One of the earliest books I summarised here on Commonplace was Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You. In the book, Newport opens with the argument that ‘passion is overrated’ — that is, picking a career built on what you’re passionate about is a bad idea; instead, building competence in order to earn autonomy in one’s work is what ultimately creates enjoyment. In other words, Newport argues that passion stems from mastery, not the opposite.

我在 Commonplace 上最早总结的书之一是 Cal Newport 的《让自己优秀到无法被忽视》。书中，Newport 提出了一个观点：激情被高估了。也就是说，以自己的热情选择职业并不是个好主意，相反，通过提高自己的能力来获得工作上的自主权，才是最终能让人获得快乐的方式。换句话说，Newport 认为激情是来源于掌握技能和经验，而不是引导人去掌握技能。

I largely agreed with Newport at the time. But here are three nuanced takes by three believable people, all of whom argue something slightly different.

当时我基本同意 Newport 的观点。不过，这里有三位值得信赖的人提出的三种细微不同的看法，他们的观点各有一些差异。