The Pursuit of Accomplishment and Passion

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The chapter explores the intrinsic value of accomplishment in various activities such as playing the guitar, making origami elephants, and sewing patterns. It discusses the significance of passionate perseverance and finding moments of transcendence in engaging pursuits, contrasting it with societal pressures for narrow achievements. Additionally, it touches on the impact of secondary passions on one's primary vocation and reflects on the changing landscape of artistic fields like writing and music in the digital age.

We push ourselves toward the highest-paying, most prestigious jobs, seeking promotions and public recognition. As Adam Gopnik points out, the result is not so much a rat race as a rat maze, with no way out. Except one: to choose accomplishment over achievement.

Achievement is the completion of the task imposed from outside.

Accomplishment, by contrast, is the end point of an engulfing activity one engages in for its own sake.

Shermer and Gopnik discuss:

mastering the secrets of stage magic (Gopnik's son worked with David Blaine and Jamy Ian Swiss)
accomplishment in music
family and mentors
the concept of the 10,000-hour rule vs. natural talent
Adam's new book All That Happiness Is, which offers timeless wisdom against the grain.

Adam Gopnik has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1986. He is the author of numerous best-selling books, including Paris to the Moon and The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery.

Sponor: brilliant.org/skeptic