Ep. 316: Weekly Templates

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

The fall is the perfect time to tune up your productivity and organizational systems. With this in mind, in this episode, Cal discusses a tool he has long used in his own life but never discussed before in public: the weekly template. He then answers questions on the theme of personal productivity from listeners and reviews the books he read in August.

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: Weekly Templates [3:29]

- How does Cal schedule his evening writing sessions? [26:08]

- How can I leverage my current career capital to become an entrepreneur? [30:30]

- How do I find time for non-urgent but interesting deep work? [35:59]

- Is afternoon deep work possible? [39:16]

- Can I use slow productivity to help prepare for a job interview? [45:49]

- CALL: How do I not be reactionary during my busy season? [51:42]

CASE STUDY: Using Cal’s toolkit while working in the Peace Corps [56:52]

FINAL SEGMENT: The 5 Books Cal Read in August 2024 [1:06:05]

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

zocdoc.com/deep

notion.com/cal

ladderlife.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.

Chapters

1. Ep. 316: Weekly Templates (00:00:00)

2. Deep Dive: Weekly Templates (00:03:29)

3. How does Cal schedule his evening writing sessions? (00:26:08)

4. How can I leverage my current career capital to become an entrepreneur? (00:30:30)

5. How do I find time for non-urgent but interesting deep work? (00:35:59)

6. Is afternoon deep work possible? (00:39:16)

7. Can I use slow productivity to help prepare for a job interview? (00:45:49)

8. CALL: How do I not be reactionary during my busy season? (00:51:42)

9. CASE STUDY: Using Cal’s toolkit while working in the Peace Corps (00:56:52)

10. FINAL SEGMENT: The 5 Books Cal Read in August, 2024 (01:06:05)