Study Hacks is a blog written by Cal Newport which explores various different ways of learning and life development. I read three articles: “The Grandmaster in the Corner Office: What the Study of Chess Experts Teaches us about Building a Remarkable Life”; “The Danger of the Dream Job Delusion”; and “The Passions Trap: How the Search for your Life’s Work is Making your Working Life Miserable”.

The following is my notes on these articles..

Deliberate Practice

• Improving specific aspects of an individual’s performance
  • Designed to improve performance
  • Repetition is key
  • Feedback from an outside source needs to be continuously available
  • Highly mentally demanding
  • Hard
  • Requires goals
• 10,000 hour rule – time it takes to master something
• The number of years of experience with something is only weakly related to performance
• Serious study to become exceptional– 5,000 hours
• Have to be dedicated to the right type of work – perhaps the most important and underappreciated step
• Some jobs competition is lacking – peers are likely doing zero hours on DP
  • Goal to achieve tasks in a competent and efficient fashion
  • Work early/late to outwork their peers
• Regulate any amount of DP into your regular schedule
  • Break through the plateau holding back your peers
  • To train an ability that is rare and valuable

The Dream Job Delusion

• A dream job – An occupation built around a hobby or casual side interest that you enjoy
• Dream job – Job satisfaction
• Quit your cubical job and start a business
• We are entranced by the idea of a dream job – when we hear stories of its success we feel inspired
• It’s dangerous – I don’t know what I want but it might be this
• The differences between a job, a career and a calling
• The way individuals view work may be a function of personality traits, not just reflections on the work itself
• Why someone might see their job as their calling might have little to do with the job itself and more to do with how the person approaches the work
• The type of job might matter less than what you do with it
• The more messages there are promoting the “dream Job” path creates happiness the more like you are to ossify your view of the working world – normal boring jobs vs exciting dream jobs
• Less likely to start investing in the hard, long-term work needed for your current career to grow into something fulfilling
• The importance of becoming very good at something rare and valuable
• Less about mustering the courage and more about determination
• The Ivy League Farmer – Loves what he does and does it well – studied farming at College ect

The Passion Trap

• Priest and the parachute story
• Wrote a book – “What colour is your parachute?”
• The key to a fulfilling career is to figure out what you’re passionate about and then go find a job to match
• Take control of your own career
• One of the most universal and powerful ideas in modern society
• The key to workplace happiness is to follow your passion
• The more emphasis you place on finding the work you love the more unhappy you become when you don’t love every minute of the work you have
• Especially effects young people – straight out of university
• At this young age, career defines their identity
• This is the time they have to most control over their life and therefore are the most anxious
• Most stories revolve around uncertainty regarding the search for the “right” job
• A dream job, once obtained, couldn’t live up to the fantasy
• Importance of ability and craftsmanship in developing passion for your work
• Authenticity – beautiful surroundings
• Autonomy – having control over when and how we work
• Mission – turning our work into something meaningful