Serial entrepreneur Alicia Navarro is behind a deep work retreat movement through her startup Flown
Multitasking is overrated. Well, any parent or entrepreneur could have told you that. But there’s some science that backs that statement up. According to research and science presented in Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, a singular focus on a task or ‘deep work’ is more likely to get the job done, faster and even better.
That’s what serial entrepreneur Alicia Navarro found out when she exited her ad tech company after 11 years. She sought spaces that would unleash her creativity. She had books to write, companies to start, life decisions to make. But she was sick of WFH, and co-working spaces sapped her inspiration.
According to her story, she bought a car and a puppy, and went on a three-month road trip around France and Spain, trying to find spaces to work remotely.
Alicia developed a hypothesis about what the ideal tools to enable deep work might be. She tested her ideas with a series of deep work retreats – at a villa in Spain, a chateau in France, and a townhouse in Portugal. Forward-thinkers flocked to do deep work in these kitted-up spaces. Not bad, right?
During Navarro’s journey of discovery, COVID hit, but that did not stop her mission. It seemed to enhance it, in a round about way.
According to her, the pandemic massively opened minds to the feasibility and benefits of remote work. Alicia raised her investment, hired a team during lockdown, and launched FLOWN just as the Covid restrictions eased.
What is deep work?
Deep work is performed when you are in a state of focused concentration – the state you need to be in to do significant, creative work.
By tapping into neural triggers that have been part of human wiring for millennia, the UK startup with an international following, claims it has tools that enable you to consistently do deep work.
Each of its resources is supposedly built around three key elements of this deep work practice, each scientifically proven to boost creativity and productivity.
To do great work, you need to focus
At the heart of a deep work practice is learning how to focus better. With so many online and offline distractions these days, it’s no wonder that human attention spans have shortened by a third since the year 2000.
So, why does focus matter?
Distraction kills productivity
A 2015 study at the University of California found it can take more than 23 minutes to fully regain focus following a distraction. This is due to a phenomenon known as ‘attention residue’ – whereby your brain can’t fully move on from whatever you were distracted by. Attention residue reduces productivity by 40%.
Focus makes you smarter
When you focus on one thing at a time, the brain cements learning through a process known as ‘myelination’, strengthening the connections between neurons so they can fire faster. This process is triggered when you concentrate deeply on a regular basis, which means learning to block out distraction allows you to get more done and makes you smarter
Today, January 21st, FLOWN will be hosting an online guided Self-Assessment course
With the UK’s January tax deadline looming, FLOWN is attempting to bring a bit of fun to what can be a stressful undertaking for many. A virtual platform offering co-working opportunities via its ‘Flocks’, Zoom sessions designed to free users from distraction and help them get more work done.
In its latest event, FLOWN will be bringing their distraction avoidance tools and experience to bear throughout the two-hour live event. Helping as many people as possible to get on top of their tax return.
Hosted by one of FLOWN’s expert facilitators, the January 21st event will help participants get on top of their Self-Assessment, turning what can be a daunting and tedious task into an almost communal event, and helping to make tax return completion as painless as possible.
Alicia Navarro, Founder of FLOWN, says:
Completing your tax return can feel like an incredible burden. That’s why so many people delay dealing with it until the very last minute. And also why so many people end each financial year facing fines for late completion.
With our Deep Dive tax event, we want to help as many people as possible get to grips with their Self-Assessment – but also to have a bit of fun in the process. Your tax return isn’t going anywhere, so if you can’t ignore it.
And if you’re not already a member of FLOWN, this event is a great introduction to what we do. Who knows, maybe our tools and services could help Deep Dive participants to enhance their efficiency in the longer term.
Interested?
The FLOWN Tax Deep Dive event will be taking place on January 21st, 2022. You can sign up to the event here, or find out more by visiting FLOWN’s LinkedIn page.