Regain Your Ability to Think (in 60 Minutes a Week) | Cal Newport

Cal Newport explains how to regain your ability to think in episode 378 of the Deep Questions podcast.

Buy Cal Newport's latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow

We talk often on this show about how digital devices undermine our ability to consume more complicated and meaningful ideas. But what about our ability to produce such ideas from scratch? In this episode, Cal identifies a key productive skill – long thinking – that we’re increasingly losing. He argues that it’s critical for living a deep life and provides a simple strategy to help regain the skill. He then answers listener questions and discusses the books he read in October 2025.

Download my FREE Deep Life Guide HERE: https://bit.ly/3QBIcug

Listen to Episode Here: https://www.thedeeplife.com/listen/

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

Links:
Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/c...
Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?
https://calnewport.com/solutions-beyo...
   • Creative thinking - how to get out of the ...  
https://calnewport.com/the-notebook-m...

October Books:

The Gift of the Jews (Thomas Cahill)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Daniel Pollack-Pelzner)
Inspired (Rachel Held Evans)
The Future of Tutoring (Liz Cohen)
Society of the Spectacle (Guy Debord)

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0:00 The Lost Art of Long Thinking
42:40 How does Cal organize his notebooks for his books and New Yorker articles?
45:43 How can an 18 year old student get better at reading?
47:57 How can I restart my creative writing if I don’t want to use a computer?
56:57 Is it important to write reflections on the books I read?
59:02 How often should I take reflection walks with single purpose notebooks?
1:01:06 Trying to live a Deep Life
1:09:01 Adventure Work
1:11:57 The 5 Books Cal Read in October, 2025

Connect with Cal Newport:

🔴Visit Cal's BLOG and website: https://calnewport.com/blog/
🔴Check out Cal's books: https://calnewport.com/writing/
🔴Check out The Deep Life: https://thedeeplife.com

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.

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