This is one of my favorite podcasts right now, so much good content! Love the deep dives and the case studies. There is one thing that flummoxes me, however. Cal says “drawling” instead of “drawing.” Why? Is this an east coast thing? Have people corrected him and he just delights in the idiosyncrasy of it? I HAVE TO KNOW 😬

This is the only podcast I listen to that has insights that I actually end up applying to my own life. Many podcasts give advice, but none else have prompted me to make real positive changes that stick. At the beginning of the podcast’s run, Cal mostly just answered questions from listeners and readers of his blog. In the last year or so, he has changed the format, for the better imo. He starts with a discussion of a particular topic, then answers questions he has prepared before the show that tie into that main theme. (And then at the end he talks about something unrelated that he finds interesting.) This has added more variety to the show, and more importantly, allows ideas to develop across episodes. The show promotes a way of life called the Deep Life, which is the central idea around which most or all of the themes orbit. I find that listening to the podcast regularly helps keep this way of life top of mind, no matter what the theme of the day is. As for the jokes, I find them endearing.

I really enjoyed this podcast when it first started out and even submitted a question in the first year. It was cool to watch Cal work through his ideas in real time with actual situations. But it turns out lots of people have the same problems at work, and as the podcast has grown bigger and bigger, fewer of those submitting questions have any familiarity with Cal’s large body of work. So now it is just he same advice, doled over and over and even the more nuanced strategies that take the podcast beyond his books are becoming old. The worst for me, though, was the addition of Jesse, who is not a co-host. I think Cal really wanted a co-host, not a producer, and he keeps treating Jesse, who has absolutely nothing to say, as though he is one. So it has turned into two guys bro-ing it up and making bad jokes and having running gags (Jesse Skeleton, Name of the Wind, turning it into a baseball podcast). It’s boring. I used to set aside a long dog walk to listen to the latest episode; recently, I noticed that it stopped downloading because I hadn’t listened in so long. So…eh. Listen to it for awhile, but after a year of episodes or so, you’ll have everything you need.

If you’re a self improver, this show is for you. Cal’s advice is articulate, hilarious, and pragmatic. Everything from productivity to career direction to living more meaningfully with less distraction. My life runs like a TAG Heuer thanks to Cal. Smooth. Okay, not always, but increasingly. Thanks Cal!

I appreciate when content flows effectively and efficiently from a creator (but is still packed with research, interesting insights, and problem-solving tactics). In other words, some real magic is being pumped out consistently here and a lot of it is original and hard to find on other podcasts. I love hearing about the tid-bits of Cal’s personal life in order to feel a human connection, and I think this element is balanced perfectly with the information, motivation, and knowledge I am craving. Even when the information repeats itself it is because SIMPLE is not EASY. I need to hear the repetition for myself (and because I condense a lot of Cal’s information and offer it to my own student’s consistently). While I don’t always have time to implement what I have learned right away, the podcast is organized very well and given great titles so I can find what I need and go back to it when I am ready. Also, Jesse is great:) Thank you for all you do!!!!

I thought it was the tool. I thought the next planner or the next piece of software would make work better. More manageable. More tolerable. I was wrong. I didn’t have systems in my life that worked. I didn’t have a WAY of working and thinking that adequately addressed the modern workplace. Thanks to Cal’s podcast and writing, my life is deeper, more meaningful, more effective, and genuinely more enjoyable. Work is improving as well. Especially my thinking on what makes a career great.

A fantastic podcast. Cal values his time and his audience’s. There’s not a lot of fluff here or meandering tangents. He gets right to the crux of the problem, addressing questions, providing insights, and useful tips. I appreciate the timestamps, too, which further prove he not interested in wasting your time. Creating a deep life is a goal we should all strive for.

Cal’s advice manages to feel modern, wise, cutting edge, relevant and timeless without gimmicks and, importantly, without being contradictory. So much online “productivity advice” feels gimmicky, shallow(!), and more about shiny tools and marginal gains for clicks which, ultimately, cause more distraction and worsens the problem. Cal avoids this and brings his listeners along for the ride (maybe you could say he brings us along for the “Deep Ride”, as he navigates the Deep Stack…?! IYKYK). I wish he’d do some guest interviews (maybe with folks like Andrew Huberman, and others) to discuss how the processes and advice might change or could be adapted for people who have conditions that may make achieving a Deep Life harder. An episode on how to adapt for Autism, ADHD, etc. would be interesting.

As a knowledge worker, his books and podcasts helped me a lot. Thank you Cal ❤️

Cal Newport simplifies complicated subjects while adding depth. Absolutely brilliant! The only podcast I usually listen to at normal speed because his pace is perfect and he’s serving up way too much to take in at 1.5x or 2x. At first I thought I’d never listen to the same person talk for an hour and a half, but Cal keeps me engaged. Even if I listen a little at a time, I almost always finish the entire episode. Highly recommend!

