Hello Everyone!

I'm not going to lie; when I first read this book, I found its premise challenging to accept.

I have always been a big fan of the "follow your passion" advice, as I thought finding your passion was key to matching it to a fulfilling career.

Learning that this intensive soul-searching work is not required to end up doing the work you love was weirdly liberating.

As it turns out…

“Follow your passion” is bad advice, as many university students “don’t have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered [that] match to a career.”

Research cited in the book explains that 96 percent of students use the word “passion” to describe hobby-style interests such as sports and art.

(the top five been: Dance, hockey, skiing, reading, and swimming.)

This book changed how I thought people end up doing the work they love.

It taught me that mastering rare and valuable skills through years of experience is the key to turning a job into a career and, ultimately, a calling.

Hope this helps,

-Agustin

📖 Book Notes

“Why do some people end up loving what they do, while so many others fail at this goal?”

The conventional wisdom on career success seems to be summarized in two sentences.

“Follow your passion. The rest will follow.”

In this book, Cal Newport shares an unsettling recognition that this might be terrible advice.

At first, it’s hard to believe such advice could be wrong.

This is especially true since many people who succeeded in this quest seem to advocate for future generations in their viral commencement speeches.

For graduating students eager to “start their life,” this advice seems to resonate.

Cal Newport argues that 'following your passion' not only fails to describe how most people end up with compelling careers but also inevitably falls short of the dream once they achieve it.

In chapter two, he explains why this is the case and concludes that…

• 1) These passions or hobby-style interests offer little insight when choosing a job or a career.

• 2) The more experience you have, the more likely you will end up doing work you love.

• 3) Building the competence and autonomy that generates this enjoyment takes time.

Overall, this is a good book to read if you are seeking sobering advice on how to find a fulfilling career or a job you love.

My favourite takeaway from the book is the ability to understand that…

“Compelling careers often have complex origins…”

At the beginning of your professional career, obsessing over mastering rare and valuable skills is more important than discovering your true calling.

As Newport points out,

“You need to be good at something before you can expect a good job…”

And as far as passion is involved…

Don’t follow your passion;

Let it follow you in your quest to become, in the words of the comedian Steve Martin,

“so good they can’t ignore you.”

✍️ Favourite Quotes

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