Beware of Deep Fatigue: Strategies for Sustainable Productivity

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In the early stages of my PhD journey, I often faced a perplexing dilemma: despite having numerous tasks to tackle, I struggled to know where to begin. With a mountain of literature to read, countless notes and ideas from discussions with my supervisors, and plenty of assignments, I frequently found myself overwhelmed. There were days when I would stare blankly at my computer screen, unsure of what to do next, especially at the start of a day or after returning from a break.

In contrast, I now have the ability to seamlessly start and stop work, entering a state of deep work whenever necessary. Even with thousands of tasks in my system, I know exactly what I need to accomplish each day without feeling panic or anxiety. However, this newfound productivity has led to another issue: Deep Fatigue. While I’m not sure if anyone has coined the term “deep fatigue,” I use it to describe the state of exhaustion that follows prolonged periods of deep work.

Deep Work

My awareness of deep fatigue was sparked by reading Professor Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work. Before that, I had been practicing deep work for quite some time and had experienced deep fatigue, but I hadn’t fully contemplated its implications.

As a researcher, my tasks during deep work sessions include, but are not limited to:

  • Organizing Notes: Enhancing my reading, meeting, idea notes, etc.
  • Processing Notes: Linking notes, adding tags, etc.
  • Managing Tasks: Creating tasks, adjusting task attributes, linking tasks to Kanban boards, reminders, calendars, managing project action notes, etc.
  • Executing Tasks: Reading literature, coding, simulating, analyzing results, writing articles, preparing presentations, etc.

Here are a few specific examples of my deep work experiences:

  1. Organizing and Reviewing: I occasionally spend several days or even one to two weeks in a state of deep focus, organizing notes and tasks. After such intense sessions, I often feel mentally drained.
  2. Extended Focus: Recently, while reviewing notes on a specific topic, I worked continuously for 2 hours and 40 minutes, losing track of whether I was sitting or standing. It wasn’t until I reflected on my physical state that I realized how absorbed I had become. :joy:
  3. Intense Writing Sessions: A few years ago, I spent an extended period in deep work to revise a journal article. At once, I even worked for over 5 hours straight without even taking a sip of water. The aftermath was predictable: I remember sleeping for a long time the next day and taking several days to recover.
  4. Writing This Blog Post: While drafting this article, I gathered my notes and ideas from Obsidian into Ulysses, crafting a cohesive piece entirely in a state of deep thought and focus.

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