I have learned a lot from reading Deep Work and SGTCIY, but it’s this podcast that has really helped me learn about or validate my intuition about how to prioritize my time - even though I’m at a primarily undergraduate/teaching university. Time blocking for my research is the only way to move my research projects forward during the semester. It’s really the only way I can get non urgent but important things done as a tenure track professor mom of four.

I am a full time remote working Director for my company and a mother of two young kids. Implementing Cal’s strategies have taken me out of being the middle man and saved me so much grief. Specifically, using Smartsheet to manage team project communications, referring any external persons to Calendly, and the time block planning method. Thanks to Cal’s advice, I actually have time for *gasp* hobbies, walking my kids to and from the bus, and I enjoy my work days.

I’m a physician and father of young kids. I have looked around for different sources to help improve productivity; decrease over-scheduling, distraction, and stress; and focus on the more fulfilling things in my life. Deep Questions and Cal’s books have provided the most useful guidance I have come across in years, even though I am not a modern knowledge worker. Thank you for excellent evidence-based ideas and concrete advice on applying them. The regular weekly newsletters and podcasts help me feel continuity and some sense of community. Keep up the good, slowly productive work.

Cal Newport has good insights.

Look,if it was only Cal I would’ve rated this a 10 out of 5 but i come checking on the podcast after some time and there’s this new guy Jesse who hasn’t written any books,who isn’t an MIT professor, who hasn’t done anything “so good that it can’t be ignored” and is given me his opinion on what Cal is saying,it’s almost like Cal took a random guy out of nowhere and decided to record with him from then.

I discovered Cal Newport’s body of work at Powells bookstore in Portland, Oregon, where “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” was featured as an Employee Favorite. Later, I found Cal’s Deep Questions podcast, where he enjoyably(!) unfolds his personal pursuit of what he calls Lifestyle Centric Career planning. The basic idea is that your life plays out in real places among real people, and these affect your ability to live well and grow - to do purpose-driven deep work rather than shallow work, to attend to all areas of life, not only work. When I listen to Cal, these Somerset Maugham story lines come to mind: "Most people, the vast majority in fact, lead the lives that circumstances have thrust upon them, and though some repine, looking upon themselves as round pegs in square holes, and think that if things had been different they might have made a much better showing, the greater part accept their lot, if not with serenity, at all events with resignation. They are like train-cars traveling forever on the selfsame rails. They go backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, inevitably, till they can go no longer and then are sold as scrap-iron. It is not often that you find a man who has boldly taken the course of his life into his own hands. When you do, it is worthwhile having a good look at him.” I had the good fortune to actually live a Lifestyle-Centric-Career-Plan life, and I highly recommend it! So, I hope you tune into Deep Questions podcast. And, on occasions when you’re trying too hard, loosen up the gears with a dose of calm perspective-shifting via Reveri self-hypnosis app, developed by Stanford MD, Dr. David Spiegel, whose own body of work exemplifies working deeply.

It’s hard to believe that this is free. Cal, the wisdom that you offer, with a lighthearted and kind spirit, is wonderful. I’m constantly sharing episodes with colleagues, friends and family. Pure gold! If David Allen and Andrew Huberman had a baby … it might be a lot like you! Thank you for all your hard work on our behalf.

Cal Newport is a well-oiled machine and has the tips and tricks one needs to leverage their brain at ultimate capacity. His methods allow for insane productively in small amounts of time. Must listen podcast

This is my revised review, after the initial one was removed. There is some good content here but the host comes off a bit preachy and full of himself. And the office video tour, which featured his books on every wall of the space, was perhaps a bit much.

I love this podcast (along with Cal’s incredible body of work) and am so grateful for the deeper insights, reminders, recommendations and new information. An added bonus: Cal is HILARIOUS! Keep up the good work! P.S. Cal, please don’t EVER stop talking about baseball… even if your team is the Nats. Go Giants!

Cal Newport’s advice is great. Love the podcast.

Good content here but two things I wish would change—one is that Newport seems to be doing an impression of talk radio hosts he has listened to, with long pauses between words, etc. He should just use his natural voice. The other is that he overdoes it with the self-deprecating humor, and jokes in general. Not his fault, he’s just not that funny. If I want self-deprecating humor I can listen to Conan O’Brian, who is funny. Let’s focus here on the substance instead.

I love this podcast so much that I could listen to a new episode every day. Thanks for the excellent work, Cal.

I’ve been following Newport’s work since 2012. I love that he has found some time to podcast his thoughts because it’s awesome to see how even though 10 years have elapsed, the principles remain unchanged.

