Ep. 360: One-Page Productivity

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Trying to stick to complicated time management systems without any breaks can eventually lead to burn out. But if you stop organizational efforts altogether, your life can become a stressful mess. In this episode, Cal taps the wisdom of an elite running coach to devise what he calls one-page productivity: a minimum time management system, meant to be run for limited periods to help you recharge, but that also maintains just enough organization that you can avoid disaster. He argues such maintenance modes should be an important part of any time management practice. Cal then answers listener questions and concludes by reviewing the books he read in June 2025.

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: One-Page Productivity [1:52]

• How do you approach decisions when you’re torn between two reasonable options? [18:17]
• How can I navigate teaching with phone addicted teenagers? [22:06]
• Have you considered using LLM’s to assist in your writing? [28:03]
• How many “thinking” walks do you take each week? [32:31]
• Do you have any recommendations for learning new material outside of the structured framework of a course? [35:00]

CASE STUDY: A son explains his parents lifestyle engineering [37:21]

CALL: Setting up workflows as a manager [41:09]

JUNE BOOKS: The 5 Books Cal Read in June, 2025 [52:05]

• The Magic of Code (Samuel Arbesman)
• In the Swarm (Byung-Chul Han)
• The Fear Index (Robert Harriss)
• The Explore’s Gene (Alex Hutchinson)
• Skywalking (Dale Pollock)

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?
nytimes.com/athletic/6453809/2025/06/27/bruce-bochy-walking-exercise-creativity/

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