Ep. 311: Finding Focus in Distracting Times

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

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 regaining some sense of mental peace and depth. He then answers questions, takes a call, and reports on some fun sightings of his book Deep Work out in the wild.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Deep Dive: Finding focus in distracting times [7:06]

- How can I convince my boss to stop interrupting me? [34:05]

- Should I switch jobs? [41:13]

- How do I integrate unpredictable calls into an otherwise structured schedule? [43:38]

- What’s the ideal reading ratio of difficult to easy books? [47:25]

- I just turned 30. Am I too late to apply the slow productivity principles? [50:32]

CASE STUDY: Using lifestyle-centered career planning to improve work and pursue a hobby [57:07]

CALL: Switching roles to an unstructured team [1:02:06]

CAL REACTS: Two Wild Deep Work Sightings [1:11:45]

Links:

Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at calnewport.com/slow

Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport

Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?

nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/authors-top-books-21st-century.html

Thanks to our Sponsors:

oracle.com/deepquestions

indeed.com/deep

notion.com/cal

shopify.com/deep

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

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1. Ep. 311: Finding Focus in Distracting Times (00:00:00)

2. Deep Dive: Finding focus in distracting times (00:07:06)

3. How can I convince my boss to stop interrupting me? (00:34:05)

4. Should I switch jobs? (00:41:13)

5. How do I integrate unpredictable calls into an otherwise structured schedule? (00:43:38)

6. What’s the ideal reading ratio of difficult to easy books? (00:47:25)

7. I just turned 30. Am I too late to apply the slow productivity principles? (00:50:32)

8. CASE STUDY: Using lifestyle-centered career planning to improve work and pursue a hobby (00:57:07)

9. CALL: Switching roles to an unstructured team (01:02:06)

10. CAL REACTS: Two Wild Deep Work Sightings (01:11:45)