> Liking the idea of being a novelist is not enough; you have to like the actual work of novel-writing if you're going to be good at it ; you have to like makin

> Liking the idea of being a novelist is not enough; you have to like the actual work of novel-writing if you're going to be good at it ; you have to like making up elaborate lies. [0] Something I wish I had realized 10 years ago is the importance of figuring out how to learn in such a way that I enjoy the learning process itself. If you don't like PG's novelist example, consider bodybuilders. They don't see going to the gym as some necessary evil that stands in way of looking good. They like going to gym. In fact, they love it, and they would probably continue to do so, even if it they ceased to care about looking good. Once you set a non-trivial target ("I'm going to learn French", "I'm going to become a competent C programmer", "I'm going to work through the exercises in TAOCP") you need to establish a path that is intrinsically enjoyable. Your end goal is years out. If it's the only thing that's keeping you going, you're going to quit in favour of more immediately rewarding activities. My first second-language-learning experience - French classes at a community college - was unsuccessful, for a rather simple reason: I didn't give a fuck. In the course, myself and a bunch of aspiring bureaucrats (I was living in Canada at the time, where French accreditation opens up advancement opportunities for government employees) met twice a week and did as little work as possible to get a passing grade. We did the usual second language learning things: memorizing the names of animals (as if we were all preparing for a career in agriculture), watching low budget educational films, and filling out verb conjugation worksheets. Our instructor was good - she could explain concepts clearly and managed to stimulate a fair deal of discussion. But she was bound to a curriculum that heavily emphasized grammar and a particular vocabulary, and neither could motivate me. Last year I decided to learn Swedish. Instead of signing up for community college courses, I started taking private lessons over Skype. I found a tutor with whom I share similar interests. We discuss things we've read, our favourite tv shows, and philosophy. I also started reading American mystery novels in translation. It turns out this is a highly effective learning mechanism, because you have a lot of context. It works especially well if there is a series you like, for the same reason. Once I started asking "what is most enjoyable way to make this happen," and stopped worrying about what learning methodologies are efficient, scientific, or conventional, I saw a lot more progress. I only reach for Google translate a couple times per page when I'm reading a mystery, and I have about half my 1on1s in Swedish. [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html