Purple Cows, Love What You Do
I have a skill set challenge that I renewed this week. I am learning and expanding my SalesForce.com SFDC skill set. I tasked myself to spend so many hours a week learning new modules. Eons ago, you could only pick up the software skills for SFDC on the job, but now SFDC offers a free online boot camp called TrailBlaizer It also tests you on the skills in a format you can share as a credential. My future work prospects revolve around what I can do from home. SFDC admins often get to work from home, so this would be an excellent opportunity to explore once I have a more extensive skill set and a credential to back me up. This leads me right to what I am reading this week.
What am I reading this week?
So Good They Can't Ignore You | Cal Newport
For the better part of my adult life, I have held the opinion that I should do what I love, love what I do, and the world will come to me. I found this saying on a tee shirt in Key West, FL. I always thought about it as a philosophy that would raise my horizons. But for many people following your bliss or passion became the job #1 when developing a career.
But if you poll people about their passions, it is evident that one's deepest desire will not pay the rent. Finding work that appeals to your passions and interests is a staple of our modern work ethic. According to Cal Newport, that is not entirely accurate. The title of his book is a quote from Steve Martin. It is a piece of advice Steve would offer anyone. He admits it is advice that no one wants to hear. Be so good they can't ignore you. Or, whatever your job is, be so good at it that you stand out. The author lays out a few people as examples of how following your passion is a bad bet. Mostly entrepreneurial and in fields in which they had no experience or skill set to share/sell. He suggests building a career where you are now. People will pay you well by developing skills as if you were a craftsman. Honestly, there are not many jobs for a professional beach bum, as would be my passion.
An author he references describe developing highly prized skills as hearing a purple cow. But, unfortunately, there are lots of ordinary cows in the field. To be a success and create job satisfaction, you need to put in the time and effort to learn the skills that will make you stand out like a purple cow among a herd of brown cows. Cal shares more examples of how people he interviewed went about developing great skill sets over time.
I found his arguments compelling. I struggle to develop skills around my blog post because my illness has changed my functionality. I can't love what I was doing before Crohn's, so I am learning new skills I can learn to love as I build them out. Cal describes how successful people who love their work turn skills into opportunities. He uses an interesting term, the adjacent possible. As you develop more advanced skills, your chance to apply them to new things comes into focus. Significant opportunities follow from existing skill sets. I think of playing a video game when I think of the adjacent possible, where you start with no skills or kit, but by effort and time on task, you pick up skills that advance your gameplay.
Cal ends with some good advice to leverage little bets. You might fail at a small endeavor but learn from it, tweak your approach, and try again. Little successes lead to more significant opportunities.