How to Do Great Work
4 hours ago
- Choose work that matches your natural aptitude, deep interest, and offers scope for great achievements.
- Develop a habit of working on your own ambitious projects, driven by excited curiosity.
- Learn enough to reach the frontier of knowledge in your field, then notice and explore gaps.
- Great work requires hard work, but sustained by deep interest rather than mere diligence.
- The three most powerful motives are curiosity, delight, and the desire to do something impressive.
- Figuring out what to work on is hard but essential; be curious and try many things.
- Avoid pretentiousness, fashion, and fear by sticking to what genuinely interests you.
- To find new ideas, be strict about detecting broken models and willing to break rules.
- Originality is a habit of mind; generate ideas by working on slightly too difficult tasks.
- Consistency and finishing projects, even when harder than expected, are key to great work.
- Collaborate with high-quality colleagues and protect your morale as a living organism.
- Curiosity is the central guide for all steps: choosing a field, reaching frontiers, noticing gaps, and exploring them.