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 of the Being Well Podcast, 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.
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
Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.
