Ep. 53: Covey's Quads, "Perfect" Productivity Systems, and Reducing Laziness

By Cal Newport

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

14/12/20·1h 19m

In this episode of Deep Questions I answer reader questions about Stephen Covey&aposs quad systems, the quixotic quest for a "perfect" productivity system, and reducing laziness, among many other topics.

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Here’s the full list of topics tackled in today’s episode along with the timestamps:

DEEP DIVE: The Deep Reset, Part 3

WORK QUESTIONS
- Why did I become a scientist? [13:50]
- Time blocking scrum teams. [18:27]
- Stephen Covey’s quad systems. [22:50]
- Is an MS essential? [27:28]
- Time blocking the night before. [28:52]

TECHNOLOGY QUESTIONS
- The futility of perfecting productivity systems [31:41]
- Thoughts on pair programming. [41:44]
- Keeping track of novel connections between ideas. [52:14]
- Forced social media use [55:15]

DEEP LIFE QUESTIONS
- Deep living for stay-at-home parents. [1:02:02]
- Dealing with people not interested in personal development. [1:08:56]
- Reducing laziness. [1:12:51]

Thanks to listener Jay Kerstens for the intro music.