Batch the Small, Guard the Deep

Two kinds of work.
They don't mix.

Deep work needs a long, quiet runway.
Shallow work — email, replies, little tasks —
needs almost nothing
but keeps interrupting.

Mix them and the shallow wins.
It's easier, it's louder,
and every small task you answer mid-flow
costs you the whole climb back.

So separate them.

Batch the small stuff
into a couple of windows a day.
Answer it all at once, then close it.

Guard the deep work
in an unbroken block
where nothing shallow is allowed in.

You don't have an productivity problem.
You have a blender problem —
deep and shallow spinning together.

Stop blending.
Batch the small. Guard the deep.

– Serguey Asael Shinder