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When asked, "What's the worst career advice you ever received?"
Billionaire entrepreneur, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban ( @mcuban) answered "Follow your passions."
And, thanks to Cal Newport, I agree.
Let's get into it, and what to do instead.
A thread.
Billionaire entrepreneur, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban ( @mcuban) answered "Follow your passions."
And, thanks to Cal Newport, I agree.
Let's get into it, and what to do instead.
A thread.
"Follow your passionâ is commonly touted as good advice.
But the reality is that it's a flawed clichĂŠ.
Preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work
It's dangerous advice that can lead to anxiety and chronic job hopping.
But the reality is that it's a flawed clichĂŠ.
Preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work
It's dangerous advice that can lead to anxiety and chronic job hopping.
Believing that the key to happiness is identifying your "true calling" and then chasing after it with all the courage you can muster is frighteningly naĂŻve.
When it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful adviceâit is seriously flawed.
When it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful adviceâit is seriously flawed.
The things that make a job great are rare and valuable.
If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return.
You need to be good at something before you can expect a good job.
If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return.
You need to be good at something before you can expect a good job.
RULE #1: DON'T FOLLOW YOUR PASSION
Passion is rare.
Itâs hard to predict in advance what youâll eventually grow to love.
There are many complex reasons for workplace satisfaction, but the reductive notion of matching your job to a pre-existing passion is not among them.
Passion is rare.
Itâs hard to predict in advance what youâll eventually grow to love.
There are many complex reasons for workplace satisfaction, but the reductive notion of matching your job to a pre-existing passion is not among them.
A job pays the bills.
A career is a path toward increasingly better work.
A calling is work thatâs an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity.
The strongest predictor of someone seeing their work as a calling was *the number of years spent on the job.*
A career is a path toward increasingly better work.
A calling is work thatâs an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity.
The strongest predictor of someone seeing their work as a calling was *the number of years spent on the job.*
RULE #2: BE SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU
There was no real shortcut to actor and comedian Steve Martinâs eventual fame
His advice?
â[Eventually] you are so experienced [that] thereâs a confidence that comes out,â Martin explained. âI think itâs something the audience smells.â
There was no real shortcut to actor and comedian Steve Martinâs eventual fame
His advice?
â[Eventually] you are so experienced [that] thereâs a confidence that comes out,â Martin explained. âI think itâs something the audience smells.â
PASSION vs CRAFTSMAN
The craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world. The passion mindset focuses instead on what the world can offer you.
When you focus on what your work offers you, it makes you aware of what you donât like. This can lead to chronic unhappiness.
The craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world. The passion mindset focuses instead on what the world can offer you.
When you focus on what your work offers you, it makes you aware of what you donât like. This can lead to chronic unhappiness.
The questions driving the passion mindset ââWho am I?â & âWhat do I truly love?ââare impossible to confirm.
Focus on getting really good. No one owes you a great career; you need to earn it.
The craftsman mindset will be the foundation on which youâll build a compelling career.
Focus on getting really good. No one owes you a great career; you need to earn it.
The craftsman mindset will be the foundation on which youâll build a compelling career.
THE POWER OF CAPITAL
Traits that make a great job great are rare & valuable. If you want a great job, you need to build up rare & valuable skills.
Abandon the passion mindset (âwhat can the world offer me?â) & instead adopt the craftsman mindset (âwhat can I offer the world?â)
Traits that make a great job great are rare & valuable. If you want a great job, you need to build up rare & valuable skills.
Abandon the passion mindset (âwhat can the world offer me?â) & instead adopt the craftsman mindset (âwhat can I offer the world?â)
Great work doesnât just require great courage (i.e. chasing a passion), but also skills of great (and real) value.
There are three disqualifiers for applying the craftsman mindset:
Let's check them out.
There are three disqualifiers for applying the craftsman mindset:
Let's check them out.
1. The job presents few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable.
2. The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world.
3. The job forces you to work with people you really dislike.
2. The job focuses on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world.
3. The job forces you to work with people you really dislike.
BECOMING A CRAFTSMAN
Deliberate practice provides the key to excellence in a diverse array of fields.
It is a lifetime accumulation of deliberate practice that again and again ends up explaining excellence.
Deliberate practice provides the key to excellence in a diverse array of fields.
It is a lifetime accumulation of deliberate practice that again and again ends up explaining excellence.
Letâs assume youâre a knowledge workerâŚ
If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers in your value, as youâll likely be alone in your dedication to systematically getting better.
