In What to do, Paul Graham explores a seemingly simple yet profoundly meaningful question: What should one do with their life? Beyond the obvious moral responsibilities of “helping others” and “caring for the world,” he proposes a third crucial point: Make good new things.

Upon reading this, I immediately thought of the book Make Something Wonderful. In a way, both share the same core philosophy: “creating something wonderful” should not be a one-time act, but a way of life worth pursuing throughout one’s existence.

Steve Jobs once described the motivation behind “Make Something Wonderful” as follows:

There’s lots of ways to be as a person, and some people express their deep appreciation in different ways, but one of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there.

And you never meet the people, you never shake their hands, you never hear their story or tell yours, but somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there.

And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation. So, we need to be true to who we are and remember what’s really important to us. That’s what’s going to keep Apple Apple: is if we keep us us.

The products of creation are not limited in form; they can be as grand as Newton’s laws of motion or as exquisite as a Viking chair. Writing is also a common form of creation. In the age of AI, “is there still a need to write blogs?” has become a hotly debated topic. The unique value of blogs lies in the diversity of their content—it can be a travelogue, an essay, a record of a tech tinkering project, a review of a good book, or even fleeting fragments of inspiration. The unique experiences and delicate feelings of individuals are irreplaceable by AI. Alternatively, one can, like Paul Graham or Gwern, delve deeply into a topic through writing to ensure a true grasp of the truth.

Besides writing, one can also develop apps. The rise of AI Coding Assistants has greatly lowered the barrier to programming, allowing ordinary people, with some time spent familiarizing themselves with these assistants, to build decent products in a short period. And with the emergence of various AI image generation tools (such as Nano Banana Pro), artistic creation is no longer out of reach. This is the greatest empowerment AI offers to individuals: fields once exclusive to professionals are now open to everyone.

But why must we “do something”? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to lie on the sofa and binge-watch shows? Indeed, consuming content seems more pleasant, but there’s a world of difference between “lying around watching shows all day” and “lying down to watch shows after a day of hard creation.” The sense of clarity and fulfillment that arises after completing a piece of work is incomparable to any purely consumptive behavior.

From a value investing perspective, “creation” is an act with both a margin of safety and potentially high returns. Suppose you spend a week making a small tool. Even if it goes unnoticed, your margin of safety still exists: you learned new knowledge, solidified old systems, solved your own pain points, and gained the satisfaction of creating something with your own hands. And the potential return is enormous: it might genuinely help others, improve some people’s lives, or even connect you with like-minded partners.

To make creation yield significant returns, there’s a core principle: high standards. In the age of AI, we face a harsh reality: Average is over. Because AI makes producing 60-point “qualified products” almost zero-cost, mediocre content will quickly become rampant.

In a blue ocean market, products might succeed by being cheap, novel, or simply “just works”; but once the barrier is leveled by AI and a flood of players enters, only those exquisite products that surpass the “average,” not only functional but also excellent, will stand out. Therefore, “high standards” are not just a competitive advantage, but a lifeline.

To achieve high standards, high-quality Input is essential. If you can’t even recognize a “good product,” you certainly can’t create one. Therefore, we need to spend time studying excellent Input. When high standards become a habit, you’ll find that too many products on the market are unsatisfactory. With this “high standard” magnifying glass, you can find countless flaws and pain points, and these can be the starting point for creation.

There are usually three factors that hinder creation: lack of curiosity, perfectionism, and scattered energy. The biggest obstacle is often the lack of curiosity. Curiosity can be divided into two types: perceptual curiosity (focusing on What, like gossip news) and cognitive curiosity (focusing on How and Why, like exploring the logic and impact behind events). Hard work is the magnitude of the vector and curiosity is the direction. Cognitive curiosity can guide creation, while high standards determine the magnitude of the vector.

Furthermore, creation has a wonderful “side effect”: it allows you to focus more on the present, rather than being swept away by the myriad news and social networks. Each creative output is like tying a knot in the rope of life. When you look back at these works, the memories and details of that time will instantly flood your mind, making your life traceable.

Finally, let’s talk about AI. If the release of GPT-3.5 was the “Wright brothers moment” in aviation history, then the ensuing AI wave has made airplanes a common mode of transport. Its operational logic is completely different from traditional ground transportation, and its capabilities are more powerful. To maximize its value, you need to familiarize yourself with the best practices for interacting with it, find your own “plane,” and then let it carry you to places you never dared to imagine before.