“Follow your passion” is dangerous advice!

by Đào Danh Duệ | Share 1 | 666 Views | 2020-08-05

Probably very few people will tell you that. However, this is a very new and real view of "passion" shared by Cal Newport in his book "So Good They Can’t Ignore You" - one of the good books that Sunner Đào Danh Huệ ( EUV3) highly recommended for you on the S* Book. So what will the book tell us?

Source: Internet

"Follow your passion, success will follow you" or "Passion makes me different" are the traditional slogan you often hear when it comes to career success. It is so familiar that successful people use it as their ideal, motivation, and principle to inspire others; and those who fail, use it as an excuse for their own failure. Those who fail may rely on it to think "I am not successful because I am not passionate enough, or I am not lucky enough to find the passion of my life". And then "passion" is taken for granted as the source of success for all people, and classes in the society.

However, in "So Good They Can’t Ignore You", author Cal Newport has interesting arguments, based on a completely new perspective, or in other words, completely opposed to what we already know about "Passion" as well as its relationship to career success. Throughout the book, the convincing arguments and evidence that I will show you below will be an eye-opener for you:

Passion is a conceptual abstraction, and following your passion is a dangerous advice

According to the author, pursuing your passion is RIGHT, but it is a dangerous advice. It is never the way most people find an attractive job that suits them. Even for many people, choosing a career following passion becomes worse when their dreams are broken, and the real jobs are far from expected, so they have to change their jobs over and over and are always worried about finance.

Now, you may feel a bit confused, right? So here are a few questions for you to answer yourself based on real observations!

Question 1: Looking around you, have you ever seen someone who was very good at school but did not pass the entrance exam to their dream university? Or someone studied the major they wanted and then let go, replace school after school and be unable to graduate?

Question 2: Have you ever met someone who is very excited when talking about passion, dreams, but has not achieved a part of it? Or do they often complain of being poor, ... and in fact, they are not very rich?

If you've met such people or you have been one of those two, you may want to ask yourself: Does "passion" really help us overcome all the difficulties, challenges on the path of career and success? And can passion make sure that we will not fail?
Therefore, when reading this part of the book, we will be completely convinced by the author's argument that "passion is not a prerequisite of success".

Source: CafeF

Be so good that people can't ignore you!

In this part, the author talks about accumulating career capital to become such a good person that people cannot ignore you. At the same time he gives some interesting concepts such as: "The most advanced zone" in the present and "The next possible zone".

While "The most advanced zone" is where people have accumulated career capital with sufficient quantity and quality to keep up with the achievements of the industry in the development history of mankind, "The next possible zone" is the following one. This is where creativity is maximized and where new achievements come in.

The most advanced zone along with the next possible zone will give you impact, creativity, and control. Your creativity and contributions help you gain more trust, which increases your impact, gives you more control over others as well as increases your freedom.

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Impact, creativity and control are the driving force to conquer new heights

As mentioned earlier, control gives you freedom. Impact and creativity help you know your self-worth. It is the driving force and the best favorable condition for you to conquer new heights. At the same time, be ready to accept difficulties and challenges during your career path.

In this part, the author also provides ways for you to increase your impact, creativity, and control. Accelerate your paths towards "The Most Advanced zone", and "the next possible zone" with a strategy called "deliberate practice". Another interesting concept, isn't it?

In addition, this book has many good points which you should read. You can borrow my book here https://book.sun-asterisk.vn/books/ky-nang-di-truoc-dam-me-129.

Conclusion

It can be said that the content in this book is the opposite of most other books of the same topic. Instead of thinking about finding the right job, the author thinks that we should do the job right. It is a craftsman mindset - do your best and you will become happy with your job.

If you feel stuck at work, you need to try to learn more instead of negative thoughts such as quitting your job. We need to work our best to be the best at that job. At that time, you will find a passion for work and the happiness of life.