Now, I think one should spend good time at work being productive. The space should nurture creativity, energy and an environment that doesn’t try to keep people at work.

Unlike promoting people to stay at work for long hours, I’d want them to stay for the right amount of time and then leave for home — spend good time with friends and family, detox and come back fresh.

I wrote on how I designed the Urban Company Bengaluru head quarters here. Give it a read.

Anyway, I love music. I do most of my deep work with music running in the background. For me, uninterrupted time doing deep work automatically pushes me to flow state and like most, I don’t like being interrupted.

If you’re like me and feel music works, deep work is essential…

Try the following:

1. Once a month, hold a “focus day,” where everyone dives into deep work for the whole day — no meetings, no work phone calls, no slack, no disruptions, just uninterrupted time to crush their work. (Emergencies are exceptions anyway)

2. We listen to the artist’s music on our way to the gig. What if we listen to one relevant podcast on our way to work? A short clip, a 30-minute podcast or a longer one if you live far from work? I find it amazing. There’s always something to pick and you’ll find some way to apply it throughout your day.

3. Practice. Practice. There’s a popular analogy given by founders that the team is like a sports team and we should all be performing at our peak. Well, if you just look at the Indian Cricket team… they spend 85% of total cricket time in practice. Yes, practice. About 15% of the time in actual matches. (Source: Perplexity)
   Ask yourself, if you’re just delivering day-in/day-out, all five days a week, when are you really practicing?

4. Reading a book related to your project = Practice. Spending hours to go through references and trying them out = Practice. Talking to folks in the industry to learn more = Practice.
   The more you practice, the better you become in your actual job.

5. So… chill-out in your office’s cozy breakout zone and read a book, a medium blog all by yourself related to the project you’re working on. Turn on the music that can help you get in the zone and block-out the chatter around you.

6. More telephone/focus booths in office than meeting rooms. Play music when you’re working all by yourself (only if you prefer music). Get noise-canceling headphones/earphones. Play curated ambient music or deep electronic beats that’s scientifically proven to aid focus. No lyrics, just flow-inducing beats.

7. Block quiet hours and auto-decline new invites on your calendar once in a while. Declare every Friday a sacred meeting-free day. No exceptions. Ensure Fridays are for finishing actual work, not sitting in on unnecessary Zoom calls. Play music on the floor if required.

8. Get a lot of Kitchen timers/ Pomodoro timers/ Time Timers in your office and keep them in meeting rooms, common areas. They help you get into deep-focus zone of work, reading, finishing some tasks. Add some white noise while you’re in the zone.

Further links:

• Rest

• Deep work

• Kitchen/ Pomodor timer

• Time timer

Have two days every day. One for work, one for friends & family. Finish the day’s job early. Start your 2nd day meeting friends, going for a run, a sport, learning something new, up-skilling yourself. And… music helps!