feed friday: cal newport

welcome to the second installment of feed friday. this week’s subject crosses the streams with both a blog and a podcast feed. he also has several books, appearances on other podcasts, etc.

cal newport’s study hacks blog and deep questions podcast

blog: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/feed/ podcast: https://feeds.feedburner.com/StudyHacks

I’ve been following Newport’s blog feed for at least 10 years. he doesn’t post content daily, but when he does it’s always well researched and thoughtful. some of the core ideas that have informed my approach to work and productivity have come by way of Newport. deep work, digital minimalism, and the hyperactive hivemind are the most memorable examples.

Newport is a great example of a pattern I’d like to discover a good name for. that category being those personalities who are worth following over the years, to develop a good internal representation of their personality, so that you might have it accessible when something happens in your life that lands in their sphere of influence, you’d have “their” advice on tap from your model. previously I mentioned that Paul Graham is one for me. another strong example, one I think a lot of people would also include, is Naval Ravikant. these characters are not exactly role models or heros, and not exactly teachers or gurus, and not exactly archetypes. just strong examples of unique, self-directed people who are worth watching over the years. so if you have any thoughts on a name for this patter, let me know.