Deep Questions with Cal Newport

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Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• There are two types of ambition: Type 1 ambition and Type 2 ambition

• Type 1 ambition craves activity and feasts at the buffet of appealing opportunities that success creates
• Type 2 ambition craves simplicity and autonomy, and sees success as a source of leverage to reduce stressful obligations

Know where you fall on the spectrum of type 1 and type 2 ambition so you are better prepared to handle success when it comes  

The First Control Trap: trying to get a lot of autonomy in your career before you’ve built up the skills to justify it 

The Second Control Trap: after getting enough leverage, skills, and power in your professional marketplace, it is hardest to gain more autonomy because there is a lot of pressure to stay in your position and get a higher salary, more prestige, etc.

Positively approach your manager: frame your request in a way that explains how it will improve the company instead of only explaining how it will make your life better

Having an audience that can directly respond to your work creates a deliberate practice effect that will motivate you to publish your best work 

Writing to a private journal may increase your productivity, but there is no feedback function from an audience that cares

How to build community: write, text, or call someone you care about each day; join and contribute to an online community daily; create a daily tradition with a partner 

It is optimal to plan how you spend your time on multiple different time scales

• Plan concise daily, weekly, and quarterly plans with less detail as the time scale increases 

Cal chooses the books he reads for functional reasons (needed for research) and for inspirational reasons (appears to be interesting)

Cal stops drinking coffee after 1:30 PM to prevent the caffeine from affecting his sleep

Advice for young people that want to live a deep life:

• Do not get too specific about what profession you want to do too early 
• Be 10x more intentional about your academic work than everyone you know
• Introduce some sort of physical and mental discipline into your life
• Expose yourself to bulk, positive randomness and embrace the failed simulation effect 
• Study character and leadership
• Serve people, and make that the throughline to each of your pursuits

Be the person that is weird about not using their phone  

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

DEEP DIVE: The Two Types of Ambition [4:36]

- LIVE CALL: Escaping the “Second Control Tap” [28:10]
- Can journaling make me a better writer? [53:26]
- What’s an example of a keystone habit for building community? [56:03]
- Can Cal give an example of a quarterly plan? [1:00:00]
- How does Cal choose what books to read? [1:06:16]

- What’s is Cal’s philosophy on caffeine? [1:15:12]
- How can a teenager prepare to live deeply? [1:20:59]

Thanks to our Sponsors:

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Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.