How Much Deep Work is Possible Per Day? | Deep Questions with Cal Newport

00:00:00.000 | All right, our next question here comes from Freddie.

00:00:04.320 | Freddie says,

00:00:06.200 | is the following understanding of deep work durations

00:00:11.040 | correct?

00:00:11.900 | All right, then he goes on to elaborate.

00:00:14.640 | When deep work is geared towards deliberate practice,

00:00:16.980 | something like learning how to program,

00:00:18.640 | only four hours can be sustained per day

00:00:21.520 | since deliberate practice is inherently not fun

00:00:24.360 | when you're stretching your abilities.

00:00:25.520 | However, when deep work is geared towards work

00:00:29.300 | that can generate a flow state,

00:00:30.880 | something like writing computer programs,

00:00:33.080 | it can be extended to eight hours or maybe even 10.

00:00:36.640 | So Freddie, that's more or less correct.

00:00:41.920 | So that four hour limit that I mentioned in my book,

00:00:44.760 | Deep Work, really came from a study of deliberate practice.

00:00:49.760 | It was actually an Anders Ericsson paper

00:00:51.640 | studying violin players.

00:00:53.480 | I've also seen anecdotally this four hour limit

00:00:57.760 | confirmed by other, in particular, professional musicians.

00:01:00.460 | So practicing a musical instrument

00:01:02.940 | at the professional level is a very intense act

00:01:05.980 | of deliberate practice.

00:01:07.140 | You're not just playing things,

00:01:09.240 | you know you're stretching your ability,

00:01:10.660 | you're trying to perfect.

00:01:11.860 | And the standard schedule that Anders found,

00:01:14.820 | and I've heard other people talk about as well,

00:01:16.860 | is two hours break two hours, adds up to four hours.

00:01:19.820 | So that's correct.

00:01:21.060 | Other type of deep work, yes, you can do much longer.

00:01:26.420 | So remember for something to be counted as deep work,

00:01:28.520 | it needs two attributes.

00:01:29.800 | It has to be cognitively demanding, so it can't be trivial.

00:01:32.480 | And it has to be done without distraction,

00:01:34.100 | so no context shifting.

00:01:35.680 | You're giving your full attention to the effort,

00:01:37.200 | you're not also checking email,

00:01:38.360 | you're not also checking your phone.

00:01:41.560 | That covers a lot of activities,

00:01:43.020 | include a lot of activities though,

00:01:45.200 | that though not super simple,

00:01:46.720 | because it has to be cognitively demanding,

00:01:48.040 | are things you could do all day long.

00:01:49.880 | Right, a lot of deep work is not nearly as intense

00:01:53.840 | as a professional musician trying to push their skill

00:01:56.660 | to the next level.

00:01:58.740 | So yes, most deep work you could do

00:01:59.820 | much longer than four hours.

00:02:02.020 | Even deliberate practice,

00:02:03.180 | most people are gonna do longer than four hours

00:02:04.500 | 'cause they don't do it nearly as intensely

00:02:06.140 | as professional musicians.

00:02:07.220 | I think most people are just not familiar

00:02:09.100 | about how cognitively intense real practice actually is.

00:02:13.380 | In my book, "So Good They Can't Ignore You,"

00:02:14.940 | I try to capture this with an anecdote

00:02:16.620 | where I went and spent time

00:02:17.980 | with a professional guitar player.

00:02:19.660 | And I wrote about what it looks like

00:02:21.500 | to watch a professional guitar player practice.

00:02:24.700 | In this case, the player, Jordan,

00:02:27.560 | Jordan Tice is his name.

00:02:29.960 | Actually, he played at my wedding.

00:02:32.120 | Jordan was practicing with such intensity

00:02:34.920 | that he would forget to breathe.

00:02:36.520 | And then he would have a ragged gasp

00:02:39.000 | as he sucked in air, his body forcing to suck in air.

00:02:41.120 | That's what it looks like when you're deliberate practicing

00:02:43.120 | at your full extent.

00:02:44.400 | That you can't do more than four hours,

00:02:45.960 | but most people aren't anywhere near that level of intensity.

00:02:50.520 | So typically what I tell people is,

00:02:53.300 | don't fret too much about these limits for deep work,

00:02:56.860 | numbers or thresholds, you're fine.

00:03:01.000 | Just make sure you're doing deep work on a regular basis.

00:03:03.320 | Don't be distracted, focus on the hard things,

00:03:05.640 | do that regularly and good things will come.

00:03:09.640 | (upbeat music)

00:03:12.220 | (upbeat music)

How Much Deep Work is Possible Per Day? | Deep Questions with Cal Newport

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