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Each day you begin work with high hopes for productivity and creativity. But each day you instead find yourself bogged down in checking and answering emails and responding\xa0to messages on Slack. As frustrating as this is, it just seems like the inevitable, unalterable dynamic\xa0of modern jobs.\n\nBut my guest today says that another way of working is\xa0possible,\xa0and it could unleash a tidal way of new productivity. His name is Cal Newport, and he's a professor of computer science and the author of several books, including his latest, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Information\xa0Overload. Cal describes how email and chat channels\xa0have\xa0created what he calls "the hyperactive hive mind," and the costs to productivity, well-being, and focus that this hive mind incurs. He then explains why we feel the need to quickly respond to messages, even if rationally we know they\u2019re not urgent. Cal then lays out practical ways to replace the hive mind with a more effective way of working, and why it involves concentrating on processes over messaging,\xa0increasing\xa0intellectual specialization, a return to hiring support staff, and, counterintuitively, more friction and less convenience. Cal also offers advice on how to make these changes at your office, even if you're not in a position of authority.\n\nGet the show notes at aom.is/noemail.