
Ep. 322: The Discipline Ladder
10/14/24 • 80 min
1 Listener
Do you struggle to consistently make progress on hard things that are important to you? In today’s episode, Cal describes a way to improve this state of affairs: a systematic training regime called the discipline ladder. He then answers listener questions about their own struggles with discipline and reacts to an article claiming that professors are lazy (gasp!).
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: The Discipline Ladder [4:29]
How can I overcome procrastination? [24:42]
How can I make my daily metrics more personal? [27:16]
How can I get my discipline back on track after a negative event? [32:47]
How can I be more disciplined to find time for my part-time project? [39:50]
How can my organization adopt slow productivity principles? [43:49]
CALL: Process centered emails [50:41]
CASE STUDY: Leveraging Career Capital [58:02]
CAL REACTS: Are Professor’s Lazy? [1:07:19]
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?
city-journal.org/article/professor-mia
newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/what-kind-of-writer-is-chatgpt
Thanks to our Sponsors:
Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.
Do you struggle to consistently make progress on hard things that are important to you? In today’s episode, Cal describes a way to improve this state of affairs: a systematic training regime called the discipline ladder. He then answers listener questions about their own struggles with discipline and reacts to an article claiming that professors are lazy (gasp!).
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: The Discipline Ladder [4:29]
How can I overcome procrastination? [24:42]
How can I make my daily metrics more personal? [27:16]
How can I get my discipline back on track after a negative event? [32:47]
How can I be more disciplined to find time for my part-time project? [39:50]
How can my organization adopt slow productivity principles? [43:49]
CALL: Process centered emails [50:41]
CASE STUDY: Leveraging Career Capital [58:02]
CAL REACTS: Are Professor’s Lazy? [1:07:19]
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?
city-journal.org/article/professor-mia
newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/what-kind-of-writer-is-chatgpt
Thanks to our Sponsors:
Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.
Previous Episode

Ep. 321: Escaping Your Phone
It has become second nature to maintain a continuous partial participation in the world of digital networks. In today’s episode, Cal reflects on a week in which he spent too much time online, and argues why this continuous partial participation is dehumanizing, and what you can do to escape. He then takes questions and calls from listeners and reviews the five books he read in September.
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: How Your Phone Is Changing You [1:43]
How do I teach my bosses to be deeper? [28:34]
How can I focus as a doctor when I have to keep switching from one patient to the next?” [35:46]
How do I overcome notebook overwhelm? [39:13]
Can “creativity” be added to the deep life buckets? [40:47]
How do I overcome the guilt of no longer being pseudo-productive? [44:51]
CALL: The Pomodoro Technique and overcoming distraction [49:33]
CASE STUDY: A 39-year-old changes careers [54:21]
FINAL SEGMENT: The 5 Books Cal Read in September 2024 [1:02:50]
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
Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.
Next Episode

IN-DEPTH:The Productivity Trap (w/ Oliver Burkeman)
In this episode of IN-DEPTH, a semi-regular interview series with people at the frontiers of deep living, Cal welcomes the bestselling author Oliver Burkeman to the Deep Work HQ to talk about his new book, MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS, and more generally the tension between wanting to get your act together and becoming unhealthily obsessed with productivity.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
INTERVIEW: New York Times best seller Oliver Burkeman [3:40]
Links:
https://www.calnewport.com/slow
Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for the theme music, and Mark Miles for mastering.
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