Who really said it
Graham writes this near the beginning of How to Do Great Work, his July 2023 essay.
Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?
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Verified quote & credit
“The way to figure out what to work on is by working” Paul Graham — How to Do Great Work (July 2023)
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Still under copyright (rights held by Paul Graham.). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.
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In context
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Provenance
is by working
A brief literal excerpt from the fetched source; the explanation above identifies the full passage and its context.
Read the sourceHow we verified this
The identified source is a publication from 1931 or later. The passage is treated as in copyright; only a brief source excerpt is reproduced here.
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Context
The following advice encourages beginning with a reasonable guess and adjusting through experience. Exploratory work can reveal both aptitude and connections among fields.
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The exact sentence appears in the author-hosted essay’s opening advice about discovering work through trying it.
His own biography identifies him as a programmer, writer, investor and Y Combinator co-founder.
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The author
For writers & researchers
Paul Graham. How to Do Great Work. July 2023. Author-hosted essay.. Consulted via the linked source.
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The way to figure out what to work on is by working’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-way-to-figure-out-what-to-work-on-is-by-working/