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

the law of remarkability
(introduced in 
Rule #4
): A
simple law that can help you
identify successful projects for
making your mission a reality.
(This can be used in conjunction
with the little-bets strategy.) The
law says that for a mission-
driven project to succeed, it
should be “remarkable” in two
different ways. First, it must

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compel people who encounter it
to remark about it to others.
Second, it must be launched in a
venue that supports such
remarking.

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Notes
Chapter 2: Passion Is Rare
1.
Roadtrip Nation,
http://roadtripnation.com
. If
you click on the “Watch” link,
you can browse the PBS series
by season, and within each
season browse each episode by
the interview subjects.
2.
Interview with Ira Glass,
Roadtrip Nation Online
Episode Archive, 2005,
http://roadtripnation.com/IraGlass
3.
Interview with Andrew Steele,

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Roadtrip Nation Online
Episode Archive, 2005,
http://roadtripnation.com/AndrewSteele
4.
Interview with Al Merrick,
Roadtrip Nation Online
Episode Archive, 2004,
http://roadtripnation.com/AlMerrick
5.
Interview with William Morris,
Roadtrip Nation Online
Episode Archive, 2006,
http://roadtripnation.com/WilliamMorris
6.
Vallerand, Blanchard, Mageau
et al., “Les passions de l’âme:
On Obsessive and Harmonious
Passion,” Journal of
Personality and Social

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Psychology 85, no. 4 (2003):
756–67.
7.
Wrzesniewski, McCauley,
Rozin, et al., “Jobs, Careers,
and Callings: People’s
Relations to Their Work,”
Journal of Research in
Personality 31 (1997): 21–33.
8.
See the following for an
academic overview: Deci and
Ryan, “The ‘What’ and ‘Why’
of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs
and the Self-Determination of
Behavior,” Psychological
Inquiry 11 (2000): 227–68. For
more popular coverage, see

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Daniel Pink’s book, Drive: The
Surprising Truth About What
Motivates Us (New York:
Riverhead, 2009), or the
official website for the theory:
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/