How do you unlock that secret door to becoming extremely productive? Easy, through total immersion.
This year I made it so that my one goal in everything that I do is going to be total immersion. It’s the obvious-yet-overlooked key to success and extreme productivity in life.
See, I got the idea from language learning and method acting. In the world of language learning there are those few people who learn languages in two to six months. And you know what they apply to their lives? Total immersion. In the world of method acting, actors (and actresses) are only able to give their ‘character’ that authentic feel only by living out that character through total immersion.
First of all, to make it clear, total immersion is not about a balanced life. It’s not about doing a little of everything every single day. And it’s not about giving equal time to everything. Total immersion is about focusing on only one thing for an insane amount of time. It’s about letting everything else wither away in the meantime. And it’s about leading an unbalanced, yet highly passionate, and driven life.
Total immersion requires that you lose any and all sense of balance you hold dear to you. Repeat, any and all sense of balance. It means watching your social life dwindle to nothing while you focus entirely on your career. And on the contrary, it means watching your career dwindle down to nothing while you focus on your social life (a social life is necessary but it shouldn’t be all consuming, all the time).
Way too many people live the “I multi-task” lifestyle. Which I think is stupid given the fact that it’s proven that when we stop concentrating on something for 5-15 minutes it’s going to take a full hour for us to go back to that level of concentration. Calculating that the regular person checks their e-mail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and/or blog every 5 minutes, it’s amazing that people get anything done. But, this does explain the 10 hours of ‘real’ productive time that people usually clock in a 40 hour workweek.
The thing about total immersion is that it’s basically the ultimate cheat code to life. When you spend 8 full hours totally immersed in something, you would think you got 8 hours of productivity right? Wrong, you get far more than 8. And the thing is the longer you’re immersed, the higher the productivity ratio goes up. One day you could clock in 12 hours of work in 8 hours time, another 15 hours, and in another 9. In fact, if you find yourself totally immersed and concentrated for a full 24 hours, you can find yourself having completed a whole weeks worth of work. Hmm, I wonder how much we can get done if we’re totally immersed for one full year?
But why does total productivity greatly multiply the more hours you are immersed? Well think about it, have you or anyone around you ever been fully immersed in one thing and only one thing? Most likely you answered no. So very few people (if any) actually apply this to their lives. So few in fact that we as humans have not actually reached our threshold for productivity, far from it. What you are doing then, by being totally immersed, is going closer and closer to that threshold, closer than anyone has ever been.
I guess the question now is “what are some simple things I can do to become totally immersed”? Well, you can:
Cut back on internet use to less than two hours per day.
Yes, internet use, not just ‘social media’ use. Internet use in general. Believe me, the internet is a very distracting place. What with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Orkut, etc. you can find yourself wasting A LOT of time on the internet.
Most people think that they need the Internet to do most of their work, but they don’t, this is just a cop-out excuse so that they can use it, and eventually be distracted. Even if you make a living online, through blogging for example, you can do most of your writing with less than 5 minutes of internet use. For example if I want to write an article about a subject I’m unfamiliar about I usually do five things:
- Think of a topic to write about and research it online by typing it into a search engine such as Google.
- Save all the information I find as quick as possible offline through Evernote, bookmarking, copy & paste, etc (takes about five minutes). Thus solving my issue of needing to constantly go online to look up information.
- Turn off Wifi so I’m no longer on the Internet, and summarize the information I got in step 2.
- Open up WriteRoom (which darkens the screen so I only concentrate on writing) and proceed to write my masterpiece using facts and information I got in the notes.
- Once finished writing and editing my article I turn on my Wifi again and proceed to upload the article to my blog.
- I laugh, be merry, and attend to other things in my life.
Batch similar tasks (thank you Tim Ferriss).
Batching has got to be one of the most productive thing I have ever done. Batching involves you grouping similar items and tasks together and completing them all at on specific time.
For example, all my blog posts on dancePROOF are written in the last week of the previous month, giving me a full three weeks to never worry about providing new content. Which, if you think about it actually gives me better content (three weeks totally immersed in other things allows me to get more information about them, and a full week immersed in writing allows me to convey my knowledge about them better).
