How shallow work is distorting our meaning of productivity (and wasting your potential)

The hidden cost of shallow work

Carl Jung. Woody Allen. Bill Gates. Teddy Roosevelt.

These individuals reached greatness through one key practice: deep, uninterrupted work. They didn’t jump from one task to the next or drown in a sea of notifications. They carved out focused time for what mattered most, honing what we now call "deep work."

Contrast this with today’s work culture: jumping between tabs, answering emails, returning to a project just to skip over to the next Slack message.

A lot of it is distractions, to be sure. But the truth is a whopping amount of our work hours are filled with “shallow work.” Emails, data entry, meetings—routine tasks that bring little value to us or our work.

This is the contention of Cal Newport, a prolific bestseller of books on productivity, attention, and work. His message is simple yet ironic: to succeed in today’s world, we need deep work, yet our norms and workplaces increasingly prioritize the shallow.

I think Newport is right. We’ve normalized shallow work to such an extent that it now defines what we consider productive. This distorted view of productivity traps us in less valuable, less meaningful work that ultimately wastes our potential.

But how did we get here?

Culture of connectivity: Today’s workplace norms demand constant connectivity. Employees are expected to respond to emails and messages instantly, creating pressure to be "always on." The result is a work environment where distraction and interruptions are the norm. And come at the expense of deep focus.

The illusion of busyness: In today’s economy, most of us are ‘knowledge workers.’ And the productivity of knowledge workers is notoriously difficult to measure. In the absence of clear metrics for productivity, ‘busyness’ has become a proxy. Being busy — constantly doing something — has become the metric of a "good" employee. This 'busyness equals productivity' mindset pushes us to prioritize quick, easy wins, but it eats away at time we could spend learning new skills or strategically thinking about big ideas.

It’s no wonder that shallow work has become the norm. We’ve built a work culture that not only rewards it but expects it.

And the stats back this up: A 2016 study found that workers spend nearly an hour and a half each day on emails, checking their inboxes an average of 77 times. That’s up more than double from 2004 findings that showed an average of 47 minutes per day.  Another study found that email accounted for 24% of the tasks information workers reported performing, and another 27% on routine tasks.

What’s so bad about answering emails and attending meetings? It’s just part of the job, right? The thing is these shallow work habits come with a hidden cost. 

One of the key consequences lies in task-switching. When we switch from one task to another, we experience what's known as attention residue. A part of our focus remains stuck on the previous task, diminishing our performance on whatever comes next.

In fact, studies have found that it takes an average of 23 minutes to regain full focus after an interruption. Imagine how much focus and potential is lost when we spend our days bouncing between emails, meetings, and Slack messages.

And what’s the primary source of these interruptions? Email. According to Dr. Gloria Mark, a leading researcher of attention who has studied this topic for 20 years. 

In one of Mark’s experiments, participants were cut off from email for a week. The results? People focused significantly longer on tasks, switched attention less frequently, and experienced lower stress levels. Without the distraction of email, they switched screens an average of 18 times per hour, compared to 37 times when email was in play.

The consequences of shallow work aren’t limited to lost focus. It robs us of creativity and innovation. Take the experiment conducted by 37signals (also known as Basecamp). The company gave its employees a month off work to explore passion projects or focus deeply on their own creative ideas. That is, a month with no shallow work. 

What happened? Employees returned with projects to pitch. Two were soon put into production. And the company’s cofounder says they brought in substantial value that otherwise would have never happened without that month. 

Shallow work makes us feel busy and productive in the short term, but in reality, it undermines our ability to do valuable, meaningful work. More dangerously, it hones skills that are likely to be automated — email replies, scheduling, routine data entry — tasks that software and AI are increasingly taking over.

If we continue to define productivity by shallow work, we’re not just killing our potential; we’re leaving ourselves vulnerable in a world that demands deeper, more adaptable skills.

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TIPS & TRICKS

Setting email boundaries

Alright, so we know shallow work isn’t great. And we know emails are one of the biggest culprits. But let’s be real: most jobs expect us to stay on top of our inboxes, so ignoring emails completely isn’t an option (and honestly, it wouldn’t be productive either).

