Deep Questions with Cal Newport
Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
Episodes
330 episodes
Ep. 327: Would Kant Use TikTok?
Almost everyone feels uneasy about their relationships with their smartphones. But the question is why? In today’s episode, Cal looks past the most common answers to seek a deeper understanding built on an unexpected source: the moral philosoph...
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Season 1
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Episode 327
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1:28:52
Ep. 326: Time to Unplug
During the election season our devices take a particularly hard tole on our health and happiness. Now that the votes have been cast and counted, Cal proposes it’s time to take a temporary but radical break from the exhausting digital chatter. H...
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Season 1
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Episode 326
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1:32:36
Ep. 325: Simple Focus Protocols
A common theme on this show is the importance of focus and the need to train the ability. This can be a long term project, but are there things you can do right away to improve your ability to concentrate? In this episode, Cal explores five eas...
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Season 1
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Episode 325
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1:26:54
Ep. 324: Taming Non-Work Tasks
We talk a lot on this show about how to organize your professional efforts. But what about all your obligations outside of work? The personal goals, the household repairs, the family tasks? In this episode, Cal discusses organizational strategi...
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Season 1
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Episode 324
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1:20:21
Ep. 323: Strategic Procrastination
One of the most common complaints from people attempting to cultivate a deep life in our distracted world is procrastination. You want to make regular progress on something important but find you just can’t get going. In this episode, Cal discu...
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Season 1
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Episode 323
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1:19:38
IN-DEPTH:The Productivity Trap (w/ Oliver Burkeman)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, a semi-regular interview series with people at the frontiers of deep living, Cal welcomes the bestselling author Oliver Burkeman to the Deep Work HQ to talk about his new book, MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS, and more gene...
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1:17:16
Ep. 322: The Discipline Ladder
Do you struggle to consistently make progress on hard things that are important to you? In today’s episode, Cal describes a way to improve this state of affairs: a systematic training regime called the discipline ladder. He then answers listene...
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Season 1
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Episode 322
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1:20:03
Ep. 321: Escaping Your Phone
It has become second nature to maintain a continuous partial participation in the world of digital networks. In today’s episode, Cal reflects on a week in which he spent too much time online, and argues why this continuous partial participation...
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Season 1
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Episode 321
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1:15:38
Ep. 320: Jobs and the Deep Life
One of the single most important factors in your attempts to cultivate a deep life is your job. Yet, many people don’t give much thought to the role their work will play in their conception of a life well-lived. In this episode, Cal looks deepe...
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Season 1
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Episode 320
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1:06:48
IN-DEPTH: Systematic Depth (w/ Ryan Holiday)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, a new semi-regular interview series with people at the frontiers of deep living, Cal interviews bestselling author Ryan Holiday about the systematic construction of an intentional life. They begin by talking about l...
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1:14:02
Ep. 319: Reclaim Your Time
Why can you never seem to find enough time to make progress on the non-urgent but important priorities that can move you closer to the ideal of the deep life? In this episode, Cal reviews three common “time destroyers,” and for each offers solu...
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Season 1
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Episode 319
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1:18:57
Ep. 318: Take a Break
One of the more viral suggestions from Cal’s recent book, SLOW PRODUCTIVITY, was to occasionally skip out of work to see a movie. In this episode, Cal dives deep into criticisms of this advice and decodes what this tells us about where knowledg...
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Season 1
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Episode 318
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1:14:04
Ep. 317: The 10-Year Rule
Becoming notably good at something valuable is one of the most powerful tools for crafting a deep life. But how do people do this? In this episode, Cal explores three useful rules for getting good in search of depth. He then answers listener qu...
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Season 1
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Episode 317
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1:27:45
Ep. 316: Weekly Templates
The fall is the perfect time to tune up your productivity and organizational systems. With this in mind, in this episode, Cal discusses a tool he has long used in his own life but never discussed before in public: the weekly template. He then a...
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Season 1
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Episode 316
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1:19:51
Ep. 315: The Surprising Myth of Doing Less
In this classic episode, Cal talks about the surprising myth of doing less. Cal then answers questions about discipline and solving complicated problems. Cal concludes the episode with a review of the books he read back in April 2022. B...
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Season 1
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Episode 315
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1:12:15
Ep. 314: Elements of the Deep Life
In this classic episode Cal talks about the elements of the Deep Life. He then answers a variety of questions about work, family, and phone distractions.Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get you...
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Season 1
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Episode 314
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58:14
Ep. 313: Structured Journaling
Summer is the perfect time to ready yourself for significant changes in your life. A chance to seek more depth in a distracted world. But for many, the goal for these changes is unclear. They know they want something deeper, but they don’t know...
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Season 1
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Episode 313
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1:15:16
Ep. 312: Productivity Basics
It’s mid-summer, people have some extra breathing room in their schedule, they’re relaxed. This moment of quiet seems like a perfect time to revisit some of this show’s most popular ideas about finding productivity in a world drowning in digita...
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Season 1
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Episode 312
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1:36:15
Ep. 311: Finding Focus in Distracting Times
In our current digital world, distracting world events have a way of completely destabilizing our ability to focus on work that matters. In today’s episode, Cal provides advice for escaping these destabilizing attention environments and regaini...
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Season 1
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Episode 311
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1:18:22
Ep. 310: Rethinking Discipline
Discipline is critical to cultivating a deep life, but what exactly does this concept mean? In this episode, Cal uses a concrete case study from Reddit to dive deeper into the nuances of discipline and to then identify concrete, practical advic...
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Season 1
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Episode 310
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1:23:18
Ep. 309: Deep Habits
On this show, we often talk about major overhauls to your work and life. In this episode, we go the other way and focus on the small habits that can make a big difference. In more detail, Cal describes eight surprisingly small strategies – four...
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Season 1
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Episode 309
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1:03:00
Ep. 308: The Power of the Quiet Mind
One of the trickiest aspects of new technology is that it can sometimes destabilize parts of our lives that we didn’t even realize existed and are important. In this episode, Cal talks about one such idea: the quiet mind. Our constant phone usa...
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Season 1
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Episode 308
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1:21:05
Ep. 307: Ultra-Processed Content
Why are we comfortable with the idea that ultra-processed foods are bad for us but feel somehow anti-technology to say something similar about the ultra-processed content generated by social media platforms. In this episode, Cal draws analogy t...
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Season 1
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Episode 307
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1:19:52
Ep. 306: Defusing AI Panic
One of the simmering concerns surrounding the current AI revolution is the fear that we might accidentally create an “alien mind” smarter than we expected. In this episode, Cal puts on his Computer Scientist hat and directly addresses this pote...
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Season 1
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Episode 306
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1:42:17
Ep. 305: Is Time Blocking Oppressive?
Oliver Burkeman recently noted that time blocking seems oppressive? In this episode, Cal responds to this reaction in a surprising way. He then answers questions from listeners and reacts to this podcast being featured at the recent Apple WWDC ...
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Season 1
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Episode 305
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1:21:31