Why Deep Work Feels Hard—And How to Support Your Team
Genie Love • June 2, 2025
Share:
IWe live in a culture that embraces busyness. We want our people to look like they’re working. As long as we’re answering emails, attending meetings, taking thorough notes, and keeping up with messages, we feel productive. But what happens when the appearance of busyness gets in the way of the deep work that needs to be done?
For most of us, shifting into deep work can feel like an uphill battle. According to Andrew Huberman, this resistance is something most of us experience and we need to work through. But for employees with executive function challenges, this resistance can be significantly more intense. The initial inertia to get started can feel like a mountain of effort.
This is real. And it really is due to the way their brain works.
Externally, this might look like:
- Procrastination
- Laziness
- A lack of motivation or work ethic
- Someone keeping up with emails and meetings but not making progress on deep work
How Managers Can Help
Fortunately, there are strategies to support employees who experience this kind of resistance to deep work. Here are a few:
- Provide a quiet, reliable space to work. Having a consistent, distraction-free environment makes it significantly easier to transition into focus mode.
- Help them develop an “opening” routine. This is a deliberate, mindful process of setting up the workspace and minimizing distractions. Encourage them to say “I’m ready to start this task.” (I actually will say this out loud.) This can help signal to the brain that it’s time to focus.
- Support structured transitions between tasks. When moving from one task to another, reverse the opening routine. "Close" the previous task before "opening" the next. A short movement break between tasks can also help reset focus.
- Be explicit about which meetings are required. Employees with executive function challenges may default to attending every meeting because it’s not always clear which are essential. Too many meetings can create unnecessary workflow disruptions for someone who already struggles with this.
If you’re interested in better understanding executive functions and how they impact your employees, check out this week’s
Neurodiversity Insights in 20 recording. I also dive into how sensory overwhelm affects productivity and what you can do to help.
Ready to LEARN MORE?
Set your yourself up for success.
Neurodiversity Unboxed: Insights and Strategies for Inclusive Workplaces
This one's for you if everything feels out of control and you're not quite sure how you got here. Maybe the holidays are coming and things are already starting to spiral. Maybe a health issue came up that required doctor's visits and personal reflection. Maybe there's family stress - someone got sick, someone passed away, relationships got complicated. Maybe you took a vacation and completely unplugged, and now you're back trying to remember where you left things. Or maybe life just got overwhelming and it's all starting to feel kind of fuzzy in your head. Sound familiar? Here's what I'm learning about falling off track We all need to hit the reset button sometimes. And I mean that literally. I imagine one of those big red buttons you can get at the store that makes a really satisfying noise when you push it. I imagine it says "RESET" right on it. You can push that button any day of the week, any time of the day, and just say: "Okay, I'm restarting." When I know I need to reset The holidays are coming up. I have a tendency to make things bigger than I probably need to. It gets a little bit out of control. My daughter's birthday falls in there too. So I'm already looking at this with anticipation, realizing I'm going to have to check myself along the way and probably hit the reset button at various times throughout this holiday season. My grandmother passed away recently. Had to travel and spend time with family. Took time off of work. Came back and had to pick up where I left off. Reset button. Other times you might need to reset: A personal health issue comes up that adds to your overwhelm. A family stressor throws everything off. You go on vacation and completely unplug (which is good!), but coming back means figuring out where you left things. Life just got messy and you need to clear your head. Any of these. All of these. How to actually reset Go back to any of the strategies that work for you - time blocking, energy regulation, getting started on projects, the color chart, whatever. (I always start with time blocking.) You pick up and you start again. Without guilt. Without judgment about why you're here or how you got here or how you're going to move forward. What I do when I reset For me, it often requires a few minutes of just thinking: What are my priorities right now? What do I need to get moving on? Which small steps are going to have more of an impact than others? And you might even just say to yourself: "Okay, here we are again." Sometimes you just have to pick back up and start. And that's okay. Big Idea Needing to reset isn't