Do great work

Note to self

I want to do great work. That won’t happen on its own. And one cannot just “find” great work to do. There are two things here.

First, what defines great work; Second, how does one get to that.

For me, great is something that is naturally net positive for the world and not just me. It’s something that I naturally want to win at. It’s also something that I can be naturally good at doing. These things can only be achieved if one works on things that they care about. So the question is, am I working on things I care about?

That question brings me to the next part, how does one get to “doing great work”. There is no formula to get this right. There are however things one can do to not stray. I would put all of those things under one umbrella — thoughtful work.

~ Work on things you care about.
~ Don’t work on things casually (though sometimes this is ok).
~ Do things thoughtfully. Don’t avoid thinking.
~ Think deeply before starting. Ask if you care. If the answer is yes, ask again.
~ Ask if this is something that you’ll not regret even on the bad days. p.s. - you will.

I am realising that this is what matters. It takes a lot of luck to be successful when starting up but it also takes 80 hour weeks and deep amounts of care and respect for what one is building. I am generally a self-aware person and I know very well what kind of work I want to and not want to do.

In 5 years, there should be something in this world that wasn’t there before. It should be net positive and useful for millions of people. And I want to one of the people who build it.