
Productivity - dsr12
https://blog.samaltman.com/productivity
======
bastijn
I once read a HN comment that I cannot find anymore but said:

“my default loop is "First, cycle through all my developers and make sure that
I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs. Second, find
something to do. If possible, delegate it; if not, do it. Repeat."”

My biggest productivity gain was when I realized I should measure my
productivity through the productivity of my developers. By the same
calculation as done by the author I can only increase my own productivity so
much but when I do the same for all my developers that adds another layer of
multiplication.

This means I regularly enter the office and don’t even turn on my laptop
(monitors) before checking if any of my developers need my help. Helping them
be productive is my first priority. When nobody needs my help I pick up a task
from my todo list but only if I cannot delegate it or it is a short task. I
try not to pick up any task that is critical for my developers progress
because my days do not have enough focus time to work on the same topic for
more than 30 minutes to an hour without interruption.

This does not mean I do not take focus time sometimes, I do, but usually this
is for getting my state of mind documented so I can share it with my
developers and ask for their input to improve or reshape it. This helps again
to have everybody understand the bigger picture so they can be more productive
without my direct help and make decisions without requesting my approval.
Also, because everybody involved contributed to the vision it feels better to
work on it for all of us.

The same holds for meetings. If somebody requests my attendance in a meeting I
request the agenda of the meeting and if the request is valid I’ll join as
helping to unblock multiple people is important. If I’m not the right person I
point them to the person they need to get into that meeting.

So, in short, I devote my time to helping my devs get 10% more done everyday
and 1% better each year because that scales way better than just improving my
own. (Though you could say that also improves my own?)

~~~
teej
"As a CTO, my default loop is 'First, cycle through all my employees and make
sure that I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs.
Second, find something to do. If possible, delegate it; if not, do it.
Repeat.'"

\- tkiley
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3408449](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3408449)

~~~
abhiminator
Thank you for digging up the link, appreciate it.

------
skrebbel
What I like about this list is not so much the content, but the underlying
message that Altman got to this point by experimentation and iteration.

There's sometimes this hidden cultural idea that wildly successful people
became so successful simply (by luck and) by being super good at what they do.
I think Altman classifies as successful by most common measures so I find it
refreshing that he apparently wasn't born a super disciplined mega productive
robot machine person but that he improved on his flaws by iteration and
reflection, and that he still has productivity issues that he's unhappy about.
I bet this holds for many "famous" business people even though they're usually
not portrayed that way in magazine articles.

~~~
philwelch
There's really only two things you need to do in order to be really good at
basically anything:

1\. Care a lot.

2\. Work on continuously improving your skills.

That's pretty much it. Yes, there is such a thing as natural ability, but
outside of the true outliers, natural ability is a pretty small factor
compared to caring a lot and continuous improvement.

And, even if you're an outlier in terms of natural ability, caring a lot and
continuously improving your skills is what makes you an outlier among
outliers. Conversely, even if you're an outlier in terms of natural ability,
someone who's just above average can be better than you by caring a lot and
improving their skills.

There are obviously a few counterexamples. I'm sure there are hundreds of
sprinters who care more and maybe even work harder than Usain Bolt. But if
you're doing anything more complicated than running in a straight line, these
factors start to outweigh natural ability really quickly.

~~~
badpun
What if you have an IQ of say 90 and want to be really good at theoretical
physics? I don't see caring a lot and working continously as enough to
overcome IQ here.

~~~
gideon_b
IQ can be raised by a full standard deviation with a few months of training
[1]. IQ is only stable over time because most people don't work continuously
to improve it. IQ can be learned, just like everything else.

[1] Source:
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104160801...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608016300231)

~~~
toasterlovin
Color me skeptical. Pretty much every intervention ever tried has failed to
measurably increase IQ long-term. The only exceptions are fixing nutritional
deficiencies. If you could reliably raise IQ by a standard deviation in
reasonably nourished children, it would be one of the most profound socio-
political developments of all time (on the scale of major economic transitions
like agriculture -> manufacturing -> knowledge work).

~~~
vilmosi
Well average IQ of the human population around the world has been increasing
in the past decades if not centuries. And it's not because we're evolving
within a few generations.

