Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, has a theory of genius.
He calls it the “Bus Ticket Theory of Genius.” ¹ In the recipe for greatness, Graham observes, one ingredient always gets overlooked.
When we talk about what it takes to do great work, we usually focus on the importance of having two things: natural ability and determination. When you study those who have done great work, a third ingredient consistently shows up: an obsessive interest.
To explain this point, Graham uses the example of bus ticket collectors. Bus ticket collectors have striking features:
1. they care about bus tickets
2. they don’t care if anyone cares that they care.
That turns out to be a pretty powerful combination. This “disinterested obsession,” Graham observes, is a proxy to natural ability and a substitute for determination. If you don’t care about something, you won’t discover or utilize your natural ability. And if you really care about something, you don’t need much determination.
Have you ever noticed the correlation between your motivation and your interest level? I can have nothing to do and still struggle to muster the energy to go get an oil change. I can not really have time for it and still struggle to resist the compulsion to go for a run.
Have you ever noticed the correlation between your memory and your interest level? I can’t remember the name of the waiter at the restaurant yesterday. I can remember the entire ‘05-06 Philadelphia Flyers roster.
People who seem incredibly motivated, the Bus Ticket Theory tells us, actually are incredibly interested. People who seem to have incredible recall actually have incredible interest. And the seemingly incredibly unmotivated might actually just be incredibly uninterested.
Interestingly, Angela Duckworth—the mother of grit/determination—has talked similarly about “the complex dance between having ability in something but also having interest.” On the Armchair Expert podcast, she said the more she studies intelligence, “the more I don’t even know what it is.” ² People who have interest in a topic or subject learn better and remember more than those who have more natural ability but no interest. Bus ticket collectors, for instance, can retain information about bus tickets that you and I would never be able to retain. Because we don’t have any interest.
In a famous study measuring kids’ reading ability, the kids read a short piece about baseball. It turned out that kids who liked the game of baseball were able to read better and comprehend more than kids who didn’t like the game of baseball. ³
“This is why I said,” as Duckworth said, “I can be very dumb about things I don’t care about and I can be extremely smart about the things I do care about.”
She’s not alone. I’ve noted many high-achievers credit their success to that they pursued only what they cared about.
Here’s 3:
Sam Altman, Paul Graham’s successor as head of Y Combinator, wrote:
“I’ve learned I can’t be very productive working on things I don’t care about or don’t like. So I just try not to put myself in a position where I have to do them…Stuff that you don’t like is a painful drag.” ⁴
Lin Manuel-Miranda tells the story of his dad wanting him to take AP Statistics in high school. His dad, wanting him to go to law school, said it wouldn’t hurt to have on his résumé.
“It would hurt, for me,” Lin-Manuel told him, “I cannot care about what I do not care about.” ⁵
Jeni Britton Bauer was asked if there’s one thing she’s learned repeatedly throughout life. She said,
“I say it over and over again in my head, ‘don’t give a shit about shit you don’t give a shit about.’ Focus on what you care about. Let everything else go.” ⁶
Thomas Carlyle famously said, “Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” Paul Graham adds: the source of an infinite capacity for taking pains is infinite interest. A bad meal at a restaurant & we never go back. A bad meal at a girlfriend’s & no big deal.
So that is The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius. It says:
-to cultivate motivation, cultivate interest
-to cultivate intelligence, cultivate interest
-to cultivate determination, cultivate interest.
And: If you’re interested in something, don’t care who cares that you care.
Sources:
[1] The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius by Paul Graham
[2] Angela Duckworth on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
[3] Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers’ memory of text
[4] Productivity by Sam Altman
[5] Lin-Manuel Miranda on And The Writer Is…with Ross Golan
[6] Jeni Britton Bauer – Balancing Creativity & Business with the Founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams