His third and final idea is that missions require marketing. That is, to succeed, good missions should obey Seth Godin’s ‘Purple Cow’ law of marketing: they should be so remarkable so as to compel people to share it with others. Newport thinks that compelling missions are more likely to be noticed, and therefore you’re more likely to be successful. What did it teach me personally?

This first rule introduced by Newport grabbed my attention immediately. A refreshing and interesting view, Newport confidently slates and dismisses the passion hypothesis, a ‘FAD’ and safe belief that argues that ‘ the key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a job to match this passion’. Passion is a side effect of mastery: when you get great at something, your interest in that something often grows. In large part, that’s because you develop a stronger sense of autonomy and competence the more that you master a craft. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), there are three basic psychological needs that we need to meet to feel motivated at work: Thus, when you become better at what you do, you will feel accomplished and work toward career success. Further, you will be rewarded with more control over your responsibilities. Chapter Three: Passion Is Dangerous The Craftsman Mindset – an approach to your working life in which you focus on the value of what you are offering to the worldRegardless of how you feel about your job right now, adopting the craftsman mindset will be the foundation on which you’ll build a compelling career.” So instead of questioning whether you have passion for your work, focus on becoming so good they can’t ignore you. Chapter Five: The Power Of Career Capital This chapter of So Good They Can’t Ignore You introduces the Law of Financial Viability. When pursuing control, the ensuing control traps may cause you to encounter resistance. “How can you tell if this resistance is useful (for example, it’s helping you avoid the first control trap) or something to ignore (for example, it’s the result of the second control trap)?” People often enjoy difficult work if they have a certain level of control over their time and the outcomes they produce. “Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment. Many organizations are now cultivating results-only work environments, in which people are evaluated by their results, not by the time they spend doing something or other arbitrary measures like how enjoyable they are to work with. Control traps Passion Is a Side Effect of Mastery: The Self-Determination Theory shows us why which pursuits motivate people in their work: The evidence does not support that most have pre-existing passions within them that are waiting to be discovered. This belief will result in sadness and confusion when the reality of following one’s passion does not come to fruition. Chapter Two: Passion Is Rare

This is the question Cal Newport takes up in the three rules that follow. These rules chronicle his quest to figure out how people really end up loving what they do. Rule #2: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill) Chapter 4: The Clarity of the Craftsman The Passion Mindset – an approach to your working life in which you focus on the value your job presents to you, which results in perpetual sadness and confusion for the following reasons: For a mission-driven project to succeed it should be remarkable in two ways, 1) it must compel people to remark about it to others and 2) it must be launched in a venue that supports such remarking. Related Book Summaries The passion mindset is not just ineffective for creating work you love, in many cases it can work against this goal. The reality of each of their stories is that both men focused on “becoming so good they can’t ignore you” instead of finding their passion. This process generated career capital, which both used to attain the rare and valuable traits that made their careers amazing. Chapter Seven: Becoming A Craftsman

This is why the author has dedicated the remainder of rule number three to this goal. Chapter 9: The First Control Trap There are many complex reasons for workplace satisfaction. The notion of matching your job to a pre-existing passion is not among them. Regardless of what you do for a living, approach your work like a true performer. Chapter 5: The Power of Career Capital Passion takes time: the longer you stay in a field and give yourself the time to get good at what you do, the more that passion develops. Passion takes time to cultivate. The next big ideas in any field are found right beyond the current cutting edge in the “adjacent space” that contains the possible new combinations of existing ideas.