Deep Work
Book by Cal Newport
146
MENTIONS
35
EPISODES
33
PODCASTS
Search complete. 146 mentions across 35 episodes found for "Deep Work".
Sep 14, 2026
Meredith FontanaGUEST
So it slowly, over time, it just, like, creeps up on you even when you try to avoid it.
Meredith FontanaGUEST
So I've, I've d- I, I follow a lot of practices that are in, that have been espoused by, like, Cal Newport, you know, deep work, digital minimalism.
Meredith FontanaGUEST
Um, I have all these apps on my phone that don't allow me to look at my, [laughs] any of my apps except, like, my, like, emergency calls can call me.
Meredith FontanaGUEST
You know, it drives other people nuts because they, they can't get ahold of me very easily [laughs] sometimes, but-
Matt PayneHOST
We use Slack to communicate, and basically I have, like, three bosses plus our social media person and, like, at any given day, I might get messages from, like, every single one of them at any given matter- time of the day.
Matt PayneHOST
Whereas personally, I would prefer to, like, have one meeting a week where, like, it's all just given to me, like, "What are your needs?" So that I can gather what you need and get it for you, versus, like, every 60 minutes to two hours, I might get a notification on my phone that says, "I need this from you," or, "I need that from you," or, "Hey, what about this?" Or, "Hey, what about that?" And I even, like, let them know.
Matt PayneHOST
I'm like, "Hey, have you read this book called Deep Work? Like, all of these distractions are making all of your employees way less productive." [laughs] Like, we know this as a society, and yet we structure all of our...
Matt PayneHOST
the way we communicate and everything in a way that's counterint- c- goes against it.
Julie AblesGUEST
You have to really think about, what do you want this to look like? You have to problem solve, and all of that is, is forming you.
Julie AblesGUEST
That's deep work.
Julie AblesGUEST
That's like what Cal Newport, I don't know if you ever read his book, Deep Work.
Julie AblesGUEST
That's what he's talking about with deep work.
Julie AblesGUEST
We're really, we're struggling with ideas.
18 MINS LATER
Jack SpirkoHOST
Like, you wanna see bad handwriting, let me write something, especially in cursive, right? And I went to Catholic school, where, like, we were judged on it like it was calligraphy class, right? Which is part of why I hated it, because I just don't have that, that particular skill set, especially being a one-eyed guy.
Jack SpirkoHOST
I think that doesn't help.
Jack SpirkoHOST
Um, but if I try to write now, like I, I, I always tell people, like they'll say, "Will you sign your book for me?" And I'm like, you know, if it ever matters economically that I signed a book, and they do the thing like they do on Pawn Stars where the expert comes in, they're gonna have no idea 'cause every single one of 'em looks different.
Brooke TaylorGUEST
And I think that's a really healthy way to work.
Liz MoodyHOST
Yeah, I interviewed Cal Newport, who's the author of Deep Work on the podcast, and he talked about working in cycles and that the most successful teams work in cycles.
Liz MoodyHOST
And I've tried to talk about that with my team.
Liz MoodyHOST
It's like, if we're going to do a push right now, then make sure you pull back at some point.
Michela AlloccaHOST
The first thing I do before I close out my work is my shutdown routine.
Michela AlloccaHOST
And so the purpose of a shutdown routine, this is something that I learned from the book Deep Work, is to close out the workday and start out your evening.
Michela AlloccaHOST
It's really what creates that separation between work and the rest of your life.
Michela AlloccaHOST
It's especially important if you work from home because you don't have a commute that sort of, like, turns work into one portion of the day and turns life into another portion of the day.
Paul R. GloriaHOST
It is.
Paul R. GloriaHOST
We have analytical breakdowns of deep work versus shallow work from the productivity researchers at Reclaim.ai. Plus, we've got a sweeping piece on strategic portfolio management from Planview.
speaker_1HOST
And we can't forget that brilliant industry postmortem from Oliver Wyman and Lippincott, the one about how the global airline industry weaponizes this concept called selective excellence.
Paul R. GloriaHOST
Oh, man.
16 MINS LATER
speaker_1HOST
Not at all.
speaker_1HOST
The second phase requires building the tactical capacity to actually perform that vital work in an environment that actively penalizes concentration.
