July 25, 2017

Cal Newport Career Advice

Cal Newport: Career Advice to Find Work You Love

Cal Newport has written another great book. His latest effort, So Good They Can’t Ignore You asks the important question:

Why do some people end up loving what they do, while so many others don’t?

And his reply is not to follow your passion.

Who is Cal Newport?

Cal Newport is an Associate Professor in Computer Science at Georgetown University. He’s also the author of several books including Deep Work – it was the Book Rapper Book of the Year for 2016. He also writes a popular blog on study hacks.

The Big Idea

Cal Newport’s big idea is… If you want to find work you love (in your business and in your personal career), forget about passion and emotion. Instead, become a craftsman and focus on the value you’re creating in the work that you do.

Speed RAP

A popular piece of career advice is to figure out what you’d like to do and then find an opportunity to do just that. This fairy tale will cause you trouble. Your passion doesn’t come from the work. It comes from you. Stop and think about that. Instead, grow your skills and master them. Working right trumps finding the right work.

Your Challenge

Create love for your work. Create a project that forces you to learn new skills and create new results for others.

It’s Steve’s Fault!
Trading Great
Passion is Rare
Passion is Dangerous
Why Skills Matter
Career Capital
How to Become a Craftsman
The Five Habits of a Craftsman
Career Control
Avoid the Control Traps
Why Mission is Critical
The Capital Driven Mission

Book Rapper Says

For me, Cal Newport’s book delivered a crucial piece of Project Passion. The number one reason we fail to complete our projects is a lack of passion, motivation and inspiration. However, to reach our goal the real challenge is to be passionate about the things we don’t want to do. When we can achieve this we can make anything happen.

More from Book Rapper

If you want the full issue of Find Work You Love derived from Cal Newport’s book So Good They Can’t Ignore It, more than 50 other raucous RAPs and a few new issues coming soon, subscribe to Book Rapper for only $97.