So Good They Can't Ignore You
Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
Ratings151
Average rating4
It's an important message that is too often lost in my opinion. However, I already agreed with the concept going in, and don't feel I learned much from the book. That said I have read some of the author's other books and enjoyed them and will continue to read his books and listen to his podcast interviews as they come out.
The Anti-Passion Manifesto I needed
There was a time when I used to trumpet the cause of passion to everyone who asked. Over the years, I gave it up a little by little; making it milder at first by replacing it with “enthusiasm” and then treating that as less important. After reading this book, I am evaluating this again in the light of the disadvantages of chasing passion described here.
Like all words, “passion” can be interpreted in many ways and there can still be arguments that what is described here is not a problem with passion in itself. Yes, there are several cases described in the book of people who reached success over a series of unexpected journeys but one could make a case that those were journeys to discover their “true” passion. I can definitely relate to that. After all, the descriptions in the book about what their success looks like (and feels like to them) matches the descriptions of passionate people. Maybe these people discovered their passion eventually.
To me, that is still dangerous because of the messaging it sends to everyone. Indeed, there are such cases described in the beginning of the book (there's a chapter titled “The Dangers of Passion”). On the other hand, if it really is passion that is responsible for success, then this book is a recipe for finding your passion.
In the end, it doesn't matter if passion is what gives you joy in your work. The important thing is reaching that state and this book describes how you can get there. We sometimes have a very immutable view of ourselves. But we are constantly learning and growing and changing. What we feel are our passions change with time. So, regardless of whether you are passionate about sticking to passion or not, this book is likely to help you.
Long time fan of Cal's and finally got around to reading this. Thoughtfully laid out and structured with some hard truths, and the thesis of this book is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
I did not like this book.
I see value in the premise: rather than try to pursue some passion, we can find greater success by deliberately getting good at whatever it is we are doing. This is a beautiful idea, and it is one that most of us can follow, however unsexy. It also takes away all the pressure of identifying WHAT your passion might be - if only you could find it under a rock or something.
However, the book is written poorly. The examples of ‘success' given generally haven't followed the books premise, and the examples of ‘failure' have done similar things as the successes and also get treated rudely by the author. Whatever the reason, these people have already failed publicly at some endeavor - and to have a singular action called out over and over again by Newport as if it defined their character and the rest of their life is not okay IMO.
Book was not worth reading.
Bookworm pod summary of the book was better. They were too positive on the review of this one, though.
the first few chapters got me to decide to return to working full time. lol. it lost steam about halfway through for me though.
also, poor thomas lmao. closing your book with an image of this guy sobbing on the ground. imagine being that guy and reading this book? oh well, maybe he's not bothered by it since he's so successful now.
Find this review - and some more - on my website here.
———————————————
This book falls into the category of books that I like to call “Fast-food books”. They won't necessarily make you healthier or your mind sounder, but it'll feel really good while you're eating them. There's only so many anecdotes you can digest. The most common criticism that people have with these kind of books are that they could've been summarized in a much shorter format - probably a blog post or two. The same applies here - only the irony is that it is BECAUSE of those blog posts and the reaction it generated that prompted the author to write a whole book about it.
Probably should have let the blogs say it all.
Well, now that my rant is over, I'd like to list some of the positive things that I got out of this book. While tiring at times, reading through the different stories and the paths ordinary people take to become successful made me appreciate the importance of THINKING about your career. For people in my field (software developers), it can be a daunting task to get ourselves out of the autopilot and start questioning things - which includes the choices that we've made for our own careers. But doing exactly that is an important and necessary step towards achieving a fulfilling career.
Give this one a read if you haven't obsessively read all those countless Quora and Medium posts. Otherwise, skip it.
“Compelling careers often have complex origins that reject the simple idea that all you have to do is follow your passion.”
This book resonated with me deeply. Nearly every piece of career advice I've come across in the past twenty years says something to the effect of “follow your passion.” As someone who's never quite identified a singular, overwhelming passion, I've experienced tremendous angst throughout my career, wondering if I'm doing the right thing, following the right path.
This book debunks the “follow your passion” cliche and instead encourages the “craftsman mindset” of putting your head down and getting really good at something that's valuable. To quote Newport's blog:
“The Career Craftsman believes that mastery is just the first step in crafting work you love. Once you have the leverage of a rare and valuable skill, you need to apply this leverage strategically to make your working life increasingly fulfulling. It is then — and only then — that you should expect a feeling of passion for your work to truly take hold.” (cite: http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-career-craftsman-manifesto/)
There are many other great principles in the book that I want to chew on, but this idea of rejecting the passion mindset is a tremendous “aha!” for me as I think about what sort of work I want to pursue.
