The Bad Advice of “Following Your Passion”
Passion. I found a similar curious mindset when I discovered the writings of Cal Newport. Newport is a professor of computer programming at Georgetown University. He is also the author of this book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. Although he teaches computer programming, the premise of this book is based on his quest to answer the following question, “how do people end up loving what they do?” He goes on to say that “following your passion” is bad advice. The book is the result of his research on this topic.
Newport breaks down his research into four rules:
- #1 Rule – Don’t Follow Your Passion
- #2 Rule – Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You
- #3 Rule – Turn Down a Promotion
- #4 Rule – Think Small, Act Big
Passion Mindset vs. Craftsman Mindset
Newport seems to develop these rules or strategies from a contrarian viewpoint on following one’s passion. He does not buy-in to the Passion Hypothesis: “the key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a job that matches is passion.” (p. 4). In other words, this is similar to the current mantra, “do what you love and the money will follow.” Newport argues differently. He says that passion takes time, and it is rare that one has a pre-existing passion that is waiting to be discovered. Instead, Newport advocates for a “craftsman mindset,” focusing on building skills and a career that you love, which takes time. He differentiates the “passion and craftsman mindsets” by two questions:
1. Passion mindset asks, “what can the world offer you?”
2. Craftsman mindset asks, “what can I offer the world?” (p.37-39)
Crafting the Work You Love
The craftsman mindset encourages a heads-down, hard work ethic. Focus on getting good at something and allow the passion to follow your skill. Craft the work you love, and your passion will follow you in your career. As the title of the book says, “so good they can’t ignore you.” The title is actually a quote by Steve Martin which was his advice to aspiring musicians and entertainers – to work hard and develop your skill to a level of excellence that stands out, to “be so good they can’t ignore you.” (p. 33) Newport’s insights throughout the book are solid and quite thought-provoking. I think he is on to something, some profound wisdom to consider when seeking and building a meaningful career.
I summarized my key insight and wrote it in one of the margins in the book: don’t follow your passion; let your passion follow you in the work you do, in the life you live.
Below are a few more insights and key learnings from the four rules proposed by Cal Newport.
#1 Rule – Don’t Follow Your Passion
- How do we find the work we will eventually love?
- Newport’s premise is that “following your passion” is bad advice
- Reality – it takes time to get good at anything
- Force yourself through the work, the hard work of becoming skilled at something
#2 Rule – Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You
- Focus is on the importance of skill
- Master the art of continual improvement
- Traits that define great work:
- Creativity
- Impact
- Control
#3 Rule – Turn Down a Promotion
- Focus is on the importance of control
- You need to get good before you can expect good work
- Control over what you do and how you do it increases happiness, engagement, and a sense of fulfillment
#4 Rule – Think Small, Act Big
- Focus is on the importance of mission
- Power of mission is to have a clear and unifying focus for your career
- A career mission is an organizing purpose to your working career (p. 220)
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