We’re tired, burnt out, and searching for a reprieve from hustle culture. Something needs to change if we’re going to get to real productivity: doing that is meaningful and fulfilling rather than just checking boxes off an endless to-do list. On today’s episode, Cal Newport joins the podcast to explore slow productivity, deep work, and how we can achieve more by doing less.

About our Guest: Cal is a computer science professor at Georgetown University and the bestselling author of eight books including Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World and most recently, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout. He also has a YouTube channel and hosts the podcast Deep Questions with Cal Newport. 

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

I am now writing on Substack, check out my work there. 

Key Topics:

0:00 : Introduction

2:45 : Slow productivity vs. pseudoproductivity

10:35 : Anxiety, procrastination, and overwhelm

17:40 : Meaningful work and anti-productivity

22:40 : Technology, anti-capitalist philosophy, and knowledge work

28:55 : The cognitive drain of multitasking

32:45 : The distraction of phones social media

36:00 : The ratio of deep work to lighter work

41:00 : How timeblocking actually reduces stress

45:20 : Office hours and shared documents

48:05 : Common misconceptions about Cal’s work

55:45 : Tailoring advice to your individual situation

1:00:40 : Life transitions, and the deceptive advice to “follow your passion”

1:08:00 : Obsessing over quality while avoiding perfectionism

1:17:30 : Recap

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