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Episode 2221:
Cal Newport explains why the popular advice to follow your passion is too simplistic, drawing on Roadtrip Nation interviews with Ira Glass, astrobiologist Andrew Steele, and surfboard shaper Al Merrick. None of them planned their path, and each built skills through years of hard work before finding a niche. The career lesson is to get good first, because passion tends to bloom surprisingly late in the process.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://calnewport.com/the-pre-med-and-ira-glass-complicated-career-advice-from-compelling-people/
Quotes to ponder:
"The key thing is to force yourself through the work, force the skills to come. That's the hardest phase."
"Amidst this nuance, however, one conclusion is stark: the canonical advice to follow your passion is way too simplistic."
"It is here, it seems, surprisingly late in the process, that passion reaches full bloom."
Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
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