Everyone that has worked from home knows that as good as it sounds, it’s not always a walk on the beach. There are so many distractions, and it’s easy to lose a routine. And that is the state I’ve been in. I have a morning and nighttime routine that is more or less consistent, but during the day, it has been hard to create one. From pets to unplanned tasks, finding a balance isn’t easy.

So, I’ve been looking for strategies and ways to accomplish my work while still being flexible enough to accommodate any unpredictable tasks that need to be done. From time blocking to so many other techniques I’ve found online, one stood out the most: deep work. This is a term created by Carl Newport about a deep state of focus. The idea is to reach a mental state of deep concentration to produce better quality work in less time. And after learning a bit more, I realised I’d done deep work. I’ve been completely focused while writing blog posts. And, in those moments, I wrote the posts I enjoyed the most but also the ones that required less editing afterwards.

So it seemed logical to buy Newport’s book Deep Work. I was curious about the topic. I had the urgency to create a work routine if I wanted to accomplish something in this lifetime. And working for less time and more intensely could be the answer to my problems. What I didn’t count on was to be motivated not only to try deep work but to want to try all four philosophies of deep work.

For those hearing about deep work for the first time, Carl Newport states that the mind needs an ambient free of distraction to allow deep concentration. And to reach that, he proposes four philosophies based on four schedules. Each has the same principle of time-blocking management, and they differ in how you block your time during the day or the week.

• The Monastic Philosophy requires consecutive full days of deep work without allowing any distractions.
• The Bimodal Philosophy consists of some days of the week being dedicated to a monastic schedule (full days of deep work) while the rest are for everything else.
• The Rhythmic Philosophy implements chunks of deep work (usually 90 minutes) into the routine, making it a habit and leaving the rest of the day free to focus on other things.
• And the Journalistic Philosophy, where deep work is done whenever possible, making this the hardest to archive.

When it comes to scheduling, management, changing routines or anything else that affects how the day’s activities and chores are prioritised, it changes a lot from person to person. We aren’t all the same. We don’t all have the same life. So a schedule becomes something very personal. And when you’re trying to find one that is right for you, you can’t point at one and say “I choose that”. Even though it’s not fun, finding a new schedule is a trial-and-error game.

And so I decided to make the most of trying and failing (or succeeding): blog about it! I can’t choose at random which of the four philosophies is right for me. The best I can do is try them all and see what I think of each one and which one worked the best. I’ll be writing four separate posts dedicated to each of them individually. I’ll be evaluating how successful or not they are for me. But in order to compare them, I need to set some ground rules to apply across all the philosophies.

The General Rules

To give this a fair shot, I’m trying each philosophy for a month, or better yet, for 28 days, 4 full weeks. This might not be the case for all of them since I can’t shut off from the world for a whole month – I’m looking at you, Monastic Philosophy.

Since Journalistic Philosophy requires switching between distracted to deep focus very quickly, I’ll leave it for last to allow my brain to train a little on deep work. My plan is to try the philosophies in order of intensity, starting with the easiest to ease into and progressively working my way up.

Month One – Rhythmic Philosophy
Month Two – Bimodal Philosophy
Month Week Three – Monastic Philosophy
Month Four – Journalistic Philosophy

To compare the results of each experiment, I’ll use the same project to be easier to measure: writing blog posts. I need to get back into it, and it’s easy to quantify the work produced when dealing with words. Not only will I track the words I write per deep work session but also the number of hours and finished posts at the end of each month. I’ll also keep some notes on my thoughts while working on the different schedules to reference what worked and didn’t work.

Since this is something new, I can’t guarantee all these rules will go according to plan. I’ll schedule each philosophy by them but allow them to change things around if I see it will produce a better result.

As Newport mentions in his book, the idea is to completely shut yourself off from the internet, from other people, and from any distractions. Most of his examples are of people going to secluded places away from civilisation. And as peaceful as that sounds, I can’t do that. I need to create my own oasis in my home. That said, none of these philosophies will be experimented with at their full potential. Every day, no matter which schedule I’m trying out, I’ll have time for social media, family and pets. I won’t be completely shutting myself off. Although I’ll try to keep the time blocks as strict as I can and away from distractions.

The objective

As with every experiment, there has to be an objective, and mine is to find a schedule that works for me and allows me to be more productive. At the same time, I want to explain how each schedule affected me and why it worked or didn’t work. Reading a book or a blog post about these philosophies can be interesting and eye-opening if it’s the first time you’ve heard about it. Although trying to apply it to your own life is always a different experience from reading about it.

With this set of upcoming blog posts, I want to take you on my journey as I experiment with them. Instead of sitting here and explaining how each of them works or telling you to buy Carl Newport’s book, I’ll take you with me as I try to implement them in my life. It still won’t be the same as trying it for yourself, although I’m hoping by the time I’m finished, I’ll have more thought to add than just what I read in the book.

The first post on trying the Rhythmic Philosophy will be published at the end of the month. So don’t forget to come back to know how well the rhythmic schedule worked!