What is deep work?

Why deep work matters

The three laws of deep work

Deep work isn’t just about work

The underrated skill of daydreaming

The hidden value of exploration, part I

The hidden value of exploration, part II

Why you need to laugh more, part I

Why you need to laugh more, part II

Why you need to take play more seriously

What is deep work

Okay, so play is just about fun, isn't it? It's a source of pleasure, confers no further benefit other than that, right?

Wrong.

According to Boston College Professor Peter Gray, play is actually a state of mind that is uniquely suited to high-level reasoning, insightful problem-solving and creative endeavours. Studies have actually now shown that play, alongside releasing endorphins, is actually responsible for promoting the release of a hormone known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is a key element in the development of new neurons within the brain.

Which basically makes play the body's way of incentivising the adoption of problem-solving and learning brain states. It compels our neurons to keep firing in new and engaged ways. Which is a fact that may be behind the correlations of improved sleep, memory and cognitive performance that are often associated with bouts of play.

By now, a lot of the benefits are well understood by many of the more progressive and innovative companies out there, which perhaps why design firm Ideo, for example, have been known to feature minibus meeting rooms. It's why the artists at Pixar have been known to work out of wooden huts and decorated caves. It's why Google's main offices include not only  a beach volleyball court but also a giant dinosaur skeleton with pink flamingos perched all over it.

All these things are done in order to create a more playful environment, to facilitate the kind of mental space that is best equipped for engaging the imagination and solving difficult problems. Because play, in actuality, isn't just about fun. It's actually a mechanism that can empower our cognitive capacity and capabilities.

Now, of course, we can’t all create or integrate decorated caves or whatever else into our workspaces in order to facilitate more playfulness. So what can we do to take advantage of this and other deep work principles, and thereby build a practice through which we'll be able to get the very best from ourselves, do better work, and have a ton of fun, whilst doing so?

Why you need to take play more seriously

What Next?