Balancing cultivation activities, connoisseurship activities, community activities, and self-care/productivity activities leads to joy in deep leisure.
Establishing a clear separation between work and non-work time, utilizing time blocking, and setting aside specific hours for leisure activities helps in enjoying deep leisure.
Treating YouTube as a library for specific goals, avoiding distractions, and using plug-ins to remove autoplay and recommendations results in productive use of the platform.
Deep dives
Balancing Cultivation and Other Leisure Activities
To find joy in deep leisure, it's important to balance cultivation activities (playing guitar, learning languages, writing fiction) with other types of leisure. This includes connoisseurship activities (enjoying things you appreciate), community activities (spending time with friends and family), and self-care/productivity activities. By diversifying your leisure activities, you create a rich and fulfilling leisure portfolio that protects against burnout. Make sure to ease into these activities, focus on one at a time, and create motivating rituals or environments to make them enjoyable.
Separating Work and Leisure
To truly enjoy deep leisure, it's crucial to establish a clear separation between work and non-work time. Practice weekly planning and time blocking to allocate specific hours for work and leisure activities. Aim to work fewer hours on average, allowing for more freedom in your non-work time. Take advantage of flexibility as a PhD candidate, such as implementing stealth park time work or giving yourself full days off. This way, you can fully engage in leisure activities without feeling overwhelmed by work obligations.
Using YouTube Productively
To make productive use of YouTube, treat it as a library rather than a channel. Approach it with a specific goal in mind, such as learning how to play a particular song or watching a specific speech or interview. Avoid clicking on recommendations or using it as a source of entertainment. Use browser plug-ins that remove autoplay and recommendation features to stay focused on your intended use. Adopt the mindset of accessing specific knowledge or content and avoid getting drawn into endless distractions.
Explore New Experiences Outside of Your Apartment
Instead of being confined to your apartment, the podcast episode suggests exploring new experiences outside. If you have the financial resources and flexibility, consider temporarily investing in renting a house or cabin in a different location. Take advantage of the remote work situation to have a change of scenery and create breathing room. Engage in grand gestures like taking long walks in interesting places, visiting scenic locations, and trying new activities. Avoid getting stuck in the habit of being inside your apartment all the time.
ASMR Rooms and Deep Work
The podcast discusses the concept of ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) and its connection to deep work. ASMR refers to the tingling sensation people experience in response to certain sounds or touch. ASMR videos and ASMR rooms have gained popularity, where viewers immerse themselves in virtual environments with soothing sounds to induce a state of relaxation and concentration. The episode explores the potential use of ASMR rooms, particularly in virtual reality, as a tool to enhance focus, creativity, and cognitive thinking. Voice recognition technology is suggested as a way to capture work product in these virtual environments. Long-form reading, including audiobooks, is also considered as a valuable activity for engaging with complex ideas.
Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast.
WORK QUESTIONS
- How do I finish my day strong when time blocking? [5:09] - What should I do to succeed as a new professor? [9:48] - How do I protect deep work even as I become more recognized? [14:38] - What are strategies for handling large ambiguous work tasks? [19:37] - How do I stay productive in a one-bedroom apartment? [24:06]
TECHNOLOGY QUESTIONS
- Can ASMR support deep work? [32:44] - Do audiobooks count as long-form reading? [40:21] - Should families use shared task lists? [40:45] - How how I use YouTube while avoiding entertainment black holes? [46:29]
DEEP LIFE QUESTIONS
- How does one find joy in deep leisure? [50:00] - It Eisenhower Box useful for constructing a deep life? [58:05] - How do I escape the social media bubble the pandemic trapped me inside? [1:03:44]
Thanks to Jay Kerstens for the intro music.
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