Deep Questions with Cal Newport Ep. 389: Is the Internet Hijacking Ambition? + Escaping Messaging Hell
Brad Stulberg, author and performance writer focused on sustainable excellence, discusses pseudo-excellence versus authentic mastery. They explore how the internet and viral performative routines can hijack deep ambition. Practical advice for young adults on values and reducing social media. The conversation also examines workplace messaging overload and structural fixes to reclaim focused work.
01:48:23
Internet Both Enables And Hijacks Ambition
- The internet can form supportive tribes that amplify genuine ambition by connecting like-minded people across distance.
- It can also hijack ambition by channeling the drive toward performative, shallow routines that feel productive but lack substance.
Prioritize Fundamentals Over Flamboyant Routines
- Avoid elaborate routine-performances that prioritize appearance over substantive skill development.
- Focus on simple, consistent fundamentals that actually grow your competence over time.
Ideas Stick Without Complex Systems
- Cal and Brad describe creators who build elaborate idea-management systems yet rarely need them in practice.
- Many top idea people keep low-tech systems like pen and notebook, letting ideas persist until they matter.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
Is the Internet Hijacking Ambition?
02:36 • 2min
Defining Pseudo Excellence
04:18 • 1min
Why Routines Become Performance
05:32 • 4min
Analyzing Hustle Clips and Muscle Aesthetics
09:58 • 11min
Elon, Performance, and the WWE Metaphor
20:30 • 2min
Hijacking Ambition Versus Vanity
22:45 • 4min
How to Pursue True Excellence
26:44 • 3min
Practical Steps for Young Adults
29:54 • 4min
Transition to Practices Segment
33:24 • 30min
Work Trends: Communication Overload
01:03:06 • 3min
Five Structural Fixes Overview
01:06:34 • 16sec
Eliminate Threads: Move to Synchronous
01:06:51 • 3min
Relocate for Deep Work
01:09:48 • 4min
Batch Group Discussion with Dockets
01:14:08 • 2min
Create Processes to Prevent Chatter
01:16:19 • 2min
Reduce Active Projects
01:17:57 • 4min
A World Without Email Reference
01:22:24 • 1min
Has AI Actually Changed Everything?
01:23:50 • 11min
Concrete AI Uses Observed
01:34:49 • 3min
Listener Comments: Tech and Boundaries
01:38:18 • 7min
What Cal Is Reading
01:44:55 • 3min
Outro
01:48:14 • 5sec
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The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion
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Rolly Crump
Bob McLain
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Divided into sections on 'The History' and 'The Experience,' it provides an engaging narrative backed by extensive research, revealing untold stories about the attraction's long development and what it might have been like had Walt lived to oversee its completion.
The revised 50th Anniversary edition offers expanded details on this world-famous Disney classic.
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Eliot critiques the conventional romance narratives of her time by portraying marriage as a complex and often problematic institution.
The novel also explores themes of idealism, self-interest, hypocrisy, and the constraints on women's lives.
Set in the fictional town of Middlemarch between 1829 and 1832, the novel incorporates historical events such as the Great Reform Act of 1832 and early developments in medicine.
Eliot's realistic portrayal of ordinary human life, with its quiet tragedies and small triumphs, has made 'Middlemarch' a masterpiece of English literature.
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Brad Stulberg
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Cal Newport
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A World Without Email
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The book lays out principles and concrete instructions for streamlining important communication and reducing the central role of inboxes and chat channels in the workplace.
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Slow Productivity
The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
Cal Newport
In this book, Cal Newport draws on the habits and mindsets of historical figures like Galileo, Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and Georgia O’Keefe to propose a new approach to productivity.
He argues against the modern culture of 'pseudo-productivity,' where busyness is mistaken for actual productivity.
Instead, Newport advocates for 'slow productivity,' which involves doing fewer things, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality.
The book combines cultural criticism with practical advice to help readers transform their work habits and achieve more sustainable and meaningful accomplishments.
It’s natural to feel ambition, as we’re wired to find great satisfaction in accomplishing hard goals. But what impact has the internet had on this instinct? To help explore this question, author Brad Stulberg, author of the new book THE WAY OF EXCELLENCE, joins Cal during the ideas segment to explore ways in which the internet hijacks our drive, and what we can do about it. Then, in the practice segment, Cal provides the 2026 of his evolving advice for escaping email and IM overload in your job.
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
IDEAS SEGMENT: Is the internet hijacking ambition? [4:16]
PRACTICES SEGMENT: Escaping messaging hell [1:03:06]
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS:
- Have new AI tools actually been as transformative as claimed? [1:23:49]
CAL RESPONDS TO COMMENTS [1:38:15]
WHAT CAL’S READING: Cal gives his weekly reading update [1:44:52]
Future Boy (Michael J. Fox)
The Unauthorized Story of Disney’s Haunted Mansion (Jeff Baham)
Links:
Get The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0063385945/ref=sw_img_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
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?
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/old-school-with-shilo-brooks/id1841566275
instagram.com/p/DFh_mNGSvuZ/?img_index=2
microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday
reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1o2g1xq/with_all_the_billions_trillions_going_into_it/
calnewport.com/a-world-without-email/
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Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.
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