• By Daniel Robledo

🧭 Why "Follow Your Passion" Is Terrible Advice

read time: 03 minutes

Welcome back to The Checkpoint, a newsletter where, every Monday, we pause, reflect, and level up our lives.

☑️ Today's Summary:

• Passion fools us into believing good work comes from just liking what we do.
• I explore alternatives to passion that can make your career more fulfilling.
• I share how I’m applying these insights to my full-stack career pivot.

😁 What Makes A Fulfilling Career?

Hey Reader!

I recently came across a video from Ali Abdaal in which he recommended a book called So Good They Can't Ignore You.

​

I've read it before, but I decided to give it another read because it aligns well with my current career pivot (more on that later). After listening to the audiobook version, I can say—it’s a damn good book.

Cal Newport's work focuses on job satisfaction. He's spent years researching why people love (or hate) their jobs. His research boils down to two key conclusions:

1. Passion has little to do with enjoying your job.
2. A fulfilling job has three core components: skill, control, and mission.

I won’t get too deep into the data (because it would take forever), but Cal has interviewed dozens of knowledge workers and analyzed their careers to reach these conclusions.

One of the standout stories for me is about Lulu, a software developer. Lulu started in QA, which isn’t the most exciting entry-level position. Instead of quitting and "following her passion," she focused on building her skills—a process Cal calls “career capital.”

If you've studied microeconomics (or, you know, you’re not living under a rock), you understand that to get something valuable, you need to give something of value in return. Career capital is the currency we use to earn what makes a job enjoyable: control and mission.

Lulu climbed the corporate ladder, investing her career capital in gaining more control over her schedule. She started working 30 hours a week and eventually transitioned to freelancing. With the flexibility to choose clients who align with her purpose, she created a truly fulfilling career.

💙 The Key Takeaway:
Passion is a terrible compass for your career—it blinds you to what truly matters and how to get it.

I've been guilty of this myself. For so long, I tried to build a career in game development and content creation without first accumulating enough career capital.

Moving forward, I’m laser-focused on becoming the best full-stack developer I can be before worrying about whether I’m passionate about it or not. Here’s my game plan:

1. Learn how to build web apps.
2. Seek more control over my work life.
3. Align my work with my purpose around mental health.

✍️ Week's Quote

“ If we lived forever, maybe we'd have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes, and appreciate how strange and brief all of this is. — Edith Finch

❤️ Favorites Of The Week

👀 The Fanciest Tool In My Workspace

I believe the best tool for any knowledge worker isn’t a fancy desk, a comfortable chair, or an expensive laptop. It’s a simple whiteboard where you can dump all your thoughts. Let me explain why that’s so powerful. Learn more

Thank you for being here every week, Reader.Talk to you soon <3