How to Do What You Love

In this 2006 essay, Paul Graham starts from the childhood idea that work and fun are opposites, and argues that to do something well you have to like it. His bar is high: you should like your work more than any unproductive pleasure, and it should be work you admire rather than work you merely tolerate. He warns that prestige and money pull people towards what they'd like to like instead of what they actually like, and offers tests to stay honest, such as whether you'd do the work unpaid and whether the result would impress friends you respect. He describes two routes: gradually shifting your job towards what you love, or earning money elsewhere while doing your own work on the side, each with its own risks. He admits that most people never fully get there.

Finding work you love

Suggested ways to try it, adapted from the essay:

1. Raise the bar. Ask whether you like your work more than your favourite way to waste time. If not, treat it as a sign to keep looking.
2. Run the honesty tests. Would you do this unpaid while holding another job? Would the result make friends you respect say wow?
3. Watch out for prestige. Notice when something draws you because it sounds impressive rather than because you enjoy doing it, and let prestige follow the work instead of leading it.
4. Always produce. Keep making things in your spare time; whatever you keep coming back to shows you what you actually like.
5. Don't decide too early. If you're unsure, choose flexible paths that expose you to many kinds of work, and keep what you want separate from what seems possible.