~~~
newfoundglory
There have been massive improvements in average nutrition over the last few
decades though.

~~~
toasterlovin
Your parent is right: IQ has been increasing. Even in countries where you
wouldn't expect the cause to be improved nutrition. But nobody really knows
why, nor has anybody discovered an intervention that can, on its own, reliably
increase IQ.

~~~
mantas
Not only nutrition, but overall childhood experience is getting better
worldwide. Even in countries that had no malnutrition, there was a lot of
space to improve in children<->parents relationships etc.

Meanwhile some countries that were really good in all areas a while ago are
now reporting minor IQ decrease..

------
whalesalad
> I very rarely eat breakfast, so I get about 15 hours of fasting most days
> (except an espresso when I wake up). I know this is contrary to most advice,
> and I suspect it’s not optimal for most people, but it definitely works well
> for me.

Coffee isn't going to interrupt your fast, assuming it's black. I too skip
breakfast and try to fast as long as possible. Fasting is tremendously helpful
to productivity. Nothing will hinder your performance like a huge meal in the
morning (especially one high in carbohydrates)

> I have one espresso immediately when I wake up and one after lunch. I assume
> this is about 200mg total of caffeine per day.

Interesting how often folks overestimate the caffeine in a shot of espresso. A
single shot is like 60mg. You get far more out of drip coffee, especially the
lighter roasts.

> I don’t think most people value their time enough

This is huge. Value your time! Not only that, build a culture around you of
people who value their time. Work at a company that values work-life balance.
This doesn't mean you don't want to work hard... in fact it usually means the
opposite because when you are at work _you are working hard_ because you are
valuing yourself and your time.

~~~
theli0nheart
> _Fasting is tremendously helpful to productivity. Nothing will hinder your
> performance like a huge meal in the morning (especially one high in
> carbohydrates)_

This seems to be really getting popular. What's the science behind it? I'm
curious if this is mainly anecdotal or if you did some research before jumping
in.

My 2 cents: as an endurance athlete and student of nutrition, skipping
breakfast seems like a bad idea. Those calories get burned and put to use
relatively quickly, at least compared to a meal later in the day, like dinner
(with the caveat that this does depend on your metabolism and when you're most
active).

~~~
Tomminn
So right now I'm 63 hours into a fast, which I just decided to do on a lark.
I've been intrigued ever since hearing an interesting podcast on fasting
([https://tim.blog/2017/05/04/smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-
loss...](https://tim.blog/2017/05/04/smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss/)).

At this stage, I have started to find mental things a little harder to do, but
honestly its still pretty subtle and is pretty indistinguishable from the
normal kinds of self pity I normally have when I sit down to complete some
hard mental task.

Physical tasks are obviously a different story. But your mind doesn't seem to
slow down much at all for a pretty long time during fasting.

I think that's the main thing I'll take away from this experience. Eating does
not improve mental performance, at least not unless we're talking about a
multiple-day timescale. I now believe that it may slightly degrade it, because
your gut gets greedy for your that thought-fuelling blood. This is useful
knowledge to have gained because _so often_ I think "ooo, feel a bit dumb,
better eat."

~~~
drb91
> Physical tasks are obviously a different story. But your mind doesn't seem
> to slow down much at all for a pretty long time during fasting.

I’m not sure i agree with this. Highly productive sessions always end with me
feeling exhausted despite just concentrating intently for several hours.
Doesn’t your brain already consume like 30% of your energy? It would really
surprise me if your brain operated at full capacity after 2+ days of no
calories.

~~~
Tomminn
The assumption you're making is that your brain gets no calories when you have
no food. Every kilogram of fat on your body is 9000 calories just sitting
there. Most of us have at least 10 of em, or 90,000 calories.

While it's definitely true that some things slow down to conserve energy, it
seems like the brain _isn 't one of em_. There are moments* now I feel I'm
thinking considerably clearer than usual. The world just feels unbelievably
quiet. And things are getting done.

