Choosing What to Work On

To do great work, you need to find something that combines your natural aptitude, deep interest, and offers scope for groundbreaking contributions. Start by working on projects that seem excitingly ambitious, even if they seem frivolous initially. Follow your curiosity and explore areas you find excessively interesting.

• Identify your natural talents and profound interests
• Work on ambitious projects that capture your curiosity
• Don't worry if others consider your interests unusual or unimportant
• Be open to exploring new fields and making unexpected connections

Getting to the Frontiers of Knowledge

Once you've found your area of interest, immerse yourself in it until you reach the boundaries of current knowledge. Actively look for gaps, anomalies, or unsolved problems that others may have overlooked or taken for granted.

• Learn as much as you can about your chosen field
• Identify the frontiers and gaps in existing knowledge
• Question assumptions and look for anomalies that others have missed
• Be stricter than others in your approach and willing to break rules

Exploring Promising Ideas

Boldly pursue outlier ideas that excite you, even if others aren't interested. Chase the right kind of "crazy" ideas that seem rich in implications. Be willing to break rules and challenge conventional beliefs.

• Embrace ideas that seem strange or unconventional
• Pursue promising ideas that others overlook or ignore
• Challenge assumptions and question cherished but mistaken principles
• Be comfortable with uncertainty and puzzlement

Cultivating Originality and Ideas

Great work often arises from a combination of expertise and originality. Nurture your ability to generate new ideas by working on slightly challenging problems, talking about your interests, changing contexts, and making connections between different fields.

• Work on problems that stretch your abilities
• Discuss your work and interests with others
• Explore diverse topics and make analogies between them
• Be prolific and try many different approaches

Developing Persistence and Effort

Doing great work requires sustained effort and persistence. Embrace the difficulties and setbacks as part of the process. Consistency and compounding effort are key to making progress.

• Be prepared to work hard and overcome obstacles
• View setbacks as opportunities to learn and refine your approach
• Maintain consistency and build on small incremental steps
• Recognize the power of compounding effort over time

Collaborating with Colleagues

Surround yourself with colleagues who inspire and challenge you. Seek out those who offer surprising insights and push you to grow. Great work often happens in clusters, so find collaborators who complement your strengths.

• Work with colleagues who push you to improve
• Seek out surprising and fresh perspectives
• Collaborate on projects that require diverse skills
• Learn from the expertise and experiences of others

Maintaining Morale and Focus

Nurture your morale and focus, as they are essential for sustaining ambitious work. Cultivate an optimistic mindset, protect your energy, and prioritize work that genuinely excites you.

• Develop an optimistic and resilient attitude
• Prioritize work that you find deeply engaging and rewarding
• Protect your focus and avoid distractions
• Take care of your physical and mental well-being

Embracing Earnestness and Honesty

Great work requires earnestness, intellectual honesty, and a willingness to admit mistakes. Avoid affectation and focus on what truly matters. Maintain a slight positive pressure towards honesty and informality.

• Be intellectually honest and willing to admit errors
• Avoid affectation and pretense
• Embrace informality and focus on what truly matters
• Cultivate an earnest and authentic approach to your work

Consistency and Evolution

Great work is often consistent and unified, evolving through successive iterations. Be willing to refine and improve your work, discarding elements that no longer fit. Strive for elegance and simplicity, while remaining open to discovery.

• Evolve your work through multiple iterations
• Refine and improve your ideas over time
• Discard elements that no longer align with your vision
• Pursue elegance, simplicity, and consistency in your work

In summary, doing great work requires a combination of ambition, curiosity, learning, generating original ideas, sustained effort, collaboration, morale, honesty, and a willingness to evolve and refine your work over time. It's a challenging but rewarding pursuit that can lead to remarkable contributions and expand the boundaries of what's possible.