3 Strategies for Shifting into Deep Work

Leaders are constantly pulled in multiple directions—Slack notifications, endless meetings, fire-fighting. Many end up in reactive mode, losing the ability to do deep work.

The irony is that if you never step back to think deeply, you make short-sighted decisions that create even more distractions.

Here are some key traps to watch for:

Mistaking motion for progress—leaders often mistake motion for progress. Responding to every message, attending every meeting, and constantly “being available” can feel productive, but it rarely leads to meaningful outcomes.

It creeps up on you. I have found myself in this situation many times and it’s difficult to extract yourself from, requiring as it does some notion of disappointing others.

This trap arises from a fear of missing out or the need to demonstrate value through visibility. But it’s worth asking where busyness and progress diverge, and if they’re in fact at odds?

Defragmenting Your Attention—with your addiction to busyness quelled, it’s time to reclaim your attention through these strategies:

Time-blocking: Working in blocks changed the way I work, especially with a neurodivergent brain. I wrote about this in a previous edition of C&C: Working in pulses is my secret weapon.
Minimising context-switching: Grouping similar tasks together to reduce cognitive friction. Avoid the browser whenever possible: it’s far too easy to hop over to an old tab or research that gift idea that just popped into your mind.
Ruthless prioritisation: Identifying the vital few tasks that truly move the needle and eliminating the trivial many. This is an ongoing attitude, not a one-off task.

When to be interruptible—not all interruptions are distractions. Leaders need to distinguish between moments that require accessibility and those that demand solitude. This balance involves:

Setting clear expectations with your team on when you are available.
Using Do Not Disturb on your phone and laptop can make a huge difference. I wrote about the profound effect of having Do Not Disturb on 24/7 in my two-year reflection on practicing Digital minimalism.
Building a culture of ownership and crowd-solving within your team to reduce unnecessary escalations.

The universal solution threading through each of these suggestions is building reflection into your workflows.

Everyone “knows” the above advice can help, yet so few put it into practice. Because it’s not easy at first! Focus is a muscle that has to be trained. But like bank interest, it compounds over time.

In the end, deep work isn’t about working harder—it’s having the courage to pause and reflect amidst the ever-louder demands to work harder, faster and longer.