The Deep Work Routine That Changed My Life

Block out one hour a day minimum. Work

on one meaningful project. Aim for one vision for your future. Take it one day at a time. You don't need more motivation. You need more clarity. You

motivation. You need more clarity. You

don't need more time. You need more focus. And if you want more of both

focus. And if you want more of both understand this. Your mind is a

understand this. Your mind is a supercomput. And your attention is the

supercomput. And your attention is the RAM. If you don't know what RAM is, RAM

RAM. If you don't know what RAM is, RAM it's random access memory. And it's the part of your computer that determines its performance for all that we care

about right now. When you have multiple programs or browser tabs open and you see your computer slowing down, that's because it's filling it's using up your RAM. It's slowing down your performance.

RAM. It's slowing down your performance.

Now, humans can process around 50 bits of information per second with their conscious attention compared to 11 million bits we unconsciously process from skills we've learned over time like learning to walk. We don't have to think

about that. So that adds up to 125

about that. So that adds up to 125 billion bits of conscious information in your lifetime. That's your ticking time

your lifetime. That's your ticking time bomb. You either invest a large portion

bomb. You either invest a large portion of those 125 billion bits of information into a better future for yourself or you let distractions clog them up like

browser tabs on your computer and waste your life. So for most people on an

your life. So for most people on an average day that precious focus is just chaotically bouncing between so many different things. It could be thoughts

different things. It could be thoughts about the stressful future, the boring present, and the regretful past. It

could be an internal cry to break out of your conditioned way of living. Or just

a list of mixed priority tasks that need to be finished. And the list goes on.

The modern mind has its attention split in a thousand different directions the minute it wakes up and opens its phone.

So, that leads us into how to take back control of your attention or just how to get into deep work. We're here to learn about my deep work routine. So in a

nutshell, what it is is to do your work when entropy is low. But of course, we need to talk about what that means. So

before we continue, I want you to forgive me because this is nothing revolutionary, right? You're you may

revolutionary, right? You're you may learn something new. You'll probably

learn something new. But this routine is actually quite simple. It's what more people need because I've tried all of the productivity hacks. I've tried the Pomodoro timers. I've even tried putting

Pomodoro timers. I've even tried putting on a hat, right, to to simulate a narrow focus and it kind of works, but like

your favorite notion productivity template, all systems fall apart or they evolve to fit your new needs. So the the notion template or even the cortex workspace that you built, the notion

template that you downloaded a few weeks ago isn't going to last forever. That's

why I want to focus on the core principles that you can do all the time so that you can accomplish 8 hours of work in four. So to understand the first principle, you need to understand

entropy. You must understand that by

entropy. You must understand that by doing nothing with your life, you choose to slowly drown in chaos. You don't stay the same. You dig yourself deeper into a

the same. You dig yourself deeper into a hole without trying because the good life demands consistent effort toward your own goals. So without getting too

complicated, entropy is the measure of how messy, disordered or random something is. It's a part of the second

something is. It's a part of the second law of thermodynamics, which in short states that in any natural process, the total entropy or disorder tends to

increase over time unless effort or energy is put into keeping the system ordered. So, if you have a bookshelf or

ordered. So, if you have a bookshelf or let's take it even further. If you have a library or you work at a library there is a neat and tidy system for keeping the books organized so that

people can find them. But once more people take books or people go in and read them and move them and the system isn't maintained or effort isn't put in or you don't have the employees or you

eventually don't have a robot that condenses the amount of energy that's needed to put the right amount of effort in. But over time, that library is just

in. But over time, that library is just going to become completely chaotic. It's

going to be a jumbled mess of books that are everywhere and nobody's going to be able to find anything. It loses its value. And the same goes true for

value. And the same goes true for something like cleaning your room. If

you don't put effort into cleaning your room every day, slowly it will become a disgusting nest of filth. The first day you have a few shirts lying around and

it's it's not that bad. So, you don't maintain the system by putting effort in and then slowly more and more it gets.

so dirty that you have to expend so much more effort to get it back to the ordered state. That's where most

ordered state. That's where most people's minds are right now. They're so

distracted that it takes so much effort that they don't want to get undistracted. So that leads us to a few

undistracted. So that leads us to a few points. And the first point is that you

points. And the first point is that you aren't productive because you don't have clarity. And that may seem obvious that

clarity. And that may seem obvious that you aren't productive because you focus on one distraction. you don't correct yourself and then slowly more distractions come in and make it

incredibly hard to get back your focus.