failure. It's not evidence that you can't maintain good habits or that nothing works for you. It's just life. Holidays happen. Health issues come up. People we love pass away. Vacations are necessary. Things get overwhelming. The reset button is here for you. We all need it. The key is hitting it without the guilt and judgment. Without the story about how you "should" have been able to maintain everything perfectly no matter what life threw at you. Just: "Here we are. Starting again. That's okay." PS. I'm actually doing this today after a low motivation day yesterday. Just a random Thursday in the middle of the month. Starting again... Want to learn more about my work? Website: https://neuroautonomy.com/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt_ciMlkbqElTXqRZLLWWGg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genielove_coaching/
This one's for you if you've time-blocked your day perfectly... and still feel like you're fighting against your brain. You've got the time chunks. You know when you're supposed to work on things. You've followed all the advice about blocking out 90-minute segments for hard tasks. But your brain doesn't cooperate. Sometimes you have the energy for deep work. Sometimes you don't. And you end up staring at your calendar, frustrated that you can't just power through like you're "supposed to." Here's what I've learned about working WITH your brain's natural rhythms If you have ADHD or autism, your brain likely doesn't work consistently throughout the day. Think of a car on cruise control - your brain probably doesn't do that. Your brain revs up higher in some parts of the day. It revs down much lower in other parts. Your whole body follows these energy fluctuations. It's very hard to be consistent in your energy all day long. And that's not a failure. That's just how some brains work. So here's what my clients like: Energy Blocking Once you've time-blocked your day - you have a chunk of time here, a chunk of time there, maybe some 90-minute blocks and some smaller blocks scattered throughout - you add another layer. You match your tasks to your actual energy levels. Here's how it works: Step 1: Create two running lists Make a list of tasks that are hard for you to do. Make a list of tasks that are easier for you to do. And here's the critical part: "Easy" and "hard" are completely personal to YOUR brain. For some people, making phone calls is easy. They love chatting with people. For others, that's incredibly hard. For some people, sending emails and organizing them is easy. For others, that's incredibly hard. For some people, it's incredibly easy to nerd out on data, dive in deep, and figure out where there are discrepancies and mistakes. For others, that's really hard. This is designed for you to decide what is easy and what is hard for YOUR specific brain. Step 2: Check in with your body When you come to a time block, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? Are you calm and ready to go? In a good, clear mental state? Or is your energy lower? Are you just not really with it today for whatever reason? Step 3: Choose from the appropriate list If you're feeling good and clear-headed, choose something from your hard tasks list. Dive into the challenging work that requires your best energy. If your energy is lower or you're just not feeling it, choose from your easier tasks list. Still productive. Still getting things done. Just matched to your actual capacity in that moment. What this looks like in real life For me, the end of the day means I'm losing steam. My daughter knows not to ask me for help with homework after 8:00. I’m spent. But I have clients with ADHD who actually rev up in the evening. They're ready to tackle their hardest work after dinner. Some people are sharp first thing in the morning. Others need a couple hours to fully wake up. Some people hit a wall after lunch. Others get a second wind in the afternoon. Your pattern is yours. Energy blocking lets you work with it instead of against it. Key Takeaway: Time blocking creates the structure. Energy blocking makes that structure actually work for your brain. You're not failing when you can't consistently perform at the same level all day. You're human. Your brain has natural rhythms and fluctuations. The key is having options. When you reach a time block and check in with yourself, you have a menu to choose from based on your actual state, not some ideal version of consistent productivity. Hard tasks when you have the energy. Easier tasks when you don't. Both are productive. Both move your work forward. One just acknowledges reality. Give it a try What time of day is your brain at its best? And when does your energy tend to dip? What would change if you matched your hardest tasks to your highest energy times? Try energy blocking this week and let me know what you discover. Want to learn more about my work? Website: https://neuroautonomy.com/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt_ciMlkbqElTXqRZLLWWGg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genielove_coaching/
