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Reddit mentions of So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Sentiment score: 14
Reddit mentions: 17

We found 17 Reddit mentions of So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. Here are the top ones.

So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
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Release dateSeptember 2012

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Found 17 comments on So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love:

u/haloshade · 47 pointsr/CasualConversation

Passion is overrated. Instead do what you're good at and work on your passions on the side. When I was your age I was super passionate about parkour and freerunning, I wanted to open up my own parkour gym and compete on American Ninja Warrior. A couple of years later that passion died and I suddenly became passionate about writing, I wanted to write the next epic space opera. But then that died out and I became passionate about podcasting (which is still my current side-project). But all the while I was working on those passions I was majoring in mechanical engineering, because I've always love science and I knew I was good at it.

I'm not passionate about my job, it's a boring one in electrical utilities, literally the least sexiest industry, but I'm good at it and I know that my job improves the wellbeing of the people in my city. However I use the money that generates to do all sorts of things I actually want to do, like work on my podcast, or go to music fests, donating to charities I believe in, or take a big vacation with friends.

I highly recommend you check out the book So Good They Can't Ignore you by Cal Newport. The thesis of the book is that people who follow their passion, or end up on a lifelong search for their calling usually end up feeling worse off in their lives than people who build upon their existing strengths. I loved the book because it put so much into perspective for me such as my career, and my happiness. I really wish I read it at your age, and not at 24.

u/PMHaroldHolt · 11 pointsr/financialindependence

I shudder to think how many people have wasted their lives forever chasing their "passion".

I'd strongly recommend reading: https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6

if you can find a copy at your library.

That said, honestly if you're finding it boring as an undegraduate.. Stop studying it. UNLESS you can do some work experience & find you enjoy it. Plenty of subject matter areas where the undergraduate academic side is not remotely representative of the day to day reality. That's a double edged sword that can cut both ways, some people live the university student part, but not the actual work.

Honestly if I were in your shoes & I didn't have any dependents, I'd:

  1. put my studies on hold

  2. Get a full time job with a hard end date. 3 or 6 months, no matter what

  3. Find some interesting low cost locations with waterfalls to jump off and waves to surf & go


    There is never an easier time in your life for this sort of travel. Have some amazing experiences, rough it (so even suburban middle class will seem like incredible luxury), do a lot of soul searching & then worry about the academia & career stuff later. Set hard deadlines that you're only going to go for X months / years, so you don't end up a 30 something beach hobo (or do, it's your life, maybe you'll be incredibly happy with a shack in the dunes) & give it a shot.

    Right now it sounds as if you want to achieve some magical passionate paid employment to fund adventures later, when there is never going to be an easier time to have an adventure than now.
u/nachiketajoshi · 9 pointsr/GetMotivated

An alternative perspective to that - you do deep work, develop so much expertise that it becomes your passion without you realizing it. I think Cal Newport has a point.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6

And beyond this, so many careers have overlap in useful skills for being successful: both a teacher and a film director need to be good storytellers, well-organized, develop empathy etc.

u/_bartleby · 3 pointsr/financialindependence

I hear you. I'm more in the, "I can find just about anything to be interesting, but not a lot to be professionally passionate about." The book So Good They Can't Ignore You really helped me adjust my attitude, expectations, and strategy for my career.

u/RadagastTheBrownie · 2 pointsr/findapath

I just finished reading a book that I really wish I'd read five or six years ago: So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport. Basically, it points out flaws in the "follow your passion" ideology and offers an alternative route of developing marketable skills and selling them. You sound like you have some decent skills, so if you focus on honing the skills you enjoy to the point of being able to innovate them and push to the next opportunities, you can do well.

Dan Miller's 48 Days to the Work You Love is also handy for cross-transferable skills and career-hopping.

Hope these help!

u/pubmasterb4b4 · 2 pointsr/Accounting

You should try reading So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love. You can find happiness in any career.

Also check out The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This will teach you how to derive happiness from internal resources and not external. It's a balancing act between physical, mental, social, and spiritual fulfillment.

