The “secret” Sam Altman blog post that will change your life

In 2019, Sam Altman – the visionary CEO steering OpenAI and the mastermind behind the marvel that is ChatGPT – penned a blog post that slipped under many people’s radars (and is still flying under the radar – we would argue).

The blog post, fittingly titled “How to be successful”, is an absolute treasure trove of wisdom for anyone on a mission to make waves in their personal or professional journey.

So, we’re going to take a deep dive into Sam Altman’s blog post. It encapsulates his reflections on the keys to success – the very insights that paved the way for the creation of ChatGPT.

The original blog post is 3,500 words, but well worth the read if you have the time.

Otherwise – here is our summarized takeaways.

1. Compound yourself

Focus on exponential growth in your personal and professional life. Leverage technology, capital, brand, network effects, and people management to achieve more with your efforts​​.

“Compounding is magic. Look for it everywhere. Exponential curves are the key to wealth generation.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)	Salim Ismail, Michael S. Malone, and Yuri van Geest	Provides insights on leveraging technology and innovative organizational structures for exponential growth
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses	Eric Ries	Offers a scientific approach to creating and managing startups for desired product development
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future	Peter Thiel and Blake Masters	Provides a unique perspective on startups and innovation, emphasizing the importance of creating new things instead of improving what already exists

2. Have self-belief

Cultivate immense self-belief, balanced with self-awareness. This belief fuels contrarian ideas and perseverance, while self-awareness helps avoid self-delusion and keeps you grounded​.

“Self-belief is immensely powerful. The most successful people I know believe in themselves almost to the point of delusion.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success	Carol S. Dweck	Explores the concept of ‘mindset’ and discusses how our beliefs about our abilities can impact our success
The Magic of Thinking Big	David J. Schwartz	Helps readers think positively and aim high, instilling the belief that one can achieve anything with the right mindset
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead	Brené Brown	Examines the concept of vulnerability and how embracing it can lead to a more fulfilling life

3. Think independently

Original thinking is key to entrepreneurship. Cultivate it by thinking from first principles, generating new ideas, and testing these ideas in real-world scenarios.

“Entrepreneurship is very difficult to teach because original thinking is very difficult to teach.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Thinking, Fast and Slow	Daniel Kahneman	Delves into the two systems that drive our thoughts and decision-making process
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable	Nassim Nicholas Taleb	Discusses the role of chance and uncertainty in life and how to handle black swan events – highly improbable events that have a massive impact
Outliers: The Story of Success	Malcolm Gladwell	Investigates the factors that lead to high levels of success, urging readers to think differently about how they approach their goals

4. Get good at sales

Learn to convince others of your beliefs. This involves developing strong communication skills, having an inspiring vision, and being able to show evidence of execution ability.

“Self-belief alone is not sufficient—you also have to be able to convince other people of what you believe.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion	Robert Cialdini	Provides insights into the key principles of influence and persuasion, which are crucial for effective sales
To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others	Daniel H. Pink	Offers a fresh look at the art and science of sales, using a blend of social science, survey research, and stories
SPIN Selling	Neil Rackham	Introduces the SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff) technique and provides a systematic approach to sales success

5. Make it easy to take risks

Make small bets where the potential gain outweighs the risk by a large margin. Keep your life flexible and cheap to facilitate this risk-taking.

“Most people overestimate risk and underestimate reward. Taking risks is important because it’s impossible to be right all the time—you have to try many things and adapt quickly as you learn more.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
The Lean Startup	Eric Ries	Provides a new approach to business that focuses on adapting and adjusting before it’s too late
Thinking, Fast and Slow	Daniel Kahneman	Explores the two systems that drive the way we think and make decisions
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder	Nassim Nicholas Taleb	Presents a blueprint for living in a world of uncertainty and chaos, teaching how to benefit from randomness

6. Focus

Identify the right things to work on and be relentless in accomplishing them. Focus acts as a force multiplier in your work.

“Focus is a force multiplier on work. Almost everyone I’ve ever met would be well-served by spending more time thinking about what to focus on.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World	Cal Newport	Explains how to do deep work, improve productivity, and achieve a sense of fulfillment
The One Thing	Gary Keller and Jay Papasan	Urges the focusing question “What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less	Greg McKeown	Focuses on doing less but better in all areas of life

7. Work hard

Hard work, combined with smart work, is necessary to reach the top percentile in your field. Embrace the joy of finding your purpose and making an impact.