Whether you’re a fan of Deep Work and want to learn more… or you’ve read all of his books already, this is a great listen because it ties all of his concepts together. It’s a glimpse into the lab where his concepts are being put to work to help people. The first part of the shows often touches on new ideas he’s exploring. This is followed by listener questions which help to sharpen how various ideas and tools can be applied. Highly recommended.

From 2008-2012, Cal helped me earn a high GPA in college via his “Zen Valedictorian” philosophy. After that, his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” helped shape my work life. As I went through my 20s and into my 30s, his books “Deep Work” and “Digital Minimalism” helped me navigate the digital tsunami engulfing my life. This podcast is weekly access to Cal and his current cutting edge thoughts. He is a remarkable off-the-cuff speaker and has a tremendous sense of humor as well. This podcast is the epitome of digital “health food.”

Cal’s ideas range from everyday experiences of smartphone use, exercise routines, and family admin, to surviving hardship, finding meaning, and career planning, to broader societal critiques and questions of digital ethics. These ideas have deep philosophical underpinnings, and are conceptually connected to form a coherent and beautiful philosophy known as the Deep Life. This podcast is a place to witness cutting edge ideas being formed in real time, and to receive advice from a pioneer of the self-help genre. Cal and his producer Jesse also make a hilarious duo, and have somehow managed to make ad-reads of Athletic Greens and Zoc Doc Dot Com enjoyable. Listen to each episode in order, take notes, and share with everyone you know.

Love the podcast. Cal talks about many topics that have applicability in many industries. Started with the books and now love getting a weekly dose of Cal’s insights.

Big fan of this podcast but this new format doesn’t work. Really not interested in how your office/HQ looks and where you and Jesse are sitting. Please let’s get back to the substance

I go to podcasting to escape the news and stretch my mind. So you can imagine how excited I was to listen to this podcast. Until I realized what they really planned to talk about were not ideas and how to manage them but news. And specifically the most talked about man: Elon Musk. So the episode was a rehash of opinions on Elon. As if we didn’t hear enough about him. So much for deep thinking.

Red Deep Work a couple years ago, and it spoke to me, but I find it hard to put the important lessons into practice (brain wants to do fun easy things). I’m finding daily inspiration from listening to Cal’s advice. Highly recommend.

Ok, I have to admit I found your podcast because I searched to see if any podcasts had discussed the book. I think I found SCAS in 2018 when I read an article in the LA Times about a furniture maker that was inspired by reading it. Totally spoke to me as I’d worked in corporate world for 15 years, Fortune 500 Cos, meetings, meetings about meetings, reports about productivity, made to read management books like “who moved my cheese,” (🙄)& I left to have my own design firm & do lots of manual labor. SCAS came out in 2009 right after the mortgage/housing bust sent the economy into recession & we are currently in this Covid economic mess (not for all, obviously, but likely for the mid level managers SCAS speaks to). I found it kind of funny when you were talking about that this book didn’t inspire you to be an electrician or a motorcycle repairman, but you saw you it motivated people towards other measurable goals (I hope I’m gettin the general idea correct!). Anyway, this book totally inspired my inner handyman & explained to me why building, making fixing stuff is so soul satisfying. Matt Crawford put into words what I knew intrinsically already to be true. And, when the world finally does descend into complete chaos, you’re gonna want somebody that can fix stuff. 😄

I had to unsubscribe after Cal decided to start featuring his new producer Jesse on the show. No offense to Jesse, I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but I didn’t subscribe to this podcast to listen to a rando’s opinions on things Cal is saying. It started getting more and more irritating, and in a world where there are too many podcasts and not enough time, I decided I would stick to Cal’s books.

I’ve been a fan of Cal Newport’s books, blog and emails for some time now, and I’m happy to report that his podcast delivers the same high quality insights, thoughts and discussions as those he delivers through other platforms. Having read most of Cal’s books has introduced me to the overall themes discussed here (developing rare and valuable skills to create a meaningful career, aiming to use technology in ways that best serve what’s truly important to us, and overall managing life in such a way that what we value gets the attention it needs). I find this podcast reinforces those overall themes with listener questions and real world applications, which helps me make progress in my goal of living a deeper life.

Cal, host of the podcast, highlights all aspects of tech and more in this can’t miss podcast! The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!

I’m very ADD and struggle to stay focused and this podcast really helps me!

I've been following Cal's work for years, beginning with Deep Work - a book which helped me write three of my own book in under 6 month using the techniques from his. I even quote him in one, because he's that awesome. He brings deeply insightful questions (and holds the space for great answers from his guests) in every episode. No matter which topic comes up, he has a unique perspective that always gets me thinking a little differently from the norm - which is very refreshing. Highly recommended!