If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers in your value, as youâll likely be alone in your dedication to systematically getting better.
Also, make sure you do the following:
1. Focus on stretching your ability and receiving immediate feedback.
2. Take on projects that are beyond your current comfort zone.
Discomfort with mental discomfort is a liability.
1. Focus on stretching your ability and receiving immediate feedback.
2. Take on projects that are beyond your current comfort zone.
Discomfort with mental discomfort is a liability.
THE 5 HABITS OF A CRAFTSMAN
Step 1: Decide What Capital Market Youâre In
Winner take all (Hollywood script writer) vs. Auction (diverse collection of skills)
Start focusing on something people really care about â which is where your energy should be if you want to succeed.
Step 1: Decide What Capital Market Youâre In
Winner take all (Hollywood script writer) vs. Auction (diverse collection of skills)
Start focusing on something people really care about â which is where your energy should be if you want to succeed.
Step 2: Identify Your Capital Type
In a winner-take-all market, this is trivial: By definition, thereâs only one type of capital that matters.
For an auction market, however, you have flexibility.
Seek to open gates via skill acquisition.
In a winner-take-all market, this is trivial: By definition, thereâs only one type of capital that matters.
For an auction market, however, you have flexibility.
Seek to open gates via skill acquisition.
Step 3: Define "Good"
Set clear goals.
For a script writer, the definition of âgoodâ is clear â her scripts being taken seriously.
Set clear goals.
For a script writer, the definition of âgoodâ is clear â her scripts being taken seriously.
Step 4: Stretch and Destroy
If you show up and do what youâre told you will reach an âAcceptable levelâ of ability before plateauing.
Deliberate practice will push you past this plateau and into a realm where you have little competition. This practice is not always enjoyable.
If you show up and do what youâre told you will reach an âAcceptable levelâ of ability before plateauing.
Deliberate practice will push you past this plateau and into a realm where you have little competition. This practice is not always enjoyable.
Step 5: Be Patient
Look years into the future for the payoff.
Itâs less about paying attention to your main pursuit, and more about your willingness to ignore other pursuits that pop up along the way to distract you.
Reject shiny new pursuits that would derail your efforts.
Look years into the future for the payoff.
Itâs less about paying attention to your main pursuit, and more about your willingness to ignore other pursuits that pop up along the way to distract you.
Reject shiny new pursuits that would derail your efforts.
Let's summarize rule #2:
⢠Thereâs little evidence that most people have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered.
⢠Rare and valuable skills are career capital.
⢠Adopt the craftsman mindset, where you focus relentlessly on what value youâre offering the world.
⢠Thereâs little evidence that most people have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered.
⢠Rare and valuable skills are career capital.
⢠Adopt the craftsman mindset, where you focus relentlessly on what value youâre offering the world.
RULE #3: TURN DOWN A PROMOTION
Control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love.
This is why the dream of leaving the rat race to start their own company is the perennial fantasy of the cubicle-bound.
Control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love.
This is why the dream of leaving the rat race to start their own company is the perennial fantasy of the cubicle-bound.
People with compelling careers start by getting good at something rare and valuableâbuilding âcareer capitalââand then cashing in this capital for the traits that make great work great.
Control turns out to be one of the most universally important traits that you can acquire.
Control turns out to be one of the most universally important traits that you can acquire.
. @DanielPink summarizes the literature: more control leads to better grades, better sports performance, better productivity and more happiness.
Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment.
Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment.
Control traps:
1. Control thatâs acquired without career capital is not sustainable.
2. Once you have acquired enough career capital to get meaningful control over your working life is exactly the point when you're employer will try to prevent you from making the change.
1. Control thatâs acquired without career capital is not sustainable.
2. Once you have acquired enough career capital to get meaningful control over your working life is exactly the point when you're employer will try to prevent you from making the change.
Control generates resistance.
In most jobs you should expect your employer to resist your move toward more control.
They will try and convince you to take more money and prestige instead of more control.
In most jobs you should expect your employer to resist your move toward more control.
They will try and convince you to take more money and prestige instead of more control.
How do you know when you should pursue a bid for more control?
Use money as a âneutral indicator of value.â
Unless people are willing to pay you, itâs generally not an idea youâre ready to go after.
Use money as a âneutral indicator of value.â
Unless people are willing to pay you, itâs generally not an idea youâre ready to go after.
RULE #4: THINK BIG, ACT SMALL
(Or, the Importance of Mission)
Missions focus your energy toward a useful goal, which maximizes your impact on the world.
