How to do good work (Part 2): “Staying upwind”

dofuong.substack.com · 477 words · saved by 2 readers

If we cannot look too far into the future, what should we do?

In Paul Graham’s “How To Do Great Work”, he talks about the idea of “staying upwind”. Staying upwind means that at each stage of your work, you do whatever seems the most interesting and gives you the best options for the future. In reality, oftentimes we cannot plan too far ahead, or our plan won’t be the same as we want it to be, or our inspirations might shift in the future. Thus, the key to doing good work is to find something that you are genuinely curious about right now and start working on it. You start trying projects, meeting people, reading books, and asking lots of questions.…

How to do good work (Part 2): “Staying upwind”

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