The point is to recognize that emails can be a major mental time-suck and to find smart ways to minimize their impact. So today we’ve got some tips to help you cut down on email distractions and make more room for deep, focused work.

Set designated email blocks (not during peak hours)

Schedule specific times in your day to handle emails. Identify your own peak and low-energy times, and make sure you’re saving your best hours for deep, meaningful work. Personally, I check emails once in the morning, once after lunch, and again at the end of the day because that’s when my energy tends to be lower. 

Craft clear, complete replies

It might sound counterintuitive, but spending a bit more time on each response can actually save you time in the long run. When you do reply, anticipate any potential follow-up questions and address them upfront. A thorough, well-considered reply can prevent an endless back-and-forth that would otherwise chip away at your focus.

Set boundaries and make people work to reach you: 

Not every email deserves a response, and not every sender should have easy access to your time. Consider setting up an autoresponder explaining you check emails at certain times and provide instructions for urgent matters. This sets expectations and reduces the pressure to respond instantly. 

When deciding whether to respond, follow these three rules from Cal Newport: don’t reply if the email is ambiguous, if it doesn’t interest you, or if there’s no real benefit (or harm) in ignoring it.

• For example, if your boss emails you an unclear question, you should respond, since ignoring it would bring you potential harm. However, for less critical emails that don’t meet these criteria, practice saying no by simply not replying. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but it's key to protecting your focus and boundaries.

ONE BIG STUDY

Resisting desire

The study: A 2012 study tracked people's desires, temptations, and self-control in daily life to understand how they manage distractions.

Breaking it down: Researchers tracked 205 participants for a week, equipping them with handheld devices to record their experiences. Participants received prompts seven times a day to report if they were experiencing a desire and what it was (e.g., food, social media, work). They noted the strength of the desire, how long it lasted, and whether they tried to resist it.

The result? Participants were bombarded with desires nearly all day, experiencing some form of desire about half the time they were awake. The most common ones were to eat or drink, sleep, and use media.

• On average, people resisted their desires 42% of the time. When they chose not to resist, they acted on those desires 70% of the time. But when they did resist, the likelihood of acting dropped to just 17%.

 Why this matters. We’re in an uphill battle against desires almost all day long. That’s a lot of potential distractions to deal with! Fortunately, self-control seems to help keep them in check, but relying on willpower alone is a tough game.

Interestingly, the lead researcher of this study also laid the groundwork for the idea that our willpower depletes over time. So, while self-control is part of the solution, we also need other strategies—routines, rituals, and habits—to counter distractions.

RESOURCE & RECOMMENDATIONS

• This tool lets you pause new emails to block off times for deep focus work and even turn off email after work hours

• A lot of this newsletter was based off "Deep Work" by Cal Newport, I really can’t recommend this book enough - it’s packed with insights and strategies to reclaim your attention 

• This reddit user shares their experience going 24 hours without their phone - the hardest part, what happened to their brain, and a surprising craving

• Emails aren’t just bad for productivity; we seemingly hate them! According to this survey, some of us would even make drastic decisions to avoid them.

• We each have our own daily rhythm for mental energy and focus. This chronotype quiz can help you identify your peak hours for deep work and the best times to unwind with routine tasks.

COMMUNITY CORNER

Reader suggestions

We asked readers to share some advice. Here’s what they said

Reader: Here's one: we can choose one social media app (recommended the most distracting one) and completely block it. Some phones have native block capability apps or can selectively block certain features. Used to do it on Instagram and went months without using it (only to get back on it again, so there's something to work on).

Reader: I used to be severely addicted to social media, especially Instagram and Facebook. That addiction turned on me and destroyed my self-esteem and plagued my thoughts when I am alone. But one day I decided to delete the apps off my phone. It took a couple tries over a few years, but those few relapses were worth it--I no longer am addicted to them, and I find that my life goes on as usual, if not better. So, the next time you find yourself in a rut, try deleting them and telling yourself it's worthwhile. When you make it, you will see improvements in your life.

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