My top 10 highlights from the essay:

1.  If you asked an oracle the secret to doing great work and the oracle replied with a single word, my bet would be on "curiosity."

2. Being prolific is underrated.

3. Seek out the best colleagues.

4. If you're interested you're not astray.

5. If you don't try to be the best you won't even be good.

6. Great work usually entails spending what would seem to most people an unreasonable amount of time on a problem.

7. Something that grows exponentially can become so valuable that it's worth making an extraordinary effort to get it started.

8. Your curiosity never lies, and it knows more than you do about what's worth paying attention to.

9. We underestimate the cumulative effect of work. Writing a page a day doesn't sound like much, but if you do it every day you'll write a book a year. That's the key: consistency.

10. Never abandon the root node.

Listen to Founders #314 Paul Graham (How to Do Great Work)