We often hear words like “Do what you love and money will follow.”. Or If our passion becomes our work, that is a blessing. Or Living the life of our dreams might be the desire for many of us. To some extent, I used to think the same. But now I have a new perspective on our skill set. I also learned how and where we should apply it. Credit goes to my recent read – “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” by Cal Newport. This book busted many long-held beliefs. Newport has given several examples to bypass the notions we have been holding for several years.

Details:

Title: So Good They Can’t Ignore You

Author: Cal Newport

Pages: 275

Genre: Self-help

Publication: Grand Central Publishing

Cal Newport says following your passion is dangerous. So, what should we do? He has given us four rules.

What are these four rules?

–First rule is Don’t follow your passion

He says, before passion was invented, what did people do? – They worked on their craft and became so good that people can’t ignore them. Newport talked about creating a craftsman mindset rather than a passion mindset.

The passion mindset is where we think about what the world can offer us, and the craftsman mindset talks about what we can offer the world. A passion mindset is how most people approach their work lives. What if we don’t know what we are passionate about? Should we spend years to find our passion?

The craftsman mindset will encourage us to improve at work, regardless of hardships. When we work hard to improve, we update ourselves with rare and valuable traits. We become so good at our work that no one can ignore us. Cal Newport termed this as career capital.

–And this is the second rule –  Become so good that they can’t ignore you.

The second rule reminded me of the book Linchpin by Seth Godin, in which the author stresses the need to become the linchpin. He says, “A genius looks at something that others are stuck on and gets the world unstuck.”

–The third rule might sound odd – Turn down a promotion. In this rule, Newport talked about financial viability. If we try to have control without having enough career capital, then it will not flourish long. When we have enough career capital, we feel confident and it gives us a sense of control. In such a case, our boss would not afford to lose us. No doubt, we will be offered a promotion.

If we accept the promotion, then there is a chance that we might lose control because we will get occupied with job responsibilities. Our career capital may not be adequately utilized. But if we accept the promotion, we should think about the financial viability. We should understand how much we are getting paid for our skills. This does not make us greedy but tells us how much they value our skills. So, if we don’t want to be controlled, turn down the promotion, but if we accept the promotion, check the financial viability.  

–The fourth and last rule is – Think small, act big. Now, we have career capital and control, but still, we do not like our work. It doesn’t seem like our mission. That’s totally fine. Finding a mission in our lives is difficult until we go deeper into that field. Until and unless we are best in our field, our mission will not be clear to us. Newport talked about two approaches: the top-down and bottom-up approach. In the top-down approach, we set a goal and then calculate backward how we can achieve it. It is hard to get success in this approach. Because our efforts are based on estimation.

On the contrary, a bottom-up approach can make our path clear. With time, experience, and practice, we gain new perspectives, and our vision of the future becomes clearer. Setting small goals that sum up and take us toward the big goal will polish our skills at each step. There will be ongoing learning, and we will become so good that nobody can ignore us.

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Recap of the four rules:

Final thoughts!

We are so used to of hearing passion and happiness together that Newport’s first rule may seem hard to adapt. But putting together all four rules makes more sense. This book can be a perfect gift for someone who is about to start their career. If you are in the middle of your career, it will help you to invest time in building skills that matter.