Think about a surgery going on in an operating room. No one walks in every minute asking about lunch plans. There’s no constant checking of notifications, whether it’s on Slack or Instagram. The door is closed, the phone is put away, and everyone in that room is focused on one thing—saving a life!
Like surgery, writing requires the same level of attention, necessitating uninterrupted focus.
Think about this: Most writers I know spend their days in a constant state of half-focus. They’re writing, but also checking their social media. Drafting, but also refreshing their email. Thinking through a complex argument, but also fielding “quick questions” that derail their train of thought.
Then they wonder why the work feels hard.
I’ve found myself stuck in this same cycle. I’d sit down to write and somehow two hours would vanish into binge-watching cat videos or doing every other thing but writing. I’d produce maybe 200 words. Weak ones. I blamed my creativity, my discipline, and my (then) unhealthy addiction to soda.
Wrong diagnosis.
The problem was my environment. I was trying to do deep creative work in conditions designed for shallow administrative tasks. That made writing 10x harder. Though I have now learned how to turn my writing guilt into writing wins.
Along the way, I learned about Circadian and Ultradian rhythms (awesome productivity stuff, by the way), and soon I started restructuring my entire day around protecting the time and mental space where real writing happens.
What Does Deep Work For Writers Really Mean?
Most people think deep work means blocking off time and closing the door. Well, that’s part of it, but there’s more.
Deep work involves setting up conditions that allow your brain to handle complex, creative tasks without constant interruption. For writers, this means creating the mental space to:
- Get into flow states where sentences pour out faster than you can type.
- Hold three different narrative threads in your head simultaneously without losing track.
- Make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas (and have them actually work).
- Edit with sufficient clarity to cut weak sections without undermining the strength of the strong ones.
None of this happens when you’re switching between your draft and a dozen other things. Your brain requires sustained focus to perform creative work effectively. Period.
How To Schedule By Your Brain Mode, Not Clock Time
Your brain operates differently depending on the task at hand. Writing new content requires different cognitive resources than answering emails. Editing needs focus, but a different type than drafting.
Now, this is where understanding the Circadian and Ultradian rhythms comes in. So, here’s a crash course on what they mean:
- Circadian Rhythm: This is your 24-hour internal clock that controls the energy highs and lows across your day.
It determines when your brain is naturally sharp (peak alertness phase) and when it drifts (when you’re less energized or attentive). To stay productive as a writer, it is best to schedule your deep work in this phase.
- Ultradian Rhythm: This is a shorter 90–120 minute window within the Circadian cycle.
That means that the Circadian rhythm focuses on WHEN your mind is ready to focus, while the Ultradian rhythm focuses on HOW LONG you can stay locked in during a Circadian cycle.
You know how we casually say “I’m a morning person” or “I can deep-focus for up to five hours before I get tired”? Yes, that’s it. And it’s different for everyone.
This is the simplest crash course you’ll find on the subject.
Once I started matching tasks to the right brain state and the corresponding period of time, everything became easier.
Here Is A Breakdown
1. Peak Energy = Creative Work
This is when you should write new content. No edit. No research. No outline. Just write.
And protect these hours like your career depends on it (because it probably does). No meetings. No calls. No “quick questions.”
During this block:
- Cut off all distractions. No exceptions.
- All browser tabs closed except your writing doc.
- Social media, Email, and Slack shouldn’t be a concern for you in this phase.
- Work within your cycles and take breaks between.
My rule is simple: If it’s not adding words to the draft, it doesn’t happen right now.
Related Read: How to Write When You Are Not Feeling It
2. Mid-Energy = Administrative Tasks
This is when you should handle all the operational tasks. Anything that moves your writing career or business forward but doesn’t require creativity as such should be done within this window.
Use this time to:
- Check and respond to emails
- Client check-ins
- Create an invoice
The trick is to batch everything here so it doesn’t leak into your peak or creative time.