The title sounds a little pompous but I was pleasantly surprised by the book. For one, it busts the myth of the passion hypothesis (“Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life”) I have always been skeptical of that hypothesis so was glad to see it being disproven using research and even anecdotes of people who are held up as examples of passion-driven career. The emphasis on patiently and often painstakingly developing your craftsman (craftsperson?) skills and then cashing in your career capital seems to be how most successful people land on their feet. It takes Gladwell's 10,000 hours to the next level and emphasizes deliberate practice as one of the key things in honing your craft. This applies to not only artists, musicians, athletes, but also programmers, managers, social scientists, etc. This fits right in the growth mindset pantheon as even the person with seemingly the most latent talent has to still practice his craft to stay relevant.
Add social capital to the mix and you'll realize quickly how a certain segment of the population are more likely to “drop everything and travel the world” only to come back to their parent's basement while they recover to look for something that pays the bills. Newport succinctly puts his 5 rules to the test and weaves a coherent path between them toward career success. The advice may not be the easiest to follow but at least it warns you where you may be going wrong.
It's a quick and short read and stays on the point. I recommend it just for the first couple of chapters.
So Good They Can't Ignore You s'attaque à démonter la théorie en vogue de “suivre sa passion” pour “trouver le boulot de ses rêves” et le fait avec brillo, démontrant à quel point cette théorie n'engendre au final qu'une frustration énorme et repousse un réel questionnement en profondeur sur ce que nous pensons vouloir vraiment. L'auteur s'attache à développer un vrai framework de réflexion autour de notre travail et montre la voie sur une carrière dans laquelle chacun pourra vraiment s'épanouir sans illusions.
“If a young Steve Jobs had taken his own advice and decided to only pursue work he loved, we would probably find him today as one of the Los Altos Zen Center's most popular teachers. But he didn't follow this simple advice. Apple Computer was decidedly not born out of passion, but instead was the result of a lucky break—a “small-time” scheme that unexpectedly took off.”
Essential reading for people entering their careers. This books rules against the ill given advice of “follow your passion” or the idea that somehow there's a built in passion and you just need to find it. Instead, this books argues that you need to be good at something first, and passion will follow. Essentially: if you're good at what you do, all else will follow.
This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to build a compelling career for oneself.
Newport presents convincing cases for why the passion is not something that you start with, but rather something that you end up with after going through the mastery process.
The theme of the book is this idea of mastery, which he calls the craftsman mindset, according to which you have to hone your skills to such a degree that people can't ignore you.
After reading this book, you will understand what it takes to create a career that you'll love. You'll know what direction you should go in order to create a purpose, or as Cal calls it, the mission for your career. But for that to happen, you need to have a career capital, which is also his theory that you acquire a career capital after working in an industry and having gone the mastery process (that famous 10,000-hour rule that everyone talks about).
I'm really convinced that if I want to have a passionate career, I must stop dabbling and commit to mastering a field that I'm working in. All the good stuff will unfold, as it did for the people that Newport studied and talked about in this amazing book.
I've been reading Cal Newport's blog for over a decade, so while his hypothesis/theory/philosophy wasn't new to me, I was curious how he'd organize his thoughts in a longer book format. I was not disappointed.
For those not familiar, Newport's ideology boils down to “put aside the question of whether your job is your true passion, and instead turn your focus toward becoming so good they can't ignore you.” Whatever you set out to do, do it to the fullest and always bring your best to the table.
I'd be interested in reading a direct rebuttal to this book, because I find the arguments straightforward and logical. That said, there was one example in the book where Newport failed to recognize survivorship bias (executive assistants on the job longer are happier with their jobs). This isn't necessarily because they grew to love their jobs over time, but rather could be due to people who don't like the job leave early.
Tackles an interesting issue of following a pursuit of craftsmanship or your passion. This author has a fantastic writing style which is very easy to understand. I read the book in 2 sittings due to his clarity explaining and summarizing concepts. Recommended read!
I've been reading his blog for a long while now, so reading this book felt quite familiar. It's not a 5-star book, by all standards, but in my case, the timing for reading this book couldn't be any better.
“Follow your passion” has always been the advice given to people that I've run into. If you love what you do, good things will follow. This book goes completely against that, and I love it for it. The alternate route to passion is following what you're good at, and what you can make a living at, and let passion follow. The premise is that passion follows expertise, and as you get better at something, your passion for it will increase.
The anecdotal stories told by people who “followed their passion” leading them to change their lifestyle only to realize it wasn't their passion after all were compelling as well. For example dropping everything to join a Buddhist Monastery only to realize it's the wrong life path. I could see a lot of amazing advice in this that could counteract the prevailing culture of bad advice on this same subject.
“Follow your passion” has always been the advice given to people that I've run into. If you love what you do, good things will follow. This book goes completely against that, and I love it for it. The alternate route to passion is following what you're good at, and what you can make a living at, and let passion follow. The premise is that passion follows expertise, and as you get better at something, your passion for it will increase.
The anecdotal stories told by people who “followed their passion” leading them to change their lifestyle only to realize it wasn't their passion after all were compelling as well. For example dropping everything to join a Buddhist Monastery only to realize it's the wrong life path. I could see a lot of amazing advice in this that could counteract the prevailing culture of bad advice on this same subject.