How to Do Great Work: A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Non-Engineers

How to Do Great Work: A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Non-Engineers

Deciding what to work on is the first step towards achieving great work. To choose the right project, it should possess three qualities: it should align with your natural aptitude, you should have a deep interest in it, and it should offer the potential for greatness. Sometimes, you may not be sure what to work on, but it's important to take a leap and pick something to get started. Many significant discoveries have been made by noticing connections between different fields, so it's crucial to follow your excessive curiosity and explore topics that bore most other people.

Boldly chasing outlier ideas, even if others aren't interested, can lead to great work. If you're excited about a possibility that everyone else ignores, and you have the expertise to identify what they're missing, it's a promising bet. Interest is a powerful driver of hard work, surpassing mere diligence. The three most compelling motivations for great work are curiosity, delight, and the desire to achieve something impressive. When these motivations converge, they create a potent combination.

Ambition comes in two forms: one that precedes interest in a subject, and one that grows out of it. Most people who achieve great work possess a mix of both types of ambition. However, the more you have of the former, the more challenging it becomes to decide what to pursue. Ultimately, when it comes to figuring out what to work on, you're on your own. Therefore, it's crucial to make yourself a target for luck by being curious, trying new things, meeting new people, reading extensively, and asking questions.

One sign that you're suited for a particular kind of work is when you enjoy even the parts that others find tedious or frightening. If you're creating something for people, ensure that it's something they genuinely want. The best way to achieve this is by making something you yourself desire. By writing the story you want to read or building the tool you want to use, you'll attract an initial audience of like-minded individuals. In most cases, the recipe for great work is simple: work hard on ambitious projects, and something good will come out of it. Planning too much can be counterproductive, instead, focus on what seems most interesting and provides the best options for the future.

While setbacks and unexpected challenges may arise, it's important to try and finish what you start. Often, the best work occurs during what was meant to be the final stage of a project. However, great work is not achieved by working diligently on something you hate for years before reaching the enjoyable part. Instead, it happens by consistently focusing on something you're genuinely interested in. Work doesn't only happen when you're actively trying; it also occurs during moments of undirected thinking, such as walking, showering, or lying in bed. By allowing your mind to wander, you may solve problems that frontal attack couldn't solve.

Aiming high involves creating something that people will care about even a hundred years from now. While their opinions may not hold more value than your contemporaries', creating something that withstands the test of time indicates genuine quality. Criticism is easy, and the route to great work is never easy. Therefore, it's essential to focus on problems and solutions that others have overlooked rather than seeking shortcuts. Originality is not a process but a habit of mind. Original thinkers generate new ideas about their focus areas effortlessly. Talking or writing about the things you're interested in can generate new ideas, as the act of putting thoughts into words often reveals missing ideas.

Ideas that seem crazy, but the right kind of crazy, are often the ones with the most potential. Recognizing these ideas can be challenging, but they tend to be exciting, rich in implications, and have the potential for growth. Many overlooked ideas don't lose until the semifinals because they are dismissed as too weird, risky, or controversial. By turning off the filters that shoot down unconventional ideas, you can see more new possibilities. Exploring supposedly tapped-out fields can also lead to great work, as latent potential may still exist within them.

Curiosity is the best guide when it comes to doing great work. It never lies and knows more than you do about what's worth paying attention to. Nurturing and allowing curiosity to drive you is crucial in all four steps of achieving great work: choosing the field, reaching the frontier, identifying gaps, and exploring them. Ability, interest, effort, and luck are factors in doing great work. While luck is beyond our control, effort is a given if you genuinely desire to do great work. Therefore, the problem boils down to ability and interest. Finding work that combines your ability and interest to create a surge of new ideas is key.

Being prolific and trying various things increases the chances of discovering something new. However, it's important to understand that trying many things also means encountering many failures. Having a lot of bad ideas is inevitable when seeking a lot of good ones. Instead of seeking shortcuts or hacking the system, focus on problems and solutions that others have overlooked. Originality lies in the presence of new ideas, not the absence of old ones. Copying ideas from one field into another can be a powerful approach. By deliberately learning about other fields, you can increase the chances of making chance discoveries.

The people you surround yourself with play a significant role in your work. Working with colleagues who inspire you and challenge you to grow is essential. Good colleagues offer surprising insights and can see and do things that you can't. Therefore, having a handful of such colleagues is crucial. Morale and optimism are important factors in doing great work. Being an optimist and viewing yourself as lucky rather than a victim increases the likelihood of achieving great work.

Doing great work is akin to a depth-first search, with the desire to do great work as the root node. Therefore, when faced with setbacks, it's important not to panic and backtrack more than necessary. Never abandon the root node and keep trying until you succeed. Ultimately, if a handful of people genuinely love your work, that's enough validation. It's crucial to surround yourself with someone who understands and supports your need to work, rather than seeing it as competition. Curiosity should guide your journey, leading to exploration, growth, and ultimately, great work.

In conclusion, doing great work requires careful consideration of your abilities and interests, as well as nurturing curiosity and passion. By choosing projects that align with your natural aptitude and deep interests, while also offering the potential for greatness, you can embark on a journey towards achieving great work. Embracing curiosity, trying new things, and surrounding yourself with inspiring colleagues are key elements in this pursuit. Remember to stay optimistic, focus on problems and solutions that others have overlooked, and never give up on your desire to do great work.