Other than housework, I can’t think of what to do during my deep work sessions. Any suggestions or ideas?

I do deep learning under deep work sessions. Eg. Alison free online diploma courses.

I do housework under Clean & Tidy. And I do huge chore a week under One Big Thing. I also use the Make My Bed, for my first thing in the morning.

There is also Learn & Study, which I use for brain training in the mornings. I use the app Elevate for brain training sessions, so far so good.

I like to be progressive, but I don't pressure myself to complete everything though.

I’m a student so when I get home from work I still have studying and assignments to finish. Completing these in deep work sessions allows me to be very boundaried with my time. 2 hours of work after dinner and before bed!

I use it to do any work/study related project. If your work doesn't require any house work, you can also learn a new language or a new skill that you have always wanted to learn. There are a lot of free apps to learn programming or French or a lot of other interesting things.

I work on my Sunday basket – going through my weekly active papers, work on reports for work, or work on my budget. I also think deep work would be great for writing but haven’t cracked that one yet.

What’s your project in life/this year/this month/this week? If you are not at formal work, do some broader thinking about the adventure you are on and where you are headed. Make larger and smaller goals, and break those into achievable tasks. Those tasks are your work.

I work from home and it is easy to get sidetracked with housework or emails or Facebook. The deep work sessions are my time when I wow not to get distracted and stick to my to-do list and my task I have planned to do. If you don’t work from home and don’t want to do regular housework, maybe use this time to study something, like for example 25 min of piano practice, or Spanish vocabulary. Or clean out that bathroom cabinet that houses shampoo bottles from 2005. Find something meaningful that you always wanted to do and give it your undivided attention for 25 minutes.

To answer that question you need to know why you’re on this planet. What’s the purpose you continue to go about your life? What skills, talents, abilities, passions, dreams do you have that have been swept under the rug? Pick the one that makes your heart beat faster and brings a smile to your face. And now think bigger than your original goal. Big enough that it scares you. Finally, write out the first 3 baby steps you could take to truly make this a reality. Commit to working on these uninterrupted during your deep work session. When you complete the first 3 write 3 more. Put it in the calendar, make it happen.

Work on a hobby or passion. I want to make it a goal to make art for at least an hour every day. I ALWAYS get stuck doing housework when I haven’t set a goal for myself. Rather than wasting a deep work session on housework, I should use it to improve and focus on myself!

I use the time for housework, setting up my journal, balancing the finances, filing, sewing projects anything really that benefits from an uninterrupted block of time.

I can’t really answer this with a list, but I can tell you how this has worked for me. There is work and the work I do has sort of built in ‘deep work’ tasks, and I used to just do that. However I eventually realized that that meant I was focusing on what I really wanted to accomplish at work, but being dragged along by circumstance in the rest of my life.
My challenge was the same as yours: what is my deep work for my real life? I have had three answers –

1) things I have to get done. It is sometimes helpful to make a list of, like your example, the housework I need to get done today and just hammer through it in a deep work cycle. This is particularly true if I have day that DOES look like a collection of lots of litter hanging I ligations I need to pin up.
2) accomplishing longer term goals – some things are bigger than a task. I have been, for example, fixing a part of my front yard with some drainage and erosion issues. It’s a lot of work and if I just sort of put it as a todo it takes forever. But taking a deep work cycle a few days a week to work it can be really helpful, both for getting the work done and for forcing myself really look, concretely at what next steps rally look like.
3) working on my own values. Chores, tasks, etc are important but the thing I find really hard to take time for is things I don’t have to do but that are important to me. For me this has included writing, spending time with my kids, doing service for others, and practicing skills I really want to learn (languages, playing piano…). A deep work cycle each day is a great way to schedule something like this in first –
And in terms of that shaping the way the whole day feels, it starts me on a note that feels like meaning and progress – if I started with chores every day, I would begin to think of my life as chores. Most important is not always the same as most urgent!

Anyway, o hope that helps. The tldr I guess is to really sit and think about what it is you want your life and your day to feel like. Then figure out what you could be doing that really matters to you, something that finishing makes you feel the way you want to feel all the time

Hope that helps!

Work on your inner self. Meditate, create something like drawing or dance or do any kind of art without distractions.
It will help you focus.
Try to create something. Explore your skills. You never know what’s waiting inside you to come out

Goodluck:)💕

If you’re religious, you could take some time to do a Bible study on your own and focus on themes or certain chapters. If not, learning a new language could be fun…I’ve always wanted to learn sign language. Anything where you could invest in yourself and take time to focus and learn something new could be a good way to mix things up during your day:)

Think about starting a hobby. Look for something that you always wanted to learn about, something new, and look for resources. Use this time to be creative and maybe you will find a new passion or skills that you never thought you had. It will give you freedom and a sense of accomplishment. Ways to learn something new can be watching courses like LinkedIn learning, reading books, watching YouTube videos or going to free events wherever you live and talking and listening to people

This took me a minute to think about. The thing I am focusing deep work on is my best friends wedding (I am the maid of honor and planning the bachelorette party and helping with other stuff). Other things I have thought of is scrapbooking, coloring, or anything that can even have small accomplishment or meaning when finished.

You can also work on a project you’ve had on your list for a while. Take that time to be creative in whatever way you feel more comfortable in. Maybe you like to write, paint, take photographs, or maybe build something. I like to take photos and I also like to garden so when I do my deep work for 25 minutes I either take photos of something, edit photos or organize photos. Other times I work on my plants like transplanting, pruning, watering.

Do you have a hobby or something your passionate about? Or, is there something you want to learn that you have not been able to start?
Committing a block of distraction free time on a regular basis is the best way to develop a new skill, project or habit quickly.

Good question, I also miss option for e.g. only work day habit. I apply any deep (focused) session: housework, reading, sport etc