--- name: deep_work_systems description: Build a working deep work system for someone: focus-block design with batching, a notification-hygiene audit for their devices, and an energy map of their week. Use when someone wants to concentrate better, keeps getting pulled into email and pings, feels busy but unproductive, or asks about deep work, focus systems, notification setup, or finding their peak hours. --- # Deep Work Systems ## Purpose Turn "I can't focus anymore" into a concrete, personal system with three parts: (1) deep work blocks that batch hard work into long stretches, (2) notification hygiene that stops devices from fracturing attention, (3) an energy map that schedules hard work when the brain is actually sharp. The output is a written weekly plan the person can start Monday, not a theory essay. ## Workflow 1. **Establish the baseline.** Ask how their work currently breaks down: rough hours of deep vs shallow work per day, their top three distractions, and what their worst attention moment of a typical day looks like. Don't skip this: the system is built around their actual day. 2. **Design the focus blocks.** Apply batching: hard, important intellectual work goes into long uninterrupted stretches, not scattered gaps. - Choose a scheduling philosophy from `references/scheduling_philosophies.md` that fits their job (monastic, bimodal, rhythmic, or journalistic; see the reference for which fits whom). - Block 2-4 hours of deep work daily inside the person's peak hours (from step 4). Cap shallow work (email, meetings, admin) at 30-50% of the week, per Newport's drain-the-shallows rule. - Give every block a shutdown ritual: fixed end time, a 10-minute review of what got done, and one line capturing where to resume tomorrow. Attention residue research (Sophie Leroy) shows unfinished tasks keep occupying part of your attention after you switch, so the ritual's job is to close the mental loop. 3. **Run the notification-hygiene audit.** Walk their phone and laptop using the checklist in `references/notification_hygiene_checklist.md`. The evidence is strong: a Florida State study (Stothart, Mitchum, Yehnert) found notifications alone made people three times more likely to err on an attention task even when they never touched the phone; Duke research (Nick Fitz, Center for Advanced Hindsight) found batching notifications to three daily deliveries made people happier, less stressed, and more productive than either normal delivery or blocking everything. So the system is batching, not silence: three notification check-ins per day, everything else waits. - Default rule: only calls and messages from real humans get through immediately. Everything else is a batch. - Set public expectations: an auto-reply or status line saying when they check messages ("I read messages at 9, 1, and 5; call if it's urgent"). 4. **Map their energy.** Start them on the energy log: `bin/energy_map.py log [--note "what"]` once every 2-3 waking hours for one full week. Then `bin/energy_map.py report` shows their peak windows, average by hour, and the trough. The science behind it: circadian rhythms give most people energy peaks 2-4 hours after waking and a smaller peak late afternoon, with a mid-afternoon trough (Harvard Medical School / National Sleep Foundation); ultradian cycles (Kleitman, 1950s) swing focus every 90-120 minutes, so schedule deep work in 60-90 minute sprints with real breaks between. DeskTime's 2014 study of its top 10% of performers found ~52 minutes of focused work followed by ~17 minutes fully away from the computer; later repeats found different exact ratios, so treat the numbers as a shape (work hard, rest fully, repeat) not a law. - Anchor their deep work blocks in their measured peak windows. Troughs get shallow work: email, admin, errands. - Note chronotype: morning people peak early, night owls late. The log settles arguments; don't guess. 5. **Write the plan.** Fill `assets/deep_work_plan_template.md` with the schedule, the notification rules, and the energy-mapped blocks. Include a one-week ramp: day 1-2 turn on hygiene + start logging; day 3+ add the first deep block; week 2 read the energy report and adjust. Include a weekly review ritual (20 min Friday): what got deep hours, what broke the system, one change for next week. ## Output Contract - A completed `deep_work_plan_template.md`: named focus blocks with days/times, the notification rules, the energy map summary, the ramp schedule, and the weekly review ritual. No generic advice the person didn't ask for. - An energy log CSV started at `energy_log.csv` (created by the CLI on first `log`), and a report they can re-run weekly. - Everything testable is tested: run the CLI once with a sample rating before handing it over. ## Operating Rules 1. Build around their real week. A system that ignores their meetings dies by Wednesday. 2. Batching beats willpower. Never recommend "just be more disciplined about your phone"; recommend defaults that make discipline unnecessary. 3. Cite the research briefly when it changes a decision (e.g. why batching beats blocking everything), but keep claims proportionate: observational studies show a pattern, they don't prove a formula. 4. Every factual number in the plan must come from the sources in `references/sources.md` or be labeled as a judgment call. Never invent study results. 5. The plan must name a specific start day and a specific first action. A system with no start date is a reading list.