Calculators
Shallow Work Audit
Cal Newport's "drain the shallows" starts with a honest count. Enter your meetings, messaging, and admin time — see what percentage of your workday is shallow versus deep.
Results
Enter your meeting, messaging, and admin hours to see your shallow vs deep split.
Stay in the loop
Get new tools and productivity tips in your inbox. No spam, ever.
Related tools
How to Do Deep Work
Answer 4 questions and get a Cal Newport–style deep work plan — scheduling, environment, shallow-work cuts, and your first protected focus block.
Deep Work Schedule Quiz
Find your deep work scheduling style — monastic, bimodal, rhythmic, or journalistic — based on Cal Newport's four philosophies and your real-life constraints.
Deep or Shallow Work Quiz
Is this task deep or shallow work? Answer 4 questions about any task and get a clear verdict — protect, batch, delegate, or eliminate — based on Cal Newport's framework.
Shutdown Ritual Builder
Build a personalized end-of-day shutdown ritual — Cal Newport's method to stop work thoughts, plan tomorrow, and actually disconnect tonight.
Frequently asked questions
- What's a healthy shallow-to-deep ratio?
- There's no universal number, but if shallow work exceeds 50–60% of your day, finding 90-minute deep blocks becomes very hard. Aim to grow deep hours weekly.
- Are all meetings shallow work?
- Most recurring syncs are shallow. Strategic planning or hard problem-solving with a whiteboard can be deep — but they're rare in typical calendars.
- How do I drain the shallows?
- Batch email twice daily, decline optional meetings, automate admin, and protect morning deep blocks before shallow work starts.