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> There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work you need all t

> There are three ingredients in great work: natural ability, practice, and effort. You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work you need all three: you need great natural ability and to have practiced a lot and to be trying very hard. I'd like to add that it is more than fine to not do great work. If you like to spend a lot of time with your kids and tend to your vegetable patch, by all means only try hard enough to keep the job that pays for that lifestyle. So, no dig on the author, but there is more than maximizing for great work. Try for a while to instead maximize for life happiness and experience how that feels for you.

nickelcitymario 5y ago
Agreed, but I also found that 3-ingredient formula to be one of the more insightful things he says in this essay. It's a good way to understand what it takes to be successful at anything. Including, by the way, being a parent. Many of us aren't born with (or have a sufficiently healthy childhood) to have naturally great parenting abilities. But hard work and practice sure do go a long way.
- lanstin 5y ago
  Anecdotally, from years at the playground, the attitude of trying to maximize the quality of your parenting is however a killer impediment to being a good parent. Parenting is challenging and a lot of time, but works a lot better when you are doing it in the moment rather than to achieve some agenda. Of course one of the great things about parenting is that mostly you get to have the same situations over and over again, and get to change your approaches (including consistency) to see what happens with different approaches. So you get practiced at each thing. And the talent needed for parenting is more intimate that for writing software - it's the talent to make your toddlers laugh, to make your 4 year old confident enough to try something they want to try. It's a set of skills for doing stuff between a particular parent/child system. My tricks might not work for you; my tricks for my first born did not work for my second born.
temp8964 5y ago
PG never said you should maximize for great work. The essay is about "how to work hard", not "work hard is the only purpose of your life". You are missing the point here. In addition, you mistakenly exclude great work / achievement from happiness. Spending time with your kids is great, tending your vegetable patch is great, doing great work is also great. Life is not a single purpose process. Happiness is not a single threat process either. Currently all the critics on the essay are terrible, but you are better at least know to keep it civil.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  I don't think the person you're responding to is missing the point. Rather, they are making another, adjacent point. Our culture glorifies hard work and financial success (and excess) to what some believe is an unhealthy degree. It's worth noting almost anywhere hard work is brought up that it should be within the context of the values you hold for the other aspects of your life. I will say that it is better to do great work than good work all other things being equal. But other things aren't necessarily equal. I would not want to have the discomfort with idleness that the author of this blog post lauds, for example. Although, if you do have that and are pleased to, then good for you!
- bumby 5y ago
  I wonder how much of the criticism is skewed by the Western notion of “work”. I.e., we tend to view a vocation as the most legitimate definition of work. If we take a different perspective, I think the author is much less likely to be the target of ire. >working hard means aiming toward the center — toward the most ambitious problems. To those in a society hyper-focused on productivity, this can certainly rub people the wrong way because so few are able to dedicate themselves to super ambitious vocations. As the saying goes, the world needs ditch diggers too. But if your ambition is to cultivate a meaningful, verdant life I don’t see why the author's statement is incompatible with the GP comment. Maybe we just need to broaden our definition about what is worthwhile “work”. It’s certainly possible to do great work cultivating relationships if that is your goal rather than, say, creating a new field of mathematics.
  - 5y ago
ant6n 5y ago
That was also my first question: Yes, but how do I work hardly?
gotsa 5y ago
Playing as Devil's advocate here. I think that "good work" is much wider that you are considering. Having quality time off with your partner is "good work" Raising your children is "good work" In a more philosophical way. "Work" could be defined as trying to make a change in your reality. So yeah, that life discovering the arts, eating tasteful and healthy food, and spending time with your beloved ones is "good work" and requires ability, practice, and time to do it well.
- leokennis 5y ago
  See my other reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27676771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27676771 I very much agree with you. But I have the feeling that in the context of the linked essay, work is narrowly interpreted as "working at your job". I might be wrong though.
- hkrgl 5y ago
  This, exactly. It takes a lot of hard work to raise children and have a good relationship with your partner. I consider taking vacations to lay on the beach with my partner or children a part of that hard work. The definitions in the essay seem a bit short-sighted to me.
- gxs 5y ago
  This is exactly how I think one should think about it. It's along the lines of how people say whatever you do, do it well.
borski 5y ago
I agree with everything you said, and a lot of what Paul said. You’re just talking to different people.
fulafel 5y ago
There's a lot of spectrum between "only try hard enough to keep the job" and PG described "great work" in many tech jobs, and indeed most tech people are somewhere in the middle.
young_unixer 5y ago
"Society" at large already tells us to be average, to not work hard, etc. I don't think PG needs to restate that.
sbierwagen 5y ago
PG essays are written for an audience of startup founders and prospective startup founders. When he says "doing your best work" he doesn't exactly have a guy pouring concrete sidewalks in mind. Theoretically, a founder who works harder can make 10,000 as much as if they slacked off. That will never be true for basically any other profession.
- leokennis 5y ago
  I wasn’t really aware of PG’s audience and goals for writing…so thanks for this insightful comment!

