Why do you struggle with your grand attempts to escape distraction and aimlessness to make your life deeper? In this episode, Cal draws on an unexpected metaphor – Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and the Analytical Engine – to help identify the subtle obstacle on your path to increase depth. With this new understanding in hand, he then details a specific gameplan to get around it. Later, he takes questions from the audience and reacts to the new AI Pin, a tool intended to render smartphones obsolete. 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: The Deep Life Hardware [4:09] - Does personal productivity make us anxious? [34:04] - How can I build skills without getting in the way of my existing work? [42:11] - How can I build a deeper life after years of neglect? [46:00] - How is Sam Sulek’s stripped down YouTube channel doing so well? [52:12] - How can I convince my husband that I’m not a time management snob? [1:02:38] - CALL: Obsessing over quality [1:06:04] CASE STUDY: Shifting a mindset to do more deep work [1:11:04]  CAL REACTS: Is the Al Pin the End of Smartphones? [1:17:46] Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow computerhistory.org/babbage/engines/theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-reviewpodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conversation-with-cal-newport-the-key-to/id1498802610?i=1000652834277 samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/363-knowledge-work Use this link to preorder a signed copy of “Slow Productivity”: https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/preorder-slow-productivity/ Thanks to our Sponsors:  rhone.com/calshopify.com/deeppolicygenius.com/deepquestionsgrammarly.com/podcasttim.blog Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.