One last resource, Mr Money Mustache. Working towards Financial Independence is one of the best things you can possibly do in life, regardless of what your career path is. Once you remove money as a deciding factor in everything you do, you become able to make decisions based off of what you want to do (not have to do because I gotta pay the bills!).

u/rainingout · 1 pointr/getdisciplined

I started reading Cal Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. I would recommend as worth your time given your current life situation.

u/ckirksey3 · 1 pointr/SelfDrivingCars

You should focus on developing meaningful career assets. Understanding the theory or having exposure through data entry won't be enough. This book has helped me understand that building my own robot is the only sure-fire way to get hired onto one of those teams.

u/ginger_beer_m · 1 pointr/singapore

Relax bro, don't worry too much. Have you found a gf yet? If not, you should ;) Teenage love is a memory that you will treasure when you get older.

Regarding work, just make sure you're skilled and have something to offer to society. Things will tend to sort itself out when the time comes. I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6. In regard of study, go for the hardest thing you can manage in uni. The idea is to constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Also, Singapore is not the whole world. Keep your mind open and don't ignore the possibility of leaving Singapore one day. It is very common for people in larger countries to move around within cities in the same country and experience a different culture etc. In Singapore, this is not possible, so travel and broaden your mind as much as possible.

Finally, fuck the tuition and CCA. Don't do them if you don't want to. In place of tuition, form a study group with your friends. If you wanna do CCA, make sure it's something you enjoy, otherwise you're wasting your time.

u/iserane · 1 pointr/changemyview

I'd put ~10/20 in the STEM qualification. In the first link, 10/20 are STEM, or 7/10 if you go by those who classify things as going well (as opposed to satisfied).

I'd highly recommend this book, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love or one of his talks, which is pretty much entirely about happiness with regards to work. The gist of it is that follow your passion is terrible advice, and that you should follow your skills (do what you're good at).

>but all of the examples that are listed in that link you provide are jobs with clearly established purposes

One of the studies cited, Jobs, Careers, and Callings: People’s Relations to Their Work talks a lot about how people classify their work. For commentary, this article goes over everything.

>Interestingly enough, you cannot necessarily predict someone’s orientation based on their job title or income. In fact, Wrzesniewski’s research has found that most professions are fairly evenly divided—with about a third of workers falling into each category.

As-in STEM jobs don't necessarily have a higher proportion of individuals who identify their jobs as careers or callings compared to non-STEM jobs.

Again, this is all with the caveat of using job satisfaction as opposed to overall happiness, and the inability to separate being good with STEM from being in a STEM field.

u/Dorksim · 1 pointr/jobs

There has been a push back on the "follow your passion" mindset when looking for meaningful work over the past couple years. It seems good in theory, but it's becoming more and more impractical as the job landscape shifts.

Personally, I much prefer the message coming out of "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cam Newport. It resonated more with me, and revolves around the idea that becoming skillful to become passionate about your work is more productive and obtainable then striving after work that you might consider your current passion.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You-ebook/dp/B0076DDBJ6

u/givingpie · 1 pointr/AskMen

>Pick something that you wouldn’t mind investing years in mastering. If you already have some skills, then it might make sense (though is by no means necessary) to start there, as you already have a head start on mastery, but you should still expect years of deliberate improvement before deep passion can blossom for your work.

That's Cal Newport. READ HIS BOOK. It's gonna clear up a lot of misconceptions we young people have about picking a career.

u/chicagobob · 1 pointr/AdviceAnimals

So Good They Can't Ignore You

I just bought this. Apparently his main thesis is: don't follow your passion for fulfillment, but get insanely good at something and then you'll (usually) get true satisfaction from being an expert. And, following your passion to determine what to become an expert in isn't the best route.

u/jchiu003 · 1 pointr/OkCupid

Depends on how old you are.

  • Middle school: I really enjoyed this, this, and this, but I don't think I can read those books now (29) without cringing a little bit. Especially, Getting Things Done because I already know how to make to do list, but I still flip through all 3 books occastionally.

  • High school: I really enjoyed this, this, and this, but if you're a well adjusted human and responsible adult, then I don't think you'll find a lot of helpful advice from these 6 books so far because it'll be pretty basic information.

  • College: I really enjoyed this, this, and started doing Malcolm Gladwell books. The checklist book helped me get more organized and So Good They Can't Ignore You was helpful starting my career path.
  • Graduate School: I really enjoyed this, this, and this. I already stopped with most "self help" books and reading more about how to manage my money or books that looked interesting like Stiff.

  • Currently: I'm working on this, this, and this. Now I'm reading mostly for fun, but all three of these books are way out of my league and I have no idea what their talking about, but they're areas of my interest. History and AI.