This Holiday, Give the Gift of Career Confidence
Uncategorized December 13th. 2012, 6:41pm
A Gift that Keeps on Giving
If you’re still searching for holiday gifts, I want to humbly recommend my new book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work you Love.
As most of you know, this book makes the argument that “follow your passion” is bad advice. It then chronicles my (successful) quest to figure out the concrete strategies that work instead (hint: how you work is more important than what work you do).
If you already read the book and enjoyed it, think about your passion-addled friends and relatives who might benefit from hearing this advice.
If you haven’t read it, consider giving yourself the gift of a blueprint for building a remarkable career.
On the fence? Here are some accolades to help persuade you…
- The book was selected for several Best of 2012 lists, including: Inc. Magazine’s Best 2012 Books for Entrepreneurs, The Globe and Mail’s Top 10 Business Books of the Year, 800-CEO-READ’s Business Book Awards Shortlist, (Update: the book won its category, and was named the best personal development book of the year) and Small Business Trend’s 20 Best Business Books of 2012.
- My op-ed on the book for the New York Times spent a week as the paper’s #1 most e-mailed article, while my article on the book for the Harvard Business Review blog spent a month on the site’s most read articles list.
- The book was endorsed by Seth Godin, Reid Hoffman, Dan Pink, Kevin Kelly and Derek Sivers (see Derek’s 10/10 review of the book).
Want to find out more? You can also read my summary of the book, or read (adapted) excerpts published in Fast Company, The Globe and Mail, and Lifehacker.
If you’re a college student (or thinking of buying the book for a student), read this thoughtful review from the Swarthmore College Daily Gazette.
If you’re interested: you can find the book at Barnes & Noble stores (it should be on the Best of Business display at most locations) and online at bn.com and Amazon.
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Okay, that’s the end of my pitch. We’ll return soon to our regularly scheduled programming. In particular, I’ve been working on an essay about why I think David Allen deters deep work.
Stay tuned…
December 13th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Sound’s like a great idea to give someone something that helps with personal development especially in these times of ‘economical slow down’ when passion is most important value to create. In addition, I am wondering if you can get it in Europe as well?
December 13th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
I would have already bought it if it was available in e-book in France. Any idea how I could have it ?
December 13th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
Another vote for having an e-book made available internationally. I’m living in France but I think it’s more likely my New Zealand account, talk to your publisher please so we can all read and gift the awesomeness.
December 13th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
I would definitely gift this if it were available on kindle internationally.
December 14th, 2012 at 12:02 am
Sigh…
I have been on an epic quest of frustration in order to get this book Cal, but to no avail. I’m from Brazil, and there is not digital version of you book on Amazon. There is the Barnes and Noble NOOK version, but when I tried to install it, Apple won’t allow my non-american credit card to buy in the US iStore, even though it’s a free software. So I just can’t read you book, and I really wanted to. If there’s any other way I can personally pay you for you work, let me know, I’m kinda desperate here. Thanks.
December 14th, 2012 at 12:56 am
Sorry about the lack of digital copies in non-US, UK, Canada. International digital rights are complicated, and, in this case, out of my hands, since we sold world rights to Hachette. They say they’re working on negotiations, but I don’t really know what’s happening there…
December 14th, 2012 at 3:11 am
Given 3 copies on audio away. 4 more in paperback and that’s tomorrow when friends come home for a christmas lunch!
Thanks a lot, Cal!
December 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Hoping for a Kindle version anytime soon.
December 14th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Sorry, I am also from Brazil and just realised I duplicated a query you just replied to Vinicius above this one. Looking forward to buy a Kindle version whenever available. Thanks for sharing your subject knowledge with us.
December 14th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Ooo, can hardly wait to see the David Allen piece!
December 14th, 2012 at 8:20 pm
Congrats on the new book
We’ll have to give it a look.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:10 am
It is unfortunate that digital copies aren’t readily available internationally. My eyesight prevents me from reading any other way. I guess it will turn up eventually.
