Ep. 344: You Are Not a Cog

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Technology, Self-improvement

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Modern knowledge work jobs should be cushy gigs. Fixed hours, air conditioning, no hard manual labor, flexibility. So why are we so often burnt out and what can we do about this reality? In this episode, Cal draws a lesson from an unexpected corner of computer science, computer security research, about how we can fix some of the big problems of work in a digital age. He then answers listener questions and returns once again to the topic of AI in a final tech corner segment. Find out more about Done Daily at DoneDaily.com! 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: You Are Not a Cog [11:00] - Should I break my large tasks into many small ones? [38:18] - How will AI affect living the deep life? [42:47] - How can I say “no” to more incoming requests? [48:14] - Should an architect take on broader roles that don’t necessarily add to career capital? [52:03] - Can a nurse implement time blocking? [54:33] - Can a Kansan system work across all departments without being overly complex? [58:11] - CALL: Organizing the details of a Trello board [1:03:19] CASE STUDY: Lifestyle centric value based planning for a young family [1:07:58] TECH CORNER: AGI is not Super-intelligence [1:15:35] 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? medium.com/@tony.infisical/password-requirements-are-still-confusing-in-2023-also-heres-our-flavor-44ce03a3255c youtube.com/watch?v=ZzJMxh68RGI Thanks to our Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by to you BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/deepquestions mybodytutor.com upliftdesk.com/deep 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, the show about cultivating a deep life in a distracted world.
0:23.5	So I'm here my my Deep Work HQ.
0:26.0	I'm joined, as always, by my producer, Jesse.
0:29.2	Jesse, I'm going to give an update on the book I'm writing.
0:32.3	Yeah.
0:33.1	So here's the timeline of where I've been and where I'm going, where I am right now.
0:38.4	I cracked the outline for this book a year ago.
0:43.4	So I remember it was during like a spring break trip.
0:47.2	I started writing it over the summer.
0:49.9	I wrote a draft of most of the first half over the summer and into the fall.
0:55.4	Took a break when I was having my surgery and also when I took over Calaisaka's column for a month for the New Yorker.
1:02.0	So I was like, okay, I'm working on that.
1:03.2	Came back to the book and decided that none of what I wrote worked.
1:07.3	Get out.
1:08.1	Yeah, the voice wasn't there.
1:09.8	The whole thing?
1:11.0	Yeah. Has that happened before? Yeah. It wasn't Get out. Yeah, the voice wasn't there. So the whole thing? Yeah.
1:11.5	Has that happened before?
1:12.6	Yeah.
1:13.0	It wasn't that much.
1:13.8	It was half a book.
1:15.7	Yeah.
	...

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