Conventional wisdom says, “Follow your passion.”
But it’s flawed.
We want to believe the “Passion Hypothesis” (find your passion, then find a job to match it) because it sounds blissful.
Do what you love. Chase your dreams. Yolo!
But, Cal Newport argues in So Good They Can’t Ignore You, it’s better to adopt a Craftsman Mindset.
The Craftsman Mindset focuses on rare and valuable skills to acquire “career capital.”
Compelling careers, therefore, aren’t serendipitously discovered… But instead are systematically crafted.
Most people ask, “do I love my work?”
But that’s the wrong approach. Instead, shift from passion to craftsman.
To love our work, abandon the passion mindset (“what can the world offer me?”) and instead adopt the craftsman mindset (“what can I offer the world?”).
Cal studied the careers that make people remark, “Ohh that’s the type of job I want.”
The trait that showed up time and time again?
Control over what you do and how you do it. This is core to self-determination theory.
Self-determination theory says people are motivated by three psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. (remember C.A.R.)
- Competence → Learning skills toward mastery
- Autonomy → Controlling what we do & how we do it
- Relatedness → Connecting with others
So instead of asking if we love our job…think how can we move the CAR? At any point in time, there are plenty of small ways to progress in each:
- Competence → take an online course, shadow a colleague, learn new skills.
- Autonomy → meeting free week, set quarterly KPIs.
- Relatedness → team lunch, happy hour, event, or meetup.
But these are just the building blocks.
What we REALLY want is a feeling of fulfillment.
Yale Psychologist, Amy Wrzesniewski, studied this for years — and published a breakthrough paper distinguishing between a job, a career, and a calling.
She states,“A job is a way to pay the bills, a career is a path towards increasingly better work, and a calling is the work that’s an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity.”
1) Work as a job → focus on financial rewards only
2) Work as a career → focus on advancement
3) Work as a calling → focus on the enjoyment of fulfilling
Okay quick recap. We don’t find our calling, instead we create it with skills and career capital (craftsman mindset). Specifically, skills that increase our competence, autonomy, or relatedness. Seems simple enough?
Now let’s see it in action.
I’m writing this in Costa Rica at local coffee shops sippin’ double espressos like water.
One extra-caffeinated morning, I met Callie Rounds.
She had a visible aura about her. It was clear she was much closer to her calling than a job.
Her story was inspiring and a perfect example of the craftsman mindset. After fleeing from New York, she moved to Costa Rica and now has her own swimwear company. (Pretty badass.)
But the best part was how she did it.
She didn’t chase her passion. Instead, she built her SKILLS.
A bunch of them.
She’s a drone pilot, paraglider, photographer, singer/songwriter, diver, entrepreneur, model, among many other things.
Or Camille Segonne (another coffee shop friend) with a similar story.
Skills first, then passion.
Camille is a freelancer with tons of skills. She’s a videographer, photographer, runs social media for two brands, manages two Airbnb’s, and is finishing her divemaster certification.
While she admits feeling scattered with so many interests, her approach is spot on.
By learning skills (and also documenting through videos) she’s increasing her surface area for serendipity. She’s placing little bets with each new skill set. And therefore building her calling (not chasing it).
Rather than waste energy wondering what the world can do for her (passion) — Camille gains confidence with each skill she brings to the world (craftsman).
Where to start?
We have many interests, but limited time. So where do we start?
Little bets.
By placing little bets early and often—we get real-time feedback from the world.
What does this look like?
- Reframe mistakes and failures as OPPORTUNITIES to learn. Thomas Edison made 10,000 unsuccessful attempts inventing the light bulb. Chris Rock tests new material at small comedy clubs before Netfilx specials.
- Create an atmosphere of playful improvisation. Openness and trying new things leads to breakthrough ideas and insights.
- Active participation of discovery. Explore, observe, and uncover what’s hidden from the naked eye. Learn a little from a lot of people.
- Place little bets into projects and routines. Test ideas by showing your work in progress and getting feedback. Then test a wider audience. Accept failure along the way, which leads the path to new opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be able to see.
“Following your passion” is too complicated.
Instead, build it with skills.
Start small and course-correct along the way. The biggest part is just getting moving.
The rest will work itself out along the way.
Pura Vida.