Cal Newport on why you need to change your workflow, not your habits, when it comes to boosting productivity

My guest today is Cal Newport. Cal is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. Cal is the author of six books, including, most recently, the New York Times bestseller, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Cal’s work has been published in over 20 languages and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Washington Post, and the Economist. It’s probably an understatement to say I was excited for this chat because I am a complete and utter fan girl of Cal’s and it’s fair to say that his work has had an enormous impact on how I work. We cover a bunch of different aspects of the way Cal approaches his work including: Cal’s different Deep Work rituals and why he recommends having different rituals for different types of Deep WorkHow to know if you are actually doing Deep WorkStrategies to break your Shallow Work habitThe critical conversation to have with your manager to get them supporting you doing more Deep WorkCal’s ritual for "shutting down” his work dayWhy Cal rejects the idea that we need to have a phone on us at all timesHow Cal deliberately builds solitude into his dayWhy changing workflows is more effective than changing habits when trying to increase productivityThe workflow Cal designed while on his book tour to minimise back and forth communicationWhy giving your time a job is better than using a to-do listHow Cal uses weekly and daily time blocking to use his time effectivelyHow to take a “Deep Break"The two key elements of Cal’s email system to minimise communicationThe topic Cal is exploring for his next book You can find Cal at http://calnewport.com/ and grab his books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism. Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.