Deep Work by Cal Newport

Passion has been overly romanticized. The book opens with a speech by Steve Jobs, stating directly that what Jobs did was different from what he said. I believe passion shouldn't be something you're pressured to produce; rather, it should naturally arise while you're engaged in an activity. I am passionate about XXX, but what the world typically demands is not your passion, but your output.

The book spends quite a bit of time telling stories, and I skipped over the stories in the latter half.

Craftsman Mindset vs. Passion Mindset

The book mentions two mindsets: the craftsman mindset and the passion mindset. The passion mindset seeks what the world can offer you, while the craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer to the world. The craftsman mindset is what we should strive for.

Accumulating Career Capital

To succeed in your career or life, the book advises, as the title suggests, "So good they can’t ignore you." So how do you achieve this? The answer is "rare and valuable skills."

I think everyone has a different definition of rare and valuable skills, but the book outlines the typical qualities they possess:

1. Creativity
2. Impact
3. Autonomy

One additional point I’d like to mention is that if possible, try to ensure your skills have synergistic effects; your skills can be applied across multiple domains. For example, skills like linear algebra, video editing, programming, music, and writing all have high synergistic effects and meet the criteria given in the book.

Autonomy

Autonomy is one of the requirements for accumulating career capital, but the author mentions two autonomy traps to be particularly cautious of:

1. Economic independence trap. Even if you do what you love for the sake of autonomy, if it does not bring you economic advantages, it cannot be sustained long-term. (First Control Trap)
2. Once you accumulate enough career capital, your boss will try to keep you and prevent you from making changes as much as possible. (Second Control Trap)

Deliberate Practice

Similar to the anomaly, this book also emphasizes the importance of deliberate practice multiple times; it is key to mastering skills. The description of deliberate practice in the book is:

Activity designed, by a teacher for the sole purpose of effectively improving specific aspects of an individual’s performance.

The big principle is Stretch and Destroy, meaning that each practice session should show some improvement over the last.

Deliberate practice is always the opposite of enjoyable.

Finding a Mission

Finding your life’s mission is an evolving and constantly changing process. However, the prerequisite is that you must develop enough career capital, that is, skills, and continuously refine your knowledge to have the opportunity to discover your direction.

Summary

• The pursuit of passion is overly romanticized; pursuing passion can even be dangerous.
• Mastering skills is key (most people develop passion after mastering their skills), or simply having passion without output makes it hard for others to notice you.
  • If you want to accumulate career capital, then this skill should ideally be rare and valuable.
  • Typically, it includes three essential qualities: creativity, impact, and autonomy.
• Pursue the craftsman mindset: what can you bring to the world.

Finally, I’d like to add one more point: although pursuing passion is dangerous, I believe if we elevate passion to desire, the outcome will be entirely different. Desire means you are completely obsessed with something, with a strong urge to understand how it works, or simply wanting to excel at something (perhaps a sport, a musical instrument, or an activity), and you are willing to invest your life in it. Just like 3B1B mentioned in the Ted Talk, if you have a soul, you will seek answers.