If I woke up tomorrow with photographic memory, I'd re-read all of Cal's books. In the meantime, I'll rely on the podcast to remind and reinforce all the lessons I've picked up over the years from Mr. Newport. It's also been the perfect artifical WFH-era commute podcast to help my brain shift from work-mode to home mode.

As a big fan of his bigs and a wannabe “Newportian” when it comes to my own attempts at a deep life, I was thrilled when I found out about the podcast. The twice weekly episodes of digestible advice, born out of listener questions, continues to give me the tools I need to persistently mold my own deep life habits. It’s like reading “Deep Work”, “Digital Minimalism”, and “So good they can’t ignore you” over and over again each week!

I recommend reading Cal Newport’s books (or listening to his audiobooks) over listening to this podcast, unless you happen to work at an institution of higher education. It just seems like most of the audience members asking the questions (or perhaps most of the ones Cal selects) happen to be either academics or students. Sure, some of Cal’s responses are generalizable, but many are targeted and as such are of limited use to those of us working the corporate grind. And for the academics reading this… I worked at more than one university before deciding to switch to the corporate sector, and I will be frank; if you are having so many productivity issues in academe, count your blessings that you’ve found an employer, because any corporation worth its salt would likely pulverize you to dust at your current output levels.

Hi Cal, got introduced to you through the BiggerPockets podcast. Really appreciate your work. I would really love to hear a conversation between you and Christian author John Mark Comer. You both have a lot of commonalities in your thinking, and I feel a conversation between the two of you would be fascinating. Best, Ian.

The pandemic was difficult as a professional musician. This podcast kept me going. I credit it for helping to make me an order of magnitude more productive (in a healthy and sustainable way) and helping me live a more balanced life on the whole. The highest compliment I can pay is that I am now quite a few episodes behind (too busy GTD now). Thanks, Cal! Mike L. Ashburn, VA

Thank you so much for this podcast. It is a huge help. Cal Newport podcasts and opinions have helped me a lot in my life. I just wish this was shorter. Sometimes questions are repetitive consequently answers are the same. If this was 40 minutes per episode it would have been better. I just have one other suggestion. I wish Cal Newport didn’t limit everything to US and UK demographics. Conditions are not the same every where and some of the advices are only relevant to these two countries. If you are from a relatively poor county some these ideas don’t even apply. Again Cal Newport books and ideas has been amazing and saved me from a shallow life. Thank you so much.

Listening to Cal is like eating your vegetables. It’s not always the most exciting part of your meal but you know they’re good for you. So, you stick with them and over time you learn to enjoy them more and more. It’s the same with Cal. Sticking with the deep life and it’s principals isn’t always easy but having Cal there consistently talking about these principals is so helpful. Thanks Cal!

I don’t find the guests to be any interesting at all - generally most of them are bad and talk on uninteresting topics. Cal should stick to the qna format, maybe bring in some academics we can relate to.

Found podcast after reading Digital Minimalism. Love how Cal’s brain works. Interesting ideas presented with a logical and engaging style. What’s not to love?

As of episode 116, there still hasn’t been any female voices featured on the podcast. I’d love to hear from a female guest soon and more discussion of female intellectuals, and to hear a bit less of somewhat repetitive discussions of time block planning.

This podcast is a perfect follow up to all of his books (which I also highly, highly recommend) where he addresses the nuances of his philosophy that occurs real life. I don’t usually listen to podcasts, but this is one that I listen to regularly.

Powerful strategies for school, work, and living a better life. Worth your time 10X.

Cal Newport has been around some time and written very influential books. He also had done this while being a successful professor at Georgetown. Both of these underline his credibility in helping people better their lives. Oh yeah, he is also married with three younger children ! Since he has written a number of books and articles many questions arise from readers which can particularly help their own lives. When Cal answers questions I find he genuinely cares and wants to help. Plus his answers are very enlightening. So why do I have issues I ask ? It may be hard for me to explain but it his stance on market capitalism vs public service. Here are some examples . One, he has said that the money you make is a good standard on measuring your worth in society but then he defends teachers of schools who as we know are paid very low. Two, he discusses many apps or products but never mentions the value. So to say if something is worthwhile as economists know we have to look at their marginal value per dollar, but that does not enter his choice decision. Three, tied to above he jokes in. funny way about his study and has an ongoing debate with someone on who has the better office but many of us again dont have that choice. Finally, the ads just cheapen the show, it sounds like he makes enough money so why does he need to ads . He has to completely say its a great product but who knows what he really thinks. He could maybe not have a beautiful office and use those savings to provide credible ad free content. Plenty of other podcasts dont have ads. o So it is very helpful but if it bothers you that he rails against facebook etc. but at the same time he himself uses ads to make more money this podcast will bother you. You will always wonder does Cal really have a public service, caring feeling or is he chasing $$.