> Many people work hard. I don't think that's quite true. Often one finds that the top performers in a field have some practice regime that stuns even other p

> Many people work hard. I don't think that's quite true. Often one finds that the top performers in a field have some practice regime that stuns even other professionals. I don't know how to evaluate the question of whether Paul Graham is somehow naturally better at this than others. There's clearly something about him that's different, or he wouldn't be doing what he's doing. But to guess at what those qualities are -- that endeavour is so vulnerable to confirmation bias it's practically void of meaning. Or you could just shrug and say that by now he's seen hundreds of proto-startups. For whatever reason.