Are You Doing Deep Work? (Sunday Best Reads Series)

 

While searching online, I have stumbled upon a book called ‘Deep Work’. The book sheds light on working style for maximum productivity. There are two types of style; deep work and swallow work. Deep work is something you do without any external interruptions while shallow work is done while multitasking. Suppose you are writing something while listening to a song or doing office jobs while answering phone calls. Deep work is considered to be high-quality work and shallow is low quality as the name itself suggests.

With time, deep work has become rare. A few successful people use this technique for high productivity, such as Bill Gates and J.K Rowling. Bill Gates goes to hermit’s life for a few days in a year for reading and thinking new ideas. J.K. Rowling writes her novels in hotels away from interruptions. In this digital age, our attention span has shortened due to various mobile notification distractions and bad habits of checking social media accounts. When you are working with full concentration and your attention breaks due to some interruptions, you come back to the previous state after 20-30% loss in attention which is known as attention residue. You cannot concentrate wholeheartedly. You work low quality. As per the author, the low-quality swallow work is replaceable. In future, the swallow work will be taken over by robots or artificial intelligence or lowly paid individuals due to overpopulation. Cal Neport says that the coming world will be for extra rich who knows where to invest, people who work with technology and the people who are experts in their field. Now, coming to the third category, one need to do deep work to be an expert in his field. There are a few techniques to do deep work.

(1) Monastic deep work like sages in the Himalayas. This is not possible for all. You have to cut off from social integrations for a period.

(2) Bimodal deep work like J.K. Rowling. She works in the hotel during the day away from any interruptions and comes back in the evening to social life.

(3) Rhythmic deep work is for the people who can keep aside a slot daily for deep work.

(4) Journalistic deep work is for those people who do not follow any routine. If they find the time, they switch off mobile and engage in deep work. 

 

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Post M.Tech Days: My Experience ( Sunday Series)

 

In my previous post titled “M.Tech: What to do & What Not to do!” I talked about my M.Tech days. Those days were the best days at Tezpur University. We were the first boarders of Kanchenjunga Men’s Hostel (KMH). We had excellent bonding among the boarders. In those two years, I had prepared for competitive exams a lot. I used to appear for any kind of SSC exams, UPSC, Bank exams and engineering PSUs. These exams were held in Government schools and colleges. I had visited almost all the government schools and colleges in Tezpur, Jorhat and Guwahati to appear in exams. These were experiences. 

In those days, bank jobs were booming. There was a buzz that the banking sector would expand horizontally for the next ten years. I too prepared wholeheartedly with all CSR and banking books. In the afternoons or weekends, I often tried to solve the problems given in CSR and Protiyogita Kiran. I was among the few regular buyers of these magazines from the bookstall in Tezpur University market. In those days, the students at Tezpur University did not prepare much. At least, I did not see, or I could not see. The exams were held on weekends, and I travelled most of the times to Guwahati either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Generally, I avoided staying Guwahati mostly and returned the same day evening. I caught the last bus to the university to get back to the hostel. The next morning was as usual. Very few people knew my weekend outings.

In the third semester, my mother got ill and had undergone some surgery back at home. I was called back home. I stayed there for a few days. Then, I remembered that I had applied for SI in BSF. The exam was nearing. I appeared in the exams without much preparation. But, I did exceptionally well in the review. I did enjoy writing the papers that day. I was solving the questions very easily. Well, all went well. My mother was recuperating alight. It was time to go back after 20 days or so. After, a few months later, my father called me that some government call letter had come citing urgent. I forgot everything about the exam. Then, I went home and read the call letter to find out that I cleared that exam. The physical exam was to be held at Ambari, Ghy. It was mentioned the fitness requirement in the letter. I had to pass a running test of 1.5 Km in 5 or 6 mins. In those days, I was fat and physically unfit and running such distance in that time frame was impossible for me. At first, I tried, but it was pretty useless considering the time. I let it go. But, I used to tell everyone that I saw BSF’s website with lots of martyrs and did not feel like going at all. For quite some time, people used to call me SI. Well, that was the end of the armed forces dream. 

The year was 2011. After completion of the final M.Tech seminar, we stayed there for quite some days. Results were declared. Marksheets and certificates were issued. My guide told me to keep up a few more months at the university. He referred my name to a few companies. But, I was reluctant. I wanted to take the first bus out of the Tezpur and try my luck in Guwahati. I stayed home for two weeks and was off to Guwahati for jobs. July month is very crucial. The new jobs were created, keeping in mind of new graduates. I sent my CVs to many engineering institutes. One beautiful morning, I was called by RIST, Meghalaya to appear for the interview. The college is at a hilltop near Jorabat. Communication was difficult. I went there and gave my interview. It was nothing like an interview just friendly banter. The director was an alumnus of JEC. He had a soft corner for the college. The job was on. I worked there for a few weeks. The work environment was pleasant. People were kind and helping. But, I got a call from GIMT, Guwahati. The dean called me immediately. I visited Mr P.C Baruah in office. He directly asked me to leave RIST and join GIMT immediately as classes were on. I wondered for sometimes and left for home. Those times were different; the colleges were coming up like never before. People liked M.Techs as there was a shortage of people. Anyhow, I made my mind to join the institute by the next week. That was the new innings. RIST did not like my decisions and sent letter after letter. But, I was nowhere to be found. GIMT had a rigorous schedule. Weekends were closed. In the meantime, I kept on preparing for exams. 

