So Good They Can't Ignore You Book Summary - So Good They Can't Ignore You Book explained in key points

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So Good They Can't Ignore You summary

Name: So Good They Can't Ignore You
Rating: 4.5 (480 reviews)
Author: Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

4.5 (480 ratings)

19 mins

Topics

Career Progress Job Hunt

Table of Contents

So Good They Can't Ignore You
Summary of 8 key ideas

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What's in it for me?

Probably, at one point or another, someone, somewhere has told you that the secret to success and happiness is to “follow your passion.” This is the slogan of countless self-help gurus sporting fake tans around the world. But is the advice good? If so, why did Steve Jobs build one of the most successful companies in the world when his passion was to become a Zen master?

So Good They Can’t Ignore You (2012) does away with the “passion trap” and instead looks at more realistic and practical ways to succeed in and be satisfied with your career. You will learn how to develop the rare and valuable skills that great jobs require. You will also learn how to parlay those skills into control and autonomy in your work – a "must" for job satisfaction. You will also discover how you can find your own mission: an inspiring goal to strive for professionally.

Passion is rare, and striving for a job you’re passionate about often leads to unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

"The passion hypothesis" taught by life coaches and authors urges individuals to "do what they love." The gist is this: find your passion first, and then meaningful work will appear at your fingertips.

But is passion necessarily the right path?

Don’t do what you love. Learn to love what you do – by acquiring mastery, autonomy and relatedness.

It would seem that finding a passion first and then creating a career around it isn’t the route to success. But if it isn’t, how else can you be happy with what you do?

The answer might lie in experience. A survey of college administrative assistants found that this was the determining factor in the workers’ satisfaction. Although the assistants' job seems boring, when they were asked about their work, their answers varied. A third considered it a job – merely a way to pay the bills. Another third termed it a career or a path toward something better. The final third considered it a calling, or an integral part of their life and identity. The more experience the assistant had, the more likely they were to enjoy their work and consider it a vocation. So passion comes with time, since you are more likely to be satisfied with what you do when you've become good at it and have developed a sense of efficacy and strong relationships with your co-workers.

Adopt the craftsman mind-set, practice hard and get out of your comfort zone.

The passion mind-set revolves around the question: “What do I really want?” This means people who have it tend to wonder if their job is right for them. They focus on the value their jobs provide them, and are acutely aware of everything they dislike about their work. The result? Their job satisfaction and overall happiness decreases.

By contrast, the "craftsman mind-set" asks: What value can I bring to my job?

To get a great job, collect career capital by acquiring rare and valuable skills.

The craftsman mind-set is helpful in any career because, by encouraging deliberate practice, it helps you acquire specialized skills and mastery. That's a good thing, because people with rare skills are more likely to get great jobs. These are the rare jobs where workers can be creative and have control over what they do.

So how do you get one?

Acquire career capital to maintain control and autonomy in your work.

Research has shown that being in control is a key ingredient to a happy, meaningful life. This is also true of work, where there are a few control-related traps to avoid.

For a start, we often think that control acquired without career capital is sustainable. It isn't.

Use the craftsman mind-set to find a motivating mission that's a unifying goal for your work life.

Every job is more motivating if you have a mission. People who have a useful, meaningful goal in their work are more satisfied with their work and are better at handling even stressful work.

Harvard biologist Pardis Sabeti, for instance, has a mission to use modern computing technology to fight old diseases. Although she works in a demanding field, this mission allows her to enjoy her work and even leaves her with energy for other creative activities too.

Success in a mission requires making bold bets and standing out from the crowd.

The first step towards arriving at the cutting edge of your field is acquiring career capital, and you'll find a mission when you get there. But when you do, how do you put your mission into practice?

You know the old adage “Rome wasn't built in a day”? Well, neither are careers.

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What is So Good They Can't Ignore You about?

How can you find a job that you are good at and enjoy? This book advocates the "craftsman mind-set" of patiently developing skills instead of the typical "follow-your-passion" advice, and offers practical solutions to acquiring and maintaining job satisfaction.

Who should read So Good They Can't Ignore You?

Anyone who wants to know why “follow your passion” is bad advice
Anyone interested in alternative routes to job satisfaction and success

About the Author

Cal Newport earned a PhD in computer science in 2009. He was a post-doctoral associate at MIT and was en route to becoming a professor when he learned how frustrating looking for an academic job could be. He wanted to stay in the United States for family reasons, but learned that it might mean starting over from scratch. This book is about the answers he found to the question, how do you end up loving what you do?

Categories with So Good They Can't Ignore You

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