So there are two ways to identify distractions before they happen so you can correct yourself and get back into flow. That's what this is from is flow

flow. That's what this is from is flow state psychology. And those two ways to

state psychology. And those two ways to identify it are boredom and anxiety. If

the challenge of the task you're completing is too low for your skill level, you will get bored. If the

challenge of the task you are completing is too high for your skill level, you will get anxious. The boredom stems from self-centerness. Your focus breaks, a

self-centerness. Your focus breaks, a new desire pops into your head, and related thoughts start to fill your attention. If you are bored of the task

attention. If you are bored of the task you will start thinking of better things you could be doing. Now, the anxiety stems from self-consciousness. Your

focus turns inward at yourself, directed on yourself, and the negative thoughts start to flood in about how you're not good enough. So, if you look in the

good enough. So, if you look in the mirror and notice a blemish on your face, that's step one. But that can slowly turn your attention to more flaws in your appearance and it can start to take over your mind and ruin your

self-image. Because that one thought of

self-image. Because that one thought of a blemish on your skin can make you think, "Okay, well, my diet isn't the best right now. Maybe that's what it is." And then you start thinking about

is." And then you start thinking about your diet and you're like, "Well, I'm kind of getting a bit overweight and I don't like this little pudgy stomach."

and then oh in order to get rid of that I have to start going on a run or going to the gym and your mind starts to slowly flood with these thoughts because you don't have clarity on what to do if

you had an immediate and effective solution for the blemish through your knowledge skill and education then you wouldn't have to think twice about

fixing that problem. So the chaos induced by boredom and anxiety can only be cured with clarity. You must refocus your mind not only on the task in front

of you, but on the ideal outcome of your life as a whole. When you have the skill and knowledge that matches the challenge of the task or situation at hand, life

becomes an interesting video game.

You're not a level one going against a level 50. You're a level one going

level 50. You're a level one going against a level two, three, four. You're

increasing your experience. Now, if you don't know what your ideal life is, you can try running through the life reset map workflow inside of Cortex. So, when

you start the interview, it will ask you key questions about your situation, your skills, your interests, and it spits out a first iteration of your ideal life with your vision, skill development

tree, long and short-term goals, and the rest. And then you can save this as a

rest. And then you can save this as a document and be able to reference it or iterate on it with AI or not as you go about life. So that was step one is one

about life. So that was step one is one just the danger of distractions. Now

step two is more practical and it's treating your work sessions like quests in a video game. And we'll start with a quote from Mihi Chickset Mihi who wrote the book flow. The optimal state of

inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens

when psychic energy or attention is invested in realistic goals and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings

action. The pursuit of a goal brings order and awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else. So video games are

everything else. So video games are addictive for two reasons. The first is that they have a clear hierarchy of goals and these each increase in

challenge which means they demand an increase in skill. So you know how to win and you become someone in the process. You have a clear bridge. And

process. You have a clear bridge. And

then along with that, they have rules and feedback loops. And these keep your attention in the game and minimize distraction. So last week I released a

distraction. So last week I released a video. It's called how to gamify your

video. It's called how to gamify your life. Unfortunately, it's not doing that

life. Unfortunately, it's not doing that well, but that went over how to gamify your life as a whole. Well, right now I'm talking about gamifying your deep work sessions. So the simplest way to

work sessions. So the simplest way to accomplish this is by doing the following. The first thing is to

following. The first thing is to quantify your two to three highest priority tasks or most important tasks.

Now, this doesn't mean that you only do two or three things throughout the day.

It just means that you choose two or three things that demand the most mental energy from you for deep work. Deep work

is for deep tasks. Shallow work is for shallow tasks. So these two to three

shallow tasks. So these two to three most important tasks are not things like answering emails or administrative work or other things that don't move the

needle toward the life you want to live.

