A New Framework on Work

Read time: 5 minutes

Welcome to The Ascend Archives Friday Edition where I share insights from the brightest minds in business and life and how I'm applying them to my life.

What do I want to do?

I was a few weeks into my Australia trip and was looking for some inspiration. The options were endless. Do I go into real estate? Should I buy a business? Is there another business leader who I could work for?

The hardest part was figuring out where to start.

I needed a framework for my self-discovery process. Luckily, I came across Paul Graham’s essay How to Do Great Work. The first 3 paragraphs had me hooked.

I ended up sitting at a coffee shop in Noosa Heads for 2 hours reading and taking notes on the 10,000+ word essay.

How to Do Great Work 4-Step Process

1. Choose a field

• The work you choose must have 3 qualities

  1. Something you have a natural aptitude for

  2. Something you have a deep interest in

  3. Something that offers scope to do great work (don’t worry too much about this one)

• When searching for the field, make yourself a target for luck. Try things, meet people, ask questions, and read books

• Don’t overly plan, just do

• A good sign that you chose the right field is when you enjoy parts of it that others find tedious

2. Learn enough to get to one of the frontiers of knowledge

• When you get stuck, attack the next 6 inches in front of your face

• Time block for difficult tasks. Most people find success tackling the most difficult problems first thing in the morning

• It’s harder to start working than to keep working. So start small and get going

• Lots of great projects start with lying to yourself. Say, “How hard could it be?” You get yourself going and the rest is history

3. Notice the gaps

• Work doesn’t take place just when you are trying to work. There’s a power in indirect thinking that happens by walking, showering, and lying in bed. Let your mind wander

• To benefit from this phenomenon, you must also be working hard in the normal way. Walking around daydreaming won’t get you anywhere but switching between deliberate work and leisure will lead to breakthroughs

• Original ideas don’t come from trying to have original ideas. They come from trying to build something or understand something slightly too difficult

• Better questions result in better answers

4. Explore promising ones

• Lean into lingering questions. It’s ok to be puzzled and think constantly to find the best solutions

• Stop looking for shortcuts. The way to beat the system is to focus on the problems and solutions that others have overlooked, not skipping the work itself

• There’s nothing wrong with copying other people’s work when starting out. That’s one of the best ways to learn. You then make it original by adding new ideas and combining what you learn in other fields

• Seek out experts and the best colleagues. Many projects can’t be done alone and it’s helpful to bounce ideas off others

Final Thoughts

One of the key themes is curiosity. As Paul puts it, “The whole process is a kind of dance with curiosity”.

I’m not a naturally curious person. As a rational and logical “go-getter”, following my curiosity feels inefficient and can lead to a “waste of time”.

Many of the concepts he talks about were the opposite of what I was used to:

• Just do, don’t plan

• Time block my day

• Thinking in the shower is working

• Copying others is ok

• Take time to lean into lingering questions

But I was determined to try a new approach to work. So I followed his advice and leaned into my curiosity. 5 months later, here’s what I’ve been able to do:

• I started publishing this weekly newsletter without a plan

• My calendar is blocked with the hardest stuff in the morning

• My notes app is filled with thoughts from the shower, on a walk, or in the car

• I saw other people ghostwriting for entrepreneurs so I tried it and landed my first couple clients

• I have a list of “questions to answer” in my notes app that I revisit from time to time

I don’t have a concrete answer to my original question of “What do I want to do”, but I have found a process I enjoy. I’m excited about waking up to work each morning, which is not something I would have said 6 months ago. I don’t have it all figured out but that’s progress in my book.

Thank you for reading! As always please reply and let me know what resonated, what didn’t, or what you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew