The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Cal Newport unpacks his framework for Slow Productivity, built on three core principles: doing fewer things, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality. He introduces "pseudo productivity"—the toxic heuristic that emerged in mid-20th century knowledge work when visible activity became a proxy for useful effort because traditional productivity metrics (Model Ts per hour, bushels per acre) no longer applied. Newport argues that pseudo productivity was tolerable until the digital office revolution—email, Slack, mobile computing—enabled visible activity to be demonstrated at incredibly high frequency, anywhere, anytime, creating a performance theater that drains actual productive capacity. The conversation explores how to build custom AI systems for daily planning (using GPT models trained on transcripts and book notes), the three levels of working with large language models (training from scratch, fine-tuning, and software intermediaries), and why specialized vertical AI will dominate the next wave of innovation. Newport makes the case for abandoning industrial-era proxies and reclaiming knowledge work as a craft that requires depth, patience, and quality over constant performative busyness.

Alan Stein Jr, former basketball performance coach to Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and other NBA superstars, reveals why knowledge without execution is worthless and how the world's highest performers bridge the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Drawing from decades working with elite athletes, Stein explains that performance gaps exist in every area of life—we all know we should eat healthier, sleep more, and exercise consistently, but implementation separates good from great. Through stories of Kevin Durant's transformation from a frail 15-year-old with pristine fundamentals to NBA superstar, Stein unpacks the perfect storm required for elite success: physical predisposition combined with high IQ, work ethic, coachability, resiliency, and love of competition. He introduces self-awareness as the foundational requirement for growth—defining it as alignment between how you see yourself and how the world sees you. From his divorce-driven awakening to parenting twin sons with unconditional love while demanding effort and coachability, Stein demonstrates how principles from basketball translate directly to business, parenting, and personal development through focus on process over outcomes.

Andrew Yang traces his path from failed entrepreneur to 2020 presidential candidate driven by a single realization: automation has already destroyed millions of American jobs, and the next wave will be exponentially worse. Through his work with Venture for America, he witnessed firsthand the economic devastation in Detroit, Ohio, and the Midwest—where automated manufacturing jobs created the conditions that elected Donald Trump. Yang argues that artificial intelligence will soon eliminate truck driving, retail, call centers, and even white-collar professions like law and accounting. His solution is Universal Basic Income—a $1,000 monthly Freedom Dividend for every American adult, funded by a Value Added Tax on tech companies. He dismantles objections about affordability and work ethic, revealing how the policy would grow GDP by $2.5 trillion, create 4.5 million jobs, and transform America into a human-centered economy before technological displacement pushes society off a cliff.

Christy Tennery-Spalding, activist and organizer, shares how growing up near Washington D.C. shaped her oppositional stance to power structures and led her to find a “political home” in San Francisco’s activist community. She introduces the concept of informed consent in organizing—ensuring participants feel safe, informed, and empowered rather than treated as bodies in the street. Tennery-Spalding challenges the wellness industrial complex’s version of self-care, revealing how she fell into the trap of “capitalist self-care”—overloading herself with yoga classes, meditation, and clean eating until she burned out from her own self-care routine. Drawing from her experience with severe scoliosis, depression, and PTSD, she advocates for anti-capitalist self-care that questions productivity culture and challenges the belief that our worth is tied to usefulness. She explores how childhood conditioning around pleasing others, performing, and being palatable shapes our relationship with rest, and why sometimes the most radical act of self-care is simply lying down and being intentionally “not useful.”

Former Navy SEAL and leadership strategist Chris Fussell reveals how elite teams operate under pressure—and how those principles can be applied far beyond the battlefield. Drawing from years of operational experience and his work with General Stanley McChrystal, Fussell explains how systems thinking, decentralized decision-making, and shared consciousness can transform organizations in fast-changing environments. He discusses mindset lessons from SEAL training, the psychology of high-stakes leadership, and how individuals can build internal clarity to overcome fear and act with precision. With insights into decision triage, organizational agility, and the human need for physical, creative, and emotional outlets, this episode offers a rare, deeply personal look at what it takes to lead yourself and others when the stakes are high.

Former CIA field operative Andrew Bustamante pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to recruit spies, run intelligence operations, and navigate a life built on secrecy, loyalty, and manipulation. In this riveting and wide-ranging conversation, Bustamante shares stories from his military training at the Air Force Academy, his time at “The Farm” — the CIA’s elite training facility — and his years of fieldwork turning foreign agents into assets. He explains how spycraft isn't about glamour or violence — it's about reading people, controlling trust, and gaining influence through empathy and psychological leverage. Bustamante also discusses how operatives are recruited based on “moral flexibility,” why loneliness is built into the job, and how living in the shadows impacts everything from family to friendships. From breaking down the difference between motivation and manipulation to revealing how the CIA targets new recruits, this episode offers a rare, unfiltered look at the human side of espionage — and the psychological toll it takes on those who live it.

Carlos Adell shares his unconventional path from growing up in a small Spanish town with limited resources to running a six-figure drug dealing business while simultaneously working as a DJ and industrial engineer. After nearly dying from a heart attack at 29 while working in corporate, Adell discovered that he had been living other people’s dreams—adopting identities shaped by whoever surrounded him. He reveals the powerful principle that drove both his descent and his redemption: you become who you surround yourself with. Whether it was “bad boys” leading him into crime or successful entrepreneurs inspiring his transformation, Adell learned to reverse-engineer his environment deliberately. Moving to Australia without speaking English, he rebuilt himself from scratch, applying lessons from drug dealing (understanding markets and people) and engineering (systems thinking) to create a life designed for fulfillment rather than external validation.

Breakup expert Amy Chan unpacks the emotional and neurological toll of heartbreak — and how to transform it into healing. Drawing from her own story and the science behind her method, she explores why so many people get stuck in cycles of rumination, fantasy, and emotional reactivity. This episode digs into cultural programming, attachment styles, and how past trauma shapes relationship patterns. With insights grounded in psychology and neuroscience, Chan challenges common myths about love, emotional expression, and what it means to be “secure.” She offers practical tools for emotional regulation, navigating boundaries, and resetting expectations around connection, chemistry, and resilience. Whether it’s detaching from a toxic dynamic, redefining success in relationships, or learning to feel your feelings without being controlled by them — this is a raw, science-backed guide to heartbreak recovery and relational clarity.

Alison Shcraeger, economist and author of An Economist Walks Into a Brothel, explains how risk really works and why most people misunderstand it. From studying sex workers in Nevada to analyzing probability theory, Alison reveals that humans are not naturally wired to process probabilities—but we can learn. She introduces the concept of natural frequencies over percentages, showing how translating 55 percent into 55 out of 100 helps people make better decisions. This conversation explores why probability theory should be taught like reading, how emotion distorts risk assessment, why the past is a flawed predictor of the future, and what economists can learn from industries society prefers to ignore.