Guard Against Your Phone

During a deep-work block, your phone is the biggest threat. Keep it in another room on silent. Physical distance beats willpower: within arm's reach, your brain treats the phone as a work surface and reaches for it on autopilot.

Protect these blocks fiercely. One interruption can cost about 23 minutes before you return to the same depth of focus, per UC Irvine's Gloria Mark. Three interruptions can burn an entire morning of real output. Depth requires time you defend out loud.