This topic has been done to death, every freelancer and her dog has discussed it whilst rearranging their self-help books, polishing their MacBook and contemplating where they can find some lunch money as their last paying gig was 6 months ago.
So what happened today at The OuiShare Summit? Yep, I spent a big chunk of time with others discussing the future of work.
However, as always there is a twist, we discussed how we could make the discussion about ‘future if work’ great again.
It is about how we can define the term ‘work’, perhaps looking about the future of unemployment that many might face. It was about accepting there are multiple futures and not one.
We are stuck in our bubbles of freelancing and realising that there are billions of other humans who are facing different future of work challenges.
It is also about reframing the whole discussion and communicating what is being said as often it is too locally focused and narrow.
For me it is taking about the work practices instead of a narrow focus on the physical environment.
Also, Seth Godin did a brilliant talk on ‘what is school for?’ A question rarely asked about education, so perhaps we need to ask what is work for? To look about how as humans we can be engaged in work that has purpose and meaning in our post industrialised world, where we may no longer be mere drones doing functional work for someone else organisation and dream.
The future is always uncertain, and harder than ever to predict. Perhaps we can focus on now and making change as now shapes the future for us all.
Category: deep work
I’m locking myself in a room
Thursday and Friday I’m locking myself in a room.
It’s not an experiment to see what kidnapping might be like. It is to focus.
Not to make a plan for the next 12 months but just for the next 12 weeks.
Anything longer than that is pointless and I am going to have just 2 or 3 main areas that I am focusing on.
It’s part of the 12-Week Year by Brian Moran a great book that compliments deep work so well.
My focus for the next 12 weeks is my new project The Deep Work Project which amazingly is all about focusing.
We all need time once a week, once a month, once a quarter to plan and to plan properly. It doesn’t mean I’ll succeed, but I’ll get a lot closer than I would without anything written down.
I’ve had a good break now, I’ve switched off, shut down, and most importantly it has been guilt free. That’s something I have finally learnt at 51, guilt-free downtime and leisure time enables me not to resent work-related tasks.
Amazingly, when you do decide to lock yourself away, switch off the phone, close off the distractions of the internet and get out some good old-fashioned Sharpies and paper, you can really get into your flow, be creative and focus.
This is the very core of deep work, it is building the ‘muscle’ of concentration and allowing ourselves to do our very best work.
Like everything this is a work in progress, I am the world champion at procrastination and it is a long slog to the nirvana of concentration but it’s a journey, not a sprint.
Philip Dodson 