Principles for Knowledge Work

Principle 1 — Get to deep work: Spend as much time as possible in deep work. Deep work is focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.

The three types of work:

1. Deep work — Maximize time here
2. Shallow task hacking — Like emailing or logistical planning. Batch this and do it in blocked off chunks.
3. Multi-tasking — Do as little as possible

Resources:

1. Blog post: Some Notes on Deep Working
2. Blog post: Knowledge Workers are Bad at Working (and Here’s What to Do About it)
3. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Deep Work
4. Book: Deep Work by Cal Newport
5. Essay: Good and Bad Procrastination by Paul Graham
6. Podcast: Cal Newport interview (30 mins)

Principle 2 — Use systems: Use systems to handle tasks and free your brain to solve problems and generate ideas.

Key ideas:

1. Hold tasks in a system instead of your brain
2. Always have the next action clearly identified and written down
3. Batch similar tasks
4. Trust your system. Do a weekly review
5. Remember that the ultimate purpose of the system is to allow you to get to deep work, not to have a perfect system.

Quotes:

David Allen: “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them”

Cam: “When I go to the bathroom, my mind wanders to one of two places: 1) Task I need to do 2) Tough problems I’m trying to solve. I’m happier when my mind is on 2, and as a knowledge worker, this is really where my mind should be. If mind mind is on 1), I need a better task system.”

Resources:

1. Ted talk: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity — David Allen
2. Ted talk: Getting in control and creating space — David Allen
3. Book: Getting Things Done- David Allen

Tools for living these principles out:

1. Create a good environment: Work alone. Shut off slack. Put your phone in airplane mode.
2. Tools for a system: My favorite is Remember the milk which has a killer widget for android for quick entry. Wunderlist is good too. Google docs are flexible.
3. Batch email: Check email only a few times a day in chunks. Use Inbox Pause or Sortd.
4. Use Boomerang, Right Inbox, or Inbox by Gmail to send emails back to yourself at a better time.
5. Keep track of important emails in gmail using labels or stars. Keep things simple.
6. Use a calendar: Time block tasks. Check it regularly.
7. Have more synchronous conversations: Use a Talkers doc instead of sending emails.
8. Communicate in email for quick communication.
9. Always work with a sheet of paper/whiteboard out to jot down tasks that pop into your brain while doing deep work.
10. Have a trusty weekly review. Set aside a time for it. Perhaps have other reviews like monthly, or every 3 months, or yearly etc.
11. Keep your system clean by using checklists — especially for weekly review. Perhaps have a morning and afternoon checklist.
12. Use a weekly reflection to check in on living out your values.
13. Work with a timer. Keep track of time spent in deep work. Take breaks every 30–60 minutes.
14. Use multiple monitors (use an external keyboard and mouse too!). Bill Gates does. Randy Pausch talks about this in his time management lecture.
15. Create main frames with links and other important information about certain areas of your life
16. Batch reading using apps like feedly and pocket.
17. Do the most important things first. Put the big rocks in first.
18. Use gaps in life to do things like listen to audiobooks.
19. Take notes and have a place to dump ideas. Evernote, voice recorder, a google doc etc.
20. Mindfully reflect on work habits and productivity
21. Say yes to fewer things. Say no more often to make room for what matters. Live out the essentialism mindset.