In his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” author Cal Newport makes the argument that seeking a job that you can be passionate about is the wrong approach to building a great career. Instead, he suggests that you focus on being a “craftsman” in the job you have. He goes on to back it up with numerous examples from his own research and points out that in most cases, people who have great careers got there by focusing on being really good at their early jobs.
Newport uses the term “Career Capital” to describe what happens when you simply focus on being good at the job you have. Focusing like a craftsman, you build up skills that become career capital that you can trade for bigger and better jobs throughout your career.
Think about your current job and what stands between where you are now and where you could be if your focus was directed towards this end? Throughout our career we can get distracted with the idea that if we find the right job, we will be happy and fulfilled. Turns out it doesn’t work like that.
What would happen if you treated the job you had like the only job you would ever have? And you focused on doing it better than anyone around? My personal experience and observations are that you will get noticed and be offered more responsibility.
How do we apply ourselves as craftsmen? Here are 3 suggestions that can help you be really good at what you do in your current position so that you can get noticed.
- Make the decision to be the best at what you do. Everything starts with the decision. Put it in writing. Make a list of what being the best would look like or mean for you. Perhaps there are benchmarks already in place that will allow you to know where you currently stand. In sales it’s easy because most sales organizations have a leaderboard that ranks top down. Being the best means the most sales usually.
- Make the commitment. Tell everyone that you are going to be the best at what you do. Yes, even tell your competitors. Put them on notice. You can do it in a way that is challenging and fun, not threatening or demeaning. Analyze what you need to start doing and what you need to stop doing to close the gap on being the best. Unless you are willing to add something or subtract something you can count on things staying pretty much the same.
- Change your diet. What are you currently feeding your brain? Whatever it is, it is who you are. You are what you eat. Proverbs says as you think in your heart so are you. The results you get are directly proportional to your actions. Your actions are controlled by your mindset or attitude. It’s your habit of thinking. The only way you change it is by figuring out how you got to think that way to start with. It’s the ideas that you have been exposed to with repetition most often. So, change the programming. Change what you consume.
If you pay careful attention, you will observe that many people feel like they need to find a better job to have a great career. You will also notice that the people that are focused on being true craftsmen so that they can be the best at the job they have now are much fewer. If you could look down the road 10 years from now the craftsmen will have the great jobs and the masses will still be looking for that great job.