Cal Newport is the author of six bestselling books, including Deep Work and Digital Minimalism. He holds a computer science Ph.D. from MIT and has a tenured professorship at Georgetown.
When I first started writing for Forbes I reached out to him and asked for advice. This is what he said:
Readers are not seeking random clever ideas and interesting links (there are much better sources for that). They want to follow someone who is advancing a cause/point of view that intrigues, upsets, or excites them.
Some of the topics we covered in this interview:
- Repetition And Iteration In The Ideation Process
- What Makes A Quality Input
- How To Have Rare And Valuable Ideas
- Navigating The Idea Maze
- Developing To The Next Level Of Performance
- Flipping The Productivity Switch
- Practice In A Way That Stretches You
- Long-Term Productivity Prerequisites
- Understanding Before Acting
- Understanding Gives You Motivation And Confidence To Follow Through
- How To Make Sure Your Smaller Goals Are Plausible
Edited Interview Transcript
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Interview With Cal Newport: Coming Up With Great Ideas
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