Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT, is a prolific hand note-taker. He detailed his preferences for notebooks and pens, emphasizing the importance of writing for thinking. He also discussed the impact of AGI on creative tasks, his approach to achieving focus for writing, and his personal rhythm for work and reflection.
Note-Taking Habits and Preferences #
- Prefers spiral notebooks.
- Spiral notebooks allow for easy tearing out of pages.
- Notebooks should lay flat and open.
- Rips out pages frequently to view multiple pages at once.
- Crumples up and discards pages after transferring notes the floor for later processing.
- Likes paper with a good writing feel.
- Prefers notebooks with a hard front and back cover.
- Notebooks should be pocket-sized.
- Uses the Uniball Micro Point 5 pen or the Muji 36 or 37 in dark blue ink.
- Goes through a notebook every two to three weeks.
- Does not keep completed notebooks, as pages are ripped out.
- This system was developed through trial and error.
The Influence of AGI and the Importance of Writing #
- Competence with the written word is increasing due to AGI.
- Text can now be used to generate videos (Sora), music, and images.
- This trend highlights the growing influence of writing.
- Writing is primarily a tool for thinking.
- The importance of writing for thinking is not expected to diminish.
- People should still learn to write for this reason, similar to how learning to code is valuable for learning to think, even if traditional coding jobs decrease.
Writing as a Tool for Thinking #
- Learning to write means figuring out a tool for clearer thinking.
- If AGI provides a better way to think clearly, he would switch, but hasn't found that yet.
Achieving Focus for Writing #
- Used to believe in finding a perfect time and place (e.g., coffee shop with noise-canceling headphones).
- Now takes any short, uninterrupted blocks of time (e.g., 11 minutes in a car or in bed).
- Ideal scenario involves Saturday morning with no schedule for long-form writing.
- Most writing happens in short bursts.
- Uses the voice feature and ChatGPT to clean up transcribed notes, finding it helpful for generating ideas verbally.
- For some people, typing is more conducive to generating ideas than talking.
Work-Life Rhythm #
- Believes in balancing time with people (for exposure to ideas) and time alone (for thinking, writing, and deep work).
- His rhythm involves being in the office non-stop during the week with little time to think.
- Weekends provide long, quiet blocks without being around people.
- This cycle is very important to him.
- Used to take longer breaks (e.g., a month with people followed by a month alone), but this doesn't happen anymore.
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