So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
- ISBN-10
- 1455509108
- ISBN-13
- 9781455509102
- Category
- Business & Economics
- Pages
- 162
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012-09-18
- Publisher
- Grand Central Publishing
- Author
- Cal Newport
Description
In an unorthodox approach, Georgetown University professor Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice, and sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving their careers. Not only are pre-existing passions rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work, but a focus on passion over skill can be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers. Cal reveals that matching your job to a pre-existing passion does not matter. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it. With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love, and will change the way you think about careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Texts So Good He Can't Ignore: Sassy Texting Secrets for Attracting High-Quality Men (and Keeping the One You Want)
By Bruce Bryans"Did you know that men secretly use texting as a way to "re-screen" a woman's romantic value?
-
How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out)
By Cal NewportIn How to Be a High School Superstar, Cal Newport explores the world of relaxed superstars—students who scored spots at the nation’s top colleges by leading uncluttered, low stress, and authentic lives.
-
Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
By Peter SimsLight, bright, and packed with tidy anecdotes” (The Wall Street Journal). What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, and the story developers at Pixar films all have in common?
-
How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students
By Cal NewportThe essential guide to getting ahead once you’ve gotten in—proven strategies for making the most of your college years, based on winning secrets from the country's most successful students “Highly recommended because it is full of ...
-
Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work
By Alison GreenIdeal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better.
-
Power of Ignored Skills: Change the way you think and decide
By Manoj TripathiThis book not only highlights problems but also offer solutions to some of the most complex problems. This book is a handy resource for a student, a leader or anyone climbing the corporate ladders.
-
The Moment You Can't Ignore: When Big Trouble Leads to a Great Future
By Barry Dornfeld, Malachi O'ConnorStephen L. Schensul, Jean J. Schensuk, and Margaret D. LeCompte, Essential Ethnographic Methods: Observations, Interviews, and Questionnaires, vol. ... See Franz Boas, Kwakiutl Ethnography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).
-
Three Weeks to Say Goodbye: A Novel
By C.J. BoxAngelina's birth father, a teenager, never signed away his parental rights—and he wants her back. Worse, his father, a powerful Denver judge, will use every trick in the book to make sure it happens.
-
The Time-Block Planner: A Daily Method of Deep Work in a Distracted World
By Cal NewportThe Time-Block Planner: A Daily Method of Deep Work in a Distracted World
-
A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload
By Cal NewportIn A World without Email, he argues for a workplace in which clear processes--not haphazard messaging--define how tasks are identified, assigned and reviewed.