Podcasts / Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Am I Optimizing Too Much? | Monday Advice

Jul 20, 2026 · 1h 16m · YouTube

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EP · Deep Questions with Cal Newport · Am I Optimizing Too Much? | Monday Advice1:16:25

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0:00A couple weeks ago, the author Brad Stolberg published an essay on his Substack that made the following bold claim: optimization culture is destroying a generation.

0:14Now, he argues in this essay that digital technology has now made it possible to measure at a very fine granularity all sorts of metrics in all different parts of our life, from our job to our health, to our relationships, to our social life, and that it has created a culture where we're constantly trying to improve and optimize all of these other aspects of our daily existence.

0:34And he argues instead of this making us better performers or happier, it's instead making us miserable.

0:43Well, this raised a lot of questions in my mind, such as why are we doing this?

0:47Why is it causing so much harm?

0:48And most importantly, what's the way out?

0:52What is the right relationship with metrics and performance that you can actually make your life better without getting stuck in this optimization trap?

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