Truly Deep Work

What is “deep work”?

Cal Newport’s book basically defines it as: deliberately focusing on important and purposeful tasks, so that you can maximize learning, creativity, and productivity. That’s a wonderful aim to have.

But if you’re anything like me, you want to do work not only for the results, but for personal growth and transformation too.

So let’s explore “deep” work… more deeply :)

Redefining Work and Productivity

Work has typically been defined as a means to an end — you work to get results. Income, achievement, impact. Basically, with how work is usually seen, the worker is just trying to get stuff done.

If work is a means to an end, then why not get through it as fast as possible, right? That’s where automation, outsourcing, and productivity hacks come in.

Or we try to make work fun — put on some music, create a nice environment, or turn it into a game. Actually, this is what people often mistakenly think of as joyful productivity.

But the true meaning of joyful productivity is not about getting stuff done as fast as possible, nor even making it fun, nor even the flow state itself!

Those are all helpful, for sure, but they’re still band-aid solutions to the deeper problem — we avoid work itself.

The Flow State and Its Limitations

When you do some work, it takes a bit of time to get into a flow. Once you’re in it, the work seems to smooth out; you’re in momentum and it feels natural, maybe even enjoyable. Perhaps this is what Taoists mean by wu-wei, or “effortless action.”

But once flow arrives, we’re almost hypnotized, no longer fully aware. I consider “flow” to be a trance. You’re simply doing (or maybe just being), not conscious of every act.

However, the real growth happens in the few minutes that come before the flow.

So I believe that “work” isn’t about the flow state we finally get into, where we’re in momentum and everything feels easy. “Work” is actually the conscious effort before the flow state. Because the part we secretly dread isn’t the flow state — it’s the first, conscious shoves that get the boulder moving.

Where Growth Happens

Think about an hour of writing, or doing taxes, or solving a tech problem, or even meeting with a client. Within that hour, there are several states you go through. Eventually, you might reach a flow state, but how do you get there? The moments before the flow state are what most people recoil from. That initial segment — the conscious effort to get started — is what we resist and avoid.

What if getting into the momentum — the conscious work before the flow — is actually where growth really happens? If we could truly figure out how to appreciate that initial segment — the conscious effort before the flow — it would be life-changing. We would no longer avoid work, no matter how hard it is, because we know we’re able to get into momentum eventually.

I believe that the first segment of conscious effort is where truly “deep” work happens… It’s where love happens.

Work as Love Made Visible

“Work is love made visible.” — Khalil Gibran

Therefore, joyful productivity is not just the flow state we finally get into where we’re in momentum and enjoying ourselves.

It’s easy to love your work when it’s fulfilling or easy to do. But what about the hard stuff — the tasks we avoid? That’s where love is needed most.

Love is conscious work.

If you’re with someone who is easy to be with and treats you perfectly, is that truly love? Perhaps love is the conscious work of extending yourself for someone else’s well-being and growth. (Thanks to Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled for that definition.)

So, work is love made visible. It’s about bringing love and spirit into those initial moments of conscious effort, before the flow state kicks in.

The Inner Critic

Part of the work is saying:

“Thank you, inner critic, I know you care about me. But right now, I’m trying to create. Please sit over here, and I’ll take care of you later.”

Bringing grace, forgiveness, gently setting the inner critic aside — that’s work too. That’s love made visible.

I encourage us to reframe work, especially the segment before the flow, as a sacred practice. What if it’s not just a means to an end, but holds deeper meaning, in that it is the conscious action of love?

The Mindset of an Athlete

Athletes are amazing because they’ve reframed the pain of exercise and practice as good and worthwhile. Do you think every workout session is fun? No. The best athletes see the value in the effort itself, as an essential part of their development.

Even stretching can feel good, and it’s a gateway to other forms of effort. Athletes have mastered the art of reframing: the sting of the first push-up or the first lap is interpreted as nourishment, not punishment.

Let’s become athletes of joyful productivity.

Our practice is to find deeper meaning — even joy — in the segment before the flow, in the so-called “hard” work. And when we do, we become less attached to results. The effort itself becomes worthwhile.

We become Joy Pros :)

The Wisdom of Detachment

“To action alone hast thou a right, and never at all to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor let there be in thee any attachment to inaction. For by working without attachment, one attains the supreme.” — Bhagavad Gita

This is the spirit of karma yoga: working without attachment to the fruits, seeing the deeper meaning in the effort itself, and letting the results be up to the universe.

In summary, truly deep work isn’t about results, nor even the flow state itself. It’s about the conscious, loving effort before the flow. It’s about reframing that hard segment as sacred, as growth, and as love made visible.

The more we can appreciate and engage with that initial effort, the more meaningful — and even joyful — our work, and our lives, can become.