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Ask HN: What are you obsessed with, that most people think doesn't matter?

3 points by alex-wallish ↗ HN
In his essay "The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius" Paul Graham says:

"If I had to put the recipe for genius into one sentence, that might be it: to have a disinterested obsession with something that matters."

http://www.paulgraham.com/genius.html

4 comments

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Jamwinner
Your title suggests something different than the quote. What I am "obsessed with" is much different from "disinterested obsession", and may or may not be "something that matters", whatever that means. Matters to whom?

Pauls words sound great, but when you break them down, there is so much couching in generalities, its hard to grok at a deeper understanding. It's the 'smart person trying to sound smart' pitfall we all seem to fall to, no matter how humble our intentions.

alex-wallish
My intention was not to convey the exact same thing as the quote, because as you’ve correctly pointed out it’s somewhat difficult to actually categorize.

“Matters to whom?” —This is exactly why I said “most people think doesn’t matter.” If you’re obsessed with something doesn’t matter to many people that is probably a pretty good proxy for a disinterested obsession.

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dkrudy
Precision in one's use of words.