From learning to great work: Paul Graham's four steps
In How to Do Great Work, Paul Graham compresses the path into one line: "Four steps: choose a field, learn enough to get to the frontier, notice gaps, explore promising ones."
What it implies for learning
- Choose a field by curiosity, delight and ambition: "The three most powerful motives are curiosity, delight, and the desire to do something impressive."
- Learn enough to reach the frontier: map the field, find your edge, and learn toward it rather than reviewing what you know.
- Notice gaps: keep a running list of questions nobody seems to have answered.
- Explore: turn learning into work. "The way to figure out what to work on is by working."
And the unglamorous part: "Writing a page a day doesn't sound like much, but if you do it every day you'll write a book a year. That's the key: consistency."