English Tutor Dad

I finished another book, so that’s book six for the year. I’m a bit ahead of schedule for reading (my goal is twenty books for the year).

The ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You‘ by Cal Newport book really resonated with me. Probably the best book I have read in the last year. The central premise of the book is that it’s very hard to find work that match your passions. The better idea is to chase skills and that will lead to more enjoyment of your work.

Craftsman

The book has a particular focus on developing your skills like a craftsman. Honing your knowledge and skills over many years. That way you have something the world values, rather than looking for what the world can offer you.

The passion should appear if you follow the craftsman mindset.

Now there are some jobs, the author states, where you can’t really apply the craftsman mindset. Where:

• The job gives you few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing rare and valuable skills
• The job is focused on what you think is useless or even actively bad for the world
• The job forces you to work with people you really dislike

Deliberate Practise

The craftsmen improves their skills by deliberate practise. Deliberate practise is where you constantly stretch yourself, staying out of the comfort zone. Non-comfortable learning. Seeking the most effective way to improve your skills. Seeking feedback in relation to your skills. And I think this is the key takeaway, deliberate practise is often not enjoyable.

Deliberate practise not being enjoyable really blew my mind when I read it. I always thought high achievers in certain occupations always enjoyed what they were learning and practising. They were passionate about it but thinking about it, I often heard professional sportspeople say they hate the training but they love the competition.

Career Capital

The author also talks about building career capital via your skills and experience. Time in the industry. Contacts in the industry. Your reputation. All build career capital.

Control

Another concept the author talks about in the book is that once you have career capital in your job, you start gaining control over your job. You become a very valuable person, so you can go on a quest to design the job to suit your needs more. For instance, working from home, working short hours or more flexible hours can be a way of gaining more control. More control over your job boosts your enjoyment of the job. There may be some push back from your employer over your quest for more control or from other people in your life, so you kind of have to be strong in the face of this pushback.

Small Bets

If you can, you need to focus on finding you niche by making small bets about what direction to focus your energy or learning. Then see how they play out to find your area of focus. It’s a journey to find your career path in the world.

Mission Statement

Once you have built up career capital and found your niche you can work out your mission statement.

Summary

So in summary his three rules are:

• Rule #1: Don’t follow your passion
• Rule #2: Build skills instead (Be so good they can’t ignore you)
• Rule #3: Turn down a promotion (Or, the importance of having control)
• Rule #4: Think small, act big (small bets, act big when you work out your mission)

I think this is a fascinating book. Whereas, some books only have one idea. This book has so many interesting ideas. I’m probably not doing it justice with my notes. It’s easy to read a summary of a book and it doesn’t really sink in. If you read a non-fiction book, I believe, it changes the way you think in a fundamental way. Like you are doing a Vulcan mind meld (Star Trek reference) with the author. I feel like when you read a non-fiction book, the authors brain and your brain start to sync.

There are definitely parts of this book I haven’t written about. He also has a number of other books that I might end up reading.

Work Friends

Maybe the book scores a bit of a miss in one area for me. They have done studies and the people that enjoy work the most and are the most engaged at work, have workplace best friends. This was always a focus of mine. Maybe I didn’t want to climb to the top of my field and become the master craftsman but I had fun at work with my friends. 🙂

Rosanna Library, part of my challenge to visit all the libraries in Melbourne.