To Start Hard Work, Promise Yourself You Will Only Reread It
Starting feels harder than continuing, so a tiny false promise can get you moving.
paulgraham.com · How to Do Great WorkPaul Graham, the writer of a long essay on doing great work, does not always feel like getting going when the day begins. When he feels reluctant, he tells himself a small, useful lie.
Graham says, "I'll just read over what I've got so far." He promises nothing more than a look back at what he has got so far.
It works because, as Graham puts it, "Work has a sort of activation energy, both per day and per project." It is a start-up cost that feels large, but, in his words, "this threshold is fake in the sense that it's higher than the energy required to keep going."
He writes, "Five minutes later I've found something that seems mistaken or incomplete, and I'm off." The reread turns into revision, and revision turns into work.
Graham usually warns against lying to yourself. "It's usually a mistake to lie to yourself if you want to do great work, but this is one of the rare cases where it isn't," he writes, because the size of the obstacle is mismeasured.
Do not worry about the reluctance, he adds: "it's the nature of work, not a flaw in your character."
So the move is narrow. Promise yourself only that reread, and let the first mistake you spot pull you into the day's work.
Questions people ask
Why does rereading work better than just trying harder to start?
This explanation goes beyond Graham, but rereading gives you a small, concrete task to react to, so errors and gaps stand out quickly. Spotting a mistake gives you a specific problem to fix, which is easier to act on than a vague resolve to work hard. That first fix then creates the next one.
What if I have not written anything yet?
Keep a rough draft, outline, or notes open so you have material to review the next morning. Reaction is easier than invention, so even a messy paragraph gives you something to correct. If you are truly at zero, write one bad sentence just to have something to reread tomorrow.
Why does he normally warn against lying to yourself?
Graham does not give the full theory in this passage, only that clear thinking matters for great work. The reading is that self deception usually hides real problems with the work, so it leads you astray. This trick is narrowly about getting started, not about judging the work, so it leaves that judgment intact.