So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Cal Newport disproves the conventional wisdom that "follow your passion" in this insightful story.

The cliche is not only incorrect—preexisting interests are uncommon and have nothing to do with the majority of people's decision to love their work—but it may also be harmful, increasing the risk of anxiety and frequent job switching.

Newport makes his argument against passion and then embarks on a mission to find out how individuals really come to love what they do. After spending time with screenwriters, organic farmers, venture capitalists, independent computer programmers, and other professionals who acknowledged that their job brought them considerable happiness, Newport learns the techniques they used and the mistakes they avoided in building successful professions.

It doesn't matter whether your career and passion match, he says. Passion develops when you work hard to achieve at something worthwhile, not before. To put it another way, how you earn a livelihood matters much more than what you do for a job.

Taking inspiration for the title from comedian Steve Martin, who reportedly advised wannabe performers to "be so good they can't ignore you," Anyone who is worried about what to do with their life, or who is dissatisfied with their present employment situation and ready to discover a new and exciting method to take charge of their living, should read Cal Newport's well-written credo. He offers an empirically supported guide to doing work you enjoy.

Too Excellent to Ignore You're going to alter our perspectives on our work, happiness, and living an extraordinary life.