Cal Newport was one of those college students who wanted to hack into studying to get the most profit out of so little investment. His blog, Study Hacks, gained so much attention since its launch because he presents no-nonsense tips on how to improve students’ grades without spending so much time studying. In So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Dr. Newport seeks to answer one question: Why do some people end up loving what they do, while so many others fail at this goal? The book centers around the reasons why “Follow your passion” is bad advice. It is an engaging and eye-opening book that will give anyone the courage to do better at anything.
He started by telling the story of Thomas, a man who gave up his job to follow his passion only to realize later that he was still unhappy. The story aims to make the readers see that following your passion does not necessarily lead to happiness or that feeling of fulfillment we seem to associate with the “dream job.”
Newport provides four main rules in the book, namely:
1. Don’t follow your passion.
2. Be so good they can’t ignore you. (Or, the importance of skill)
3. Turn down a promotion. (Or, the importance of control)
4. Think small, act big. (Or, the importance of mission)
In the first part, he argues that passion is rare, takes time, and is usually just the side effect of mastery. After researching through journals and interviewing people, Newport arrived at the conclusion that the more we focus on loving what we do, the less we end up doing it. I agree. It’s like looking at someone you love whom you think is perfect but actually isn’t. Once you find that single flaw, it’s hard to go back to that feeling because you’re expecting perfection from a flawed individual. We are just so drawn to the idea that there is that one perfect job out there for us and if we find, we can be happy. So instead of doing our best with what we have, we instead dream about something else, making us unfulfilled at the present. This is the danger. As has been advocated by many philosophers, what we really have now is the present and nothing else. The past is gone, and the future is yet to come. But we concentrate too much on the could-bes that might not even be realized.
However, he doesn’t absolutely discard passion as a component of success. Newport says that for some people, the passion hypothesis works. However, these are rare and are mostly concentrated on athletes and musicians. For the rest of us, “follow you passion” is bad advice because it may lead to impulsive and impractical decisions that ultimately make us unhappy.
The second rule, which is similar to the book’s title, focuses on the craftsman mindset. According to the author, the difference between the craftsman mindset and the passion mindset is that the latter makes you focus on what the world can do for you while the former makes you focus on what you can do for the world. This is one of the reasons why the passion hypothesis leads to unhappiness. We are constantly thinking about what’s wrong with the work we are doing, with our environment, with the people we work with, as if we are expecting everything to be perfect before we could do our jobs well. The problem is the world does not offer this perfection. There will always be office gossip, incompetent workmates, and hellish bosses even if you’re already doing the work you love. Adapting the craftsman mindset shifts our attention to what we can do to improve our skills so we can be better at what we do. I’ve mentioned earlier that Newport wrote that passion is usually just the side effect of mastery. He suggests putting aside the question of whether your job is your true passion and instead focusing on being so good at what you do. Think about it. Don’t you always feel good about doing something that you’re good at and producing outputs you can be proud of? The happiness and fulfillment comes after the mastery of the skill required for the job. As Newport writes, “You adapt the craftsman mindset first and the passion follows.” Of course, doing this is not easy. There’s deliberate practice involved in order to have rare and valuable skills. And this takes sacrifice and getting out of your comfort zone. This is why not a lot of people succeed.
On the other hand, the third rule focuses on the importance of control. Imagine this. Let’s say you want to become a writer. It’s what you love doing, and you know you’re happiest when you’re crafting stories. However, it has come to the point where you’re now bombarded with deadlines from your editor. You have to finish x numbers of chapters by Monday. The book has to be launched next month, and you need to hurry up. Suddenly, your passion feels more and more like burdensome work. Then it makes you unhappy. Why? Because you’ve lost control of your time. Someone else is dictating what you should do and when it needs to be done. I’ve witnessed at least two incidences in my ten-month stay at my first job where employees literally walked out of the room because they were upset with the work schedule. They were required to show up at work on certain days that they already had plans for. This can make anyone unhappy.
This is why this chapter on control is an essential part of the book. In this chapter, Newport points out how having control of your life, especially your time, can add to the overall feeling of fulfillment. However, he warns against wanting control so much without having the required career capital first. People often have this idea that they could just drop everything in the pursuit of their dreams. This sounds like a brave move, but is oftentimes foolish. There are no guarantees to success and, like some of the people described in the book, you might discover later that the dream job you had in mind does not make you happy after all. So what should you do? Should this possible failure stop you from pursuing your dreams? Newport says no. Instead, he recommends using the Law of Financial Viability, which states
When deciding whether to follow an appealing pursuit that will introduce more control into your work life, seek evidence of whether people are willing to pay for it. If you find this evidence, continue. If not, move on.
Thus, if you have enough career capital and what you want to do can generate enough financial resources to support you, go for it. But don’t just impulsively take the leap and hope for the best.
Finally, in the fourth and last rules, Newport argues that a unifying mission to one’s working life can be a source of great satisfaction. He writes that a mission makes people more fulfilled because it will make them feel like they’re doing something that maximize their impact on the world. However, he cautions once more about the importance of having a career capital first before pursuing a mission because doing otherwise would not be sustainable. The chapter is entitled “Think Small, Act Big” because it is suggested here that making little bets, i.e., small steps that generate concrete feedback, can lead you to the discovery and fulfillment of your mission, to make you realize what the next step should be. By doing so, you are slowly discovering what work will lead you to fulfill your mission, which makes being passionate about what you do so much easier.
After discussing the abovementioned four rules, Newport concluded by demonstrating how he applied these rules in his own life. At the final part, he went back to the story of Thomas and how the latter realized that he didn’t need to have the perfect job to attain happiness at work. He just needed to approach the work he already has in a better way.
Overall, I found the book not only inspiring but also eye-opening. The language used is simple, and the ideas are presented direct-to-the-point. I have never found a book like this that takes a widely believed idea and crushes it down to its core.
Self-help books are usually written in a manner that encourages you and inspires you to go for your dreams. This book, however, reads like a best friend giving you tough love. Newport highlights the importance of hard work and dedication in improving your skills in enjoying your present occupation. So far, this is the best self-help book I have ever read. It turned my mind around completely by debunking the very foundation of my belief in how to go about doing something fulfilling. It made me see the reality that has been staring me in the face since I was young—all the happiest people I know did not plan their course. Instead, they found something they think they can be good at and worked hard in being the best in their chosen field.
It's a Ping Thing 