Respond to fourteen emails at once. Update project trackers. Send drafts. Schedule social posts. All the behind-the-scenes work that nobody sees but has to happen.
These hours only require decent organization and responsiveness.
3. Moderate Energy = Editing and Revision
This is when you can schedule time to revise, tighten, and polish your drafts.
Editing needs concentration, but it’s different from writing.
You’re evaluating what’s already on the page, not pulling ideas out of thin air. Your brain can most likely handle this work even when you’re not at peak energy.
Use this time to:
- Cut unnecessary words (and there are always unnecessary words).
- Rearrange sections when the flow feels off.
- Fact-check claims or verify links.
- Ensure the piece conveys its intended message effectively.
4. Low Energy = Research and Learning
The best use of this window is light work that doesn’t require much energy. This is when you’re too tired to write a word.
This window can be used to:
- Read articles/a book/listen to a podcast
- Study new industries
- Dive into client background materials
Your brain might be too tired to produce original work, but it can still absorb information.
Never try forcing creativity when your tank’s empty. Feed your brain instead. Because the best writers are still those who have mastered the art of absorbing information.
Building Rituals That Signal Focus
Time blocks look great on paper. But they fall apart if you spend twenty minutes staring at a blank page because your brain doesn’t know it’s time to work.
I use small rituals to flip the mental switch. Tiny actions that tell my brain: we’re doing THIS now. Here’s what my ritual looks like.
Before creative work:
- Make some tea. The same mug, the same process, every single day. (Yes, I’m that person.)
- Put on noise-canceling headphones even if I’m not playing music. Something about the weight helps.
- Open my writing doc and reread the last paragraph I wrote yesterday.
That’s it. Five minutes tops. My brain recognizes the pattern and shifts into writing mode.
Before administrative work:
- I stand up, stretch for 30 seconds. Shake out my hands.
- Open email and Slack simultaneously.
- Set a timer for how long I’m giving this. (Otherwise, two hours would be gone before I realize).
I usually have my phone on “work mode.” Once the timer goes off, I’m back to work.
None of this is complicated. It’s just consistent. My brain learned the sequence, so I don’t waste energy convincing myself to start.
Setting Boundaries For Deep Work
Constant notifications kill deep work. You can’t maintain focus when your phone buzzes every three minutes.
Here’s what you can do differently to skyrocket your productivity:
- Turn off notifications during creative blocks.
- Permanently turn off some app notifications. That way, you avoid distractions and only attend to them at a designated time.
- Put your phone away in a different room, or turn it off and put it face down. Alternatively, you can turn on Do Not Disturb mode.
- Limit your browser tabs to one at a time when working on creative projects.
If you need to look something up while writing, open a new document and type “[CHECK: whatever I need to Google]” and continue.
Try not to stop mid-sentence to research. Otherwise, that’s how you lose an hour to Wikipedia and end up reading about the history of paperclips when you were supposed to be writing your character’s backstory.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, this system fails. Life happens.
Client emergencies pop up. Deadlines shift without warning.
The internet goes out for three hours (well, in a country like Nigeria), or something else interrupts your workflow during peak hours.
When that happens, don’t try forcing the whole routine. Instead, protect the creative block and let everything else bend around it.
If you can only get an hour of deep writing time instead of four? Great!
Because that’s still better than zero. If you have to skip admin time and catch up at night? Fine. Not ideal, but fine.
The goal here isn’t perfection. It’s protecting the space where your real work happens. Everything else can be adjusted as needed.
Most writers struggle because they never create conditions that allow writing to actually happen.
They try to produce creative work in environments designed for reactive tasks. They write between interruptions instead of in protected blocks. They wonder why it feels hard.
You don’t need more inspiration or better discipline. You need to structure your day around when your brain works best and protect that time from everything else.
Figure out your peak energy hours. Build your creative work around them. Turn off the notifications. Set the boundaries. Create the rituals that signal focus.
Then write!