The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

How to Be So Good They Can't Ignore You with Cal Newport

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Cal Newport decided to challenge the wildly popular notion that you should "follow your passion." His research led to an interesting discovery. People who were successful and fulfilled in their career didn't follow their passion. They become masters of their craft. In this interview, we get into a very in-depth chat about how to  be so good they can't' ignore you. Here are just some of the highlights from our conversation:
  • How Cal Has Blended a Traditional and Untraditional Path Cal Newport
  • A Look at the Early Creation Process of Cal's Study Guides
  • Lessons from the MIT Theory of Computation Group
  • The Importance of Focus and Resisting Distractions
  • What it Takes to Develop Career Capital (Rare and Valuable Skills)
  • How Skills Give You More Leverage Than a Set Career Path
  • The Arbitrary Advice of Following Your Passion - And Why It's Flawed
  • Why You have to Become Really Good at Something to Love Your Work
  • Traits That Lead People to Absolutely Love What They Do
  • Making the Transition Match Theory to Capital Theory
  • The Philosophy of Deep Work and Becoming a Master of Your Craft
  • Why Cal Newport has No Social Media Accounts
  • The Importance of Developing Taste in Your Work 
  • Looking at the Mission Behind Somebody's Work
  • The Framework of Little Bets to Make Progress with Your Ideas
  • Why Publishers are Like Investors When it Comes to Your Book Deal
  • Finding the Threads that Persist in Your Body of Work
Tweetable Insights Include:
  • The more career capital you have, the more control you have over your life (Click to Tweet)
  • Ultimately what matters is how well you do the thing that you do best (Click to Tweet)
  • I'm very afraid of shallow work  (Click to Tweet)
Cal Newport is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. He previously earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2009, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 2004. If you liked this article, would you share it with your friends? Just click here to post it to Twitter.

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