So, believe me when I say that total immersion can apply to anything and everything if one chooses. And, as I said [and guarantee], this is one of those obvious-yet-overlooked keys to success that few people apply to their lives.
The total immersion method definitely works for me. It’s just a shame when you can’t sustain your focus on a project because you ‘have to’ do other things. I moved all of my meetings to the same day of the week this week. Hi five on Batching! Down with multitasking!
Hey Arsene-
I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, I’m not fully to my total immersion dreams. But through batching and other elimination tactics I’m getting there.
I love how total immersion can apply to many of life’s endeavors. I’m a healthy lifestyle super geek, which includes an ardent love of swimming. Swimming doesn’t come naturally to most, but there’s a training program called … wait for it … ‘Total Immersion’ that hacks the traditional training philosophies and makes it easy plus fun. Tim Ferriss has even used it to overcome his vehement and lifelong fear for swimming (Tim’s post here – http://bit.ly/12zNV).
Cheers!
Matt
Put in the asterisk into a block set, click “Actively block pages on these sites once the time period is entered or time limit is exceeded”
“Enter a time limit after which to block these sites:” 120 “minutes in every” day (24 hours)
Fantastic hack! I seriously hope people read your comment.
Here’s a trick for limiting internet. Just found this out. Hope it helps someone out there!
Install Leechblock onto firefox
“The wildcard character (*) can be used (*.com will block all dot-com sites and * on its own will block all sites).” – from Leechblock FAQ
I totally agree with you, when you get into the “zone” you just block out everything else (even eating sometimes) and you are so productive. That’s why you can get a lot more things done working from home that in a work setting when people constantly interupt you. Thanks for your insights!
But working at home is not the same thing as not having people constantly interrupt you. I guess that’s why my time management is so screwed up, because I can only be truly productive when I’m both at home AND not having people constantly interrupt me (i.e., from about 11:30pm to 3am-ish or so, but this obviously lowers productivity in the long time because it deprives me of sleep =P). This probably also explains my most productive time at work (after around 4pm).
Total immersion = the zone … extended! I never worded it that briefly until you mentioned it. THANK YOU.
Loving this idea. I know a coworker that was really into Evernote. I never got into it, but you’ve made me reconsider. I think its really difficult these days to concentrate. When I’ve managed it – I always take note. I recognize the need for this immersion, and I like your ideas!
Thanks for the feedback!
Evernote has been a life changer for me, hope you check it out.
I find that when I focus 100% of my time to my job during work hours (8am-5pm), I am able to get a lot done without having to stay past 5pm or come in on the weekends. This allows me to focus 100% of my free time to socialize, oraganize, eat, sleep, exercise, etc… I feel a greater sense of accomplishment when I can get a full day’s work in.
Ironically, I am reading this post while I should be working. This is where the 5-10 minute break plays in.
I like that you get a great sense of accomplishment when you’re immersed in two different areas of your life; Your “get-things-done-on-time life” and your “have-fun-with-friends life”.
I have to say, I disagree. If improving your social life causes other aspects of life to dwindle, or vice versa, then whatever work has been previously done has been wasted. I believe that slow, gradual improvement in multiple areas is better. Now, focusing on too many areas at once leads to stagnation and frustration in all of them, but focusing on 3 to 4 aspects of life and making incremental changes is a very effective long term strategy.
The vice versa was put in there because it’s a pretty good rule of thumb that if you focus “only” on increasing your social life then other areas are bound to dwindle.
Don’t get me wrong, a social life is necessary (the workaholic lifestyle is not… the best). I’m just stating that we shouldn’t have too much of a good thing.
I think the idea is to use total immersion on an area of life that is seriously lagging behind.
If you want to make intense improvement in an area of your life that is really lagging, I’d definitely apply it. Making gradual improvement in multiple areas spreads your focus too thin. Sure it’s great for balance, but IMO, balance is better over the span of a lifetime. As Carlos mentioned here http://www.owlsparks.com/decisions/quest-for-balance/. Or as Stephen Covey mentioned in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, when he said, “focus on the rhythm of the week, rather than the rhythm of the day.”
Since the areas of life are so intertwined, the improvement in one area would spill into the others
You totally get it!
