Competence Can Be a Trap
Here’s the situation: you’re doing a job really well. You’re getting praise, seeing results, and earning respect from those around you. And yet, deep down, you feel empty.
This feels paradoxical. “Why am I not satisfied with a job I’m doing so well?”
Marcus Buckingham addressed this question in his research on strengths (Now, Discover Your Strengths, 2001). The key distinction is this: competence is “what you do well,” while a strength is “what energizes you and makes you stronger as you do it.” These two often overlap. But when they don’t, your career can turn into a trap.
You do it because you’re good at it; it’s expected of you because you’re good at it; and it’s hard to let go because you’re good at it. The system keeps you stuck there.
Praise Leads You Astray
The mechanism of praise plays a critical role in creating this trap. From childhood onward, we’re shaped by what receives approval. When you do something well, you receive praise; you invest more in that thing; you get better at it; and you receive even more praise.
This cycle can pull a person away from what truly energizes them, leading them to a place where they are competent but burned out.
Amy Wrzesniewski’s research confirms this dynamic: it shows that the same objective task generates very different levels of energy in different people. “Being good” is not the same as “feeling energized.”
Cal Newport’s Concept of Career Capital
In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You (2012), Cal Newport critiques the “follow your passion” mantra. Instead, he proposes the concept of “career capital”: rare and valuable skills that hold value in the market.
Newport’s argument: fulfillment depends on autonomy, mastery, and meaning within one’s work. To achieve these, you need career capital. And career capital can often be built upon your existing skills.
This framework offers a way out of the trap: not by discarding your existing skills, but by using them in a new direction. You don’t have to give up what you’re good at—but you can choose how to build on it.
The Line Between What Energizes and What Drains You
Buckingham’s suggested practical tool: spend a week noting which tasks energize you and which ones drain you. This list isn’t a competency map; it’s an energy map.
Energy-givers often turn up in unexpected places. Maybe it’s not analytical work, but connecting with people. Maybe it’s not a technical solution, but teaching. Maybe it’s not grand strategy, but small yet delicate details.
This map is the clearest data point for career direction.
“A strength isn’t what you’re good at; it’s what energizes you.” > Marcus Buckingham, Now, Discover Your Strengths, 2001
Cevvela’s Perspective
- Competence and strengths are different things; being good at something doesn’t guarantee that it will energize you (Buckingham, 2001).
- The praise mechanism doesn’t necessarily direct a person toward what energizes them, but rather toward what earns approval.
- Career capital is built on existing skills; you may not need to start from scratch to break free from a trap (Newport, 2012).
- An energy map is the clearest decision-making tool: which tasks energize you, and which drain you.
- Coaching can be used in this process to make competency-energy mismatches visible and to find ways to apply career capital in a new direction.
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