HOW TO DO GREAT WORK

📆 Published: 3/1/2026

Sec 1

To do great work is like crossing a desert—you need motivation plus direction. In essence, it all comes down to one thing: interest.

Interest provides motivation, and interest itself is direction.

Ideally, interest will tell you what you should be doing.

Sec 2

The direction you choose may be unconventional—that's fine. Be bold in pursuing overlooked, outlier ideas, and seek out blue oceans that no one else has noticed.

Sec 3

A four‑step methodology for finding direction:

1. Choose a field
2. Learn enough to get to the frontier
3. Notice gaps in the frontier
4. Explore promising gaps

The three strongest drivers to keep you moving forward:

• Curiosity
• Delight
• Desire to do something impressive

In practice, these four steps may overlap. The worst case is making a choice too late based on insufficient information.

mindmap
  root((第三节：定方向的难点))
    不知道对什么感兴趣，不知道擅长什么
	    去尝试需要耗费大量时间

I find this methodology identical to conducting academic research—find the boundary of knowledge and then break through it.

Sec 4

On ambition: too much ambition without a clear direction leads to "wanting to do everything, yet doing nothing well."

The solution: anchor ambition to a specific subject.

Better: "ambition + ambition toward a particular direction" rather than vague, general ambition.