Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. Video from today’s episode: https://tinyurl.com/b2rkctfj CORE IDEA: Time Management [4:37] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - What does deliberate practice look like for computer programming? [30:15] - Is it rational to quit your job if it implies a potential harm to society? [36:04] - When is deep work not the most important metric? [39:04] - Should I ...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. Videos of today’s questions: https://tinyurl.com/b2rkctfj DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How should we use a ticketing system? [4:15] - Should I resign after my boss does? [9:19] - Are breaks to rest your eyes considered context switching? [13:10] - How do you time block long but ambiguous intellectual activity? [21:49] - How do you get back to sche...
Jan 27, 2022•44 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. ANNOUNCEMENT: Videos of the podcast are now live! (You can find then here: https://tinyurl.com/b2rkctfj DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How do I decide how much work is enough? [13:35] - How do I eliminate post-shutdown anxiety? [28:15] - How do I get back to work effectively after a lunch break? [37:43] - Why don’t you (Cal) use Zettelkasten? [40:09...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. OPENING DISCUSSION: How I schedule podcasting LISTENER CALLS: - My thoughts on psychedelics and the pursuit of awe. [8:38] - Time-block planning for the visually impaired. [19:07] - Struggling to escape a job. [23:24] - Concerns about book editors. [33:26] - My blog writing process. [43:41] - The deep life vs. the good life [48:49...
Jan 20, 2022•56 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Why Are We Burnt Out? [1:31] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - Should I exercise before or after deep work? [20:28] - Why plan every quarter instead of every month or year? [23:56] - How do I master a hard technical skill? [26:12] - What does my (Cal) knowledge management system look like? [30:17] DEEP LIFE QUESTIONS: - Are my (Cal’s) online...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. LISTENER CALLS: - Optimal amounts of advanced scheduling. [6:46] - Recommendations for not going overboard with strategic planning. [14:31] - Training for hard intellectual work. [19:12] - Convincing students to limit social media (rant alert). [28:30] - Keeping eyes healthy. [43:45] Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kers...
Jan 13, 2022•55 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. OPENING CHAT: The Books I Read in December 2021 DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How do I handle insecurity about my writing ability? [35:39] - How do I balance non-work and work activities? [39:51] - How can I take regular breaks to avoid eye strain? [43:53] - How can I reduce anxiety around long term projects? [45:43] - How should academic handle pa...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. LISTENER CALLS: - Getting better vs. selling harder. [3:29] - Convincing a girlfriend to use less social media [9:15] - Time-blocking tips [20:29] - Ambition and the deep life [26:17] - Advice of an ideal desk set up [32:56] Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering....
Jan 06, 2022•41 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How can a freelancer perform deep work? [9:56] - Should I follow my skill or my passion? [12:50] - How do you manage group projects in college? [21:51] - Do you recommend listening to music while doing deep work? [24:16] - What do you do when your boss has allocated you to a team “half time”? [26:20] DEEP LIFE QUESTION...
Jan 03, 2022•50 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Because I'm away on vacation these week, I'm replaying a classic show from the Deep Questions archives. This is Episode 125, which originally ran back in August. --- Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: How Reachable Should We Be? [1:45] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS - What should I do if I finish a time block early? [8:28] - How do I work deeply at home with a crying newborn?...
Dec 30, 2021•50 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast Because I'm away on vacation these week, I'm replaying a classic show from the Deep Questions archives. This is Episode 109, which originally ran back in June. --- Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. BOOK REPORT: The Square and the Tower [04:28] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS - What should I do if I like my job but dislike the industry? [12:32] - How hard should I push back against a sha...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. LISTENER CALLS: - Was Tesla the ultimate deep thinker? [4:01] - Writing for academic audiences (bonus: the story of my first book deal). [7:03] - The difference between deep work and the deep life buckets (bonus: Jesse and I discuss the latest progress on my new book). [19:05] - Do YouTubers have a terrible job? [45:06] - Preparing for...
Dec 23, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, author Jenny Blake joins me for a conversation about her new book, FREE TIME: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business (https://itsfreetime.com/book), which helps entrepreneurs engineer the stress out of their work. I ask her to use myself as a case study and apply her principles to helping me reduce stress in my working life. Though FREE TIME doesn’t come out until March, if you pre-order a copy now (at https://itsfreetime.com/book) you’ll get immediate access to a pair of free co...
Dec 20, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. OPENING CHAT: Cal is excited about his new email setup. LISTENER CALLS: - Shutdown struggles. [13:58] - The difference between value-based planning and the deep life buckets. [17:47] - Drowning in meeting prep. [28:21] - Fiction book recommendations. [32:34] - My process for writing New Yorker Articles. [40:27] Thanks to Jesse Mil...
Dec 16, 2021•48 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Is your productivity system leaking? [6:01] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How do I accomplish big projects in small amounts daily effort? [12:50] - How do I make more money as I become more efficient? [17:28] - What’s the best way to add structure to chaotic non-profit? [21:22] - How do I build an autopilot schedule for unpredictable wor...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. LISTENER CALLS: - Doctors and depth. [6:42] - Career capital in the military. [10:39] - Coping with a hyperactive job. [14:45] - Making a teaching plan for the semester. [27:32] - Managing references. [33:53] Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering....
