Thoughts on Cal Newport’s brand of productivity
by KS84 · 7 things on Twos
- Some of the ideas he has appear useful. However, they are also not novel. Most of his stuff is GTD rehashed.
- What I find more concerning is his life philosophy. For him it’s important to get your non work life in control so you can focus on the real thing, i.e. work. This is opposed to getting your work life in balance so you can focus on other things such as family, friends etc.
- His driving force appears to be conquest and dominance in his peer group. In this sense his life philosophy appears to be very alpha male / toxic masculinity coded.
- My guess is that this is why he finds Edward Thorpe’s philosophy so unfathomable. I think he finds the idea of saying, “i have enough” and focusing on other pursuits such as family, friends, and service of humanity to be unthinkable.
- This becomes very dangerous if you are somebody who doesn’t have their guard up against this sort of ideology.
- Cal thinks that there is a hunger in young people to acquire deep competency and philosophy in the age of social media where everything is diluted and abstract.
- I wonder if this hunger in young men is what makes them susceptible to toxic male messaging from the likes of Tate. They are filling a void that society is failing to fill.