[ArloDash]

So lately I've been reading a lot about the concept of "deep work" or basically the giving of your full, undivided attention to a task.

I've always found it strange that when I'm working REALLY hard, I crap out right around 4 hours and my productivity nosedives after this.

Cal Newport, author of Deep Work, basically backs this up and says that beyond that 4 hours, you're basically toast to having less than stellar productivity.

I'm in a job where I have to create. I don't get paid hourly, I'm entirely based on raw amount of product pushed out. This is different from most wageslave jobs where you can afford to fuck around for 3 hours a day.

TBH, I always felt like kind of a pussy because I have huge trouble focusing beyond those hours, but it seems to make a bit more sense now.

What are your thoughts on the idea of Deep Work?

[General Stalin]

Assuming this is essentially the same as "flow" where you get lost in a task and are focused and content on nothing else but working through it, then this might be slightly dependent on motivation. I know I get burnt our on focus-intensive tasks related to work, but I am much better at staying attentive and productive (and content) longer if it's a voluntary task.

For example, doing some sort of service development and troubleshooting for something for my employer will surely burn me out if I'm doing it all day, but man I could work on my car all day no problem, or write music all day.

[Iconoclast007]

Ive recently started practicing semen retention. No fap and no ejaculation for periods of time. I focus on transmuting the enormous energy from my balls to my brain.

Its Extremely effective to... Get. Shit.Done.

You can have sex but no cumming. The advances stages of this is to be able to orgasm without ejaculation... Im not there, yet.

[General Stalin]

(05-07-2019 03:49 AM)Iconoclast007 Wrote:  

Ive recently started practicing semen retention. No fap and no ejaculation for periods of time. I focus on transmuting the enormous energy from my balls to my brain.

Its Extremely effective to... Get. Shit.Done.

You can have sex but no cumming. The advances stages of this is to be able to orgasm without ejaculation... Im not there, yet.

[Iconoclast007]

Napolean Hill wrote about this in his book,Think and Grow Rich. It is one of the main items he extrapolated after studying men Like Ford, Tesla, Carnegie etc. They all practiced sexual energy transmutation /semen retention.

There is a story about Steve Jobs not giving his loads away to his girlfriends while he built his company.

Im in the beginning stages of learning and practicing this and experiencing absolutely incredible results in a very ahort time.

[General Stalin]

That sounds like the most wack ass bro-science I've ever heard. I mean, I get the whole no-fap deal, but intentionally keeping yourself from getting a nut ever as some sort of mental benefit? Sounds more like a rationalization for not getting laid. I don't know about you but when I bust a load in/on a new girl I feel vibrant, full of life, masculine, and have a spring in my step which in-turn motivates me to be more productive and ambitious.

Having sex and not busting is like tasting food but not eating it.

EDIT: You could always try cumming into your hand and popping that cum back in your mouth to retain the semen. There was another forumer who described doing this just as the Greeks did...

[Iconoclast007]

Its not holding your nut forevor, it is for extended periods of say 30,60,90 days and more depending on the individual.

Its not bro science. Napolean Hill studied 25,000 succsessfull men over 13 years. His work has been espoused by many folks here on the forum. He found that the vast majoriry of highly succsessful men held their loads for extended periods of time. They used the energy they retained to work and focus at high levels for extended periods of time.

There have also been studies that show that there is a significant spike in Testosterone after about 7 days of semen retention. Also there is lasting benefits of increased androgen receptor sensitivity that increases the utilization of free test. This could be important for Natural lifters.

Your analogy to food is not relevant. A better analogy would be eating a strict diet of clean organic food that increases performance and stamina.

I suppose since you have never tried it or heard of it/studied it ... It is infact your statement that is bro science.

[Iconoclast007]

Here is a thread on the forum for reference:

thread-54721...+retention

[Hephaestus]

(04-30-2019 12:14 PM)ArloDash Wrote:  

What are your thoughts on the idea of Deep Work?

Let's get this thread away from Iconoclast's overswolen balls.

I read a third of Newport's book this morning (The theory, not the implementation). I'm already pretty familiar with the concepts from my reading about concentration, but it's a good introduction to the topic as it goes into decent detail, and shows you where you can read more.

Deep Work is his way of branding continuous periods of distraction-free work. It makes a lot of sense to me, as I've been most productive on days where I've locked away my phone and blocked away most of the internet. Single-tasking is key, and task switching wastes time and loses insightful trains of thoughts. Batching Batching Batching similar tasks together makes a 'uge impact.

He goes into deep biological detail about how the brain can only strengthen a certain amount of neurons at a time, so if you train more than one thing at once then it's hard for the "oligodendrocytes" to find what's important.

The question of why companies wage war on their employee's attention is answered by saying in the absence of individually accurate metrics on individual performance, looking busy (attention-slaying emailing/IM/meetings) are seen as a substitute for it. This is especially true when the internet/connectivity is idolised as a universal panecea to all business woes.

I could go on, but I want to finish the book and quickly reskim Csikszentmihalyi's flow for a better comparison.

[Beyond Borders]

^ Agreed. Don't let no fap fanatics derail the thread. Not the OP's point.

