It’s interesting hearing about successful people’s journeys. It’s interesting to hear not just about what they did, but about their environment.

Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work conversed with Tim Ferriss about his experience leading up to the publication of his book.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell has definitely influenced how I look at successful people, the headwinds, and tailwinds that occurred in their lives.

Impressively, Cal Newport started writing books while in college. He wrote about what he knew and what interested him, which was studying, at the time. He said that he wrote 60-90 minutes every morning and he wrote in a way that was accessible to other readers. Before publishing his book, he wrote commissioned articles to establish his name and credibility. He did so by publishing in small publications. I’ve heard this idea, but still find it interesting nonetheless.

I want to say that after that, Newport began blogging regularly. This helped further propel his career similar to Tim Ferriss.

Newport, undoubtedly, worked hard and intelligently, but I would be remiss to not mention that he had a connection to a writing agent through his family. I don’t think he said he published with the agent, but he used this person for advice. That seems to be an important tailwind that most aspiring authors did not and still don’t have.

He also mentioned taking advantage of an opportunity with tech at a young age during the tech boom. This being another opportunity not accessible to the majority of people his age at the time as well. You can imagine that this probably had a positive influence on his future as well.

Cal Newport’s book Deep Work left an impression on me since I read it and I am still trying to incorporate some of the ideas from the book into my life. This was an insightful interview with Newport. I would recommend it I might even revisit it as well.