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How to Do Great Work

paulgraham.com

21–30 of 464 posts

Re: How to Do Great Work

#21

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

I certainly don't think you have to, and I don't think that's what Graham is saying, either. For those who are ambitious/do seek "greatness" in some form, though, I think this is a good article.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#22
post #9

also: - Don't have any chronic diseases or pain that will distract or dull your attention - Have a stable source of income or enough wealth to let you try and fail at a lot of things - Have stable family and friends - Don't have optimism beaten out of you at a young age etc

I am amazed how many people take their fortunes for granted and then preach about how they "worked harder than anyone else hence deserve much more than the others". You have to be incredibly lucky to get to that point. In case of chronic illness (like brain fog) you are pretty much destined to fail.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#23

Hmmm… > At 7 it may seem excitingly ambitious to build huge things out of Lego, then at 14 to teach yourself calculus, till at 21 you're starting to explore unanswered questions in physics. But always preserve excitingness. I’m 53 and some of my greatest joys still come from well executed Lego builds. Wonder if I’m stuck in a rut :/

Nah. I literally have a LEGO brick tattoo. Never let that die.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#24

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

There’s literally a note that says the text assumes you’re very ambitious. If you have no desire to work towards some definition of “greatness”, I assume that you’re not ambitious, and the text doesn’t apply to you.

Which is ok! You don’t need to be ambitious, but it also means you shouldn’t take this essay so personally.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#25
post #10

It's 2023. Why do many websites featured here still not use HTTPS?

I mean it's a blog, with no ability to sign in / risk leaking any PI. Adding HTTPS would only waste CPU cycles serving the page.

Sure, but there's a wider context of encrypting all internet traffic to provide less context for the stuff that is sensitive.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#26
I can't help but feel this essay is literally 100x longer than it needs to be for the point it's trying to make. This sort of long-winded, redundant writing seems to have gone out of style a long time ago.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#27

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

> Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness”

you don't have to. But then don't wonder why you never achieve greatness. Of course, life isn't about greatness.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#28

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

> The following recipe assumes you're very ambitious.

No reason why. PG isn't writing to you. If you've got hobbies that make you happy, relationships you love, and runs that keep you healthy, I'm sure PG would tell you not to change anything.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#29

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

Sometimes that side work prepares you for a day job that's more enjoyable and/or pays better.

Sure, but also sometimes you waste your life working thinking you kick ass left and right, till you arrive at certain point, ie retirement and realize you actually wasted your life, and no amount of money can change that. Sure, you have a some freedom ahead of you, but only as much as your health, finances and other circumstances allow you to, and this is usually less than people project earlier.

Plus family happens now for many of us, and not later. Kids need their parents, not their money. Its a grave mistake that hurts badly your closest ones for life to prioritize excellence in 1 direction over everything else, especially them.

I'll always have endless amount of respect of people raising their kids properly themselves into mature, happy adults who know what they want in life and go for it, even if it means they just worked to live. I don't have even a cubic picometer of respect for folks who end up doing the opposite, regardless of what they achieved professionally. This world needs new generation of balanced adults much much more than some search optimized by 0.1% or some marginally improved social graph monetization.

Of course not everybody wants, needs or can create a family, that's fine but another topic, then I agree with you more.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#30

> Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. I spend eight hours+ a day supporting my addiction to food and shelter. Why would I spend my free time working toward “greatness” instead of doing hobbies I enjoy and spending time with friends and family? Any other time I have I’m spending working out and training for runs - neither of which I will ever be…

I think the idea here would be to manage your manager so you can tie what work interests you into your job whenever possible, implied by this section:

"Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. If you do manage to do great work one day, it will probably be on a project of your own. It may be within some bigger project, but you'll be driving your part of it."

as for time with family and friends, I'd say you can't have it all. It's a personal decision on whether you want to achieve "greatness" and what you are willing to sacrifice for it

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