So Good They Cant Ignore You - Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Cal Newport is renowned for his groundbreaking insights into focus and productivity. He is the author of Deep Work, Slow Productivity, So Good They Can't Ignore You and Digital Minimalism. I first heard about him on Ali Abdaal's channel, I remember it was a video of Ali summarizing Deep Work, one of Cal's books which I eventually bought, and even got to review some of the initial chapters. That review is somewhere in this blog

I have since read two of his books, and plan to purchase another one before the year ends. Today I focus on So Good They Can't Ignore You.

Why do some people end up loving what they do for a living, while so many fail at this goal? It starts with mindset. Do you have a craftsman mindset or a passion mindset?

People who love their jobs have a craftsman mindset, not a passion mindset. Let me differentiate the two:

A passion mindset focuses on what the world can offer you, while a craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world. 

When you focus only on what your work offers you, it makes you hyperaware of what you don’t like about it, leading to chronic unhappiness. This is especially true for entry‐level positions, which, by definition, are filled with challenging projects and autonomy—these come later. When you enter the working world with a passion mindset, the annoying tasks you’re assigned or the frustrations of corporate bureaucracy can become too much to handle.

With a passion mindset, all you think about is what can the world offer you, and what job can sustain your preexisting passions.

A craftsman mindset on the other hand helps you seek areas you can improve and have something valuable to offer the world. It allows you to trust the process despite how boring and tedious it may be.

No one owes you a great career, you need to earn it - and the process won't be easy. Put your head down and plug away at getting really damn good! Traits that make a great job great are rare and valuable and therefore if you want a great job, you need to build up rare and valuable skills - career capital.

With career capital, you will experience:

1. Creativity - you have the chance to have more say over your work and implement your own ideas
2. Impact - The quality of your work will be visible and will have a noticeable impact.
3. Control - you will have a say over how, when and where you work.

Traits that define great work are bought with career capital. They don't come from matching your work to your innate passion. You don't have to sweat whether you've found your calling - almost any work can become the foundation of a compelling career.

To develop career capital, ask the following :

• What particular skill does my team, company or industry lack at the moment?
• What technological expertise is in high demand in my industry?
• What skills do the people at the top of my profession seem to have?

Once you've got your answers, use deliberate practice to develop that skill. Cal's book deep dive, offers the perfect guide.

• Carve out periods of undistracted focus to learn and improve.
• Push yourself to the edge of your ability
• Seek immediate feedback and mentorship.

Always be asking: Am I becoming increasingly rare (how long will it take to train someone else to do what I do) and incredibly valuable (how badly will people miss my contribution if I quit)?

If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers. Deliberate practice is the key to becoming so good they can't ignore you! By deliberate practice I mean taking time to learn and develop the rare skill sets, it could be coding, financial modelling etc

When should you not bother to approach your work with a craftsman mindset?

• The job presents fewer opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable
• The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world
• The job forces you to work with people you dislike.

In pursuit of a good career, be aware of these two control traps:

1. It's dangerous to pursue more control in your working life before you have career capital to offer in exchange. Control without career capital is not sustainable
2. Once you have career capital to acquire more control in your work life, you become valuable enough to your employer that they will fight your efforts to gain more autonomy. 

To avoid the control traps:

• Pursue a bid for more control if you have evidence it is something people are willing to pay you for. Money is an effective judge of value when it comes to decisions affecting your core career. Cal calls this the law of financial viability.

In summary, Cal argues that compelling careers often have complex origins that reject the simple idea that all you have to do is follow your passion. This is because:

• Career Passions Are Rare. At the core of the passion hypothesis is that we all have preexisting passions waiting to be discovered. This was disputed after a study was done on a group of 539 students and the top five passions identified were things like dance, hockey, skiing, reading and swimming. Much of what we call passions don't have much to offer when it comes to choosing a job. 
• Passion takes time. In the book, employees from a variety of occupations were surveyed to find out how they think about their work, and it was discovered that the happiest, most passionate employees are not those who followed their passion, but instead, those who have been around long enough to become good at what they do. 
• Passion is a side effect of mastery. If you have experience, then you've had time to get better at what you do and develop a feeling of efficacy. It gives you time to develop strong relationships with coworkers and see many examples of your work benefiting others. This way, you eventually end up loving what you do.

This is a book I definitely recommend. Others include Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, Carol Dweck's Mindset and James Clear's Atomic Habit. Read and implement the lessons shared in these books and see your life transform.

Reflecting on my journey, growing up at some point  I wanted to be a lawyer, then an engineer but I ended up doing BCOMM😂. I remember doing an interfaculty transfer to go to engineering school, thank God that application failed. I eventually fell in love with Finance which I still pursue and practice to date. My experience is passion is not static, it may change as you grow..life happens. Just look for a skill that is rare and valuable, put deliberate practice into becoming so good that they can't ignore you,  and you'll unlock the freedom you greatly seek.