How to do meaningful work…

All of us have ideas on how to create a more meaningful world for ourselves and others, yet only a few of our ideas get developed and implemented. We are often distracted with a lot of things that turn out not to be very meaningful. Developing a ritual to stay focused can be hard. 

I got inspired by Haley Johnson’s excellent post on remote work and Cal Newport’s book Deep Work to create more structure around my work. I found it tricky to get into a new routine when you are only accountable to yourself. So I thought why don’t we support each other via Zoom to stay on track. Together with some friends I recently started an Early Work Crew. We meet at weekdays at 7 am on Zoom to do 90 min of undistracted meaningful work. Here is us having some banter after finishing our work session. Thanks so much Noon, Marina and Asama for trialing the first few sessions. 

How does it work?

Each of us decides what the most meaningful task is they would like to work on. At 7 am we sign on to a joined Zoom call and type the task into the chat. Then we start working on this task for 90 min. At 8:30 am we stop working and check in with the others on the Zoom call. At 9 pm we all leave the Zoom call, having done already a significant piece of work and achieved a head start into our day.

Why does it work?

Clarity: Only focus on what is most meaningful to you. Early in the morning your mind is usually still free of all of the things that come up during the day.

Certainty: It’s a daily ritual of 90 mins of undistracted deep work. The time limit will allow you to make the most of your time while the consistency will enable you to form a habit. 

Community: Working alongside a group of peers that are also creating a more meaningful world will keep you motivated and accountable.

Directions

Here are some directions to keep things structured

1. Before each session, decide on the most meaningful task you would like to work on.
2. Join the Zoom session a bit before 7am for a start at 7 am sharp and add the task you will be working on into the Zoom chat. If you are late you will have to wait until the next day.
3. Work for 90 min on the task without any distractions (stay muted and don’t have conversations with the others during that time.)
4. At 8:30 am, unmute yourself and share progress, plans for the day and banter with the others 🙂
5. At 9 am, everyone leaves the Zoom session. You can stay in touch with the others via the Vast Experiences early-work-crew Slack channel by following this link.

Tips

Here are some tips we discovered:

• The night before make a plan on what you want to work on and how you will spend the 90 min of deep work wisely. 
• Don’t check your email before you start working.
• Find yourself a space, where you won’t be interrupted or disturbed during the work session.
• If you are in a noisy environment invest in some noise-canceling headphones. 
• Arrange everything so that you won’t need to be available for anyone during the work session and switch all of your devices to “Do not disturb”.
• If you work better with music check out Brain.fm and play a track that allows you to focus. 
• Meditate before you start working to put your mind into the right mood. I usually listen to a guided meditation on Headspace for 20min before commencing work.
• Put the early work session into your calendar so that you actively block out time for it. 
• I can highly recommend Cal Newport Deep Work to get a better understanding of why structured deep work will lead to more productivity. 
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Join the fun

I hope this inspired you to structure your work in more meaningful ways. Start your own Early Work Crew or to join ours by following this link.