December 15th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Geez, that’s a lot of great PR for your book. The argument research I believe is the core that gets things going and making a successful read. Digital Copies is something that would make this much better
December 16th, 2012 at 2:02 am
Your book was a turning point for my career. Being a life long learner, this book fit right into what I was basically planning, but had no guide to do so. Just returning from three years in Afghanistan, I knew I had to do exactly what you suggested in the book. I had already figured out pretty much what my rare and valuable career capital was, but didn’t know how to handle it. Your book took me over the edge. Now, I have a new job in my old field, am completing my Masters, and starting the appropriate certifications to fit what I need to be rare and valuable. Thank You!
December 17th, 2012 at 3:51 am
Heading to B&N again tomorrow for a hard copy for my entrepreneur friend with a pet products store; her own, not a chain….Have mine on iPhone Kindle app
. Wonderful.
December 18th, 2012 at 3:42 am
Would love to buy and read, but cannot get on Kindle in Australia.
December 21st, 2012 at 5:41 pm
I gave your book and the Apollo Planner to everyone on my list!
http://www.apolloplanner.com/
January 1st, 2013 at 11:55 pm
Great read Cal! I absolutely love your books and I am big fan! Your past books have changed my life and I’ve recommended them to my friends and family. I am now finishing up this book, and I have to say it’s extremely useful to the situation I now find myself at. I am extremely interested in learning more about deliberate practice and avoiding the plateau of performance skills and career capital that I’ve found myself at time and time again.
I haven’t completed the book in full yet, but I noticed that you mentioned deliberate practice and some ways in which others have used it (I’m currently at the point in the book where you describe how you’ve used it), but I notice that you don’t have a generalized overarching strategy for applying it to your life.
I think a few of your posts mentioned ‘deep work’ and I think this might be helpful in getting past a lot of discomfort that comes with stretching oneself. I’ll begin reading more into this.
January 6th, 2013 at 9:19 pm
I’d like to buy it in my itunes, but it is not available in the Belgian store.:( Could you fix the problem? Please…
January 20th, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Look more deeply into what people mean by “passion” for their work.
Emphasize the “guided” aspect of “deliberate practice”. In the case of many fields (e.g. software development, screen-writing), it’s easy to set your sights far too low or simply askew and still believe you’re doing well and making progress. Many people engage in deliberate practice, but without context they’re not necessarily progressing, not necessarily going in a positive direction, so it’s easy to wander off into the swamps. (And if one is not careful, at least in the case of musical or kinesthetic performance, one can “burn in” one’s mistakes.)
It is easy for us to forget that the little corners of the world any of us have seen or explored are not the whole world. The only ones of your role models whose names I recognize (let alone their “career capital” or expertise) are Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Where are Seymour Cray, Greg Mansfield, Dave Cahlander? They’re off in an earlier time and a different set of niches.
Ethics seems to be barely brushed on. Many people seem willing to pay big bux to get people with even a little expertise in STEM fields to do evil things.
The best part is the title, but the part twixt the covers is a bit lacking in substance, which, on the plus side, makes it a quick, easy read.
January 21st, 2013 at 8:27 pm
So I just finished reading your book, and I think your ideas about career progression and life satisfaction are interesting and worth spreading. However, I was disappointed that out of the 9 professionals that were profiled and held up as examples, only 2 were women. Do you have any advice for women, and other people, who might experience “glass ceilings” in the workplace? For many people, finding meaningful work may entail more than reinvesting career capital, there maybe be a difficult process of locating opportunities where that capital can be effectively invested.
February 5th, 2013 at 5:24 pm
i’m curious about the same question asked by the above post. besides the problems you outline in your book, discovering where you are able to best reinvest your career capital can be difficult task (especially if others aren’t willing to accept it!). the solution is often more nuanced than ‘acquire more career capital’; what do you suggest in these cases?