In our current culture, we place a lot of emphasis on job description. Our obsession with the advice to follow your passion (the subject of my last book), for example, is motivated by the (flawed) idea that what matters most for your career satisfaction is the specifics of the job you choose. In this way of thinking, there are some rarified jobs that can be a source of satisfactionperhaps working in a nonprofit or starting a software companywhile all others are soulless and bland. The philosophy of Dreyfus and Kelly frees us from such traps. The craftsmen they cite dont have rarified jobs. Throughout most of human history, to be a blacksmith or a wheelwright wasnt glamorous. But this doesnt matter, as the specifics of the work are irrelevant. The meaning uncovered by such efforts is due to the skill and appreciation inherent in craftsmanshipnot the outcomes of their work.

Deep Work by Cal Newport