Ep. 6: Balancing the Personal and Professional, Unreasonable Email Expectations, and Avoiding Hard Creative Work | DEEP QUESTIONS

whatshot 132 snips

Jun 28, 2020

This discussion dives into the art of balancing personal and professional lives, especially during challenging times like lockdowns. It addresses the unrealistic expectations surrounding email response times and offers strategies for managing tasks without social media. Listeners also hear about the importance of deep work, setting boundaries, and overcoming procrastination in creative endeavors. Plus, insights on tracking personal metrics for improvement and building a blog audience through quality content are shared, making for a wealth of practical advice.

01:07:44

forum

Ask episode

web_stories

AI Snips

view_agenda

Chapters

menu_book

Books

auto_awesome

Transcript

info_circle

Episode notes

volunteer_activism

ADVICE

Balancing Work and Relationships

Create clear plans with your partner to balance work and relationships, especially during lockdowns.
Written plans reduce frustration by clarifying expectations around work and personal time.

volunteer_activism

ADVICE

Improving Grad School Chances

Address low grades in grad school applications with a strong personal statement and high test scores.
Focus on skill development in your current role and showcase valuable skills in your application.

volunteer_activism

ADVICE

Starting a Productivity Journey

Start a productivity journey by capturing all obligations, clarifying their status, and controlling your time.
Use simple tools like digital lists, notebooks, and time-blocking for effective productivity.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Mastering Your Craft: Productivity and Balance

06:39 • 21min

chevron_right

Mastering Task Management

27:23 • 16min

chevron_right

The Challenge of Attracting an Audience Through Quality Content

43:06 • 2min

chevron_right

Mastering Deep Work and Productivity

45:09 • 23min

chevron_right

Reclaiming Cognitive Energy for Meaningful Engagement

01:08:24 • 3min

chevron_right

#400

• Mentioned in 72 episodes

How to Become a Straight-A Student

The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

Cal Newport

In this book, Cal Newport shares insights and strategies gathered from interviews with high-achieving college students who maintain excellent grades without excessive studying. The book emphasizes the importance of effective time management, focused study sessions, and smart note-taking techniques. It introduces the 'Straight-A Method' which is based on four pillars: knowledge, control, strategy, and balance. Newport argues that by using these methods, students can avoid procrastination, optimize their study time, and achieve academic success while maintaining a balanced life.

#2817

• Mentioned in 16 episodes

Work the system

The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less

Sam Carpenter

In 'Work the System,' Sam Carpenter shares his insights on how recognizing and managing systems can transform both business and personal life. After a 15-year struggle with his chaotic business, Carpenter had an epiphany that everything is a system, and by controlling and perfecting these systems, he was able to turn his business around and significantly reduce his work hours. The book explains how to identify, improve, and maintain systems to achieve better results, reduce stress, and increase productivity.

#232

• Mentioned in 102 episodes

The E-myth revisited

why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it

Michael E. Gerber

The E-Myth Revisited challenges the common assumption that most businesses are started by entrepreneurs. Instead, Gerber argues that most businesses are started by technicians who understand the technical work but not the business itself. The book introduces the concept of the E-Myth and explains that successful business owners must balance three roles: the Entrepreneur (the visionary), the Manager (the planner and organizer), and the Technician (the one who performs the technical work). Gerber emphasizes the distinction between working 'in' your business and working 'on' your business, and he provides strategies for systemizing and scaling businesses, including the concept of the Franchise Prototype.

#2826

• Mentioned in 16 episodes

How to win at college

Cal Newport

This book offers practical advice for making the most of college years, including strategies for graduating with honors, choosing exciting activities, building a strong resume, and gaining access to post-college opportunities. It is based on interviews with successful students from universities such as Harvard and the University of Arizona, and it emphasizes how to balance academic success with a fulfilling college experience.

#48

• Mentioned in 253 episodes

So Good They Can't Ignore You

Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Cal Newport

In this book, Cal Newport challenges the conventional wisdom that following one's passion is the key to career happiness. Instead, he argues that passion often follows mastery and that developing valuable skills and expertise is essential for creating work you love. Newport presents four rules: Don't follow your passion, Be so good they can't ignore you, Turn down a promotion, and Think small, act big. He supports his arguments with case studies from various professionals who have found satisfaction in their careers through hard work and skill development.

#52

• Mentioned in 240 episodes

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport

In 'Digital Minimalism', Cal Newport argues that we need to be more intentional about the technologies we allow into our lives. He proposes a philosophy of digital minimalism, where individuals focus their online time on activities that strongly support their values and ignore the rest. The book highlights the negative effects of behavioral addictions created by technology, such as solitude deprivation and the fleeting nature of social media satisfaction. Newport suggests a 30-day 'digital declutter' process and other practices to help readers integrate digital minimalism into their lives, emphasizing the importance of optimizing technology use to support personal goals and values.

• Mentioned in 496 episodes

Deep Work

Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Cal Newport

In 'Deep Work', Cal Newport argues that the ability to perform deep work—professional activities in a state of distraction-free concentration—is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. The book is divided into two parts: the first part explains why deep work is valuable, rare, and meaningful, while the second part presents four rules to transform your mind and habits to support this skill. These rules include 'Work Deeply', 'Embrace Boredom', 'Quit Social Media', and 'Drain the Shallows'. Newport provides actionable advice and examples from various successful individuals to help readers master the skill of deep work and achieve groundbreaking results.

In this episode of Deep Questions I answer reader questions on balancing the professional and the personal, unreasonable email expectations and using the internet to escape hard creative work. I also play some question roulette and attempt a lightening round in which I answer as many question as possible in a single minute.

To submit your own questions, sign up for my mailing list at calnewport.com (I send a survey to this list soliciting questions on a semi-regular basis.)

Full list of topics tackled in today’s episode:

* Separating personal and professional when planning.
* Inducing a sense of urgency.
* Balancing work and relationships in lockdown.
* Getting into graduate school with bad grades.
* Starting a productivity journey.
* Resetting expectations about email response time.
* Tracking health metrics.
* Finding blog readers without social media.
* Lightening Round:
- how much deep work can fit in a day?
- what is minimum deep work block length?
- what are tips for overcoming resistance?
- what do you do during your downtime?
* A pastor seeking depth when on call.
* The origin of my discipline.
* A novelist struggling to work.
* Managing reading.
* On schools and the deep life.

As always, thank you to listener Bit Holiday for the original theme music and transition sound effect (bitholiday.net).

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Home Top podcasts Popular guests Top books