Mission is another example of career capital theory in action. If you want a mission, you need to first acquire capital. Here’s the leap I made as I pondered Pardis Sabeti around the same time I was pondering Johnson’s theory of innovation: A good career mission is similar to a scientific breakthrough—it’s an innovation waiting to be discovered in the adjacent possible of your field. If you want to identify a mission for your working life, therefore, you must first get to the cutting edge—the only place where these missions become visible. Thus, when you become better at what you do, you will feel accomplished and work toward career success. Further, you will be rewarded with more control over your responsibilities. Chapter Three: Passion Is Dangerous Don’t obsess over discovering your true calling. Instead, master rare and valuable skills. Then, once you build up the career capital that these skills generate, invest it wisely. Use it to acquire control over what you do and how you do it, and to identify and act on a life-changing mission.” Next Steps

Hardness scares of the daydreamers and the timid, leaving more opportunities for those who are willing to take the time to work out the best path forward and then confidently take action. Chapter 13: Missions Require Capital Cal argues that control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love. This book has valuable thoughts for anyone in college, just out of college, wanting to quit their job and follow their passion, or just uncertain about their career in general.You must think small and act big. Advancing to the cutting edge in a field is an act of small thinking, requiring you to focus on a narrow collection of subjects for a potentially long time. People often enjoy difficult work if they have a certain level of control over their time and the outcomes they produce. “Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment. Many organizations are now cultivating results-only work environments, in which people are evaluated by their results, not by the time they spend doing something or other arbitrary measures like how enjoyable they are to work with. Control traps These unique skills are referred to ‘career capital’, which is anything that puts you in a better position to have a large social impact in the long term.

Different kinds of evidence add more or less support to the narrative. Clearly research studies with a randomised large sample size and a well-constructed design can be seen to add most if the results are statistically significant. Single case studies, i.e. information gained from one or two individuals is much less weighty. The personal narrative is if anything the least convincing as it is subject to the clear bias of wanting to confirm the hypothesis or argument All the evidence is subject to this bias however in terms of selection (and exclusion) of particular evidence and the interpretation of the findings.In spite of the good in the book, I think Newport made several major mistakes that radically reduced the forcefulness of his book's argument. I think Newport made a great original contribution to understanding career development with his concept of Career Capital: This idea aligns well with the passion mindset, but it fails to show people how dedicating themselves to a craft and producing more value in the world is the best way to find meaningful work. Limits to the craftsman mindset This chapter of So Good They Can’t Ignore You “argues that a unifying mission to your working life can be a source of great job satisfaction.” Cal Newport presents the story of Professor Pardis Sabeti, who loves her career in evolutionary biology. He found that “her happiness comes from the fact that she built her career on a clear and compelling mission:” This chapter shows you why skills trump passion. Newport presents two different ways to think about work: the Craftsman Mindset and the Passion Mindset. “Most people adopt the Passion Mindset, but this chapter argues that the Craftsman Mindset is the foundation for creating work you love.”

The Second Control Trap – “the principle that when you acquire enough career capital to acquire meaningful control over your working life, that’s exactly when you’ve become valuable enough to your current employer that they will try to prevent you from making the change” a.) This book can be viewed as optimistic, in that it suggests that anyone can do anything. Implicit in the analysis is the cliché that if one just tries hard enough and in the right way, they'll make it, and they'll be happy. But it can also be viewed as convenient and elitist to argue from success, e.g. "I succeeded, I'm happy, why aren't you... just do what I did." Though not mentioned as such, this idea fits in well with of the longstanding concept of the American dream. The narrow and exclusive nature of the supplied anecdotes does not lead one to be persuaded regarding the general premise. The author suggests that passion is rare, but how rare are the exceptional stories that were described? How many follow the rules and aren't happy; how many don't follow the rules but are? I would be curious as to how Malcolm Gladwell might view this book. Some of the points made in "Outliers" are cited, but in my opinion this book misses some of the heart that comes through in Gladwell's book. But perhaps I'm mistaken. Missions work because they help focus your energy toward a useful goal that increases your impact on the world, which helps you feel more connected to the work that you do. Glass emphasizes the importance of the hard work required to develop skill. “All of us who do creative work … you get into this thing, and there’s like a ‘gap.’ What you’re making isn’t so good, okay? … It’s trying to be good but … it’s just not that great,” he explained in an interview about his career. “The key thing is to force yourself through the work, force the skills to come; that’s the hardest phase,”This book actually refreshed my view and my mindset of what work should be like. For years now, I have found myself struggling because I wasn’t sure what I was passionate enough about to turn into a career. Sure, I like a lot of things: sport, baking and socializing, to name a few. But I couldn’t grasp how to turn this into ‘meaningful’ work. I mean, I love animals, I’m sure we all do (unless you’re a psychopath), but we can’t all become vets… it’s unrealistic.