Cal Newport
calnewport.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2007
Cal Newport, a Georgetown computer science professor, writes about focused work, productivity, and building a career people enjoy.
What HN saysCommenters recommend it for study tips and staying focused, and mention his books and podcast as helpful for rethinking how they use technology.
415HN people shared it
192linked it in comments
528stories submitted
11Kstory points
2 months agolast shared
2007people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1After You Vote, Unplug35 people · 10 points · first shared 2009 · 3 comments on HN
- 2“Deep Work” by Cal Newport Is Available28 people · 5 points · first shared 2016 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Deep Habits: The Importance of Planning Every Minute of Your Work Day10 people · 4 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 4If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)9 people · 890 points · first shared 2011 · 162 comments on HN
- 5Knowledge workers are bad at working – and what to do about it9 people · 68 points · first shared 2012 · 32 comments on HN
- 6The Passion Trap: Searching for your passion makes your working life miserable9 people · 11 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 7Homepage9 people · first shared 2011
- 8Beyond Passion: The Science of Loving What You Do7 people · 87 points · first shared 2010 · 5 comments on HN
- 9Digital Minimalism7 people · 1 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 10Mastering Linear Algebra in 10 Days: Astounding Experiments in Ultra-Learning6 people · 284 points · first shared 2012 · 76 comments on HN
- 11Corrupted Callings: Finding Your Life’s Work vs Loving Your Life6 people · 51 points · first shared 2010 · 5 comments on HN
- 12So good6 people · first shared 2019
- 13Advice on Getting Better from an Accomplished Piano Player (2011)5 people · 560 points · first shared 2011 · 156 comments on HN
- 14AI Coding and Its Discontents: Cal Newport5 people · 14 points · first shared 2026 · 2 comments on HN
- 15The Career Craftsman Manifesto5 people · 9 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
stevepdp · 2022-11-17
I don't have any specific advice, as no one solution fits all. What I can point you towards however is some resources that combined have helped me to re-evaluate my relationship with these tools.
Cal Newport's books and podcast [1], Humane Tech's Ledger of Harms [2] and their browser extension recommendations [3].
[1] https://www.calnewport.com/
[2] https://ledger.humanetech.com/
[3] https://www.humanetech.com/take-control
luisroca · 2018-03-21
I listened to Cal Newport's Deep Work a few months ago and am now a regular reader of his blog. He has a wealth of great study tips and articles on staying focused.
http://calnewport.com/
joshrule · 2011-01-21
Cal Newport also does a great job in keeping up with a lot of the published literature in these fields. Check out his books and blog at http://calnewport.com. It's been incredibly helpful to me over the past few years.
pj_mukh · 2026-07-02
Love that it follows you from terminal to terminal, super useful.
Though, if you're following Cal Newport-ian rules, watching over multiple agents doing their work is no longer a 25 minute "deep work" Pomodoro, and god knows Newport has been complaining about it [1]
[1]: https://calnewport.com/avoiding-digital-productivity-traps/#more-16818
sn9 · 2023-05-07
Book of Proof: https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/
Art of Problem Solving for if you need/want to rebuild your pre-college foundations: https://artofproblemsolving.com/store
Cal Newport has great tips on studying efficiently/effectively (and you can implement some of his strategies with Anki): https://calnewport.com/case-study-how-i-got-the-highest-grade-in-my-di…
skadamat · 2022-09-21
Cal's key ideas for the uninitiated:
- Deep Life: Kind of like essentialism / minimalism: Be intentional & focus on results / remove what matters. Create 5 pillars for your life, and work fits into it: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2020/04/20/cultivating-a-deep-life/
- Deep Work: do one thing at a time, in a focused way. Context switching is expensive on the brain and stressful / anxiety inducing
- Career Advice (So Good They Can't Ignore You book): become great at a skill or the intersection of multiple skills. When you become good, you'll learn to love it and you can trade in your expertise for more lifestyle traits (more pay or less hours or no boss)
His podcast is awesome too: https://www.calnewport.com/podcast/
nb_key · 2022-09-02
Cal Newport had written a blog[0] post about the very same reason which worths reading a while ago.