“Extreme people get extreme results. Working a lot comes with huge life trade-offs, and it’s perfectly rational to decide not to do it”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance	Angela Duckworth	Explores the importance of focused persistence and perseverance in achieving success
Outliers: The Story of Success	Malcolm Gladwell	Discusses the factors that contribute to high levels of success, including practice and hard work
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise	Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool	Offers advice on setting goals, getting feedback, identifying patterns, and cultivating expertise

8. Be Bold

Embrace challenging projects as they attract more help and make your work matter. Follow your curiosity and don’t hesitate to work on what excites you, regardless of what others are doing​.

“I believe that it’s easier to do a hard startup than an easy startup. People want to be part of something exciting and feel that their work matters”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
The Innovator’s Dilemma	Clayton M. Christensen	Discusses why great companies can fail in the face of disruptive innovation and how to embrace disruptive technologies to stay ahead
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future	Peter Thiel	Talks about creating new things under uncertain conditions, which is an essence of being bold
The Lean Startup	Eric Ries	A guide for entrepreneurs to learn how to create and manage successful startups through continuous innovation

9. Be Willful

“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”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
The Greatest Salesman in the World	Og Mandino	Provides a philosophical guide to salesmanship and success, teaching how to overcome adversity and push through it
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure	Grant Cardone	Emphasizes the idea that you need to take massive action to achieve success
Think and Grow Rich	Napoleon Hill	A classic self-help book that provides methods and principles to help turn dreams and ideas into reality

10. Be Hard to Compete With

Make yourself unique and valuable. Build leverage through personal relationships, a strong personal brand, or skills in multiple fields. Avoid imitating others; your uniqueness makes you difficult to compete with​.

“The best way to become difficult to compete with is to build up leverage”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence	Gary Vaynerchuk	Provides insights on how to build a powerful personal brand
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?	Seth Godin	Helps understand how to become a linchpin in any organization, making you hard to replace and thus difficult to compete with
Mastery	Robert Greene	Explains that mastery of a skill is the key to achieving excellence in your field, making you unique and invaluable

11. Build a Network

Cultivate a network of talented people to work with. Help others generously and take care of those who work with you. Build a reputation for identifying and nurturing talent. Surround yourself with positive people who support your ambitions​.

“An effective way to build a network is to help people as much as you can”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time	Keith Ferrazzi	A guide to building a powerful network by helping others and developing genuine relationships
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference	Malcolm Gladwell	Explores how ideas spread and the vital role that social networks play in this process
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success	Adam Grant	Highlights the benefits of helping others in achieving personal success

12. Get Rich by Owning Things

Wealth comes from owning assets that increase rapidly in value, not just from earning a high salary. Ownership could be in businesses, real estate, intellectual property, or other assets. The best way to create such assets is by producing things people want on a large scale​.

“You get truly rich by owning things that increase rapidly in value”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
The Intelligent Investor	Benjamin Graham	Provides foundational knowledge for understanding the stock market and investing in businesses
Rich Dad Poor Dad	Robert Kiyosaki	Emphasizes financial education and mindset shift towards real estate and business ownership for wealth creation
The Lean Startup	Eric Ries	Provides a methodology for creating and managing startups, leading to owning a successful business

13. Be Internally Driven

Don’t be primarily motivated by the desire to impress others. Focus on doing interesting work and making an impact. Being internally driven motivates you to perform at high levels even after achieving financial comfort and social status. Success should be defined by excellent work in areas that are important to you​.

“The most successful people I know are primarily internally driven; they do what they do to impress themselves and because they feel compelled to make something happen in the world. After you’ve made enough money to buy whatever you want and gotten enough social status that it stops being fun to get more, this is the only force I know of that will continue to drive you to higher levels of performance.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Here are some books we suggest to help you with this:

Book Title	Author(s)	Description
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us	Daniel H. Pink	Explores the science of motivation and highlights autonomy, mastery, and purpose as internal drivers
Man’s Search for Meaning	Viktor E. Frankl	Memoir emphasizing finding purpose and meaning in life, based on experiences in Nazi death camps
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance	Angela Duckworth	Explores the concept of “grit” as a combination of passion and persistence for achieving goals and success