Podcast 385: So Good They Can’t Ignore You with Cal Newport

Cal NewportI recently interviewed Cal Newport a Georgetown University professor of computer science about his new book entitled “So Good They Can’t Ignore You“.   Cal’s book title is taken from advice that comedian Steve Martin once gave to aspiring entertainers and that was to “be so good they can’t ignore you.”.

Cal bunks the advice that we should follow our passion, or do what we love and the money will follow.  He cites that in Steve Jobs’ famed address to the graduating class of Stanford that he advocated to “follow your passion”.  Cal states that the evidence shows that this advice will do your career more harm than good.  Cal reveals that loving what you do is a wise goal, but following your passions isn’t the way to get there.   ” Stop trying to figure out what you are passionate about, instead the secret to building a career you love is to develop rare and valuable skills that you can then leverage to take control of your livelihood. Get good, and the passion will follow.  Not the other way around.

In “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”  Cal presents studies and compelling examples that expose the truth about how people end up loving what they do.  He cites experience, autonomy, competence and relatedness each play a much bigger role in motivation and job satisfaction and his roadmap for getting you there consist of four easy rules: 1) Don’t Follow Your Passion 2) Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (The Importance of Skill) 3) Turn Down a Promotion (Importance of Control) 4) Think Small, Act Big( The Importance of Mission).

If you take Cal’s advice he states that you will create career capital, and science tells us that the key to loving what you do is to have important traits such as autonomy, competence, creativity and a sense of impact in your working life. These traits are rare and valuable. Basic economics tells us that if you want these traits in your career, you mist build up rare and valuable skills to offer in return. In other words, until you are very good at something, you shouldn’t expect a very good job.

If you are new to the job market or a seasoned veteran the advice that Cal presents in “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” is compelling and sound.  I highly recommend reading Cal’s new book, and applying the principles and advice he has for the reader.   I

f you would like more information about Cal Newport you can visit his blog by clicking here. I hope you enjoy my interview with author Cal Newport about his new book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.”


Podcast 372: (1) How Many People Does It Take to Make a Difference? with Dan Zadra

 

Dan ZadraI am doing a series of interviews with author Dan Zadra on what I am referring to as his number series books.  In this podcast we are going to be speaking about his book entitled “(1) How Many People Does It Take to Make a Difference?“.

In my humble opinion the best part about Dan’s books are the amazing simplicity, yet positive impact they have on the reader.  Yet again, in his book (1) How Many People Doe It Take to Make a Difference, Dan inspires the reader to believe in themselves and reinforces that we are not here by mistake–we all have a grand purpose in the greater scheme of life.  This statement has such significant importance if you are going to make a difference.  You are not here by mistake and you are here for a reason.  The key is in finding your purpose and living it out.  I know easier said than done, but we all have to start looking for our purpose and be brave enough to live it.

Think about this little statistic that Dan so carefully placed in the book.  Odds of bowling a 300 game 1 in 11,500.  Odds of being hit by lightening 1 in 575,000. Odds of getting a royal flush on your first five cards 1 in 649,740. Odds of becoming the U.S. President 1 in 10,000,000. Odds of winning $340 million jackpot in MegaMillions lottery 1 in 175,000,000.  Odds of being born in this particular time, place and circumstances: about 1 in 400,000,000,000.  Amazing isn’t it.  Best we make something of this wonderful life we are given.

One of the greatest ways of making a difference is to be of service.  Yes, being of service now matter what we do is truly how we make a difference.  In an address in 2007 to the graduating students Bill Gates so eloquently stated ” I hope you will judge yourself not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities…on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.”  So nicely said–what to make a difference in your own life, then help make a difference in someone else’s.

If you want more information about Dan and his series of books please click here to be directed to the Live-Inspired website or click here to watch a great Youtube video.

 

Podcast 371: (5) Where Will You Be Five Years From Today with Dan Zadra

Dan ZadraHow many of you have ever asked this questions ” Where Will You Be Five Years From Today“?. Great question isn’t it.  Not only is it a great questions to ask yourself, but a wonderful questions to start to go to work on and explore the possibilities.

During my interview with Dan Zadra we discuss the importance of defining your personal values, and how this can be an amazing guide to helping someone ground themselves and get really clear as to what is matters most to them.  I know that years ago I did this exercise, and I was amazed as how much power is in this little exercise.

In the (5) book you are given lots of wonderful quotes, stories and mini-exercises.  The layout  is exceptional, as a matter of fact in all the personal growth and mastery books I have ever read, I have never found any as engaging, thought provoking and as easy to warm up to as the one that Dan created in “Where Will You Be Five Years From Today?”.   The whole series of Dan’s books of which we are  doing podcast for,  all have a similar layout and intuitive design–easy, fun and engaging just the way you want a book to be.

An important aspect of defining where you will be five (5) years from today is you ability to get in touch with you imagination.  Dan and I discuss the importance of imagination and creativity and how to get back in touch with this aspect of ourselves that often gets supplanted the older we grow.  It is so important to tap into our dream gene and take risks again-live, love, laugh and enjoy and dream the possible.

Thinking big seems to fly over the heads of many of us.  I know almost everyone has read the quote ” the greatest danger for most of us is not that are aim is to high and miss, but that it is to low and reach it.”.  This quote says it all, aim high really high–who knows what synchronicity just might occur that will allow you to achieve your goal.

We need to break our routines and do something new for the first time.  All of us get to comfortable and are not willing to break out of the mold.  It is time, we are in the dawning of a new age and abundance in all forms is all around us.  As the Nike ad states “Just Do It“.

I hope you enjoy this interview with an author that not only writes about possibilities, but he lives them.  If you want more information about “Where Will You Be Five Years From Today” you can

 

click here to  be directed to the Five (5) website, or you can join Dan on Facebook by clicking here.