[0]https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2022/08/01/tiktoks-poison-pill/
dan-g · 2022-08-12
“Deep Work” by Cal Newport (and the related “Time Block Planner” he published as well) goes into depth about why deep work focus time is so important for knowledge workers, and has some additional tips for how to make the most of your workday. Would highly recommend both books!
https://www.calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
lnwlebjel · 2021-02-24
My favorite:
"The idea is to study by lecturing out-loud, to an imaginary class, about the key concepts you need to learn. Something about articulating arguments in complete sentences cements them in your mind like nothing else."
from http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/08/02/the-straight-a-gospels-studying-…
chmaynard · 2020-12-14
"... e-mail was struggling to keep up with the world of hyper-messaging that it helped create." What tripe.
Author Calvin Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University. He seems to have a nice side gig as a tech pundit:
https://www.calnewport.com
scastiel · 2020-07-17
This thesis is developed by Cal Newport in his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” (https://www.calnewport.com/books/so-good/).
As an introduction example, he mentions Steve Jobs who said to graduating students (during a speech made viral), that they should follow their passion in their (professional) life. But when Newport digs a little, turns out it was actually not at all what Jobs did in his career. Yet, no one would say that he wasn’t passionate about his work.
madballster · 2020-05-03
Not sure if you seek advice on self-development (programming skills) or general college/university studying advice. Very similar set of challenges either way IMO:
Take Dr. Barbara Oakley's (free) learning how to learn course - I graduated 20 years ago (MSc) and found this very refreshing and insightful. Good interviews, too. https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
Cal Newport's book is full of studying/organization advice. Bottom line: Attack the hard stuff early on. Go hard, go deep. If you get organized and build a foundation in each course early on, then you won't have to catch up and cram in all-nighters later.
https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2009/03/09/the-straight-a-method-how-t…
deb_yesprocrast · 2020-04-16
I follow some practices from Cal Newport Deep Work [1].
In this case it is about scheduling your day (see also this blogpost [2]).
I really like the feature in paymo to schedule your working day with tasks that do exist in a kanban board.
It ensures that you can quickly see what you're working on when picking things to do during the day and it also ensures that everything you do is in a kanban board.
I understand that most people probably don't miss this feature but I have a hard time going back to a system that does not have this.
[1]: https://www.calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
[2]: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2015/09/29/deep-habits-three-recent-da…
randycupertino · 2019-12-15
Have you read anything by Cal Newport about the benefits of daily walks? I loved some of his books and he is always talking about using his walks as a time to reflect and solve problems: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2015/03/17/deep-habits-think-hard-outs…
JoshMnem · 2019-06-05
For people who grew up before the Internet, the idea of needing to share everything with everyone you know isn't a necessity. Some things were better before the Internet. My real-world social life improved after I left Facebook. The quality of the information that enters my mind on a daily basis also improved. I don't read timelines or experience life by constantly thinking about whether I should post the current moment online. There are other ways to stay in touch with people.
I recommend Digital Minimalism.
http://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/
davidscolgan · 2019-03-28
I wouldn't say I've exactly "solved" this problem, as I do still think relaxation and getting new information are valuable. But making Reddit more than just a ctrl+t -> r -> enter away is helpful.
A great book about all of this that was also helpful for further motivating me to try to be proactive here was Cal Newport's book Digital Minimalism [http://calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/].
It's not really a book about "quit Facebook", but rather "be intentional about the technology in your life instead of having technology happen to you. I've determined that Hacker News is a valuable use of my time within moderation, while Reddit doesn't really ever provide any sort of value, whether productive _or_ relaxing.
dbcurtis · 2019-03-05
Pomodoro is not Deep Work: http://calnewport.com
Not that what you are doing is bad, but you need a rebrand.
spking · 2018-05-10
This is discussed in great detail by Cal Newport:
http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/03/22/the-case-against-email-strengthe…
phren0logy · 2018-05-03
1. If you don't know anybody around town, maybe get a job to meet some people? Not anything fancy, just a summer job. If they are all full, it might be worth thinking more about going home, and you might have better luck working there.
2. Maybe start with this one? http://calnewport.com/books/how-to-win-at-college/
3. There's only one person who can figure this out. This is part of the reason I suggest an unrelated job. Sometimes finding out what we don't want to do can be just as useful.
4. Is there some sort of more general advisor for the university that might help you?
pdog · 2018-03-28
> I've never had a social media account.
This is strictly true, but it's not as if Cal Newport doesn't have a web presence. He has a website registered for his name[1] and runs a popular blog called Study Hacks[2].
