Cal Newport highlights the two main mindsets when it comes to working in a career or following a path; the craftsman mindset and the passion mindset. Both are very different mind sets, however he explains and infers that the craftsman mindset is the best way to get ahead in life and to truly find something you love doing.

Without going into detail, the craftsman mindset focuses on the person giving something to the world, using all their efforts to succeed in creating something unique, something ‘so good no one can ignore you’. Whereas the passion mindset focuses more on those who are much more passive in that they want to see what the world has to offer for them – sort of a more cynical approach to a pursuit in career.

While Newport does make convining points about why the craftsman mindset is much better than the passion mindset, I believe that in the end it’s up to the person to make that decision based on what works better for them.

The craftsman mindset he argues allows the individual to actively seek out new ways of improvement which leads to passion. This in turn gives them a larger sense of accomplishment and closure to the questions they ask themselves such as ‘Who am I’ and ‘What do I really like?’.

But I believe that adopting the passionate mindset is more suitable for those with a more empathetic and cynical view of the world such as myself, who doesn’t mind what kind of work I do as long as it sustains me and satisfies me – I have no real need or desire to go that extra step.