Deep Work Struggle: The Problem of Deep Work

[r0ckyreed]

Hello! I read Deep Work by Cal Newport over Winter after finishing Life Purpose Course.

I have been struggling with Deep Work in part with the conflicting messages I have received as well as the conflicting parts in myself.

A part of me wants to be "productive" but a part of me wants to play and enjoy life.  I realized the importance of play after watching the movie Christopher Robin.

In this movie, Christopher Robin is a man who lost touch with his childhood and the enjoyment of life and became indoctrinated into the workaholism and productivity of society.  When Pooh comes along, he reminds Christopher to appreciate the small things and to play with life and his family, to enjoy life rather than taking his work too seriously.

This has been my struggle with the concept of Deep Work is that I value being immersed into my work, but I do not want to become a workaholic.  I wish Cal Newport would have went over the trap of workaholism in his book and I wish he could have explored playfulness.

I guess it is a balancing game between Deep Work and Deep Play?  Or I guess you could say that it is a game of turning work into play, while also "Smelling the Roses," which essentially means to enjoy life.

It is hard for me to balance this because while I understand the concepts of the Mastery Mindset (George Leonard's work) and Deep Work (Cal Newport's work), I am struggling to reconcile this with play.

There are times when all I want to do is hike in nature and not be bound by a schedule.  I am an INFP and INTP.

How do we balance between Deep Work and Deep Play or "Smelling the Roses?"  This is my main conflict and criticism in doing Deep Work.  At what point is Deep Work workaholism? Workaholism is what I want to avoid because I do not want a be another Christopher Robin. I want to be a Pooh  

Thanks! Thank you for your time!  

[Bodhitree]

The solution is to do work that you enjoy. Your passion will allow you to achieve mastery in your chosen field much more easily, although of course you will still need to work at it.

[r0ckyreed]

Thanks.  Right now, my work is a grind at the moment.  My main concern is that I want to do Deep Work, but I do not want to be a workaholic.  I am trying to figure out how I can balance the two.

[Insane butterfly]

Deep work is a Deep work not an amount of work.

When you want to do it , just do it Deep and is very beneficial 

[Flowerfaeiry]

Then go play! That's the whole point of playing, forget about the rules and get out of your head, beyond ideas of what you "should" be doing. 

[Matt23]

I feel this points to the balance of delayed gratification and enjoying things right now.  I suppose these are things each person has to work out for themselves. 

[r0ckyreed]

Thank you all!  I realized the solution:  Deep Work is not about workaholism, it is about the Mastery Mindset.  "Excellence is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle.

It is important for me to work on developing routines and habits for Mastery, but integrate play into it to enjoy the plateau of life.  

I need to train my mind despite its resistances to develop the habits I want to.  I will have my periods of Deep Work scheduled as well as my days of play.  

I realize now that if I want to commit to Mastery, I need deliberate practice.  This does not mean I become a Christopher Robin, but that I become a Mike Wazowski where there can be a combination of both Deep work and play.  Or as Alan Watts says make work your play.  The divisions between work and play are what make us suffer.  The challenge is to view my work as play, but I believe I can do it.

Self-care is also something I need to strategize into my schedule, which self-care is basically an adult's form of play lol!

Thank you all for your insightful comments thus far! They helped me gain more clarity. Thank you!