Paul Graham is known as a programmer, essayist, and cofounder of Y Combinator. But alongside all of that, he is a painter - studying still lifes at RISD and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, learning to override his brain's shortcuts and see what was actually there.

"You feel as if you're an animal in its natural habitat. Doing what you were meant to do. Not always happy maybe, but awake and alive." Paul Graham

This Craftsmith Letter traces a single skill - the painter's eye - through everything Paul has worked on: Lisp, Viaweb, his essays, Y Combinator, and a decade of writing about how to find work you love. The letter is also an invitation; Paul, if anything here rings true, let's record an episode together.

In this letter:

How painting still lifes in Florence taught Paul to see past abstractions
The "garage sale test" - strip away prestige to find what's real
How Paul applied the garage sale test to everything he worked on
Why interest is more unevenly distributed than ability
The traps that steer you away from following your authentic curiosity
"Always produce" as a heuristic that finds your life's work
Why most great work starts as a project
What it actually feels like to do work you love

Chapters:

(00:00) - Intro
(00:18) - How YC Changed VC
(01:47) - The Painter’s Eye
(02:46) - Seeing Past Shortcuts
(04:12) - Garage Sale Test
(04:50) - Lisp and Clear Structure
(05:35) - Viaweb and Web Apps
(06:09) - Essays That Reveal Reality
(07:21) - YC Origins and Insight
(08:37) - Few Find Work They Love
(09:07) - Interest Beats Ability
(10:36) - Prestige Versus Curiosity
(11:35) - Doctor Story and Traps
(12:37) - Always Produce Heuristic
(13:19) - Follow Curiosity, Do Projects
(14:42) - Doing Great Work Mindset
(16:10) - What Work You Love Feels Like
(17:09) - Weekly Challenge

References:

"What I Worked On" — Paul Graham
"How to Do Great Work" — Paul Graham
"How to Do What You Love" — Paul Graham
"The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius" — Paul Graham
"How to Get Startup Ideas" — Paul Graham
On Lisp — Paul Graham (book)

Help deliver this letter:Paul is @paulg on X. Send him this episode and help it reach him.

Follow Craftsmith:

Craftsmith is a podcast by Bill Allred about people doing work they love, so you can too.