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
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DEEP DIVE: The Two Types of Ambition [4:36]
How does Cal choose what books to read? [1:06:16]
What’s is Cal’s philosophy on caffeine? [1:15:12]
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Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.