Book of the Week: So Good They Can't Ignore You
20 May 2013
This week’s book is So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport. Rule #1 Don’t Follow Your Passion “Don’t Follow Your Passion” is something you write to sell your book. Most people give the opposite advice and tell you to follow your passion. People such as the experts in 30 Lessons for Living tell you to pursue passion and purpose instead of taking the job that pays the most. Sounds nice, but the problem with following your passion is that most people don’t know what their passion is. This leads to uncertainty and mind wandering when you’re supposed to be focused on the here and now.
Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless. - Yoda, Star Wars
Sure passion can be full of excitement and adventure, but you won’t become a Career Jedi by chasing passion. Excitement and adventure find Jedi. Rule #2 Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill) Cal talks about adopting the craftsman’s mindset. You need a rare and valuable skill that you can use to benefit others. People don’t start out with rare and valuable skills, so how do you get there? Adam Savage of Myth Busters fame talked about work ethic on his podcast. Even if you’re doing something that isn’t fun, you should do it well. Only when you do it well, can you do a bit of the fun stuff. Then if you do the fun stuff well, maybe you can do a little more. Eventually the majority of your work will be the fun stuff. You never start out doing the fun stuff. Adam Savage didn’t wake up one day and decide he wanted to be a myth buster. Rule #3 Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the Importance of Control) Mad h4x0r skills are tool, not the goal. What people need to be happy is control and autonomy. You need skills to back up control you are given. Sometimes retaining control involves turning down a promotion.
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. - Princess Leia, Star Wars
Your company will want to tighten its grip on you by giving you promotions and stock options. If you want to maintain control, you need to resist. Rule #4 Think Small, Act Big (Or, the Importance of Mission) Once you’ve amassed enough skill to be on the cutting edge, you need to use little bets to explore the frontier for new opportunities until something sticks. The law of financial viability: If people are willing to pay you to do something, odds are you have amassed enough skill to do it. Eventually you should find your mission and live happily ever after. If can’t be passionate about what you’re doing, then you should be doing something else. Purchase So Good They Can’t Ignore You on Amazon.com or check it out from your local library.