Notes

For those following Cal Newport, you might have heard that he started a podcast called “Deep Questions” to tackle the many queries he receives from readers. While trying out the first episode, I was intrigued to hear him tackle the question of life purpose.

In addressing this, Cal distinguishes between the 1980s and 1990s fairytale of:

1. Define your passion & find the matching job or career
2. Be happy in life

and the ‘deep life’ equivalent from Odysseus:

1. Survive the hardships
2. Get your life back in order (finances, health, etc.)
3. Develop responsibility, service to others, humility, and gratitude

The latter is easier said than done, but it provides a slightly clearer framework for how to find purpose and meaning. Defining an exact passion and then magically finding the corresponding job is definitely fairytale for most, so why not put in the hard work described in Cal’s ‘deep life’ model?

In a recent blog entry, Seth Godin touched on the important theme of “a meaningful specific”.

Both as a language educator and in my work as a tour operator, I’m coming to terms with this need to offer a meaningful specific that aligns with certain principles.

For example, in the ALG Thai program, we simply aren’t going to offer vocabulary lists and grammar tables. No matter how much students may demand this, our department stands for natural language acquisition through engaging experiences (comprehensible input). If we were to change that, we would no longer be offering a natural approach program.

Where do we draw the line between sticking to our meaningful specific and making reasonable accommodations based upon customer responses?