How to Do Great Work

Translation and notes

A readable adaptation of the article's core ideas, with the original source clearly credited.

Great work begins by finding a field where real aptitude meets sustained interest. For a founder, that means choosing a problem whose details remain compelling after the market narrative loses its novelty. The choice is discovered through projects, not introspection alone: build things, notice which questions pull you back, and favor steps that preserve valuable future options.

Once the field is chosen, work slightly beyond the comfortable edge. Keep track of anomalies, awkward user behavior, and questions that standard explanations dismiss. These are often better inputs than a polished roadmap. Protect uninterrupted time for the hardest work, while treating sleep and recovery as parts of judgment rather than rewards after exhaustion.

Early versions will be imperfect, so shorten the loop between making and informed criticism. Publish something concrete, seek feedback from people who understand the problem, and complete a specific revision. Originality is rarely produced by trying to look original; it emerges when a team understands a worthwhile problem deeply and keeps raising the standard of its work.

The useful way to read How to Do Great Work is to connect it to a live decision rather than consume it as general advice. A product choice, a customer conversation, a hiring question, or an operating tension can turn the essay from inspiration into a thinking tool.

This is a free adaptation, not a word-for-word republication of the original article.