So Good They Can’t Ignore You

by Cal Newport

So Good They Can’t Ignore You is Cal Newport’s response to the recent cultural assumption that there’s a mysterious, perfect job out there waiting for you and that all you have to do is find it. 

Instead, Newport argues that the best way to find a fulfilling job is to develop rare and valuable skills and to apply yourself deliberately.

The book gives four rules to create a fulfilling career:

1. Don’t Follow Your Passion
2. Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Or, the Importance of Skill)
3. Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the Importance of Control)
4. Think Small, Act Big (Or, the Importance of Mission)

To make his points, Newport will first introduce someone in the working world: a musician, a professor, an archeologist, or an advertiser. He will give a summary of what makes them stand out. Do an interview. Use their own words. Then he will describe the point he is getting at. 

This style makes Newports’ arguments both harder to refute and easier to imagine. However, it leads to a somewhat schizophrenic book that leaps from one point to another without the benefit of building slowly and logically. The reader can easily get lost. 

If the reader wants to apply any of Newport’s ideas to their life they should reread and keep notes. Taking notes and looking back is good practice in any case. But I found the scattered subjects in the book an obstacle to easy retention. 

It is more like a bullet-point list. 

To be straightforward, So Good They Can’t Ignore You was hard to finish. I kept putting it off because it didn’t capture me. But I think the information in the book is gold, and I plan to apply Newport’s philosophy and rules to my own career. 

Instead of revisiting the book though, I will probably consult this excellent outline that cuts out most of the fluff. 

Newport’s arguments go against the grain of today’s high-speed, job-hopping assumptions. I swallowed these assumptions whole when I was younger. And I’m happy to have worked a lot of jobs and to have been mobile. But it is pretty obvious that my stock of ‘career capital’ is not where it ought to be. 

This time, instead of just looking for another, better job, I will apply myself. I want to see what is possible when I bring greater value to my work. 

The ideas in Newport’s book should interest those just out of high school or college. Same for those who haven’t yet gathered enough rare and valuable workplace skills. 

Other Cal Newport books worth reading are Deep Work and Digital Minimalism.