Book Sips #18 — ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ by Cal Newport
Passion won’t let you anywhere unless you take care of building a set of skills by deliberate practice.
With this bold premise, Cal Newport in his ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love’ accepts the challenge of convincing us about the importance of being persistent and disciplined to become an expert on your practice and then be able to set your own life conditions. This is a productivity book, but seasoned with motivational examples that will foster in the reader the urge to always go the extra mile in a healthy manner. A sip:
‘The more you try to force it, I learned, the less likely you are to succeed. True missions, it turns out, require two things. First you need career capital, which requires patience. Second, you need to be ceaselessly scanning your always-changing view of the adjacent possible in your field, looking for the next big idea. This requires a dedication to brainstorming and exposure to new ideas. Combined, these two commitments describe a lifestyle, not a series of steps that automatically spit out a mission when completed’
When the going gets tough… well, just make sure you’re learning about it!
#joshdixit
So Good They Can’t Ignore You
Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
by Cal Newport
Why read?
Becoming more aware of your own potential, understand what takes to get to a high level of expertise on what you’re doing
304 pages
Grand Central Publishing (2012)
Get this book (amazon.com) (amazon.de)