Cal Newport on Seasonal Productivity, Blank Schedules & Adventure Time
This week, I listened to an interview Cal Newport did on The Tim Ferriss Show.
Cal's written 7 books. He's a contributor to The New Yorker, blogs 2-3 times a week, and is a tenured professor at Georgetown University.
I've been following him for 10 years at this point and so far, I don't think this guy has ever burnt out. In contrast, I've had several major and minor cases of burn out in the same span of time.
Most people want to learn about Cal's productivity systems and how he get so much done. But what I want to know is how he can sustain this level of output over a long period of time. And here's what I learned.
Cal defines time off differently than how many people do. “Time off” for him is not when he's idle or explicitly on vacation. For him, it is when he has full control of his schedule. It's when his day is clear of obligations to other people. He says,
"It's not clear what on or off means for me. I read a lot. I think a lot. I take a lot of notes. What I care about on a day off is that I don't have to be interacting professionally with other people."
In the interview, Cal also talked about the importance of building in reflection, rhythms, and seasons in work. He says, "I'm a big believer in seasonality in all scales: busy and not busy days; busy and not busy weeks; busy and not busy months." He thinks that all knowledge workers who can, should integrate seasonal reflection and planning into what they do.
For example, as a tenured professor, Cal's schedule is synced to the semesters in the academic school year. He gets two main breaks in summer and in December.
In the summer, he takes the full 2 months off from his academic work. Then after finals in early-to-mid December, Cal takes one day off per week—no meetings, phone calls, or podcast recordings. He also schedules an additional half day off for what he calls "adventure time".
Cal spends adventure time in scenic places: museums, the botanical gardens, or hiking trails. He heads there with a notebook and a pen to work on computer science proofs or to work out the structure of a book project — possibly the most cognitively demanding work he does all year.
I realize that this is a radically different way of thinking about leisure for me.
I'm still experimenting with my own definition of time off. Even on weekends, I enjoy spending my free time reading, thinking, and writing. Like Cal, I enjoy the mental breathing room that an empty calendar gives me. Going off the grid 1-2 weeks each quarter feels like watching Love Is Blind — a taboo, guilty pleasure. Taking 2-3 months off a year is unthinkable.
By his method, I could be reading or writing on a weekend — activities I would typically avoid because it’s "work” — but if I have full control of my day then it counts as leisure. On the flip side, I could spend time reflecting and thinking and this could count as “work”, even if they don't produce a definitive output.
I’m still figuring out the roles leisure and work play in my life. I have yet to form a strong opinion on “work-life balance”. But Cal’s results speak for themselves and following the model of a prolific writer and thinker who seems to have a good handle on how to approach knowledge work in the 21st century is a good start.
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