3640: "Write Every Day" is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects by Cal Newport

Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Education, Mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3640: Cal Newport challenges the popular “write every day” mantra by revealing how it can backfire for ambitious, cognitively demanding projects. Instead, he advocates for a more strategic approach, optimizing your schedule to make space for deep work while managing motivational psychology with intentionality and clarity. Read along with the original article(s) here: http://calnewport.com/blog/2013/01/13/write-every-day-is-bad-advice-hacking-the-psychology-of-big-projects/ Quotes to ponder: "Big projects are psychologically daunting. We fear them." "Working consistently, but not necessarily every day, ensures you preserve the psychological connection to the project." "When you do work, work deeply. Depth generates value faster than shallow repetition." Episode references: The War of Art: https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026 Deep Work: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Exclusively on Disney Plus.
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0:58.6	This is optimal living daily. Right every day is bad advice. Hacking the psychology of big
1:04.8	projects by Cal Newport of Cal Newport.com. And I'm Justin Mollick, a very own personal narrator today.
1:12.6	And every day, it's not a typical podcast. There are no interviews day. It's not a typical podcast. There are no interviews. And it's short, almost always fewer than 10 minutes. Today's author
1:18.1	comes from the writer of the super popular book, Deep Work, Cal Newport. So let's get right to it and
1:23.1	start optimizing your life.
1:34.6	Write Every Day is bad advice, hacking the psychology of big projects by Cal Newport of calnewport.com.
1:37.3	A flawed axiom.
	...

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