Ep. 352: It’s Okay to Slow Down

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we think about important accomplishments, we think about grinding through long hours of work. But is this really necessary? In this episode, Cal turns to the lives of two famous authors to argue that sometimes a slow and steady approach can work just as well in the end, while making the journey more sustainable along the way. He then answers listener questions and concludes with a Tech Corner segment about a ridiculous new claim from the world of AI. 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: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Deep Dive: It’s Okay to Slow Down [2:28] - How should I tell people my email responses will be delayed without using an autoresponder? [18:07] - Should I read for quantity or quality? [20:31] - How does “one email address” per project work and how do I implement it? [24:51] - Can you comment on Conan O’Brien’s burner phone? [30:42] - Am I working hard enough to get tenure? [38:00] CASE STUDY: Email processing protocol [44:25] CALL #1: Organizing creative work [49:19] CALL #2: Fan update about Inbox Zero [53:37] TECH CORNER: A.I. Welfare is a PR Stunt [58:36] Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba? https://thestory.au/articles/daily-routines-famous-writers/ https://youtu.be/cM8HlKoJCHA?si=N-UjnFu-4q-mTJEB https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/technology/ai-welfare-anthropic-claude.html Thanks to our Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/deepquestions and get on your way to being your best self! https://www.mybodytutor.com https://www.oracle.com/deepquestions https://www.expressvpn.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 Calduport, and this is Deep Questions, the show about cultivating a deep life in a distracted world.
0:22.8	I'm here in my Deep Work HQ, joined as always by my producer Jesse.
0:27.3	Jesse, I'm a little jealous.
0:29.2	I, for whatever, I don't know how I came across this.
0:31.1	I saw a video tour of Adam Carolla's podcast studio.
0:36.1	Okay.
0:36.9	It's in a converted warehouse in Burbank, and it has five vintage race cars that are in, like, a display that looks like a car museum.
0:48.0	Like with vintage signs and paraphernalia from like the eras in which the cars are in or whatever.
0:54.8	I think we have to up our game.
0:57.1	We have like the Slovakian version of digital minimalism up on our wall.
1:04.5	He has five race cars.
1:06.2	So we got, I don't know what we would have in our,
1:09.1	in our version of like a very large converted warehouse.
1:12.2	That's the problem.
1:13.3	We could put my truck in there.
1:15.0	We could put your truck.
1:15.9	That is a museum piece.
1:17.4	So like that would be okay.
1:19.1	It's just not very valuable.
1:20.7	Scholars would come to study it.
1:22.8	Like what was life like?
1:24.7	What was life like back in 1976?
	...

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