These are the tasks that if not completed will cause you to stagnate or move backward. So something like

move backward. So something like building a meaningful project before your 9 to5 in the morning that will give you more time and financial freedom. or

for someone like a creator, it could be building a new product, writing promotions, or pulling the levers that lead to distribution and sales. You

aren't where you want to be because you aren't focused on your two to three most important tasks first thing in the morning or you don't know what your most important tasks are because you haven't

actually thought them through and you're listening to someone else as to what the tasks you should be doing are when that's up to your discernment and personal experimentation. Now, if you

personal experimentation. Now, if you can, you want to quantify these tasks.

So, instead of putting my task as I want to write some of my newsletter, I'll say I want to write a thousand words of my newsletter. What this does is it creates

newsletter. What this does is it creates the feedback loop. Like when you're completing quests in a game, you can see the progress that you're making and that acts as a barrier for distractions. It

prevents your mind from going elsewhere because it's consistently focusing back on itself. Now, step two is to set a

on itself. Now, step two is to set a challenging deadline with a reason to obey it. Who you are, what you think

obey it. Who you are, what you think feel, and do, what you love is the sum of what you focus on. That's a cheeky little quote from Cal Newport to start

this section. But our brains have a

this section. But our brains have a limited capacity for deep focused work every day. So by limiting your top

every day. So by limiting your top priorities to two to three tasks, it forces you to be ruthless about what truly matters and aligns you with your bigger goals. So that's level one of

bigger goals. So that's level one of narrowing your focus to keep distractions at bay is just two to three tasks. That's all you're focused on. Now

tasks. That's all you're focused on. Now

level two to narrow it even further and really get into deep work is to create a deadline. Preferably in the form of a

deadline. Preferably in the form of a time block for each task. And you'll

understand why. But this is nothing novel. We all know that a deadline can

novel. We all know that a deadline can make even the world's most intense procrastinators get the work done. Like

when your essay is due tomorrow and you just get it done and you usually do it pretty well. But you can replicate this

pretty well. But you can replicate this to an extent every single morning to make more progress than the next month than you have in the last year. So there

are two ways that I like to ensure deadlines. The first is working in

deadlines. The first is working in challenging time blocks and these are usually 60 to 90 minutes. And then

number two is having an important non-workrelated task in between time blocks. So if I'm writing a thousand

blocks. So if I'm writing a thousand words for my newsletter, then I'll give myself something like 60 minutes to achieve that. And that usually isn't

achieve that. And that usually isn't enough time. But that's for a good

enough time. But that's for a good reason because I don't have time to think about what I'm going to write. I

don't have time to allow other distractions to get into play. my mind

when it's in that narrow state is going to pull the necessary resources to do what it's meant to do at that time. If

you can't write just by doing that, it's because you're missing another piece of the puzzle. It's because you don't have

the puzzle. It's because you don't have ideas to write about, which we'll talk about in point number three soon. The

other thing about 60 minutes not being enough time in a time block is that a lot of time it invokes the zygarnic effect, right? Which is like open loops.

effect, right? Which is like open loops.

If you have an open loop, your brain wants to go back and complete that thing or it can't stop thinking about that thing. So, if you stop your work early

thing. So, if you stop your work early or you cut it short, your brain is going to have that much more ideas and drive to get back into the work and finish it during the next time block. Now, where

the power of the deadlines come into play is in between these time blocks right? The time block is like a

right? The time block is like a deadline, right? I give myself 60

deadline, right? I give myself 60 minutes. But in between these time

minutes. But in between these time blocks, I put small but extremely important tasks like for me eating breakfast. Now, I know many people do

breakfast. Now, I know many people do the intermittent fasting thing and I did for a long time. You do you. But when I started to prioritize my health and the gym even more, I noticed that by not

eating, my gym sessions suffered. Right?

