Wake Up Before Distractions

Why sometimes working on a task takes so much time and energy while occasionally work gets done like a breeze?

It all comes to the focus.

Making real progress requires focused work.

But we live in a world of distractions. They surround us everywhere throughout the day.

Our brain is very sensitive. It’s too easy to distract it. Especially now when many of us work from home. Even if you have separate room and close the door, distractions make their way to ruin your focus.

You sit down at your desk with intention to work 90 minutes on important task. Suddenly you hear door next to your room slammed. Ten minutes later you hear your toddler crying. Few moments later your phone received several notifications and you hear them arriving. Some minutes pass by and you hear your wife talking on the phone.

Every time this happens your mind does a switch from deep work to “What’s happening there? Do I need to be involved?”. Then it tells itself that everything is fine and switches back to work.

But momentum is already gone.

It turns out that closed door doesn’t protect from distractions much.

Yes, it helps to eliminate 80% of distractions. Still remaining 20% ruin the flow.

In the office it’s even worse. You get distracted not only by sounds around you. It’s also the view of people moving around. Colleague may unexpectedly come with a “quick” question or just greet you passing by.

At the end of the day you spend 3 hours on 1 hour task and have a couple of tasks sliding to tomorrow. You had no time for them.

Your energy level is low. You feel frustrated. Day after day anxiety builds up.

What if you could teleport to a place without distractions? How would your work go?

Whenever our mind can be focused on task at hand, we get great result which seems to be effortless. Working on a task for 3 hours feels like 10 minutes. The result is awesome. The feeling of accomplishment fills ourselves.

The state of deep focused work is where great ideas and executions are born.

Unfortunately distractions are a part of a regular day.

Realistically speaking there is no way to beat them.

Not only because having an environment without distractions is hard to achieve. But also because our brain is subconsciously searching for them. Nowadays we call them distractions. But for thousands of years this was a survival mechanism for human beings. By staying alerted a person could avoid being hunted by animals or other person.

However you can make time for focused work.

Throughout two decades of my career in software development I’ve tried numerous approaches.

At the same time in my personal life I’ve always had some kind of goal or interest requiring deep work.

I’ve tried many approaches to create environment for focused work both at home, and in the office. Some worked well. Some didn’t.

Among of all the things I’ve tried there is one that works both for professional and personal life equally good. And most importantly, it survived through many changes in my life.

In professional life I’ve carried it over through multiple companies I’ve worked for. And in personal life through multiple different seasons of life.

That is avoiding “rush hour”.

When you drive in rush hour it takes more time and costs you some anxiety.

On the other hand if you drive an hour prio or an hour after rush hour then it’s a quick ride you can actually enjoy.

Making time for focused work outside of “rush hour” is sustainable long-term strategy that works.

For many years my choice for personal goals was taking late hours for deep work (when family went sleeping) while at work I would take early hours (when office is still empty).

It was working great in my 20’s and early 30’s. However the closer I was to 40’s the harder it became. So many things require energy during the day that by 10pm there is not enough of it for creative work.

Mornings in general is a good time to do focused work for me. I can easily wake up around 7am without alarm. But any time earlier than that was always a challenge. I would set alarm for 5:30am and get up early, but after 2-3 weeks drop off. I just couldn’t get up that early consistently.

I’ve tried and failed several times until I’ve realized some missing puzzles I’ve overlooked.

Then I took a deep dive, found those, and came up with an approach I’m sharing below.

Have a goal worth the effort

Before you can do meaningful work you need to have a meaningful reason.

You need to have a goal important for you. The one that deeply resonates with you. The one you desire to achieve.

Maybe this is leading an important project at work to success to satisfy your ego or receive a big bonus.

Maybe this is diving deep into your hobby which you put away because of time deficit.

Maybe this is building your side income stream to quit the job you hate.

Your goal has to be deeply compelling for you. It must be “Hell, Yeah”. Not an average “I’d like to”.

Commit to the effort

You’re starting a long game. This will be a marathon, not a sprint.

Every success comes with an effort. There is no such a thing as “overnight success”. You will need to put in the work and do this consistently.

One step at a time. Many days in a row.

Embrace this from the very beginning.

If you goal is a game changer for your life, you’ve got to commit to a long run. I mean really long run. Not a couple of month. Rather at least a couple of years.

Set the stage

Make time by scheduling your morning action block in your calendar and setting alarm to wake up early. Every day same time and same place. You should build a rhythm.

Remember that you have a block with fixed end time. Once your family gets up or your colleagues arrive at office, your distraction free time is over.

If you start ten minutes late, you’ve lost them. There will be no option to extend this block of focused work.

Make energy by having quality sleep. Reverse engineer when you need to go to bed in order to wake up smoothly and recovered.

As an example, my morning action block starts at 5:30am and I have 90 minutes before family wakes up. This means I need to get up at 5am. I need 7-8 hours. So I go bed before 10pm. This is at the very edge of when I should go to bed. Ideally I would go at 9pm, but realistically this doesn’t work (I can’t afford going to bed before kids do).

Wake up your body and brain by having morning routing with light exercise. Just 5 minutes of any physical activity. Not too intense. Remember you’ve just woke up. Don’t stress your body.

Mine probably falls more in stretching category. It takes just a bit longer than boiling a kettle of water for tea (yes, I’m a tea person).

Pick something light and quick. You won’t need a sports outfit. No need to sweat. It’s just about waking up.

Plan the week

For your morning action block you need to define specific task for each day of the week. One task per day. Two at max.

Do this before week starts.

Why?

Because doing something without a plan leads to drifting or circling. That’s not what you need. You want to make your goal a reality. So you need to have a plan and direction.

Remove uncertainty for the morning

Knowing exact task for your morning action block helps being motivated to get up early and removes obstacles between you and actual work.

This is a vital part of the system. Each morning when alarm rings you have a very specific reason to get up. Otherwise the temptation to hit snooze button will win.

Do the work

This is where rubber meets the road.

Once your morning action block starts, focus on the task at hand. Everything above was just a preparation for the action.

Use this time to make the most out of it.

But don’t be too harsh to yourself if you couldn’t complete what you’ve planned. This can happen. Simply adjust your plan for the week and learn the lesson.

See you next week,

Andrii

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