I happened to apply for the post of Assistant Professor in April or May the same year at Dibrugarh University. They called me to appear for the job in August or September. I took two or three-day leave and went home. My father took me to the Dibrugarh University since I am getting back to Guwahati same day. I took my brother with me also. I appeared in the interview. The interview went well. A few questions were asked, and I answered to the point. The questions were simple as I had already prepared for various jobs. But, I guessed that they were more than happy that I was working in GIMT. They asked about my pay and job details in GIMT. After finishing the interview, we went towards AMC,  in search of an eatery.

Meanwhile, I remember sitting for BHEL exam on Biswakarma Puja the same year. I had friends who offered me a ride to the venue at Guwahati Commerce College. But, I met an accident that day. The bike skidded on the road and we fell on the road. I had some injury on my left elbow. Its blood was coming out. But, time was less. Reaching the venue, I got my injury attended nearby Guwahati Commerce College. I appeared the exam, and the pain distracted me even though I was solving the problems quickly. The elbow took time to get well. It was horrible. The Durga Puja was nearing. I got a call from home mentioning a calling letter to appear for BHEL in Delhi. In the same time, my friend in Tezpur GIMT called me that I had cleared the interview at the Dibrugarh University and collected the order letter from DU office by hand. I enquired my parents about any kind of such a message. They said no. In the holidays of Puja week in 2011, there was one official day. I travelled to Dibrugarh along with my father. We reached the office and checked for notices regarding recruitment. We could not find it. I wondered whether my friend mistook the result. Then my father went to the establishment office of DU and enquired about it. The head clerk confirmed the finding. It was tense the few minutes whether I was in or out. Then, he pulled out the order copy in my name and approved it. He congratulated me, and we took a photocopy of it. I remember going home as early as possible. I had to finish the course in GIMT before leaving it. I should have joined that day itself, but my conscience did not allow me. I am always thankful to GIMT for nurturing professionalism in me. 

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50 Golden Habits for Productivity (Series)

I read the Book “50 Positive Habits to Transform Your Life” by Micheal Chapman. He has given 50 habits in his book. I’ll try to bring some of the points to your attention which is very much required for us as students and professionals.

Physical Fitness

Now a day, we have a very busy schedule. We have either forgotten or reluctant to work out. It is taking a toll on our health. To stay away from obesity and consequent lethargy, we can walk, and workout in various ways. A simple walk can repel lethargy and fill your body with endorphins which make you more active. Work out immediately improves your mood. Besides, one should stay active at workplaces by various means such a little bit of body movement after some time. Furthermore, parking your vehicle a little bit away can do wonders by burning your calories. If you hate to work out alone, you can always team up with a motivated friend. Apart from that, we need to add variety in our life by nourishing some hobby. Otherwise, life is dull and one-way traffic. 

Mental fitness or health

Mental fitness or health is very much key to your happiness. There are some ways to strengthen your mental fitness such as looking at negativity minutely, thinking about success, contemplation, noting positivity, detailing positives, challenging assumptions, failure review, and mind games.

Without knowing, negative thoughts seep into our mind. It starts to run back in our heads. We will do wonders by taking some time to see how pessimistic we are during the day. You become conscious of your mentality. If you can identify the problem in your mindset, you can change it too.

In his book ‘The Power of Subconscious Mind’ Dr Joseph Murphy says one should think and dream about his potential success. It gets graved into your subconscious mind if you do it continuously. You slowly shift your mind toward achieving your goal.

There is an old saying “Look before you leap”. The relation of contemplation signifies the same as the saying goes. We need to think about the action before we consider it. It helps to eliminate the wrong choices in your life or make mistakes. One should include this practice in everyday life.

It is crucial to remember the positivity. One should take note of their lifetime achievements. Bearing in mind the successes fills the mind with positivity. Further, it inspires hard work. Each day we should do this exercise in the early morning for five minutes to bring meaningful change to life.

We encounter problems daily. They come in various forms; simple and complex. Whenever there is a problem, we become sad and start lamenting. It is the root cause of eternal pain. We should concentrate on solving the problem rather than procrastinating. This swap in thinking will work wonders in us. It is a daily practice until we develop a habit out of it. The activity emboldens us to find the solution easily.

Many a time, we have preconceived assumption for a specific situation. We need to challenge these assumptions or ideas and try to look differently. The author tells you to be less fixated to a specific view. Experimenting with a preconceived notion will make us adaptable to change. It helps us to accept the difference in opinion and examine the other side too.

One should always acknowledge his achievements.  Most of the time, we shelved it as the luck or act of god. But, we need to note it down and allow it to be a good positive memory. Otherwise, we will focus more on failure thereby making us less confidant day by day. Therefore, we need to be aware of successes and it is very healthy.

Like successes, we need to review our failures too. Failures give us a lesson not to repeat the same mistakes. The author suggests that we should list out the reason for failures and try to improve upon those points in future. We pick up the important lessons from the failures. It should be done whenever we fail.

The mind games are excellent for the brain. These little games keep your brains sharp and healthy. One should play mind games like learning words, reciting poems, words of wisdom etc. to keep the brain in fit shape by enhancing knowledge and memory skills.

Force of attraction is a powerful technique. When you think and dream of about your goal, you are focusing your attention to subconsciously achieving that goal. The author suggests this practice at least a few minutes a day. It helps one to be focused.

Updated on 23 Aug 2020

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