Ep. 251: The Efficiency Trap

Cal Newport explains the efficiency trap on Episode 251 of the Deep Questions podcast. Productivity YouTube is filled with breathless videos about optimizing systems and squeezing every ounce of speed out of your common habits. But does all of this efficiency really end up improving the quality of the most important things you produce? In this episode Cal takes a deeper look at the different ways that productivity systems and tools can help your professional life, separating the boring but effective from the exciting but over-hyped. Links: Thanks to our Sponsors: Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: Listen to Episode Here: 0:00 Cal’s intro 4:12 Deep Question - Does working faster make work better? 22:50 Cal talks about Grammarly and Policy Genius 28:01 Why doesn’t Cal agree with other productivity YouTubers about apps? 32:51 How can I be productive if my organization bans third-party tools? 37:41 How do top writers keep their research process “efficient”? 44:18 How do I stop teaching from devouring all my time? 50:40 Is it a problem that I don’t feel overwhelmed? 57:10 Cal talks about Blinkist and ExpressVPN 1:02:51 Something Interesting: Connect with Cal Newport: 🔴Visit Cal’s BLOG and website: 🔴Check out Cal’s books: About Cal Newport: Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. In addition to his academic research, he writes about the intersection of digital technology and culture. Cal’s particularly interested in our struggle to deploy these tools in ways that support instead of subvert the things we care about in both our personal and professional lives. Cal is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including, most recently, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. He’s also the creator of The Time-Block Planner. The videos are considered to be used under the “Fair Use Doctrine“ of United States Copyright Law, Title 17 U.S. Code Sections 107-118. Videos are used for editorial and educational purposes only and I do not claim ownership of any original video content. I don’t use said video clips in advertisements, marketing or for direct financial gain. All video content in each clip is considered owned by the individual broadcast companies. #CalNewport #DeepWork #DeepLife #DeepQuestions #TimeblockPlanner #WorldWithoutEmail #DeepQuestionsPodcast