So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

This book is a hard lesson that a lot of young people need to read. "Follow your passion" isn't just poor or misguided advice -- it could actually be harmful. Newport convincingly argues that what you should do instead is focus on building rare and valuable skills, so that, in the words of comedian Steve Martin, you become "so good they can't ignore you". If you're in the early stages of your career, you need to read this book. It had a huge impact on me -- this, along with some advice from people I trust, made me realize that I was chasing new or novel experiences, but wasn't actually focusing on developing important skills and experience. Once you have those -- what Newport calls "career capital" -- you can trade that capital for money, freedom, or interesting work. But you have to build those skills first.