People who feel like their careers matter are more satisfied with their working lives, and are more inclined to work hard.
(Or, the Importance of Mission)
Missions focus your energy toward a useful goal, which maximizes your impact on the world.
People who feel like their careers matter are more satisfied with their working lives, and are more inclined to work hard.
Hardness scares off the daydreamers and the timid, leaving more opportunity for those who are willing to take the time to carefully work out the best path forward and the confidently take action.
THE CAPITAL-DRIVEN MISSION
A good career mission is similar to a scientific breakthroughâitâs an innovation waiting to be discovered in the adjacent possible of your field.
The art of mission asks us to suppress the most grandiose of our work instincts & instead adopt patience.
A good career mission is similar to a scientific breakthroughâitâs an innovation waiting to be discovered in the adjacent possible of your field.
The art of mission asks us to suppress the most grandiose of our work instincts & instead adopt patience.
MISSIONS REQUIRE LITTLE BETS
Try something bold if it holds the promise of making life more interesting.
Successful innovators make a series of little bets about what might be a good direction, learning critical info from lots of little failures and small, but significant wins.
Try something bold if it holds the promise of making life more interesting.
Successful innovators make a series of little bets about what might be a good direction, learning critical info from lots of little failures and small, but significant wins.
To maximize your chances of success, you should deploy small, concrete experiments that return concrete feedback.
If career capital makes it possible to identify a compelling mission, then itâs a strategy of little bets that gives you a good shot of succeeding in this mission.
If career capital makes it possible to identify a compelling mission, then itâs a strategy of little bets that gives you a good shot of succeeding in this mission.
MISSION REQUIRES MARKETING
The Law of Remarkability:
For a mission-driven project to succeed, it should be remarkable in 2 different ways:
1.) It must compel people who encounter it to remark about it to others.
2.) It must be launched in a venue that supports such remarking.
The Law of Remarkability:
For a mission-driven project to succeed, it should be remarkable in 2 different ways:
1.) It must compel people who encounter it to remark about it to others.
2.) It must be launched in a venue that supports such remarking.
Let's summarize rule #4:
Mission is one of the most important traits you can acquire with career capital.
By using little bets & the law of remarkability, you greatly increase your chances of finding ways to transform your mission from a compelling idea into a compelling career
Mission is one of the most important traits you can acquire with career capital.
By using little bets & the law of remarkability, you greatly increase your chances of finding ways to transform your mission from a compelling idea into a compelling career
IN SUMMARY:
Most knowledge workers avoid the uncomfortable strain of deliberate practice like the plague, a reality emphasized by the typical cubicle dwellerâs obsessive e-mail checking and meeting habit for what is this behavior if not an escape from work thatâs more demanding.
Most knowledge workers avoid the uncomfortable strain of deliberate practice like the plague, a reality emphasized by the typical cubicle dwellerâs obsessive e-mail checking and meeting habit for what is this behavior if not an escape from work thatâs more demanding.
LET'S QUICKLY REVISIT THE FOUR RULES:
Rule #1 argued that âfollow your passionâ was bad advice, which provides the motivation for your quest to figure out what does matter.
Rule #1 argued that âfollow your passionâ was bad advice, which provides the motivation for your quest to figure out what does matter.
Rule #2 concludes that the things that make work great are rare & valuable and if you want them you need rare & valuable skills to offer in return.
You have to become âso good they canât ignore you.â
This entails acquiring career capitalâlikely leveraging deliberate practice.
You have to become âso good they canât ignore you.â
This entails acquiring career capitalâlikely leveraging deliberate practice.
Rule #3 argued that control over what you do and how you do it is such a powerful force for building remarkable careers that it could rightly be called a âDream-job exilir.â
Rule #4 explained that a career mission is an organizing purpose to your working life.
True missions require 2 things:
1. Career capital, which requires patience.
2. You need to be scanning your always-changing view of the adjacent possible, looking for the next big idea.
True missions require 2 things:
1. Career capital, which requires patience.
2. You need to be scanning your always-changing view of the adjacent possible, looking for the next big idea.
Donât obsess over discovering your true calling. Instead, master rare & valuable skills. Once you build up the career capital that these skills generate, invest it wisely. Use it to acquire control over what you do & how you do it, & to identify & act on a life-changing mission.
Back to the top of this thread: https://twitter.com/ryanstephens/status/1356271438177718278
Want to learn more from Cal Newport? https://twitter.com/ryanstephens/status/1246524255476596737
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