Highlights
- The work you choose needs to have three qualities: it has to be something you have a natural aptitude for, that you have a deep interest in, and that offers scope to do great work.
- some of the biggest discoveries come from noticing connections between different fields.
- There’s a kind of excited curiosity that’s both the engine and the rudder of great work.
- Knowledge expands fractally, and from a distance its edges look smooth, but once you learn enough to get close to one, they turn out to be full of gaps.
- The three most powerful motives are curiosity, delight, and the desire to do something impressive.
- You notice a crack in the surface of knowledge, pry it open, and there’s a whole world inside.
- for most people who want to do great work, the right strategy is not to plan too much.
- At each stage do whatever seems most interesting and gives you the best options for the future.
- “staying upwind.
- You don’t just put out your sail and get blown forward by inspiration.
- There are headwinds and currents and hidden shoals. So there’s a technique to working, just as there is to sailing.
- That’s the key: consistency. People who do great things don’t get a lot done every day. They get something done, rather than nothing.