Nov 20, 2019
You get super excited to work on a new idea….you know this will change everything. You write down the steps, you commit to it! You even tell people for the added accountability! You schedule in the time for it, and then…….you can’t seem to get traction….you spend hours working in and around your idea but not ON your idea. Sound familiar?
Why? Because you’re getting stuck in the shallow end. It’s a principal one of my coaches discussed years ago I hadn’t heard of, so I went down the google deep dive. And then realized why I so often felt BUSY but not productive.
Shallow Work - Doesn’t create new value, can be performed while distracted, sometimes considered busy work. Steven Covey would consider these either urgent but not important, or even not urgent, not important. Think of the red email notification.
Deep Work - tasks that create new value and are difficult!!! They need to be done without distraction and they will push your brain and creativity to the limit!
This deep work is energetic equivalent of lifting a car off of a baby ….things that don’t seem possible are done! It’s how I created and launched my podcast the week before my daughter was born! It was a combination of an impending deadline ….motivation...and removing ALL distractions. I basically put myself on maternity leave and put up my out of office email response.
Deep work is what allowed us to create Brand Camp Retreats in a WEEKEND!!! We holed up at a cozy house in Carmel and spent more than 16 hours working on avatars, possible products and content that is SO good, 90% of it has stayed in place through two years + 6 live events.
The hard part about deep work? You need a few hours designated to devote! That’s hours of total focus, no distractions…..just a few stretch, water or meditation breaks!
And the reality of working from home is that there are kids or laundry or dishes or mail or cleaning your desk or a million other distractions to pull you into the shallow end!
Cave Days - where you can do ALL of these things….and PAY for it!
Why pay? Because someone FORCES you to be accountable!! Because being around others doing the same thing is invigorating! Caveday.org - locations in NYC + LA!
But even if you aren’t there, you can meet up with a few friends and fellow entrepreneurs to do this! My friend Dr. Sarah, who owns @helpingbabiessleep, comes over once a week and we do a deep dive. We chat for a few minutes, then just work across from each other in silence. We can accomplish more in an hour then I normally get done in several at my desk.
Cave day ideas? It could be your BIG ideas…..creating a course, a business plan for your side hustle idea, writing a blog, finishing a paper OR it could be something that just requires a time block and will create space in your life, like organizing your google drive, doing your Christmas cards or unsubscribing from emails. Either way, you’re going to come out of it feeling lighter!
So tomorrow, I have a self imposed cave day at the local library - finishing the editing of my book! I can’t wait turn off the phone, music, wireless and more and just EDIT!!