Dec 09, 2021•40 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. OPENING CHAT: The 5 Books I Read in November (Bonus Rant: Why did Jurassic Park need an assessment from a chaos theoretician?) [2:06] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - Is it worth becoming good at skills that you only need short term? [21:51] - How do I seem present online when working on side projects? [26:43] - Should I revise my weekly plan if thing...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. OPENING CHAT: YouTube vs. Social Media LISTENER CALLS: - The magic of autopilot scheduling [16:35] - Tips for finding a non-hyperactive good boss [23:18] - Alternatives to email-based workflows [27:24] - Taming Trello [35:07] - Study tactics [38:58] Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark ...
Dec 02, 2021•45 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Should you move to the country? [3:55] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - Is it worth time blocking for long projects? [20:11] - What’s your (Cal’s) opinion on bosses stopping by the office to chat? [22:16] - How can I remember all of your advice? [25:39] - How do I avoid the feeling of just going through the motions? [32:41] - How do I bette...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: When should tasks live on my calendar? [7:24] LISTENER CALLS: - Online presences for novelists [14:13] - Not getting stuff done outside of work [26:10] - Managing team workload [32:19] - Finding more family time [39:37] - Leveraging career capital early in one’s career [47:48] Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay ...
Nov 25, 2021•55 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: How do I tame email? [9:51] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How to accomplish deep work in the context of meeting overload? [29:09] - What is difference between the productivity funnel and capture/configure/control? [36:06] - Do you (Cal) have a filing system for emails? [40:18] - What time blocking granularity is best? [42:53] - How do yo...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Decoding the Productive Pause [2:43] LISTENER CALLS: - Finding a research interests. [10:00] - Trading moments of your life for money. [13:23] - Scheduling more deep work. [23:14] - Handling the difficult switch from work to leisure and then back again. [27:30] - Creating temporal Eudamonia Machines. [32:31] - Leading a...
Nov 18, 2021•46 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - Are some people more suited for deep work than others? [4:54] - How do I tame post-shutdown excitement? [8:33] - How to I deal with ambiguous deep work? [14:41] - Can you (Cal) elaborate on the Friction/Flow/Finalization project pathway? [17:41] - How do you time-block plan in a company obsessed with last minute meetin...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. A conversation with Producer Jesse about my next book [1:48] LISTENER CALLS: - Twitter FOMO for a journalist. [16:40] - Tracking small amounts of time. [25:12] - My quarterly planning process. [30:07] - Tedious tasks with an entry level job. [34:22] - Timeblock planners spiral bindings. [38:24] - Struggling to balance teaching wit...
Nov 11, 2021•51 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: My October reading list [1:49] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - How do you avoid burn out from deep work? [11:55] - Are your (Cal's) systems for tracking deep work and for tracking GTD projects independent? [13:59] - Does studying “on the go” incur cognitive burden? [18:07] - What category of things do you track on your (Cal's) Trello board...
Nov 08, 2021•56 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Is Overload Necessary? (Epic rant alert) [3:53] LISTENER CALLS: - Beyond the most important task of the day. [27:00] - "Pseudo-blocking" household admin. [31:53] - A doctor struggling to find leisure time. [36:47] - Defanging the internet with strategic browser plug-ins. [44:26] - Applying sprints outside of the tech se...
Nov 04, 2021•54 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: What would you say you do here? [3:05] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - What time management strategies do you suggest if I work a 9-5 and want to pursue master's or phd? [13:32] - How to overcome productivity pr0n? - Lifehacker addict is hung up on the fomo (fear of missing out) of potential shortcuts. [19:51] - could save time - How to ti...
Nov 01, 2021•55 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: On Facebook, Misinformation, and the Death of Collaborative Curation [2:59] LISTENER CALLS: - My thoughts on speed reading. [21:29] - My system for writing New Yorker articles (routinizing demanding work). [24:43] - The importance of media for academic careers. [34:07] - Re-assessing linked note-taking. [40:02] - The ab...
Oct 28, 2021•55 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast DEEP DIVE: Is the Era of Social Media Ending? [2:37] DEEP WORK QUESTIONS: - Did COVID-19 closures change my (Cal's) thoughts on my working situation? [18:01] - Should I stick with management consulting? [37:06] - How do I lead my organization away from email? [40:17] - How do I pick a specialization in a broad field? [44:55] DEEP LIFE QUESTIONS: - Do I (Cal) use my smartphone for directions and photos? [48:48] - How do I choose my minor? [51:37] - What is something I (Cal) have changed my opinio...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast Below are the topics covered in today's listener calls mini-episode (with timestamps). For instructions on submitting your own questions, go to calnewport.com/podcast. DEEP DIVE: Smartphones and moral panics. [3:43] LISTENER CALLS: - Scheduling when you've fallen behind. [12:29] - Squandering autonomy. [18:06] - Hacking habits and the shortcomings of raw discipline. [26:11] - Tenure and valuable skills. [31:38] - Adding more to your plate without it tipping over. [36:24] - Frustration and the De...
Oct 21, 2021•48 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast 
