Books/So Good They Can't Ignore You
Author: Cal Newport
Subtitle: why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love
In this book, the author debunks the clichéd career advice "follow your passion".
Introduction
The first chapter starts with the story of someone called Thomas who tried to be a Zen master in his pursuit of happiness, but the practice didn't make much of a difference to his personality or overall happiness. I don't really see the point of this chapter. The author wants to discredit "follow your passion" by saying that it's proponents only provide anecdotal evidence but not statistical evidence. Starting this chapter with somebody's anecdote which is not representative of all Zen practitioners is ironic.
Rule #1: Don't follow your passion
The author defines the passion hypothesis as follows:
The key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a job that matches this passion.
The author starts by debunking Steve Jobs' popular advice. Do what Steve Jobs did, not what he said. Steve Jobs didn't really do what he was passionate about. He was an aimless drifter through college and a drop-out later. A lot of things had to align for him to be a successful businessman. There's luck involved and also taking help from other truly skilled people like Steve Wozniak.
Passionate people being successful is statistically rare. The archives of Roadtrip Nation are full of examples to prove this. Ira Glass is cited as an example here. The author draws 3 conclusions after perusing the archives:
- Career passions are rare
- Passion takes time
- Passion is a side-effect of mastery
Errata: Daniel H. Pink (author of Drive), defines three qualities for one to be motivated at work: autonomy, mastery and purpose. The author replaced purpose with "relatedness" in this book.
There are three ways of seeing one's work: a job, a career or a calling. The same work might be seen differently by different people.
One needs a certain level of mastery of one's work before being offered any autonomy. Most entry-level positions lack autonomy. So pursuing passion at early stages is futile. This can also lead to a lot of job-hopping and unhappiness.
"What Color is your parachute?" from 1970 might be the first book to have introduced the passion hypothesis to the public. It's prevalence in American culture has grown over the generations.
Rule #2: Be so good that they can't ignore you
The Craftsman mindset focuses on what you value you can add through your job, whereas the Passion mindset focuses on what your job ofers you. To love what you do, adopt the Craftsman mindset.
Traits that define great work: Creativity, Impact and Control.
I don't see the reason why the author needs to define these traits again. Daniel Pink defined them better: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Career capital: the rare and valuable skills that you can offer. The Craftsman mindset is about acquiring career capital. The author of the popular book "Escape from Cubicle Nation" offers a program called "build your backbone" which is a confidence-building exercise to help people find the courage to follow their passions. Cal Newport thinks that this is dangerous, since this encourages people without career capital to launch ventures while they have no differentiation to offer.
The career capital theory does not apply to every job. If the job provides no opportunity to distinguish yourself, is actively harmful or forces you to work with people you dislike then it is better to leave the job than to stay and apply the craftsman mindset to it.