I I don't want to hear your objections to that. I don't care. I know you can

to that. I don't care. I know you can perform well on a fasted stomach. That's

not what I'm saying. What I'm saying that in my mind it is very important for me to eat breakfast so that my workouts are fueled with food carbs and the rest

so I can have a very good workout for that day and that compounds over the days. So because that breakfast time

days. So because that breakfast time something so simple is tied to another value in my life, something that I have to do and something I have to do well

at, then I kind of have to stop work because I can't. If I eat right before the gym, then I'm going to feel a bit groggy or it's not going to be as good as if I ate 3 hours before the gym and

then had a little snack right before. So

if I don't stop my work, then my health takes a hit in some regard in some in a in a domain that's important to me. The

thing with this is that if you don't value your health or your relationships and you don't have priority tasks that you do for those things throughout your day, if you don't have good habits, then

your productivity will suffer because you don't have a reason to stop working.

You don't have a deadline that kicks you into flow. Most hustlers that brag about

into flow. Most hustlers that brag about working 16 to 20 hours a day, it's just all distracted work and they don't even know it. And they'll defend themselves

know it. And they'll defend themselves into the end of the world because it's their religion. It's their culture. It's

their religion. It's their culture. It's

the only thing that they know. It's

their badge of honor. It's their status symbol to work so long and get so little done, but feel like they're making progress and not have any idea of how much progress they could make if they

went a different route. Now, step three to top this all off is to prioritize mental metabolism. So, so far, here's

mental metabolism. So, so far, here's what my deep work routine looks like.

You structure time blocks from low to high entropy. The world is quiet first

high entropy. The world is quiet first thing in the morning. No emails, no communication with others, no phone nothing that can send your mind spiraling and silently impact your work.

Then, there's two to three most important tasks over two to three time blocks. It doesn't matter if you finish

blocks. It doesn't matter if you finish one task per time block. As long as you feel the pressure from the time clock that narrows focus. And then last shallow work only once deep work is

complete. Do not, and I repeat, do not

complete. Do not, and I repeat, do not check emails, social media, or the rest until deep work is done. You can go on social media to post if that's what you do, but only if you are posting and

leaving to get back to work. Now, but

what about the rest of the day? Well, if

you think of your mind like your body you just spent a few hours training to failure in the mental gym with deep work. You spend 95% of your mental

work. You spend 95% of your mental energy and you need to eat. You need to recover and you need to do what's necessary to show up in peak condition

for your workout tomorrow. So in my case, and this may not be true for you but for the creators and solopreneurs and freelancers and everyone else in my

audience that gets it, most of my work depends on the quality of my ideas and my strategy. And with that, most of my

my strategy. And with that, most of my work is done before I even start working. I have absolute clarity on what

working. I have absolute clarity on what I need to do when I sit down first thing because the second half of my day is spent leisure maxing. I fill my mind with nutritious food. I carb load the

psyche so it can perform its best. I go

on walks, read books, talk to smart people, relax with my loved ones, and try to learn or do at least a few new things each week. New places, new experiences, new trends or skills.

Something that keeps me fresh that isn't directly related to my work. Because

usually in your deep work session you're not thinking. You're not thinking of the strategy. You're just doing.

You're in the flow state. You're at one with the task. The knowledge you have available is what you're using. So if

you don't have the ideas to write about already or the strategy to test with marketing, then your deep work session isn't going to be that deep. So to come

to an end, understand that as a creative and heading into the future of work, the people who work the least will end up on top because your story, synthesis of ideas, and experience are the only mode

when AI can do almost everything. Now

if you want an AI prompt to go along with this video, I created a deep work accelerator, which pretty much you jot down your priority tasks. It helps you quantify them and make them more clear

and then it gives you a few suggestions for getting into flow. Then you can check in when you're doing the tasks or it can help you complete the tasks along the way. So, links in the description

the way. So, links in the description for that. You can also join the future

for that. You can also join the future proof newsletter where I'm sending out many articles a week on how to become futureproof. And last, if you want all

futureproof. And last, if you want all AI models in one place, you want 25 plus pre-built AI workflows for planning marketing, content creation, and learning, and to be able to reference

documents, notes, and PDFs all in one place, check out Cortex. All of those are in the description. Thank you again for watching. See you in the next video.

for watching. See you in the next video.

Bye.