Resources for Deep Work

since reading "Deep Work", I have optimised my work sessions for it.

01 Oct 2021 starting note.

Reference Book

!books/deep-work

Avoid distractions

Freedom

!apps/freedom

Timer

A digital timer

I'm not following the famous Pomodoro technique per se, but rather use it as a measuring stick and visual aid for length of my current work session.

Where it helps is mostly in avoiding me leaving my desk/task if I get a "Oh I need to do that other thing" moment, check the timer, and see that I have not worked long enough.
In that case, I will just add my thought/to-do in Things, and refocus on the task at hand.

Things

!apps/things

I have lots of ideas and thoughts bubbling.. I use Things to quickly add a reminder/to-do on my list so I don't forget (or can assess for discarding) but can refocus on task at hand.

My global shortcut to add to Things from anywhere on macOS: Ctrl + Space

Favourite Deep Work Music

Carbon Based Lifeforms

I discovered CBL early 2020 and have listened to some of their music almost every single working day since. My favourite deep-work music.

16 albums available - I bought all from:

albums

Favourite album: Interloper. This is the album I start when I need to get my brain to switch to deep focus mode.

home-office_deep-work-music-cbl-interloper.jpg

About Stochastic:

What started as an experiment grew into a concept for an entire album.
By exploring the random functionalities on some synthesizers we had not used for a while, we found sequences that were best suited for passive listening whilst not stealing focus.
It appeared as if the randomness kept our minds focused and relaxed at the same time.
For a few weeks we listened to the tracks over and over for hours while coding, emailing, packing and other tasks and found them very stimulating.
We defined the sounds, harmonies and the frequencies of the random pulse generators and then let the synthesizers perform the actual tracks. Sometimes by using randomly generated sequences, sometimes by looped and randomly modulated envelopes.
focus title year released notes
🟒 The Path 1998 "Our first Ambient album, made even before we took the name CBL."---
🟒 Hydroponic Garden 2003
🟒 World Of Sleepers 2006
🟒🟒🟒 Interloper 2010
🟒 Twentythree 2011
🟒 Irdial 2013
🟒 REFUGE 2014 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for the motion picture Refuge
🟒 Photosynthesis Remixes 2016
🟒 MOS 6581 REMIXES 2016
🟒 ALT:01 2016
🟒 VLA 2016
🟒🟒 Derelicts 2017
🟒 ALT:02 2020
🟒 20 Minutes 2021 "A twenty minutes long story that takes you on a soothing journey through the ambient soundscapes of Carbon Based Lifeforms."
🟒🟒 Stochastic 2021

Boards of Canada

10 albums available.

Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin.

OGRE Sound

15 Sep 2022 listening to:

F.O.O.L.

fool-logo

Fuck Our Ordinary Lives, or F.O.O.L for short, is the alias of Rasmus Hermansen, a Swedish electronic act who debuted on Monstercat with his song Keep On Rocking, which was released on August 11, 2014.

16 Sep 2022 listening to:

focus title year released notes
--- The Game --- ---
--- Reborn (EP) --- ---
--- Feelings (EP) --- ---
--- Highway (EP) --- ---
--- Fresh Kids Forever --- ---
--- Views From My Story --- ---

slightly too aggressive overall to deep focus

OVERWERK

19 Sep 2022 listening to albums:

focus title year released notes
🟒 The Nth --- Daft Punk-ish
πŸ”΄ State --- too much vocals, distracting
πŸ”΄ Altered State --- ---
🟒 Vessel --- ---

Just Her

eg All We Have Is Now
20 Sep 2022 listening to albums:

focus title year released notes
🟒🟒 Flatline (EP) 2015 ---
🟒 Let Myself Go --- slightly too much vocals for pure deep work
🟒 Follow You Down --- ---
🟒 Busy Minds 2017 ---
🟒 Anjunadeep Explorations --- ---
🟒 Beautiful Nothing (EP) --- ---
--- Silence 2015 ---

Matt Fax

focus title year released notes
πŸ”΄ X --- ---
🟒 Progressions --- Abenaki, Fallen
🟒 Colorscapes --- ---
--- Contrast --- ---
--- Arrival --- ---
--- --- --- ---

Notakeer

19 Sep 2022 listening to albums:

focus title year released notes
🟒 Ocn (Single) --- ---
🟒 From Dust & Ashes (Single) 2019 ---
--- Echelon (Single) 2021 ---
--- Life's a glitch and then you die (Single) 2021 ---
--- About 3am / 4am (Single) 2022 ---
--- --- --- ---

Budd

04 Oct 2022

focus title year released notes
--- Beginner's Guide To Procrastination (Single) 2022 ---
--- Silent Album To Vibe With (EP) 2022 ---
🟒 Highline (Single)) 2019 ---

Fatum

05 Oct 2022

focus title year released notes
πŸ”΄ Forward 2018 too aggressive
πŸ”΄ Momentum (EP) --- too aggressive
πŸ”΄ Stream starting --- ---

Sysdemes

focus title year released notes
--- Fade 2019 ---
--- Ebb & Flow #1 2021 ---

Naden

13 Oct 2022

focus title year released notes
🟒 Affinity (EP) 2010 ---
πŸ”΄ Uvurdelig 2011 ---
🟒 Murmuration (EP) 2012 ---
--- Naden Essentials Vol. 1 2016 ---
--- Gallinago 2020 ---

LudoWic

23 Oct 2022

focus title year released notes
🟒 A Blinding Light Moment 2015 ---
--- Elka Village 2017 ---
--- LudoWic Jams 2019 ---

RΓΆyksopp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6yksopp

22 Nov 2022

focus title year released notes
🟒🟒🟒 Melody A.M. 2001 ---
--- The Understanding 2005 ---
--- Junior 2009 ---
--- Senior 2010 ---
--- The Inevitable End 2014 ---
--- Profound Mysteries 2022 ---
--- Profound Mysteries II 2022 ---
--- Profound Mysteries III 2022 ---

Deep Work Music to test

  • Cinnamon Chasers, eg Signals
  • Sound Remedy, eg Astralis
  • Thomas Barrandon, eg Fragment
  • Angara, eg Kyoto
  • Tido Kang, eg Sounds Of Rain
  • Michele McLaughlin, eg The Descent
  • Milli Davis, eg Lovely (acoustic)
  • Billie Marten, eg Cursive
  • twenty one pilots, eg The Hype
  • slenderbodies, eg Simple Shapes

Binaural music

Tracks by Miracle Tones:

Concentration (Beta Waves)

13 Hz Concentration
14 Hz Focused Attention
18 Hz Cognitive Thinking
20 Hz Problem Solving
30 Hz Beta Waves

Focus (Alpha Waves)

Miracle Tones

12.5 Hz Focus
12 Hz Super Learning
11 Hz Flow State
10 Hz Stress Reduction
8 Hz Alpha Waves

See !interests/binaural-music

YouTube channels

Miss Monique - live progressive house sets.

Lofi

links

social