Cal Newport is a Professor in a Computer Science Department. When he was entering the ‘academic-job market’ he thought more intensively about people who end up loving what they do and what are the common principles that they follow. He was at such a point in his career, where his decisions might have an enormous influence on his future.
He studied the career advice of prominent people. Steve Jobs in his commencement speech advised graduates to follow their passion. The book shelf labeled with career advice is full of books suggesting to do what you love. But Cal Newport knew there is something suspicious with this kind of thinking, and his research confirmed his doubts.
Don’t follow your passion!
Cal’s career advice number one is to not follow your passion. He claims that fantasizing about a dream job can make one’s life miserable. He shows example of people who followed their seeming true calling and once they achieved it they weren’t happier at all. Conversely, individuals who love their job and career didn’t have the passion at the beginning. This came with experience. They were building their skills slowly but persistently, gradually gathering career capital. Yet, just practicing is not enough and will not guarantee reaching an expert level. The best way to hone skills is purposeful practice. Anders Ericsson, who studied peak performers, coined this term. As deliberate practice, he defined the constant and planned endeavour to improve in some kind of skill with help of continual feedback.
When enough career capital is gathered, it can be exchanged for more control. Gaining more control makes people happier as it fulfills one of humans` psychological needs – need for autonomy. Newport argues that rare and valuable skills are necessary conditions, without which any pursuit of control might be useless.
A fire of passion can be found in people who connected their job with a mission. A clear and catchy mission empowers to pursue bigger goals and differentiates from other professionals. However, it is not always apparent which mission to choose. Cal argues that to identify a true mission, one must get to the cutting edge of one’s field and keep eyes open to spot innovations.
People who love their jobs are often popular. To have a career you love, you need to be well known, at least within your field. If nobody knows about your skills, then it is difficult to have control over what you do as you only do what is available. On the other side, if there is a demand for someone with your skills and you are an authority in your field, you can choose the work that suits you best and therefore gain more control. The key element is to create something that people will remark to others, and it must be created in an environment that supports such remarking.
Amid the shiny and catchy slogans that tell people to throw everything away and do what they love, this book provides a reasonable and well-researched counterbalance. In the world full of distractions it is easy to find another shiny object, yet to pursue a good career we need a strategic plan and perseverance.