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The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

blog.samaltman.com

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Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#31

Post by plandis »

animal_spirits wrote: post #28
dionidium wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sam Altman went to a high school that costs $32,800 per year. His "journey up the class ladder" started on a rung where money isn't an issue. https://www.jburroughs.org/admissions/tuition-affordability

Does that make his journey any less valid?

For himself? No.

But, a lot of this advice like “take risks” is much easier to do when your failures don’t result in losing everything. If a poor person starts a business and fails they might not be able to afford to eat. If Sam Altman failed would he have been pushed to a similar place on the socioeconomic ladder? My guess is no. It’s much easier to fail when your failure state is that you can rely on your well off family with relatively little hardship.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#32

Post by randallsquared »

koolba wrote: post #26

> Summers are the best. If you take nothing else from this repost, let this really sink in. And for those of us in the northern hemisphere, you should have a plan by this point in the year for your work life to truly enjoy it when it arrives.

The bestness of summers varies widely by location. On the US east coast, summers are best only north of New Jersey. ;)

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#33

Post by solarkraft »

SoftTalker wrote: post #17
angarg12 wrote: post #11

On 5): The most transformative step in my journey up the class ladder was when money stopped being a source of problems and instead became a way to solve problems.

I have plenty of money (relatively speaking, I don't make FAANG money but I don't worry about paying the rent or saving for a rainy day). I have real trouble spending it though. It almost causes me physical pain to spend money on something I don't regard as essential. I don't like to travel, or eat expensive meals, or go to movies, concerts, shows, etc because I hate to spend the money on it. Don't know what the root…

I'm similar, but it has probably cost me more in happiness then the money is worth. I am trying to counter it by framing more things as investments into myself (happiness as its own goal, but also the ability to more easily make that money back).

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#34

Post by atleastoptimal »

Should a prerequisite to every successful tech person advice list include "Be 99th percentile IQ or higher"?

All these people go to schools and work environments where they exclusively interact with incredibly intelligent people. Do they really know just how mediocre the average person is? Or is the average person implicitly written off with respect to any sort of prodigious success.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#35

Post by dahwolf »

woodruffw wrote: post #25
dahwolf wrote: post #24

It's like combining the advise of Schwarzenegger, Dr Phil, Yoda, a random tech bro's substack, life-hack Youtube stars, and more. None of the advise is incorrect of course, it's just that the sum is unattainable and at times contradicting. It basically says: here's 20 balls. Now juggle them up in the air, don't let any of them drop. That being said, your 20s are special. It's indeed the decade where you have the most…

As another commenter points out: the advice is not contradictory only if you’re stinking rich , as the people who tend to write these posts tend to be.

I was not aiming at rich, instead at the concept that time is zero-sum.

You should work hard and also spend the maximum amount with friends. And your parents. Also, exercise, sleep well, and so on. Doing a long list of things very well might lead to exhaustion or one thing coming at the expense of the other things.

Like I said though, do live your 20s hard. Do not live it safely and slowly as if you're middle-aged already. It's a limited time opportunity.

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#36

Post by winphone1974 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #17
angarg12 wrote: post #11

On 5): The most transformative step in my journey up the class ladder was when money stopped being a source of problems and instead became a way to solve problems.

I have plenty of money (relatively speaking, I don't make FAANG money but I don't worry about paying the rent or saving for a rainy day). I have real trouble spending it though. It almost causes me physical pain to spend money on something I don't regard as essential. I don't like to travel, or eat expensive meals, or go to movies, concerts, shows, etc because I hate to spend the money on it. Don't know what the root…

This is awesome! Your attitude and values are only recently "out of date"; previous to the current generation of zero percent financed lifestyles many people achieved success through slow growth savings. I think it's great that you reject the value derived from common consumption because it's less than the cost. I wish more people felt this way

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#38

Post by Bloating »

notch898c wrote: post #16
MattRix wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly it isn’t, since this is a good list.

It's a good list for under 30s probably. Taking care of demanding and constantly shifting needs of young children easily bombs half this list.

and aging parents

Re: The days are long but the decades are short (2015)

#40

Post by ZephyrBlu »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #34

Should a prerequisite to every successful tech person advice list include "Be 99th percentile IQ or higher"? All these people go to schools and work environments where they exclusively interact with incredibly intelligent people. Do they really know just how mediocre the average person is? Or is the average person implicitly written off with respect to any sort of prodigious success.

Eh, 95th percentile is probably more reasonable. You don't have to be super smart to be successful. In tech you probably have to be pretty smart, but I think being from a well-off family is more important in most cases.
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