Paul R. GloriaHOST
Which means we have to unpack the deep structural difference between deep work and shallow work
speaker_1HOST
workAnd Cal Newport's definitions here are vital because they aren't just categorizations of tasks, they are categorizations of actual neurological states.
Samantha LaneGUEST
Knowledge workers tend to have work that falls in three buckets.
Samantha LaneGUEST
You have deep work.
Samantha LaneGUEST
So this is, you know, Cal Newport wrote the book on deep work and all that's true.
Samantha LaneGUEST
So this is that work.
Samantha LaneGUEST
The work is brain intensive.
7 MINS LATER
Chris HillHOST
And by the way, Cal Newport's one of my favorite.
Chris HillHOST
Love his stuff.
Chris HillHOST
there were just periods of time where there would be gaps and I wouldn't, I would feel like I hadn't done enough just because I have this, you know, desire to achieve and to do things and realize that after reading deep work that, Oh, there are actually maybe an hour and a half to two hours a day where I actually am going to get a deep work done on the rest of service level oh and i'm also not in an office with co-workers so i don't have a water cooler to go to i don't have these things so if i send a message to a friend or i take a brief look at facebook as long as it's not my entire day ranting online about politics or something crazy then it's probably okay to take a breather and do those
Justin PetersHOST
Let's talk about your favorite book on the opposite side.
Justin PetersHOST
Are you reading much these days? And if so, a favorite fiction book and or a favorite nonfiction book of yours?
Jesse CramerHOST
I'm not reading nearly as much as I used to read, and part of it, it's just a function of free time.
Jesse CramerHOST
But I will still become a big fan of the Libby app, L-I-B-B-Y, free app that links up with your local library, or I think any library.
Jesse CramerHOST
All you need is a card from that library system, and then you basically get access to every e-book, and every audio book and even maybe some other media that that particular library system has.
Jesse CramerHOST
So I've hooked mine up to the Monroe County Library System, Rochester's in Monroe County, New York.
Jesse CramerHOST
And like right now I'm listening to a nonfiction book, Deep Work by Cal Newport.
Jesse CramerHOST
I probably should have a better answer to my favorite book.
Jack SpirkoHOST
Right.
Jack SpirkoHOST
And so we have to maintain what I call in one of the books I'm working on right now is the mailroom.
Jack SpirkoHOST
Right.
Jack SpirkoHOST
And what I mean by the mailroom is it's a metaphor.
Nayeema RazaHOST
Smart Girl, Dumb Questions.
Nayeema RazaHOST
Why are we working more and getting less done, and should that meeting have been an email? I'm Naima Raza, this is Smart Girl Dumb Questions, and today I'm talking to Cal Newport, professor at Georgetown University, expert on how tech shapes our lives, and the bestselling author of so many books, including Deep Work, Slow Productivity, Digital Minimalism, and my personal favorite and North Star, A World Without Email.
Nayeema RazaHOST
Cal, can you give us a world without email?
Cal NewportGUEST
I tried.
11 MINS LATER
Cal NewportGUEST
...
Cal NewportGUEST
it was kinda harmless back then, but once we got the ability to, uh, do digital communication at this incredibly fine granularity ubiquitously wherever we are, pseudo productivity began to destroy our brains.
Nayeema RazaHOST
What about Deep Work? It's the title of your book.
Nayeema RazaHOST
What is deep work, actually? How do you know when you're doing it?
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
yeah, I thought about sat on that for a long time coming up the end of last year and I had some time over Christmas to sit and think deeply.
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
Um, If anyone's read the book Deep Work by Cal Newton, highly recommend.
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
It's fantastic.
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
But, you know, I'm incorporating this principle of deep work, deep thinking into my life just to better guide my decision-making.
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
And I had to think deeply over Christmas about my parenting, where I was going and what does a leader look like in my community? Because a lot of people know me by my name because I lead with my name.
Yaleela TorrensGUEST
And I had an opportunity to sit and think about, well, what does Yalila Torrens leadership look like, feel like.
Anton GuineaHOST
Yeah, no, it's really admirable.
Anton GuineaHOST
Not many people do that, Yalila.
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