Setting specific times for employees to get into the deep work zone and establish certain rules that promote pure creative work is a great motivator and productivity enhancer.
If employees work just an hour doing one task, without any interruption, they will understand the benefits and will love to do more of the same.
Over the weekend, the NY Times interviewed a classmate of mine from Dartmouth and fellow oarsman on the freshman crew team, Cal Newport, about his book and his idea, Deep Work. Here's the crux of the idea: Deep work is my term for the activity of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
Some books you read, and then forget. Others change a small part of your life. Then there are the rare gems that fundamentally change the way you think, live, and work. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport is one of the later.
Deep work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. Creates value.
Shallow work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. Doesn't create value.
Monastic: maximize Deep Work by minimizing or removing shallow obligations. Isolate yourself for long periods of time without distractions; no shallow work allowed
Bimodal: divide your time into some clearly defined stretches to deep pursuits and leave the rest open to everything else. Reserve a few consecutive days when you will be working like a monastic. You need at least one day a week
Rhythmic: involves creating a routine where you define a specific time period — ideally three to four hours every day — that you can devote to Deep Work
Journalistic: alternate your day between deep and shallow work as it fits your blocks of time. Not recommended to try out first.