[ThriceLazarus]

I haven’t had the chance to look through that book, but after some moderate work on concentration I feel as if I can chime in.

I’ll address training the mind specifically, in the sense of both reeling the mind (as one would train a dog or a monkey) in and exercising it (as one would your muscles).

For this, millenia of experimentation has shown that soft and hard training are a necessity. The mind as a machine has two faces: the rational mind is a work horse; the emotional mind is a highly evolved ape. Horse and Rider. As mental deveopment is disjointed and sometimes sabotaged we basically begin with a chittering monkey chained to a braying ass. So evolve the monkey and bolster the ass. Soft and hard.

Mindfulness attends to the emotional mind, there are numerous sources far better equipped than I to explain that process. A regiment of concentration and meditative exercises bolsters the donkey. The former is a passive practice, the latter should be taken to like a gym routine. Practice simple awareness, gentle allowing, for most of the waking day with periods of intense focus. It’s like the difference between steady state cardio and HIIT.

In time Monkey and Ass become Adam atop a War Horse.

[Beyond Borders]

I thought Mastery by Robert Greene was a great book in this vein as well.

[travolta]

You can try organizing your day into time blocks and use the pomodoro method. 25 minutes of focused work, 5 minute break. Repeat this 4 times (2 hours total) and that's 1 pomodoro cycle. After 1 cycle take a 25 minute brea. Go for 2-3 pomodoro cycles a day. Begin with the most important, time sensitive tasks at the start of your day, and work your way to less urgent tasks.

The key is to turn off all distractions during your 25 minute working slots. During your 5 minute breaks you can check your phone, watch youtube videos or whatever. During the first time block of the day you can organize your tasks and get yourself ready for the day.

[Hephaestus]

(05-10-2019 10:36 AM)ThriceLazarus Wrote:  

Mindfulness attends to the emotional mind, there are numerous sources far better equipped than I to explain that process. A regiment of concentration and meditative exercises bolsters the donkey. The former is a passive practice, the latter should be taken to like a gym routine. Practice simple awareness, gentle allowing, for most of the waking day with periods of intense focus. It’s like the difference between steady state cardio and HIIT.

I'm a non-active Quaker, so I am experienced about entering quiet ritualised relaxation/meditation, though it differs from Buddhist-style meditation, as it is shallower to allow inspiration

Maybe I should try to make a habit of deeper mindfulness meditation

(05-12-2019 10:31 PM)travolta Wrote:  

You can try organizing your day into time blocks and use the pomodoro method. 25 minutes of focused work, 5 minute break. Repeat this 4 times (2 hours total) and that's 1 pomodoro cycle. After 1 cycle take a 25 minute brea. Go for 2-3 pomodoro cycles a day. Begin with the most important, time sensitive tasks at the start of your day, and work your way to less urgent tasks.

The key is to turn off all distractions during your 25 minute working slots. During your 5 minute breaks you can check your phone, watch youtube videos or whatever. During the first time block of the day you can organize your tasks and get yourself ready for the day.

Watching a single youtube video, yes, checking your phone, no, as it is all to easy to receive an infuriating message or get stuck on following just one more link.

When I rest between time boxes, I prefer something that requires zero thinking, like instrumental music, or a short stroll.

But generally, time boxing is a good strategy, it's far easier to push up your concentration for a relatively short period, then it is for a long one. That, and it is like a race to get a minitask done before the buzzer.

When I was in uni, practice exams really made a difference, as long as I had someone in the room keeping me accountable.

[sterlingarcher]

Yep, I've been doing 40 minutes focus (on timer) then 10 minutes (+) leisure.

The idea is if you're doing creative work, better to focus for short bursts and give time for ideas to bounce around in your subconscious.

And then after about 5 hours I feel burned out, and go do something else till I don't.

OP, no-one said you can only do four hours A DAY, just that you most efficient for four hours at a time.

(Actually, I haven't read the book by CN, maybe he did...)

[ThriceLazarus]

Hephaestus Wrote:

I'm a non-active Quaker, so I am experienced about entering quiet ritualised relaxation/meditation, though it differs from Buddhist-style meditation, as it is shallower to allow inspiration

Maybe I should try to make a habit of deeper mindfulness meditation

And I’m no master meditator, however if you’ve already gotten a handle on quieting the mind you’re halfway there. Mindfulness is, foundationally, a practice to allow one the opportunity to interject within one’s internal monologue. If you already posess the capacity to guide and corral your emotions then you’re there. Don’t stop, keep going!

The other hand is concentration - one pointedness. Take some subject and focus entirely your attention upon it. Generally, it’s best to begin with mundane things such as simple shapes or even a dot on the wall. If mindfulness allows you to flow with your thoughts, concentration is the act of clearing space. It is horrendously difficult at first, in the beginning you may only manage a handful of seconds before a thought intrudes into your mind. In time those seconds become minutes of focus. It is extremly important that you do not strain - you cannot force the river’s run here!

By clear cutting this space in your consciousness you can begin to practice both contemplation (concentrating on a subject and mindfully guiding the stream of consciousness that vacuums into the empty space) and later inspiration (known as jnana yoga, where in the mind begins to act like some sort of biological quantum computer, knowing suddenly).