THE CRAFTSMAN MINDSET VS THE PASSION MINDSE
the craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world.
“Nobody ever takes note of [my advice], because it’s not the answer they wanted to hear,” Martin said. “What they want to hear is ‘Here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script,’ … but I always say, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.'” said Martin.
Martin strongly suggests that when people find something more solid to start with and gradually get better at doing it to establish a career is more of the way of getting to an ideal place.
Newport also took another example from Jordan Tice, who stated that ‘”Here’s what I respect: creating something meaningful and then presenting it to the world,”‘, suggesting that Tice believes that being dedicated to your job and make contributions to the world is the ultimate meaning of life and should be highly respected and advocated.
From Martin and Jordan’s experiences, Cal concluded that ‘If you’re not focusing on becoming so good they can’t ignore you, you’re going to be left behind. ‘, demonstrating the idea of if you put enough efforts into your job, you would eventually grow to love it and gain success.
The passion mindset focuses instead on what the world can offer you. Portman states that the reason why he dislikes the passion mindset is:
- First, it makes you hyperaware of what you don’t like about it and you are easily boarded out at the beginning stage.
- Second, the minor dissatisfactions would trigger you to doubt that if this is what you truly love.
Therefore, he suggested that people with the passion mindset should adopt the craftsman mindset so they would gradually work their way up without being misguided by the boredness of the entry-level jobs.
From the article, it is obvious that Newport is on the side of the craftsman mindset which refers to a more doable and fundamental concept/plan of achieving a successful career.
In my opinion, Portman is quite of a realistic person for stating out the plain fact of ‘you have to start to be good’ and you simply have to work your way up instead of daydreaming about it.
I do see the value in the craftsman mindset as it encourages people to put efforts and work hard and stand slid on the ground first. But if you happen to be doing what your passion has led you to and have the dedication in improving gradually through all the difficulties, why not follow your passion? Following passion and getting better at what you do CAN be the same thing in many cases. There is nothing wrong with following you passion as long as you have a thought-out plan and the dedication to overcome hardships and a rational-thinking mind.