The white whale of modern productivity discourse is achieving an empty email inbox; a goal state that’s often referred to simply as “inbox zero.” In this episode, Cal looks at why the original advice for achieving inbox zero failed and explores a strategy that might work better. He then answers listener questions and in a final segment reacts to a recent guest on the Tim Ferriss podcast who provides an interesting case study of the deep life in action.

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: Is Inbox Zero Possible? [2:45]

• How can I perform beyond the bare minimum on “Survival Days”? [29:40]
• How can I remain sane with a job that changes schedules every week? [34:55]
• How are computer systems rewarded in AI? [37:08]
• How can I stop my boss from interrupting me with constant chatter? [41:34]

CALL: Identifying the next action [44:02]

CALL: Finding true depth during the final years of college [51:33]

CAL REACTS: Craig Mod’s walks through Japan [1:01:18]

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?
youtube.com/watch?v=z9UjeTMb3Yk

Thanks to our Sponsors:

cozyearth.com/deep
auraframes.com [Promo Code “DEEPQUESTIONS”]
kinsta.com/deepquestions
udacity.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.

Cal talks a lot about his ideas for producing meaningful work in a distracted world. But how do other people tackle this goal? To help better under this question, Cal reacts to a 2018 article from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in which he details his productivity philosophy. Cal then answers listener questions and concludes with a dystopian tech corner.

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: Sam Altman On Productivity [2:20]

- How do I prevent administrative sprawl? [22:01]
- When is the best time to schedule Deep Work? [31:12]
- How can a gardener gain career capital? [32:43]
- How can one go from good performance to exceptional performance? [36:21]
- Is it better to write with a single monitor? [38:33]

CALL: Slow Productivity in a changing world [43:09]

CALL: Rory Mcllroy and his phone [48:35]

TECH CORNER: Will AI Destroy Humanity by 2027? [56:46]

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?
blog.samaltman.com/productivity
ai-2027.com
daveshap.substack.com/p/common-bad-takes-in-ai-safety-a-response

Thanks to our Sponsors:

shopify.com/deep
zocdoc.com/deep
vanta.com/deepquestions
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.

In this episode of IN-DEPTH, Cal is joined by David Dewane, the architect responsible for the “eudaimonia machine” featured in DEEP WORK. In this wide-ranging conversation, Cal and David talk about the challenges of finding depth in a distracted world, and the results of David’s personal experimentation in creating a deep life of his own.

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

INTERVIEW: Architecting a Deep Life (w/ David Dewane) [04:06]

Links:
https://www.calnewport.com/slow

https://donedaily.com/

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the theme music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

Cal has been writing about time management for a *long* time. In this episode, he returns to a chapter from a book he wrote twenty years ago that is titled “manage your time in 5 minutes a day.” He revisits his old advice to see what he thinks still works and what needs updating. He then answers listener questions and returns to the tech corner to get back in the weeds on a topic involving 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: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Deep Dive: Manage Your Time in 5 Minutes a Day [3:11]

- How specific should I make my Quarterly Plan? [27:28]

- Does reading Mangas count as reading? [29:30]

- How do I store information related to tasks? [34:14]

- How do I speak better at work in spontaneous conversations? [38:31]

- Are paper and pencil calendars suitable to use if my work is in two different time zones? [45:42]

CALL: Utilizing coaching [51:38]

CALL: Embracing boredom [57:48]

TECH CORNER: RL vs. LLM [1:08:04]

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?

Thanks to our Sponsors:

grammarly.com/podcast

cozyearth.com/deep

oracle.com/deepquestions

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.

Phones have been receiving a lot of criticism recently, but what if these concerns are missing the mark? In this episode, Cal introduces the difference between primary and secondary phone harms, and argues how our obsession with the former hides the importance of the latter. He then answers reader questions and reviews the books he read in March 2025.

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: The Forgotten Phone Harms [3:32]

- What do you do when your writing doesn’t quite feel right? [24:32]

- How should I prioritize responding to different types of communication? [33:29]

- Should personal and work tasks be split into different Trello boards? [39:10]

- What is the difference between a two-status board and a reverse task list? [41:47]

CASE STUDY: A student adopts the Tao of Cal [45:17]

CALL: Structuring weekly templates [49:00]

MARCH BOOKS: The 5 books Cal read in March 2025 [57:24]

- Believe (Ross Douhut)

- How to Winter (Kari Leibowitz)

- Letter and the Scroll (Jonathan Sacks)

- I and Thou (Martin Buber)

- Coming into the Country (John McPhee)

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?

Thanks to our Sponsors:

This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/deepquestions and get on your way to being your best self.

shopify.com/deep

indeed.com/deep

mybodytutor.com

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

In last week’s episode, Cal discussed data that indicate that the rise of the smartphones is making humans measurably dumber. Here he discusses aggressive strategies for resisting this reality. He then answers listener questions and ends with a tech corner.

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: Getting Smarter in a Dumb World [3:47]

- With remote work dwindling, should I change careers to achieve my ideal lifestyle? [31:14]

- Should a 24-year-old ditch his college degree to pursue another field? [36:25]

- How should merit be rewarded in a revenue-constrained environment? [40:40]

- How can one find and engage with these more niche online communities? [44:34]

- How can partners support each other in building a deep life? [46:48]

CASE STUDY: Using lifestyle planning to turn down a promotion [48:53]

TECH CORNER: How do AI’s “reason”? [57:53]

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?

Thanks to our Sponsors:

zocdoc.com/deep

kinsta.com/deepquestions

udacity.com/deep [Use code DEEP]

notion.com/cal

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

Multiple listeners recently sent in a Financial Times article that asks whether humans have passed “peak intelligence.” In this episode, Cal looks closer at the data in this article to try to understand why we seem to be getting dumber, and more importantly, what are the practical steps individuals can take to avoid the trend. He then answers listener questions and ends with a tech corner segment that highlights a blind spot in current discussions 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: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Deep Dive: Are We Getting Dumber? [2:58]

- Is it possible to build a better Twitter? [24:58]

- Should I ditch my higher paying job to avoid stress? [29:59]

- Can I remain relevant with younger, tech-savvy colleagues? [34:56]

- How should I navigate my time during while receiving severance? [38:35]

- What should I do next after being fired from my federal job? [41:18]

- CALL: Practicing focus on the weekends [45:01]

CASE STUDY: An engineering Kansan system [48:41]

TECH CORNER: The AI Blind Spot [1:00:04]

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?

on.ft.com/3DIItJK

Thanks to our Sponsors:

factormeals.com/deep50off

landroverusa.com

expressvpn.com/deep

grammarly.com/podcast

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

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.