Journalistic Philosophy of Deep Work: Deep Work on the Fly

Welcome. This is the last of the 4 philosophies of deep work. I would say this requires the most practice and skill, and therefore the most difficult to adopt.

The journalistic approach is, in theory, simple: you work deep whenever time is available. No long isolation, no seasons, no rigid habits. When time appears, you use it. The name itself comes from journalists; historically, they had to context switch at any given moment to meet deadlines and still deliver great articles.

The idea is straightforward. You exploit unpredictable pockets of time. Anything above 15 minutes works; below that, depth is highly unlikely. Ideally, you’re looking at anywhere between 20-60 minutes. An important note: make sure you have a predefined task. You should not be picking tasks in the valuable time that just showed up. The transition into depth must be quick – almost reflexive.

This method is, by name, suitable for journalists. It also works for the middle executives – senior managers and team leads. They’re not exactly CEOs or CTOs, whose value comes from long-range thinking, nor are they developers, whose value comes from sustained execution. Students are another great fit. Gaps between classes can be maximised in this manner, especially since unexpected events – parties, fairs, meetups – show up. 

The advantages of this approach are obvious. It works well in chaotic schedules. There is no calendar attached to it; you retain autonomy over when to work deep. It turns otherwise wasted time – gaps between classes – into productive intervals. Most importantly, it suits careers that demand constant availability.

The downsides are also straightforward. It is not for beginners; it requires exceptional focusing abilities. The environment is rarely distraction-free, so unless you’ve trained attention well, depth will be fragile. Frequent context switching is mentally taxing. Output is also inconsistent, and it becomes difficult to track how much of the work truly qualifies as deep work.

If you already possess strong focus—or have trained it using other philosophies—this approach is worth experimenting with.

So, here’s everything summed up:

Monastic Philosophy: Eliminate shallow work entirely; protect deep work like a monk protects silence.

Bimodal Philosophy: Split life into long deep-work stretches and fully shallow, disconnected periods. (seasons)

Rhythmic Philosophy: Turn deep work into a daily habit through routines, schedules, and small consistency.

Journalistic Philosophy: Drop into deep work whenever time appears, like a journalist hitting deadlines.

Hope you gained new insight from this series. See you again tomorrow.