! *Editor's Note*: This Is A Guest Post From Cal Newport Of Study
Hacks. [1] !
"I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years," Steve Martin recalls
in his 2007 memoir, _Born Standing Up_ [2]. "Ten of those years were
spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in
wild success." If you do the math, this sums to fourteen years of hard
work before Martin saw returns on his investment.
_Fourteen years._
That's a long time to remain focused on a goal without reward,
especially when the path is ambiguous ("The course was more plodding
than heroic," Martin recalls). But as he makes clear in his book,
Martin found a Zen peace in the simplicity of his pursuit. He
describes with relish, for example, the importance of "diligence" in
becoming a star --- a term he redefines to mean the ability to _not
work_ on unrelated projects --- and he labels "loss of focus" as an
"indulgence" that success cannot afford.
Martin's story should resonate with those of us interested in the
minimalist lifestyle preached here at Zen Habits. He injected
minimalism into his life by orienting his world around a single
passionate pursuit: innovating stand-up comedy. For Martin, there was
never any doubt what his Most Important Task would involve each
morning, and jettisoning unrelated commitments and distractions came
naturally. As he discovered, when you know what your life is about
it's easy to sidestep all that threatens to clutter it.
In other words: *passion breeds simplicity.*
Even if we agree on their value, however, how do we find these
simplicity-generating passionate pursuits in our own lives? This is
the thorny question I address in this post.
!! Passion Paralysis !!
Faced with the task of identifying their "passion," most people have
one of two reactions:
The first is *a frantic search of their lives* with the aim of
uncovering some magical pursuit that unmistakably sings to their soul.
As a writer of student advice, for example, I frequently receive
e-mails from young people that begin: "I'm trying to decide what my
passion should be..." (If only it were that easy.)
The second reaction is *paralysis*: faced with the life-changing
importance of this discovery, many people freeze --- hoping for a sign
from above that will make things clear. (Spoiler: This can be a _long_
wait.)
Neither of these approaches succeed, as passion is not something that
can be forcefully identified, and though it sometimes bubbles up
serendipitously, this is not something you can count on happening any
time soon. So what's a passion-seeking minimalist to do?
_I found an answer in an unlikely place..._
!! Do Less. Get More. !!
In the winter of 2009, I began researching a book on college
admissions [3]. Inspired by the type philosophy taught here at Zen
Habits, I sought students who followed a Zen path through the college
process --- getting into good schools while still living uncluttered
and authentic high school lives. It soon became clear that the
students who pulled off this feat shared a common trait: like Steve
Martin, they had organized their life around a passionate deep
interest. (This interest, in turn, made them irresistible to
admissions officers weary of reading the files of chronically
over-scheduled and stress-addled applicants.)
To make my book useful, I needed to discover how such passionate
interests are formed. After months of research, I arrived, finally, at
Penn State University, where a professor named Linda Caldwell [4] had
made a career out of studying interest formation.
Excited by her results, and wondering how to translate them into
everyday life, I gave her a call:
"You need to be exposed to many things," she told me. "You should
expose yourself even though you might not know if you'll be
interested."
When you find something that catches your attention: _follow-up_; see
if it sticks.
In other words, *discovering passion requires a dedication to
unstructured exploration*. You have to leave large swathes of free
time in your schedule (a technique I call _underscheduling_ [5]), and
fill this time with the exploration of things that might be
interesting. Of equal importance, when something catches your
attention you must leverage your free time to aggressively follow up.
As Caldwell's research reveals, true passion can't be forced. You can
participate in personality tests and self-reflection exercises until
you drop from exhaustion, but it's unstructured exploration coupled
with aggressive follow-ups that most consistently leads people to a
life-consuming interest.
*Here are some examples of this idea in action:*
* In a gap year following high school, *Ben Casnocha* booked an
open-ended trip around the world. He left his schedule undefined,
traveling with only the general goal of journaling and meeting
interesting people. During this process he noticed a recurring
interest in writing. Because his time was unstructured, he was
able to aggressively follow-up on the interest by calling up his
contacts in the publishing industry. His efforts led him to a book
deal and he went on to finish the manuscript in the exotic
international destinations left in his trip. He continues to write
professionally today both on his blog [6] and in magazines; he's
also a frequent commentator on NPR.
* In 2003, *Dee Williams*, a toxic waste inspector, was living in a
spacious bungalow in Portland, Oregon. (Depending on the source,
it was somewhere between 1500 to 2000 square feet of luxurious
living.) Her time was consumed by the standard traps of middle
class life: an extensive remodel on her home, car problems, the
struggle to pay bills, and so on. A committed environmentalist,
she realized she was tired of walking the walk and wanted to talk
the talk ("I was a slackavist," she recalls), so she simplified
her life, selling her house and moving into an 84 square feet
"tiny house" made out of found materials and parked in the corner
of a friend's yard. This move to simplicity opened time in her
schedule for exploration. She soon stumbled into a community of
people who were using tiny houses as a way of promoting
sustainable living. She left her job as a waste inspector and
started Boxcar Woodcrafts, a small woodworking company, and now
dedicates her newly copious free time to teaching classroom
programs on green living and sustainability [7].
* As a high school student, *Maneesh Sethi* was adamant about
leaving free time in his schedule. (During his senior year, for
example, he arranged a schedule that allowed him to return home
after lunch each day.) He filled this free time with exploration:
among other pursuits, he became Internet famous for demonstrating
how to transform a tube sock into an iPod case [8]. A computer
enthusiast, Maneesh found himself one weekend afternoon at a trade
conference where he met an editor of programming books. This led
him to discover that the editor was considering a book on computer
game programming for teenagers. Leveraging the free time in his
schedule, Maneesh aggressively followed-up on the opportunity,
sending over a collection of sample chapters, and finally
convincing the publisher that a he, as a teenager, was well-suited
to write their book for teenagers. This led, among other things,
to a follow-up book, and a recurring segment on a TechTV show.
Maneesh now writes full time about living an unconventional
lifestyle [9].
This advice can be hard to follow at first. When we think about
passion we think about action: we want to start doing big things
_right now_! But the reality of passion is more subtle. You have to
_do less_ to _get more_ in your life. It's a virtuous catch-22: by
embracing a minimalist lifestyle now, you are more likely to develop
the passionate interest that will support the lifestyle in the long
run.
Put another way: _take a step back; relax; then open your eyes to
patiently take in all that's out there._
*Read more from Cal at his blog, Study Hacks [10], or subscribe to his
feed [11].*
Links:
------
[1] http://www.calnewport.com/blog
[2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416553657/zenhab-20/ref=nosim/
[3] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767932587/zenhab-20/ref=nosim/
[4] http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/rptm/faculty/caldwell_l.html
[5] http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/02/18/want-to-get-into-harvard-spend-more-time-staring-at-the-clouds-rethinking-the-role-of-extracurricular-activities-in-college-admissions/
[6] http://ben.casnocha.com/
[7] http://portlandalternativedwellings.com/about-us/
[8] http://www.engadget.com/2004/08/13/the-ipod-supercase/
[9] http://maneeshsethi.com/
[10] http://www.calnewport.com/blog
[11] http://feeds.feedburner.com/StudyHacks
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