Somewhere around age eighteen, most of us were told to pick. Pick a major. Pick a career. Pick a direction. And the unspoken rule underneath all of it was that whatever you picked, that was it. That was your life. You chose wrong? Tough. You chose right but lost interest? Too bad. The conveyor belt … Continue reading The Lie
Tag: Books
Passion Is Not a North Star
I just finished Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You. His thesis is that passion follows mastery — you don’t find your dream job by following your heart, you build it by getting so good at something valuable that opportunities find you. He profiles people who spent years developing rare skills before the work … Continue reading Passion Is Not a North Star
The Craftsman and the Machine
I’m reading Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and I keep seeing his argument play out in real time at work. Newport says rare and valuable skills — career capital — are what give you leverage. The craftsman builds that capital through reps, not passion. Show up, get deep, get good. The leverage … Continue reading The Craftsman and the Machine
Twenty-Two
I’ve sold twenty-two copies of my first novel. I’m going to sit with that number for a second, because it means two things at once. First — I wrote a book. A real book. A story I’m genuinely proud of. It has four five-star reviews on Amazon from people who aren’t just being nice. One … Continue reading Twenty-Two
Make Your Own Map
Day 75 of 280 | The 7-40 Challenge Nobody is going to hand you the plan. I’ve only started realizing that this year. I knew if I wanted to be successful, I had to name my own goals — not adopt someone else’s and try to chase them with my own passion. That just doesn’t … Continue reading Make Your Own Map