Interesting point. I find it hard to believe this would be sustainable but I do agree that in certain rhythms of our life that intense focus does have to happen but I always feel it is best to go back to a more sustainable rhythm after that to recuperate. You have to remember this life is not necessarily a sprint. It must be looked at more as a marathon.
When I talk about total immersion I don’t mean go on for hours and hours without a break. The occasional break here and there is a must. The occasional break allows you to come back and see the problem/area of focus in a new light, which is always a welcome thing.
I was stating that we shouldn’t try to put the “majority” of focus on one thing at a time. Haven’t you found that when you’re doing something that you’re really passionate about other things tend to fall behind. Don’t you remember that moment when you’re so lost in your work that you forget to eat or even sleep?
I’m just saying if we showed that sort of passion to all areas of our lives, or the areas that really matter, then we would accomplish far more in far less time.
You should probably mention that in the post. As it reads now, it seems as if you are suggesting to do only work for long periods of time, even up to 24 hours.
If your suggestion is to focus on the things that matter and forget the things that don’t, then I can get behind that.
Guess I never clarified the difference between “total work” and “total immersion” well enough.
You live and you learn. Thank you for the feedback.
Awesome post Arsene!!! I just started my blog yesterday (literally, not joking). I checked out your recommendation for Writeup and I am highly thinking about purchasing it. I agree with your theory of toal immersion but I must say that I am defintiely a “multi-tasker”. I have so many ideas going on in my head that I feel like I must get started on something while it’s fresh and get the most of it. I will conduct an experiment and try to submit myself to total immersion no matter what. Look forward to future posts by you.
I love your blogs caption “unlearning what I have learned”, congrats on starting it.
I took the same leap in December (to really focus on blogging). You’re never quiet ready for it, but I have no regrets what so ever.
The bit about cutting on Internet use is really untrue. First, what does it actually MEAN to use the Internet? If your computer has 24×7 connectivity, what does “use” even mean? I had never understood this question before maybe last year, when Facebook basically single-handedly reduced itself to a gaming platform and Internet use became equivalent to “playing video games”.
When you go onto Facebook, Twitter, etc. to pass time, that bit of time is already unproductive. That is, whether you actually “go online” or not. Even if you pretend to stay concentrated on your work, the time is still unproductive; and this is my experience: cutting online time just masks existing unproductivity.
It also really depend on what you do.
At work, the best productive use of my time is when I walk away from the COMPUTER (not the Internet) and think hard on what to do and make sketches. When I actually go through sketching before I fire up Illustrator, my productivity is higher. Online or not has nothing to do with productivity; rather the contrary, staying “offline” (meaning not checking email and staying off MSN) often means missing the latest instructions on how things are going or last-minute changes to what you are supposed to do.
At home (doing “volunteer work” so to speak), I can’t function without the three online dictionaries I use and Google. If I go totally offline, my productivity is thus ZERO. And I have found that the best way to increase productivity is to get more sleep, not to drain yourself in total immersion.
As to blogging, believe it or not, I have found my blog (when set to private) is a very convenient way to write down some things, sometimes even more convenient than a word processor so you can’t be more productive if you say you must choose a less productive way to do things.
So, sorry but I just have to disagree with this post.
I like that you know what you use, and that you know what you have to do to get things done. The whole cutting the internet thing off is for those people who are not quiet sure of why they’re un-productive.
I gave accounts of how I personally don’t need the internet that much to get things done, and this by no means should apply to everyone. I only realized this though through setting strict time limits as to how long I can use the “web browser”, my biggest set back in being productive. I stated it because the internet is one of the biggest challengers of productivity out there, so might as well cut it off… or walk away.
PS- Walking away from the computer is a fantastic idea.
“Total immersion” will really only be valuable for portions of your day, maybe 3-4 hours at a time. The human mind and body needs breaks, otherwise, the quality begins to degrade. Trying to extrapolate productivity by assuming it is linear is a wrong assumption. In other words, doing 10 things in 4 hours does not necessarily mean that you can do 40 things in 16 hours.
I agree with you that it is best to cut down distractions when doing work in order to be more efficient, but you shouldn’t assume that you can be completely productive for 10 to 12 hours at a time.