Ep. 270: Depth vs. Distraction

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 ...

12 Maj 20251h 9min

Tyler Cowen recently wrote an article arguing that spending lots of time online is in fact a good thing. In this episode, Cal looks deeper at Cowen’s argument and finds some surprising common ground. ...

5 Maj 20251h 13min

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 ...

28 Apr 20251h 9min

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 Ope...

21 Apr 20251h 12min

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 th...

17 Apr 20251h 35min

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 re...

14 Apr 20251h 22min

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 a...

7 Apr 20251h 9min

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 the...

31 Mars 20251h 10min