As I sit down to write this, my ringer is off, my phone is in “Do Not Disturb” mode, and my timer is set for a 25-minute pomodoro. Before I could begin the second sentence, the painters who have been working outside my door all morning returned from their lunch break, and so I’ve added ocean sounds to the mix. My clients often ask me for a quick overview of these kinds of strategies for deep, focused work, and it occurred to me that these tips would be useful to other academics as well, so here goes:
- Use a website blocker. Rescue Time is one of the most popular among my clients. For example, you can set it to allow access to your favorite news, shopping, or sports sites between 5pm and 9pm, but block yourself from getting lost online during the hours you want to be working or sleeping.
- Follow the pomodoro method of working in timed 25-minute increments. The key to a successful pomodoro is that it doesn’t “count” if you interrupt yourself to grab a cup of coffee or start the dishwasher. You can do those things in the five-minute breaks between poms, but once your timer is going, you stay on task. If twenty-five minutes isn’t quite right for you, feel free to experiment with longer or shorter work blocks.
- “Bookend” your focused work time by texting a supportive colleague or friend to let them know when you are starting and when you finish a pomodoro. A good friend of mine bookends playfully by telling me when she has completed a pom pom, pomegranate, or pomelo.
- Keep a notepad next to your computer. Whenever you think of something you have to do – from scheduling a meeting to mailing a birthday card, write it on the notepad. After your deep work session is complete you can follow up on these items or add them to your to-do list or calendar.
- Use the Forest app. As long as you stay on task, virtual trees will grow in the app. If you get distracted and navigate away, your trees will die.
- Sign up for deep work sessions through a subscription app such as Caveday or Focusmate. Caveday offers a group co-working experience in one-to-three-hour increments. A facilitator provides an introduction, participants commit to their plan with a partner in a breakout room, and then everyone works silently in a shared Zoom grid. At the end, the facilitator offers a brief closing. Focusmate pairs members in virtual co-working sessions ranging from 25 to 75 minutes.
Many academics are aware of some or all of these strategies, but don’t make full use of them. My upcoming Foundations of a Successful Academic Career coaching group offers a positive space to exchange best practices and actually put them into effect. In addition to deep work we cover time challenges, negotiation, tenure and promotion, the job market, work/life integration, and much more. Toward the end of the ten weeks, I match those who are interested in partnerships for continued accountability and support. It’s especially gratifying when I hear from professors whose accountability partnership or trio is continuing to meet years later.
I hope you can join us, and if you know of colleagues who could benefit, please share about the Foundations group at this link.
Signing off after three pomegranates and many breaking waves of ocean sound,
Warmly, Rena