Thanks for the list of trivial banalities Sam. Next time give us advice on how to be born into a well-off family that gives you the best education money can buy.
How to Be Successful
221–230 of 326 posts
Re: How to Be Successful
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a huge concern. I have known several people who, when they lose their seasonal jobs, coast on unemployment insurance until the very last minute, sometimes even going as far as welfare and couch surfing before a new job finds them (they won't go looking for it themselves). All they want is beer, weed, porn, and video games. They don't seem to want relationships, work, friendships beyond smoking buddies... it's…
this is my little brother :(
>this is my little brother :(
It's all of our little brothers. It's an entire generation of lost souls spending their lives on World of Warcraft and Fortnite, feeling like they are accomplishing something by earning another loot crate. When fantasy becomes more compelling and stimulating than real life, it's no wonder.
Re: How to Be Successful
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also wrote this, which I think counting reprints is my most-read blog post ever: https://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades...
Re-reading this made me notice the overlap between the two posts. Most of the suggestions across both posts fall into a few common themes. I find having a shorter list of "keys to success" helps me keep them top of mind day to day. I see four main themes here across both posts: 1. Be internally driven. Gain energy by working on things you are excited about. Think independently. Don't get pushed around. Don't default…
These lists are always the same and never say anything new. Work hard, have goals, be focused, etc etc. No fucking shit. Everyone has heard this stuff X1000. The problem is, you can read the same shit again and again, but if you're not that way from the beginning, reading the same crap isn't suddenly going to change you.
Most people who are mega driven are that way because of their birth parents and childhood. If you were born into a crap family who didn't encourage you, by the time you're 18, it's radically harder to change, no matter how many billionaires come along and say "hard luck chum, just work harder and set some goals."
Re: How to Be Successful
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
Am I the only one who finds the concept of privilege resentful? It is shifting the reference point downwards, defining being disadvantaged as the standard and everything above as privileged. In my opinion that's a terrible idea as striving to become better has to be good and not something that you eventually should feel bad about.
It just plays into the classic class warfare theory that seems to be common these days. It basically boils down to essentially being if you are successful then it directly because of your privileged class...not from your hard work or skill. If you are unsuccessful or poor then it is because the privileged class is holding you down and preventing you from being successful. In the end though it only hurts those who bel…
> It basically boils down to essentially being if you are successful then it directly because of your privileged class...not from your hard work or skill. If you are unsuccessful or poor then it is because the privileged class is holding you down and preventing you from being successful.
This is a completely incorrect idea of what people are arguing privilege means.
Privilege is a step up on the ladder. It doesn't get you the whole way, and someone without that bonus step can still get up the ladder, but it changes the difficulty somewhat.
Re: How to Be Successful
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think 99% of the time bringing up survivorship bias adds nothing to the conversation. If I tell you how I ran a marathon, you could shout "survivorship bias!" But that fact still stands that I hadn't successfully run a marathon before I did those things.
It's not meant to add to the conversation, it's meant to get people to shut up about giving advice on becoming successful. There's no trick to it, you need to work and get lucky. Emphasis on the getting lucky. We don't need 1,000 thinkpieces from people who are already successful. Give me an article from a person who can reflect on why they're not successful. That will be more interesting any day of the week.
> That will be more interesting any day of the week.
I doubt it. I'm not successful because I haven't even put in the work these articles lay out. And I definitely haven't gotten lucky. I assume millions of dollars definitely won't come my way until I at least do the part of the equation in my control.
Doesn't sound like a very interesting article to me.
Re: How to Be Successful
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re-reading this made me notice the overlap between the two posts. Most of the suggestions across both posts fall into a few common themes. I find having a shorter list of "keys to success" helps me keep them top of mind day to day. I see four main themes here across both posts: 1. Be internally driven. Gain energy by working on things you are excited about. Think independently. Don't get pushed around. Don't default…
These lists are always the same and never say anything new. Work hard, have goals, be focused, etc etc. No fucking shit. Everyone has heard this stuff X1000. The problem is, you can read the same shit again and again, but if you're not that way from the beginning, reading the same crap isn't suddenly going to change you. Most people who are mega driven are that way because of their birth parents and childhood. If you…
I agree a tough background makes it a lot harder. But I don't think that takes away from the fact that people find these kinds lists helpful in moving forward from their starting point. I can think of a few famous examples of people who attribute their success partly to crafting and refining their own personal guidelines. Charlie Munger of Bershire Hathaway and his "mental models". Ray Dalio of Bridgewater documents the principles that helped him in a landmark book called Principles. Now I'm curious to look up people's backgrounds to see what successful people from tough backgrounds put in their lists.
Re: How to Be Successful
#227It's also very successful, if you have built a stable business and a way of supporting yourself and a few others around you. Being successful doesn't always mean having a 1BN valuation. But sure, it's nice to think that one day, it could happen. I'm just grateful every day that what I've got now - stability and plenty of resources - was a result of pretty much what Sam said. Believing in ourselves and not giving up,…
It's also very successful if you were a stay home parent and your kids were able to succeed thanks to your efforts.
tell that to my exwife
Re: How to Be Successful
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think 99% of the time bringing up survivorship bias adds nothing to the conversation. If I tell you how I ran a marathon, you could shout "survivorship bias!" But that fact still stands that I hadn't successfully run a marathon before I did those things.
It's not meant to add to the conversation, it's meant to get people to shut up about giving advice on becoming successful. There's no trick to it, you need to work and get lucky. Emphasis on the getting lucky. We don't need 1,000 thinkpieces from people who are already successful. Give me an article from a person who can reflect on why they're not successful. That will be more interesting any day of the week.
> There's no trick to it, you need to work and get lucky. Emphasis on the getting lucky.
Pretty much everyone gets lucky eventually though. You might never hit a home run, but if you go to bat enough times then sooner or later you're going to get hit by the ball and walked to first.
Re: How to Be Successful
#229A more accurate title for this is "How to Be Financially Successful". I'd love for Sam to write a post called "How to Be a Successful Human" or "How to Live a Successful Life". This more important topic has little-to-nothing to do with financial success.
I also wrote this, which I think counting reprints is my most-read blog post ever: https://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades...
YES, love this!
The only point that I really disagree with is that money can buy freedom. Only enlightenment brings freedom and it can't be bought. Keep up the good work!
Re: How to Be Successful
#230All such articles should be preceded by huge blink tags with 'Warning: survivorship bias ahead'.
I think 99% of the time bringing up survivorship bias adds nothing to the conversation. If I tell you how I ran a marathon, you could shout "survivorship bias!" But that fact still stands that I hadn't successfully run a marathon before I did those things.
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