and idiosyncrasy as the important thinkers mentioned previously [referenced in book]. There’s a good reason for this mimicry. Great minds like Caro & Darwin didn’t deploy rituals to be weird; they did so because success in their work depended on their ability to go deep, again and again- there’s no way to win a Pulitzer Prize or conceive a grand theory without pushing your brain to its limit.”

👉 Rest assured, there is simply no one correct deep work ritual- the right fit depends on the the type of work and the person doing the work:

• Here are some questions emphasized in book “Deep Work” to ask yourself to get out of your way & start your work:

  • Where will you work and for you long? —> Specifying a location can help you get into the zone faster.

  • How will you work once you start to work? —> Use systems and processes to keep your action streamlined.

  • How will you support your work? —> Your rituals need to ensure your brain gets the support it needs to operative at its peak state; this could be achieved with a cup of good coffee or having high quality food to sustain yourself.

Here are the 2 TWISTS of the Book I didn’t see coming:

⚡️ DO NOT work Alone Always: “Properly leveraging collaboration can increase the quality of deep work in your professional life”

⚡️ Inject substantial downtime away from professional concerns in day to day in order to support idleness required to get the deep work done. Why? Cal Newport in “Deep Work” explains:

• “Downtime Aids Insights” and that some decisions are better for your subconscious mind to untangle

• “Downtime Helps Recharge Energy Needed to Work Deeply”

• “The work that Evening Downtime Replaces is Usually Not That Important”

All in all, what a read. Deep work is an art to hone and muscle to exercise going into 2023 given the distractions and cheap dopamine hits that take up so much of our bandwidth in the modern world we live in. Cal Newport, you’ve changed the way I work forever, & I salute you for that.