What is the magic spark that leads to genius? What leads someone to find a breakthrough on a topic when everyone else seems to have missed it?
In his 2019 post The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius, Paul Graham argues that the real secret to genius isn’t just some prolific intelligence (of course, those certainly don’t hurt) but an intrinsic motivation to dive deep into a topic for its own sake. Or, more simply, obsessing on a topic others ignore because you like to. This is the essence of what I call “learning things for the lulz,” learning things for the hell of it. When you know the feeling, you know it. You can find this deep sense of reward in tinkering with an idea, building stuff and figuring it out as you go, questioning assumptions, and uncovering some deeper truth along the way.
Paul cites a quote that captures a beautiful observation by Thomas Carlyle, "Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” I see this tapping into the same essence as Rick Rubin’s perspective in his book The Creative Act. Sometimes, if we are so lucky, we can tap into a feedback loop of exploration and discovery that requires us to go to great lengths to dedicate ourselves to it, but at the same time, it brings us intrinsic joy along the way.
Give it a try. Give yourself more space to dive deep just because. Make more time to tinker, explore, and create because it brings you joy. Double down on that intrinsic work and reward cycle, even if you can’t explain why it might be important to others. It doesn’t matter if it’s ever “important” to others. Important to others isn’t the point. Is it interesting to you? Does it bring you joy?
Follow that.
Take great pains.
Do it just because.