How can we improve well-being through deep work and digital minimalism?
This week, we will practice deep work through time-blocking and digital minimalism through limiting distractions (e.g., social media use) to improve our engagement with work and life.
Cal Newport defines digital minimalism as the idea that “less can be more” when it comes to our relationship with our digital tools (Newport, 2019). Newport argues that, by ruthlessly reducing the amount of time we spend online so that we focus only on a small number of high-value activities, we will see dramatic increases in our free time and ability to focus.
Deep work: Time blocking
You can read more about time blocking here. (Links to an external site.)
Begin this activity at the start of the week (Sunday evening or first thing Monday morning) by making a list of everything you need to get done that week. Then, sort that list into daily tasks. From there, starting on Monday, decide what hours you are going to work that day and block out every hour of your work day with a specific task, starting with any preexisting commitments you have (e.g., classes, office hours). Leave no hour un-filled. You can group chunks of several small, administrative tasks into the same time frame, if you like. Don’t forget to leave time for lunch. Schedule your email/Canvas/social media checks into specific time blocks, too.
By doing this, you should be able to schedule in specific times for deep work — the kind of intense, focused, flow state you need to be really productive and creative in your work. Aim for at least one hour of deep work per day.
At the end of the day, look over how your day went and whether you were able to stick to your schedule (often, we underestimate how long something will take). Make notes for yourself as to how you want to adjust your schedule planning for the next day. Repeat. By the end of the week, you should have a sense for how time blocking affected your ability to focus and do the really important but hard tasks on your list (instead of prioritizing the easy time-fillers that don’t contribute much to your life).
Digital minimalism: Limit distractions
Your goal this week is to increase your chances of focusing on one thing at a time rather than becoming distracted by social media, text messages, or other digital forms of entertainment. To do this, you are going to do the following:
1. Delete all social media apps from your phone for the entire week. Yep. You can still check social media on your desktop or laptop computer, if you like, during your pre-scheduled time blocks, but this will prevent those quick and easy distractions. If you are a social media addict, this will likely be tough for the first few days, and you might notice yourself reflexively going to check an app that is no longer there. Just notice and become aware of these habits.
2. Turn on the “focus” setting on your phone to prevent getting text messages, calls, and other notifications during times you are working. Here are the directions for iPhone (Links to an external site.) and Android (Links to an external site.). (You can set up your preferences for specific contacts that get to override this setting, if you like.) Keep these settings during your work hours for the whole week, and notice how this affects you mentally throughout the week (is it anxiety producing? Do you feel FOMO? Are you able to concentrate better?)
