So Good They Can't Ignore You, Cal Newport, 2012

The book challenges the common advice of “following your passion” and instead promotes the idea of developing rare and valuable skills to create career opportunities and control. Newport introduces the concept of “career capital”—the collection of skills and experiences that make a person uniquely valuable—and emphasizes deliberate practice, patience, and strategic decision-making to achieve long-term career satisfaction.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Passion follows mastery, not the other way around—by focusing on developing valuable skills through deliberate practice and persistence, fulfilling career opportunities will naturally emerge.
2. Control and autonomy in one’s career should be earned through career capital; seeking independence too early without a solid foundation of expertise leads to instability and failure.
3. The most fulfilling careers are built on creativity, impact, and control—achieving these requires setting clear goals, resisting distractions, and strategically positioning oneself in opportunity-rich environments.