A review by dhealey6
So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport

4.0

I love Cal Newport's take on enjoying your work and being fulfilled by it. I was mostly convinced by his central point that most people don't work hard enough to be great at something, and being great at something is the thing that will give you the most fulfillment. As always I loved the citations of research and reviews of literature, which he makes simple, accessible, and easy to digest. I only took one star off because I do feel like he leans out over his skis a bit in his deprecation of the "passion" hypothesis. At one point he addresses a common counter to his theory, which suggests you will only become great at things you are passionate about, because those are the only things you'll be motivated to practice deliberately. I was thinking that the whole time I was listening to the book, and when he kind of sidestepped that point in a way that wasn't very satisfying, the result was that at the end I was left with the belief that passion IS actually necessary, if not sufficient for becoming great at something.