Book Notes - So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport

May 5, 2024

Very interesting book by Cal Newport with great stories that explain how following your passion is not the best strategy to achieve career success, and that instead you should become so good they can't ignore you.

Personally, I've subscribed to the belief that I should follow my passion, probably from reading some mainstream self-help books and some popular motivational youtube videos. This gave me a bit of anxiety since I never knew what my "passion" or "life purpose" was, and I thought I needed one to be happy and successful.

Reading this book really helped me think differently about this topic. It taught me to focus on building career capital (skills, connections, etc.) that can be used to move into positions where I can have more flexibility to choose what I do and when, and have a positive impact in my interest areas using these newfound skills, connections and flexibility.

The book also makes a strong point to not leave your job to follow your passion before you gather the necessary career capital in the new area of work.

Strongly recommend this one to anyone who has thought about finding their passion and their purpose and is feeling unclear about what direction to take with their career.