Sam Altman: On How To Be Successful

Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy

Author

Galt Inspired
July 26, 2024

Sam Altman on stage

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In this newsletter, you can expect to find practical advice, valuable lessons, and life hacks tailored for entrepreneurs. Please welcome life and business advice from the CEO and Co-founder of OpenAI and ChatGPT, Sam Altman.

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Let’s dive in!

Sam Altman: Advice for young people and how to be successful

Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it. Make it count. 

Time is extremely limited and goes by fast. Do what makes you happy and fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die anyway. Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most often when other people want you to do something). Don’t spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative people out of your life. Negativity is really bad. Don’t let yourself make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.

On work: Work very hard

A surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by. Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good place.

How to succeed

Pick the right thing to do (this is critical and usually ignored), focus, believe in yourself (especially when others tell you it’s not going to work), develop personal connections with people that will help you, learn to identify talented people, and work hard. It’s hard to identify what to work on because original thought is hard.

Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people.

Work for them and hire them (in fact, one of the most satisfying parts of work is forging deep relationships with really good people). Try to spend time with people who are either among the best in the world at what they do or extremely promising but totally unknown. It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

The days are long but the decades are short.

A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time—most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.

People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt, giving up too early, and not pushing hard enough prevents most people from ever reaching anywhere near their potential.

Ask for what you want. You usually won’t get it, and often the rejection will be painful. But when this works, it works surprisingly well.

Almost always, the people who say, “I am going to keep going until this works, and no matter what the challenges are I’m going to figure them out,” and mean it, go on to succeed. They are persistent long enough to give themselves a chance for luck to go their way.”

Sam Altman

Thank you for reading this edition of our newsletter!

We hope that Sam Altman's insights resonate with you and provide actionable guidance as you pursue your entrepreneurial dreams. Remember, the path to success is rarely straightforward, but with determination, focus, and the right mindset, you can achieve remarkable things. Keep pushing forward, surround yourself with greatness, and always strive to make each day count.

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