Ep. 271: The Long Game  ## Metadata - Author: [[Deep Questions with Cal Newport]] - Full Title: Ep. 271: The Long Game - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/5fe115a4-327d-4a67-aaaf-72dacbf286f2 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - The Long Game and a Variety of Topics Cal Newport discusses the potential and drawbacks of the internet, specifically focusing on a fan-made website dedicated to Jesse Skeleton. He also mentions their upcoming Halloween episode and a deep dive on planning. Newport encourages viewers to watch the episode and submit their own questions. He concludes by discussing the importance of playing the long game and making decisions that will lead to future contentment. Transcript: Cal Newport I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, the show about living and working deeply in a distracted world. So I'm here in my deep work HQ, joined as always by my producer, Jesse. Jesse, there's something we saw on the internet this past week that I'm of two minds of. I'm of two minds. I think it represents one of two things. Either the potential of the internet finally being fully realized, the apotheosis of the internet society or a harbinger of the deterioration of our culture as we know it i think you Know what i'm talking about it's the website a fan put together with the url jessieskeleton.com it's actually a pretty good looking website yeah it had a texting me the url it has a hero Header, a term I learned from our web designers. We have like the full bleed header with like video going in it and has links to every Jesse Skeleton appearance and like some commentary on the Jesse Skeleton experience. If you don't know what we're talking about, again, as I always say, congratulations because it's nonsense. Next week is our Halloween episode, however. So maybe Jesse Skeleton make an appearance. I bought some new – our old Jesse's skeleton I'm using in our Halloween display. Because I bought some new skeletons and they're no good. They don't pose. But I'm thinking I could repurpose one of those as Jesse's skeleton. So I think we're okay. Yeah. I think we'll be okay. There is a good show coming up. So we have a deep dive where we will get in the weeds a little bit on planning among other topics. So for those who like some of the more geekish focus on specifics, we will be getting there. Then we have a question block that is more diverse this time. In addition to just questions that Jesse reads, I believe, Jesse, right? We have an audio call. Yep. The triumphant return of audio calls. And we have a case study. So it's going to be an interesting question block. And then for the final segment, there is a academic paper that's making the rounds I want to get into because it has some big ideas in it about social media and collective traps. There's some interesting ideas in there I want to get into. So we've got a pretty full show, a little bit of housekeeping before we get into it. If you want to watch today's episode, go to the deep life.com/listen. This is episode 271. As always, there are links at the bottom of each episode's page for all of the video associated with that video. If you want to submit your own voice call, because we're starting doing these again, or your own written question, those instructions are also at thedeeplife.com. You can see the links for doing both. Two other housekeeping things. If you like the show, leave a review. That actually helps people read those. If you like the ideas, you might also want to sign up for my newsletter. There's a link in the show description, or you can do it at calnewport.com. Once every week or two, I send out deep ideas on the type of stuff we talk about on this show. All right, that's the housekeeping. I am ready to get rolling. So let's go. So in today's deep dive, I want to talk about the long game. What you can do right now to avoid five or 10 years in the future, having regrets or looking back and saying, what have I actually been doing with my time? In other words, what can you do right now so that when you get to the next major milestone in your life, whether that's turning 25 or 30 or 40, you can be content with how things have been Going? This type of advice is different than the type of advice we typically cover on this show. Typically on the show, we're talking about what you can do right now. How do you become more organized right now? How do you avoid distraction in your life right now? How do you make a key career decision that is looming right now? When we look to these longer time horizons, how do we make sure that in five years you're in a place you're really happy about? The advice feels a little different. Requires some more patience. Requires a little bit more long-term strategy. So that's what I want to do. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7e313230-d8e9-468b-99bb-6c3439a4d878))