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Introduction
Hello there!
In this blog post i want to introduce you to the craftsman mindset and why this approach is a good way to find your dream job and live a happy life.
Whats the craftsman mindset you might ask. Very good question so lets dive in!
Passion is dangerous
To understand the craftsman mindset we first have to understand why passion is not always the best approach for your career. In the book So good they cant ignore you from Cal Newport Newport talks about:
- The Passion Mindset
- The Craftsman Mindset
The Passion Mindset is pretty popular. You might know it. Sentences like
Just follow your passion everything else will come automatically.
Do what you love and the money just fly into your arms.
In the book Cal Newport interviewed a lot of people to see if that mindset is really the way to a long, satisfying career.
Spoiler: Nope
The passion mindset describes following:
What can the world offer me?
Most people just focus on that and forget that they has to offer something in return. Skills that they can offer the world in exchange.
Poeple with that mindset always think that their current job is not enough. Somewhere out in this world might be a job that can offer them more. They are never completely satisfied.
And now lets have a look into the craftsman mindset.
The Craftsman Mindset
This approach has a completely different approach. It says following:
What can i offer the world?
And with that in their head this poeple train themselfes to become better. To learn new skills and train them to perfection. They become so good they cant be ignored. In the book Cal Newport met many poeple with this mindset and the interesting thing is that most of them dont follow a specific passion. They just focusing on getting better and learn valuable skills they can offer. And by becoming so good they developed a passion for it.
So here is the core:
Become so good at something and the passion will come!
Career Capital
Cal Newport calls this valuable skills Career Capital. Skills that you can offer the world. Skills that are high in demand. If you want a job where you can be creative, free and that you love you have to offer something in return. Its simply demand and supply.
You have to practice. A LOT. Always challenge yourself even if you feel uncomfortable with that. After some time you will overcome this point and develop a passion while you getting better and better.
Conclusion
This was a quick overview from the Craftsman Mindset. I highly recommend to read So good they cant ignore you from Cal Newport. Im currently reading it and its amazing and i will definitely write a complete book review when i finished it.
I love to talk about stuff like this so feel free to leave me a comment.
In the mean time you can check out my book review Atomic Habits from James Clear.
Stay connected to me and my content on Twitter.
Stay healthy guys and see you next time!
Top comments (4)
I like the approach you explained, giving a more collaborative and less selfish idea about how to embrace our job.
In my personal experience, I have my best moments when I followed my passion and worked on a side project, resulting in new experiences that helped me to improve the tech knowledge base of a new project on my job.
Following what I said before, I believe that the best way to feed passion is through continuous work (day by day, if you could).
Yes hard work combined with passion is very nice and the right approach to reach your goals. Passion is born through hard work!
Thanks for the read and the feedback!
Nicely done. This is a new take for me. Appreciate it, keep up the great work.
Thanks man! Im glad i could help you. Now go out there and take your piece of the cake!