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How to Do Great Work

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Do Great Work

#81

Post by scaramanga »

padolsey wrote: post #68
helicalmix wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ambition is a pretty ambiguous term for what I think—here—means “A strong yearning for a type of success characterised by western capitalist-individualistic schema of wealth and status.” Cool if you want that I guess. But it’s narrow af.

If you work hard, in the fields, every day, perhaps one day you, too, could be a successful pharaoh like me. Said the great wise pharaoh.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#82

Post by andai »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #38

It feels like this takes a very narrow definition of greatness which is more aligned to innovation and "What will make you famous" or "What will be commercially successful". From plant life and human health all the way up to nation states, there are lots of people doing great work just making sure that things keep running smoothly.

Both are necessary. I think the difference is that Group A (keep things running) without Group B (explore new territory) would have kept us in the stone ages. However, that is not to understate their importance: a humanity consisting entirely of Group B would be much more unstable, and possibly have gone extinct.

It's similar to the Rogue Bees: https://www.mrdbourke.com/what-if-you-did-the-exact-opposite...

Although rogue bees (as a small portion of the population) are actually essential to a hive's survival.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#83

Post by grumpy_coder »

You really shouldn't write a long post on doing great work without mentioning teamwork. He seems to say great work is done in the garage or garden shed, which has been false for centuries at this point.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#84

Post by emodendroket »

chii wrote: post #27
scarface_74 wrote: post #8

> 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.

Is Franz Kafka best remembered for how good he was at his day job?

Re: How to Do Great Work

#85

Post by raminf »

I agree with almost everything said here, especially the value of curiosity and experimentation.

A few thoughts:

- Every project is at its most exciting right in the beginning when it's new, and toward the end where the end is in sight. The trick is staying engaged and interested in the long, flat middle where progress comes in small dribs and there are frequent setbacks.

- Another point I wish the essay made is that many projects reach a point at which it is best to reveal it to others. That is one of the most scary parts, of exposing oneself to criticism and doubt. It's what petrifies so many people from even starting. But if you embrace it not as the end, but as part of the process and a natural part of the evolution of the idea, it can itself be turned into a motivator. It's your first milestone. You WANT to get to that point, as a checkpoint. Seek out the feedback, adjust, and press on.

- In fact, more should be said about the emotional part of doing projects. The love (or lust), the fear, the frustration, the doubt, and yes, the joy. All those human emotions are part of doing any work. We can run away from it and try to avoid it, or realize it comes with the territory.

- Another thing that comes with experience and age is knowing what to say NO to, and avoid getting pulled away into the tributaries. It's easy to get distracted by side quests and to engage in bike-shedding. In fact, sometimes it's necessary for one's mental health. But it is best to keep an eye on the main goal that got us excited about the idea in the first place. Knowing when the break is over and it is time to get back to main path is a trick that seems to only come with age.

- Lastly, there is great value in brevity (this is not a critique of PG's excellent essay :-) Imagine meeting a friend and they ask what you are working on. You tell them a long, complicated story, and their eyes glaze over. Next person, you learn to shorten it. Same result. You iterate. Soon, you've boiled it down to a short sentence you can rattle off without thinking. That's the nugget of the idea. The through-line. It's the blurb on the back of the book, the opening line of the website, and the executive summary of the grant application or pitch deck. At some point, all works need to be explained to someone else, before they become Great Works.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#86

Post by slothtrop »

cookie_monsta wrote: post #38

It feels like this takes a very narrow definition of greatness which is more aligned to innovation and "What will make you famous" or "What will be commercially successful". From plant life and human health all the way up to nation states, there are lots of people doing great work just making sure that things keep running smoothly.

This is contrived. You can do a good job bagging groceries, but no society will ever elevate that to "greatness". Colloquially it's either in reference to mastery, or prolific/high-impact work as society is concerned.

Re: How to Do Great Work

#88

Post by scarface_74 »

emodendroket wrote: post #84
chii wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Is Franz Kafka best remembered for how good he was at his day job?

And he died at 40 and this was his personal life:

> Kafka never married. According to Brod, Kafka was "tortured" by sexual desire … his life was full of "incessant womanising" and that he was filled with a fear of "sexual failure".[64] Kafka visited brothels for most of his adult life[65][66][67] and was interested in pornography.[63] In addition, he had close relationships with several women during his lifetime. On 13 August 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, a relative of Brod's, who worked in Berlin as a representative of a dictaphone company. A week after the meeting at Brod's home, Kafka wrote in his diary:

Re: How to Do Great Work

#89

Post by mercurialsolo »

I have always wondered is greatness is something we see in retrospect and in the middle of all the work - do we really see it as great. What keeps us ticking to do the work?

The passion, the finish line, the eye on the goal, the fleeting moment of accomplishment?

And do you really see work as a product of your life's output. Or the way you live your life as one dedicated to the work. Are your relationships, your friendships, your contribution to your immediate environment around you motivators?

Re: How to Do Great Work

#90

Post by nazgulnarsil »

One thing mostly not addressed is just how hard it can be to receive social opprobrium for pushing against things that are obviously broken but act as important foundation for current social reality. Even small amounts of contrarianism can get surprising amounts of not just overt push back, but social undermining over seemingly trivial things.

This creates a different kind of blindness to 'What you Can't Say' and 'Schlep Blindness' but rather a filtering of most smart contrarians into fields where lots of smart people bicker over table scraps of prestige and the few interesting problems that are legible and funded to work on. Work on seemingly low status problems and you won't have to waste your time competing.

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