If you're marketing yourself, you should register your name online. It's one of the simplest and most effective ways to strengthen and, more importantly, control your personal brand[3].
[1]: http://calnewport.com/
[2]: http://calnewport.com/blog/
[3]: https://www.financialsamurai.com/strengthen-your-brand-by-registering-…
applecrazy · 2018-01-22
Excellent resource with many study tips. As a high school student, it's hard to balance school, leisure, and code, and any sort of advice is appreciated.
In addition, I've found Cal Newport's blog both inspiring and also interesting, as he focuses on "hacks" to get higher quality studying for your time ("more bang for your buck")
Edit: Cal Newport's blog: http://calnewport.com/blog/
Edit 2: Another one of my sources of study inspiration is the MIT Challenge[1] by Scott H. Young. Not only does he finish an entire MIT CS undergrad curriculum, but does so in 1/4 the time, something that I wish to emulate once life permits.
[1]: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/myprojects/mit-challenge-2/
sosilkj · 2018-01-05
If you're considering another bootcamp, don't bother. You don't mention if you have a degree or not (even one in an unrelated field is valuable), but if you're considering further education/training, I'd suggest doing so at an accredited institution and earning a degree for your efforts.
Otherwise, leverage your free time to work on your skills/portfolio. Structure your time; get disciplined. Read: http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/09/29/deep-habits-three-recent-daily-p…
And as others have said: do not to work for free under any circumstances. Don't sell yourself short.
Best of luck.
MrScoobs · 2017-11-23
following your passion may not be the best advice for anybody. See Cal Newport's perspective on why. One of his examples is Steve Jobs. http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/04/05/what-steve-jobs-meant-when-he-sa…
hobos_delight · 2017-09-22
I just finished this[1] book with tips about how to get back into that deep work routine, and whilst I'm not there yet - there have been some immediately tangible benefits.
Like turning off work email push notifications, developing a routine (for my study after work - MSCS) and scheduling all parts of my day and sticking to them.
It's not a long book, but I highly recommend it.
[1] http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
dpatru · 2017-09-01
But see this article by Cal Newport which highlights how the Pullman Company increased production by limiting communication. http://calnewport.com/blog/2017/06/21/an-early-20th-century-lesson-on-…
It seems that unrestricted communication slows down companies more than it speeds them up. Maybe at Tesla they already have ways to manage interruptions. Elon specifically mentions email and managers. Email can be read at the receiver's schedule. The part of the job of the manager is to protect the workers from distraction. "Try to email the manager who can best solve the problem." != "Feel free to interrupt anyone at any time."
kichuku · 2017-07-12
I too second the recommendation for "Deep Work" by Carl Newport (http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ ). This is one book which is a must-read for all the current generation technology workers like us. I started reading this book about two weeks back and I have finished reading 90% of the book. Already I am seeing tremendous improvement in my day-to-day life.
webmaven · 2017-02-07
I don't have specific advice, as your particular causes may be very different than mine. I would however recomend the following books as good starting points:
"The Information Diet": http://www.informationdiet.com/
"Mindset": https://mindsetonline.com/thebook/buythebook/index.html
"Peak":: http://peakthebook.com/
"Deep Work": http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
b_emery · 2016-11-30
Your question seems to be more about learning than note taking, so here are some of my notes learning to augment what others have said:
To aid recall, use the quiz and recall method: "The idea is to study by lecturing out-loud, to an imaginary class, about the key concepts you need to learn. Something about articulating arguments in complete sentences cements them in your mind like nothing else"
from http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/08/02/the-straight-a-gospels-studying-…
Also the book How to become a straight A student by Cal Newport is thin but packed with actionable information. Highly recommended.
0x54MUR41 · 2016-10-27
Cal Newport recently is discussing about the open office. I am sure it is related to his new book, Deep Work. These following posts are explained it:
- Is Facebook’s Massive Open Office Scaring Away Developers? [1]
- The Opposite of the Open Office [2]
The previous discussion of one of that post also appears on HN. You may check it out here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12677866.
[1]: http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/10/09/is-facebooks-massive-open-office…
[2]: http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/10/19/the-opposite-of-the-open-office/
csallen · 2016-09-22
I'd follow the advice from this guy who finished four years of MIT CS classes in one year: http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/10/26/mastering-linear-algebra-in-10-d…