nickelcitymario 5y ago

Agreed, but I also found that 3-ingredient formula to be one of the more insightful things he says in this essay. It's a good way to understand what it takes to be successful at anything. Including, by the way, being a parent. Many of us aren't born with (or have a sufficiently healthy childhood) to have naturally great parenting abilities. But hard work and practice sure do go a long way.

lanstin 5y ago
Anecdotally, from years at the playground, the attitude of trying to maximize the quality of your parenting is however a killer impediment to being a good parent. Parenting is challenging and a lot of time, but works a lot better when you are doing it in the moment rather than to achieve some agenda. Of course one of the great things about parenting is that mostly you get to have the same situations over and over again, and get to change your approaches (including consistency) to see what happens with different approaches. So you get practiced at each thing. And the talent needed for parenting is more intimate that for writing software - it's the talent to make your toddlers laugh, to make your 4 year old confident enough to try something they want to try. It's a set of skills for doing stuff between a particular parent/child system. My tricks might not work for you; my tricks for my first born did not work for my second born.

temp8964 5y ago

PG never said you should maximize for great work. The essay is about "how to work hard", not "work hard is the only purpose of your life". You are missing the point here. In addition, you mistakenly exclude great work / achievement from happiness. Spending time with your kids is great, tending your vegetable patch is great, doing great work is also great. Life is not a single purpose process. Happiness is not a single threat process either. Currently all the critics on the essay are terrible, but you are better at least know to keep it civil.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
I don't think the person you're responding to is missing the point. Rather, they are making another, adjacent point. Our culture glorifies hard work and financial success (and excess) to what some believe is an unhealthy degree. It's worth noting almost anywhere hard work is brought up that it should be within the context of the values you hold for the other aspects of your life. I will say that it is better to do great work than good work all other things being equal. But other things aren't necessarily equal. I would not want to have the discomfort with idleness that the author of this blog post lauds, for example. Although, if you do have that and are pleased to, then good for you!
bumby 5y ago
I wonder how much of the criticism is skewed by the Western notion of “work”. I.e., we tend to view a vocation as the most legitimate definition of work. If we take a different perspective, I think the author is much less likely to be the target of ire. >working hard means aiming toward the center — toward the most ambitious problems. To those in a society hyper-focused on productivity, this can certainly rub people the wrong way because so few are able to dedicate themselves to super ambitious vocations. As the saying goes, the world needs ditch diggers too. But if your ambition is to cultivate a meaningful, verdant life I don’t see why the author's statement is incompatible with the GP comment. Maybe we just need to broaden our definition about what is worthwhile “work”. It’s certainly possible to do great work cultivating relationships if that is your goal rather than, say, creating a new field of mathematics.
- 5y ago

ant6n 5y ago

That was also my first question: Yes, but how do I work hardly?

gotsa 5y ago

Playing as Devil's advocate here. I think that "good work" is much wider that you are considering. Having quality time off with your partner is "good work" Raising your children is "good work" In a more philosophical way. "Work" could be defined as trying to make a change in your reality. So yeah, that life discovering the arts, eating tasteful and healthy food, and spending time with your beloved ones is "good work" and requires ability, practice, and time to do it well.

leokennis 5y ago
See my other reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27676771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27676771 I very much agree with you. But I have the feeling that in the context of the linked essay, work is narrowly interpreted as "working at your job". I might be wrong though.
hkrgl 5y ago
This, exactly. It takes a lot of hard work to raise children and have a good relationship with your partner. I consider taking vacations to lay on the beach with my partner or children a part of that hard work. The definitions in the essay seem a bit short-sighted to me.
gxs 5y ago
This is exactly how I think one should think about it. It's along the lines of how people say whatever you do, do it well.

borski 5y ago

I agree with everything you said, and a lot of what Paul said. You’re just talking to different people.

fulafel 5y ago

There's a lot of spectrum between "only try hard enough to keep the job" and PG described "great work" in many tech jobs, and indeed most tech people are somewhere in the middle.

young_unixer 5y ago

"Society" at large already tells us to be average, to not work hard, etc. I don't think PG needs to restate that.

sbierwagen 5y ago

PG essays are written for an audience of startup founders and prospective startup founders. When he says "doing your best work" he doesn't exactly have a guy pouring concrete sidewalks in mind. Theoretically, a founder who works harder can make 10,000 as much as if they slacked off. That will never be true for basically any other profession.

leokennis 5y ago
I wasn’t really aware of PG’s audience and goals for writing…so thanks for this insightful comment!