This is Paul Graham.

You shouldn't worry about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world

The test of whether people love what they do is whether they'd do it even if they weren't paid for it — even if they had to work at another job to make a living

One of the biggest things holding people back from doing great work is the fear of making something lame. And this fear is not an irrational one.

Going

into business is like a hang-glider launch: you'd better do it

wholeheartedly, or not at all.

The way to figure out what to work on is by working. If you're not sure what to work on, guess. But pick something and get going

Although doing great work takes less discipline than people think—because the way to do great work is to find something you like so much that you don't have to force yourself to do it—finding work you love does usually require discipline.

If you regard someone judging you as a customer instead of a judge, the expectation of fairness goes away.

The best essay would be on the most important topic you could tell people something surprising about.

What should you do if you're young and ambitious but don't know what to work on? What you should not do is drift along passively, assuming the problem will solve itself. You need to take action. But there is no systematic procedure you can follow. When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved.... See more

Work on hard problems, driven mainly by curiosity, but have a second self watching over your shoulder, taking note of gaps and anomalies.