Why follow your passion is bad advice
You gotta find what you love. That’s what Steve Jobs said in his Stanford graduation speech.
I watched that video years ago and found it inspiring. Then I read So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport. He argues with sharp logic why Steve Jobs was wrong and why Jobs never even followed his own advice.
Here’s how Newport’s ideas apply to software engineering.
Steve Jobs never followed his own “passion advice”
When Steve Jobs started college, he wasn't a tech nerd. He was into history and Zen Buddhism.
That was where his passion actually was. If he’d followed his own advice, he would have become a full-time Zen practitioner.
Personal computers were just getting traction when he saw an opportunity. He sold pre-built machines to a computer store in San Francisco. The plan wasn’t world domination. It was making a quick buck.
Later, Jobs became one of the most influential business leaders. He had passion for what he did. Otherwise he would have retired early. But he didn’t start with passion for computers. He developed it as Apple grew.
Most people’s passions don’t make money
Think about people you know. What are they passionate about?
Music. Travel. Football. Yoga. The vast majority of people don’t have hobbies that relate to business.
If everyone followed their passion, you'd have an awful lot of yoga retreats.
Some people like computers. But that’s the exception. Most people hate computers. They use them because it’s the cheapest way to get things done.
Nobody cares about your passion. They care about their own problems.
Here’s the truth: nobody cares about your passion. Why would anyone except family and friends care about you?
If you buy bread from a bakery, do you care whether the baker has a passion for it? No. You care whether the bread is good.
This is fundamental.
The world doesn't owe you a life filled with privileges and success. People mostly care about themselves. The only way to succeed is by solving other people's problems.
You probably agree with this. But here’s the thing: people don’t act on it.
Today you've got an entire generation brainwashed by Instagram influencers who tell you every day that you're a beautiful and unique snowflake.
They make it look like you deserve to be noticed. Like you’re so special that following your passion will lead to success.
This is obviously flawed. But these guys are marketers. They do what works.
Marketers don't care about giving practical advice. They want to build engagement.
Engagement means growth. Growth means a brand. A brand means you can sell things.
What to do instead of following your passion
You’ve probably had this insight before. But what do you actually do with it?
People have problems. They need solutions.
The only way to convince people to give you money is by solving their problems effectively. To do that, you need to produce something they're willing to pay for.
TV and Instagram make it look like anyone can build a company. Just buy my $89 course and become an expert. Right.
To provide value, you need to be good at something others aren’t. Otherwise your customers wouldn’t have that problem in the first place. If it were easy, they’d have solved it already.
To even get in a position to solve other people's problems, you need to be very skilled at something.
Newport argues that your focus should be on getting extremely good at what you do. Continually improve the quality of what you produce.
Production matters.
People fall into the academics trap. They read and read about how to do things, instead of getting their hands dirty. You might become a professor, but not a successful business person.
To get into execution mode, you need to regularly create something hard, then gather feedback.
From childhood, we’re taught that knowing things is enough. In school you stuff knowledge into your head. But you never get into the habit of producing things regularly.
The tape doesn’t lie
Musicians say the tape doesn’t lie. Your success depends on the quality of what you produce.
This makes sense to me. But marketing ability also matters. Otherwise I can’t explain all those get rich quick gurus selling overpriced courses with no real value.
Their success isn’t sustainable though. Eventually you can’t fake it. The truth comes out.
Building end-to-end skills
My takeaway from Newport’s book: develop more end-to-end skills.
People care about what benefit a product offers them. To offer it, you first need to make the product, then market it.
Building complementary skills is more approachable than becoming the best in one field. A unique combination of skills makes you valuable long-term. This is why marketing and sales matter, even if you’re “just the tech guy.”
You’ll probably develop passion as you get really good at something. Just like Steve Jobs did.