Sam Altman on Productivity
What you work on
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Direction matters more than speed - picking the right thing to work on is most important
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Develop strong independent beliefs about the world
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Leave enough time in your schedule to think about what to work on
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Delegate based on what other people like to do and are good at doing
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Consider a major job change if you don't like what you're doing for a long period
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Surround yourself with smart, productive, happy people who don't belittle your ambitions
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Compound growth works in careers, small gains over 50 years create massive differences
Prioritization
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Three key pillars: "Get the important shit done", "Don't waste time on stupid shit", and "make lots of lists"
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Use written lists for yearly, monthly, and daily goals
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Re-transcribe lists frequently to force thinking about priorities
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Avoid most meetings and conferences due to huge time costs
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Keep 10% of schedule open for chance encounters and new ideas
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Schedule meetings for 15-20 minutes or 2 hours, not the default 1 hour
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Value your time appropriately - don't spend hours to save small amounts of money
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Focus on optimizing your year, not your day
Sleep and exercise
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Most important physical factor for productivity
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Use sleep trackers to optimize sleep patterns
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Cold, dark, quiet room with great mattress
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Avoid eating or drinking alcohol before bed
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Lift heavy weights 3x per week for an hour
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Add occasional high intensity interval training
Nutrition
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Skip breakfast for 15 hours of daily fasting
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One espresso upon waking, one after lunch (about 200mg caffeine total)
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Avoid sugar aggressively as it causes worst feelings
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Avoid foods that spike inflammation or aggravate digestion
Workspace and habits
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Natural light, quiet environment, long uninterrupted blocks of time
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Learn to type fast and master keyboard shortcuts
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Expect occasional weeks of no motivation - wait for it to pass
Citations:
Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share