What does my ritual involve? Other than commencing with a cup of something caffeinated, there’s three elements: eliminating temptation, blocking out distraction and pacing myself. And now, a month into my new freelance routine, my ‘get in the zone’ ritual is working better than ever before-I can dive into deep work within a matter of minutes, and stay there for my daily target period. I recommend them to RHD students who have attended a Thesis Boot Camp and want to later recreate the focus they experienced there.
Tomighty 2017 full#
I used rituals while balancing full time work and writing up my PhD. Many of the anecdotes Newport shares could be read as rituals-performative sequences that signal to your body and mind that it’s time for some serious work. So how do you find your ‘zone’-that magical place of intense concentration where you unpick knotty problems make breakthroughs and produce, edit and polish significant amounts of written work? And how do you return there, again and again, without it being a battle or a roll of the dice? And you’ve got to be able to stay there long enough to make meaningful progress. Whatever you call it, you’ve got to go there. In other words, they must spend significant amounts of time in a state of complete focus. Whether you agree with his ‘rules’ or not, Newport’s main message is powerful: knowledge workers-writers and researchers prominent among them-must engage in periods of sustained concentration to succeed in their highly competitive industries. I started with a re-read of Cal Newport’s 2016 book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. I’m a firm believer in continuous improvement, so when I recently shifted from university institute manager and part-time consultant to full-time freelance, it was a great opportunity for a productivity health check. “Knowledge workers-writers and researchers prominent among them-must engage in periods of sustained concentration to succeed in their highly competitive industries.” As I facilitated the Bristol Thesis Boot Camp, I started thinking about the way my own approach to ‘getting writing done’ has evolved over the past five years.
Tomighty 2017 series#
Since, all three of us have continued to refine and enhance our writing events and advice, and Katherine recently began showcasing her updates in a series of Second Edition blog posts in which she revisits and augments some of her tips, tricks and methods. I created Thesis Boot Camp back in 2012 as a supercharged space for thesis writing, and soon after roped in my friends Dr Katherine Firth and Dr Liam Connell to further develop the concept. This weekend I supported a talented group of PhD students to reach and exceed their writing goals at the University of Bristol’s first Thesis Boot Camp. Published by Dr Peta Freestone on 7th May 2017 7th May 2017 Finding your ‘zone’ and staying there: rituals for sustained concentration