Cal Newport

Now, I think there are some incredibly important ideas in here for those who are interested in seeking depth in an increasingly distracted world.

The very best deterrent to losing yourself in endless digital distractions has to be to build a life that is more interesting and more intentional than what's happening on all of those screens.

And Laura argues that you can start cultivating this depth right away without having to make drastic changes to your circumstances like a major career shift or moving to the countryside.

So if you feel like your life has been slipping out of your control and you crave something deeper...

then you need to listen to this conversation.

So let's get into it.

As always, I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, the show for people seeking depth in a distracted world.

So Laura, I want to start by talking about our perceptions of our free time versus the reality.

So the most common story that you point out that people seem to be telling about their time is they don't have enough.

They're busy in a way they haven't been before.

There is no free time in their life.

What have you found to be the reality about that narrative?

So how much are we talking about, right?

So when you look at these time tracking logs, people actually writing down how they spent their time of a real week, what did you discover?

Is it, hey, I got 23 minutes a week and I thought I had none, or is it more substantial?

What are you actually finding when you look at this data?

I mean, this feels like an important distinction you make, that when it comes to our perception of our lives,

There's a difference between I want there to be large swaths of free time.

I don't want to feel busy thinking that's the goal versus I'm making time for things that are important to me.

And it seems like one of the big ideas from your book is that it's more the positive things you do.