#722: Cal Newport — How to Embrace Slow Productivity, Build a Deep Life, Achieve Mastery, and Defend Your Time

Cal Newport is a professor of computer science
at Georgetown University, where he is also a founding member of
the Center for Digital Ethics. His books have sold millions of
copies and been translated into over forty languages. He is also
a contributor to The New Yorker and hosts the popular Deep
Questions podcast. His new book is Slow Productivity: The
Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout.


Please enjoy!


Timestamps for this episode are available below. Resources from
this episode:
https://tim.blog/2024/02/21/cal-newport-slow-productivity/


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Timestamps:


[00:00] Start


[06:14] Unforced Errors: The Internet Story.


[09:41] Techno-selectionism.


[18:06] Why YouTube and podcasts aren’t ideal bedfellows.


[23:03] Amish technology and Steve Martin.


[28:07] What prompted Cal to write Slow Productivity?


[31:35] Becoming a better writer through blogging.


[36:54] The benefits of obsessing over quality.


[40:54] How did Cal decide to identify himself as a writer?


[52:02] People who exemplify slow productivity.


[58:45] Trade-offs on the path to 21st-century slow productivity.


[1:03:16] Push systems vs. pull systems.


[1:04:34] Quota systems.


[1:06:08] Why slow productivity isn’t a zero-sum game.


[1:09:33] Language that clarifies.


[1:13:17] Sender filters.


[1:16:20] What people might miss about Slow Productivity‘s
message.


[1:21:24] How Cal defines productivity.


[1:25:36] Derek Sivers and money as a neutral indicator of value.


[1:28:34] Contemporary slow productivity champions.


[1:33:18] Asynchronous vs. real-time conversations.


[1:35:51] Making group scheduling less hellish.


[1:40:13] Cal’s problem with Frederick Winslow Taylor.


[1:42:01] How The New Yorker maintains its old-timey charm where
other publications fail.


[1:49:05] Cal’s dream publications.


[1:51:07] Mental models for cultivating a slow productivity
mindset.


[1:56:27] The consequences of playing the algorithm game.


[2:03:14] The renewed viability of newsletters.


[2:08:03] Parting thoughts.


*


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Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael
Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan
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Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim
Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval
Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth
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Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah
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