The relation between deep work - flow - increased productivity and coaching

Yvonne Looije coach, mentor and founder of MaXXYou can help you to be more productive at work. One of the methods that can be used is deep work. Deep work can bring you in a state of flow. Computer scientist Cal Newport devoted a book to Deep Work in 2016. He distinguishes two types of work. The first is 'deep work'. This type of work is done with utmost concentration. People use their thinking capacity optimally, so that it is a rather educational experience. What they create is of great value and difficult to replicate, such as writing a project proposal, a thesis or a song text.

Superficial work

The other kind of work is 'superficial work'. This work requires little thinking power. This work often consist of chores of a logistical nature. People can easily do these chores when distracted. These chores might be around handling an email or attending meetings. Whereas deep work is becoming rarer because superficial work takes up almost all of people’s time.

Getting into a flow during deep work

Flow is a mental state in which we lose ourselves completely in an activity (that is challenging enough), the state in which we are fully ourselves, and happy. The main theorist behind this concept is the American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. People may experience flow when gaming, doing sports or making music. Or whilst spending hours in the weekend working on a paper in supreme concentration.

If flow makes us happy, it pays off to allow that to happen as much as possible. Like by finding activities that offer enough (and not to much) challenge, at work in your spare time. Because you can experience FLOW also in your day2day work. Not so much by doing superficial work, but by doing deep work. Not only individuals benefit from performing deep work, experiencing flow and feeling happy, but also employers benefit from their employees being happy. Moreover as deep work takes a professional less time, and is therefore much more time effective. So deep work is all about increased productivity - getting more work done in less time, AND feeling happier when doing it.

Coaching and mentoring for businesses, business leaders and employees

Yvonne Looije provides coaching and mentoring for business leaders, managers and employees. Yvonne can help them all in reaching their organizational and personal goals - whatever they might be.