Work
What to Do
Paul Graham · Passages from the same work, in order.
What to Do, Excerpt 1
What should one do? That may seem a strange question, but it's not meaningless or unanswerable. It's the sort of question kids ask before they…
Direct reading
Action · Cognition · Leadership · Human nature · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 2
It may be the most impressive thing that can be done. And the best kind of thinking, or more precisely the best proof that one has thought well, is…
Direct reading
Leadership · Cognition · Action · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 3
Criticism seems sophisticated, and making new things often seems awkward, especially at first; and yet it's precisely those first steps that are most…
Direct reading
Leadership · Cognition · Action · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 4
Taking care of people and the world are shoulds in the sense that they're one's duty, but making good new things is a should in the sense that this…
Direct reading
Character · Leadership · Human nature · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 5
It was ok to do certain other kinds of work in one's spare time, but ideally one didn't have any. Cicero's De Officiis is one of the great…
Direct reading
Leadership · Action · Growth · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 6
What kinds of new things count? I'd rather leave that question to the makers of them. It would be a risky business to try to define any kind of…
Direct reading
Leadership · Action · Growth · Wealth · Entrepreneur memoirs
What to Do, Excerpt 7
Newton was driven by curiosity and ambition, not by any practical effect his work might have, and yet the practical effect of his work has been…
Direct reading
Leadership · Action · Cognition · Growth · Entrepreneur memoirs