Cal Newport - The Power of Doing “Deep Work” (Interview)

Most people have totally lost the ability to go “deep”—spending their days instead in an erratic blur of e-mail and Facebook and twitter and so on and so forth—not even realizing there’s a better way to living life than behaving like a hamster on a wheel—constantly searching for the next dopamine hit…

News flash, bro-chacho: there is a better way.

A much, much better way. And it can help you grow your mindset, your finances, and your ability to produce massive progress in pretty much every arena of your life… What’s this “better way,” you ask?

It’s called Deep Work…

And we’ll be talking to the guy who literally wrote the book on deep work in today’s episode of the podcast. His name is Cal Newport.

Cal’s written several books dedicated to helping us maximize our potential and cultivate more meaningful lives—both personally and professionally.

I first found out about Cal when I read his totally awesome book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love—as the sub-title entails—is all about debunking old advice about how blindly “following your passion” will make you happy.

And today, Cal’s here to talk with us about his fifth book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Here’s a little taste of what you can expect to learn about in this conversation:

• How to LOVE what you do. You’ll learn the answer to the elusive query, “How do people end up loving what they do for work?” (hint: it’s not about “following your passion”)
• Deep work. The bulk of this interview is focused on the power of doing “Deep work” — the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
• More results. More fulfillment. You’ll learn how to tap into the skill of deep work to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Plus, you’ll learn how doing deep work can make you better at what you do and provide a sense of true fulfillment, both in life and at work.

Learn the rules for focused success in a distracted world

Click below to start streaming now, or click here to listen on iTunes.

EP116: Cal Newport - Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Listen on iTunes

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Show notes / episode summary

Books mentioned:

• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
• Hooked by Nir Eyal
• Give and Take by Adam Grant

Topics mentioned:

• A deep dive into deep work
• The #1 productivity “hack” you need to skyrocket your focus and overall effectiveness
• Carl Jung’s “bi-modal” approach to staying focused and doing deep work
• Attention residue
• Divided attention and single-focus
• The power of time-blocking

People mentioned:

• Theodore Roosevelt
• Neil Stephensen
• Peter Shankman
• Steven Pressfield

Connect With Cal Newport

• CalNewport.com

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