So Good They Can’t Ignore You – A Reaction Not A Review

So Good They Can’t Ignore you, Cal Newport 

I loved this book. 

I have to start there.  And that’s saying something.  It has been extremely difficult for me to pick up any kind of non-fiction book lately.  Fantasy, I can devour, but when it comes to business or self-improvement books, I get through the first chapter or two and have to put it down.  I don’t know why, but that’s how it has been for me during this pandemic/lock-down and my reading. 

That being said, I devoured this 2012 book by Cal Newport (he has a couple newer ones that I haven’t read yet) and the reason I’m writing this post is because I feel it is FI relevant.  Although the book is probably more geared toward people who are still on their FI journey and practicing an active career, there is still a ton of value that can be found either way. 

And as you know if you have read any previous posts in my A Reaction Not a Review section, I don’t do book reports or movie summaries.  I try something out and then give you my reaction.  If it piques your curiosity, then you can dive into the details on your own. 

I’ll also say, there is tons of great stuff in this book and not enough space in one post to dive into it all.  So for the sake of brevity, I’m only touching on a couple miniscule sections as to what is relevant in this post.  A short summary of the main points can be found here. 

Knowledge workers often plateau. 

If you are a knowledge worker, then I think you can relate to this. 

Cal refers to the phrase deliberate practice – “an approach to work where you deliberately stretch your abilities beyond where you’re comfortable and then receive ruthless feedback on your performance” – as something athletes, musicians and chess players are routinely accustomed to – that diligent driving daily work to be the best at what you do.  And Cal further points out, that knowledge workers are not very good at doing this.  His observation is that it takes most knowledge workers hard work to acquire that knowledge and career capital but once they do, they plateau and stop striving to be the best at what they do.  For the simple fact, that once they have acquired the knowledge, they are at the top of their field and unlike an athlete, they no longer need to be pushing themselves with daily practice to keep their place in the food chain (for the pundits I realize you can’t just stop learning and remain at the top of your field, I’m talking about the difference between people putting in 3-4 hours a day at mastery rather than 3-4 hours a week). 

And this really resonated with me, because I am a knowledge worker.  And when I read this, it was like a slap in the face.  Because who Cal was describing was me!  Hahaha. 

I was doing exactly what he was saying.  I had acquired 15 years of experience in my field and reached a comfortable level in my career that I have plateaued at.  In my daily work, I am more reacting, rather than learning and putting in a good 3-4 hours to expand my knowledge and be even more valuable to my company as well as myself.  I react to my days rather than attacking them.  Fucking email has become my master!  Ah! 

Instead, with any downtime I’m doing other things that interest me, like writing this blog.  My additional time is not being spent on uncomfortable deliberate practice to further hone my trade.  Why?  Because I don’t need to and frankly, my career is not my mission any longer.  Yes, I have practiced a craftsman mindset and am very good at what I do, but I’m already on to the next level of trying to obtain more control – which is what Cal calls the dream-job elixir – “that control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love.” 

Well said, and I agree Cal. 

Now, if I was still on a more traditional career trajectory, retiring in my sixties instead of my late forties, then I think I would be more inclined to keep obsessing over advancing my career.  But I’ve reached a point where my downtime is more valuable than any extra earnings.  I’d rather focus on the things in my leisure that make me the happiest rather than upping my FI date by several years. 

Anyway, that’s just me.  Some people obsess about hitting FI as soon as possible while others love their job and have no problem working into their late seventies.  It all depends on you. 

Lifestyle Design advocates can be misleading (like many self-proclaimed FIRE blog gurus). 

When you get further into his book, Cal gives an example of a young woman who quits her job to start a new lifestyle design website that will help people live a more engaged and fulfilling life. (Now, he doesn’t flat out say it, but this screams FIRE blogger all over it!)  The problem is, she has no value to offer yet, so the website fails, and she must go back to work and has trouble finding a job.  His whole point is you need to achieve career capital before you seek control, which I agree with. 

As you can already guess, this example hit home with me, because as a semi-FI writer, or more a thought-reflector in my own mind, I think Cal touches upon a prevalent problem with FIRE blogs and readers.  Many seem to think that they can start a blog and it will cashflow them off into the promised land.  BUT this is very misleading, because from what I have seen, very few blogs even make enough money to cover the couple hundred dollars in annual expenses.  The big boys and gals who rake in the almighty dollars, are outliers, few and far between.  And unfortunately, they are the biggest proponents of propagating this myth further to their own advantage. 

If someone is going to tell you, coach you, or show you how to make money, I can almost guarantee that they are already profiting from you somehow. 

And what Cal hits home on, is you must have value first.  You don’t just start writing, or whatever it is you are doing, and people follow you.  If monetary gain is your goal (which isn’t mine so I don’t know that much about it except my business background), it will take time.  You must have something of value that people are willing to pay for.  FI zealousness (just because you are on a pink cloud) is not a value proposition.  It seems that many people feel like it is at first, but it will wear off.  Having people follow your FI journey online, really isn’t that valuable in my opinion.  Maybe you think it is.  That’s great.  But test it out as a viable financial model before you go following your dreams and jump of a financial cliff. 

That’s it.  Short and sweet today. 

If you found anything interesting above give this book a whirl because I think it has many relevant work strategies that can help you along your FI journey or achieve at least more freedom and control over your working life in the meantime. 

Go get some! 

-Q-FI 

— 

P.S.  Read any books lately that had some good FI content jump out at you or at least made you relate to your financial independence journey?