Let me just start off by saying this reading is a breath of fresh air. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I was intrigued by what Cal Newport, in his chapter “The Clarity of the Craftsman” in So Good The Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work was saying. I would’ve happily continued reading, this is by far is the most interesting reading I’ve read in a long time!

Newport takes this chapter to introduce a theory that there are two approaches to working on your career, the first and most popular in society is the “Passion Mindset” and the other one that Newport supports is the “Craftsman Mindset”. Newport argues that the passion mindset, where we are taught to find our passion in life and follow that, leaves us in a somewhat ambiguous stage of our lives questioning ourselves “is this really my passion” “do I really enjoy doing this work”. He explains that this is a very self absorbed way of thinking, believing that the world owes it to you to give you something to be passionate about. The Craftsman mindset puts passion to the side and is based on the person just putting their head down and getting on with it. Newport takes a quote that started this whole idea from an interview with Steve Martin. When asked how he became a success Martin says “Be so good, they can’t ignore you”. And from this the craftsmen mentality rose, its not about what the world is giving you, but what you can give to the world. Newport visits a budding musician with a similar mentality and admires the fact that he practices his profession by himself in a tiny room and pushes himself to the extreme to constantly better himself. He’s not focusing on creating the next hit song, he’s focusing on getting better skills in his profession, this is how people become successful.

There is something about this idea that I can really relate to. I have definitely felt times when pursuing a career in media where I wondered whether this was my true passion but having it laid out like this it makes me feel like its up to me to create the passion, its up to me to use it to make the world better and not wait for the world to make me better. There is something quite invigorating about putting your head down and just getting on with it, the Craftsman Mindset is definitely something I would recommend thinking about next time you concerned about your future career. This reading has definitely inspired me to become so good that they can’t ignore me.