*I don't want to sell it as if it's all sunshine and rainbows. So far, getting to sleep has been hell, and the hunger pangs at times have been pretty insistent. While the hunger seems to have gone now, I have a general feeling of physical frailty, including lightheadedness when I stand up, and occasional light nausea.

~~~
laex
> The world just feels unbelievably quiet.

This is what I sense when my fast crosses 18+ hours.

~~~
Tomminn
Yeah you certainly get a taste of it pretty early, and I think that taste is
what made me intrigued to keep going, but lets be honest that taste is pretty
well spoiled by increasingly desperate hunger. But I've just hit ~87 hours
now, and everything else _bad_ that happens mentally in the 18-60 hour period
gets noticeably nicer once you go beyond the 60-70 hour mark, which makes that
quietness way more enjoyable. Slept like a baby for the first time since
starting last night, which makes a world of difference. Being too hungry to
sleep is a special kind of hell.

This confirms some stuff I'd read on fasting. I'd read somewhere that the main
pain is associated with re-establishing a new steady-state in which you're
getting all your calorie needs from eating your own fat instead of your
stomach contents, but I wasn't really sure if that was just wishful thinking
by brain-washed fanatics. Fasting is still a non-mainstream practice so it's
kinda hard to find reliable sources of information on it. But this particular
point seems to be 100% legit, at least in the experience of this sample of
one.

------
StavrosK
I see these kinds of articles come along from time to time, and it always
makes me wonder: Why this pressing need to maximize productivity? Why not just
do things you enjoy, at a pace that you enjoy? Is it for more money/prestige?
What's the use if you've been stressing and pressuring yourself for it all
your life?

I feel like the odd person out because I work on something while I enjoy it,
stop working on it when I don't, and pick it up again when I want to. Work is
obviously a bit different, but I don't need to pressure myself to improve, I
don't need a raise. I work as much as necessary and do other things the rest
of the time. Some people are naturally more productive than me, and that's
fine, I'm exactly as productive as I'm happy being.

~~~
wpietri
The Church of Productivity strikes me as a very American kind of religion. I
personally value being productive on things I care about, but I've worked hard
to unlearn this general protestant-work-ethic, no-moment-wasted, anxiety-
driven desire to be a Very Productive Person.

One of the interesting things to me is how long this has been a part of
American history. In the excellent history podcast Backstory, one episode
covers time and sleep. [1] I had known that before the electric light, most
people spent time awake in the middle of the night, sleeping in two sessions
("first sleep" and "second sleep") of a few hours each.

But what I hadn't known is that part of what drove the change to one-shot
sleep was moralizing busybodies in the 1800s, known as the "Early Rising"
movement, who thought it was slothful to get that second tranche of sleep.
They were sort of like the temperance movement.

[1] [https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/on-the-
clock-4/](https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/on-the-clock-4/) and in
particular the "'Til Morning is Nigh" segment with historian Roger Ekirch.

~~~
bachmeier
For some reason, those of us in the US measure productivity in terms of "value
created for our employer" or "value created for the business". That doesn't
make any sense. You need to measure productivity in terms of what matters to
you, which includes time with your kids, spirituality, and such. The amount of
value you create for your employer probably shouldn't get much weight.

~~~
internetman55
Really makes you wonder why people don't value themselves. Does society
systematically strip the underclass of their self-esteem? Every single job
I've had I knew that the purpose was either 1) to make me money 2) to help me
develop skills or career experience. Idgaf about my employer making money
(except as it relates to my goals); that's his problem to care about. I'm
contracted to provide labor, not make his business profitable for him

~~~
demircancelebi
I think as a professional your job description should include using your
skills to improve a critical metric or a process of the business, and this
should include using your abilities to contribute in a meaningful way. IMHO,
this attitude may be harmful to one's career. In the end, you can always find
another job, but would not it be nice to actually care about the business? If
you are in a place where you feel like they do not care about you, maybe you
should look for something else, but maybe with a more caring approach, because
it is a two way street.

Just my 2 cents, though.

~~~
SolaceQuantum
The fact of the matter is, they may not actually care about you. Especially if
the money is tight, employers are rare yo actually reward investment into the
company.

------
grosjona
>> Also, don’t fall into the trap of productivity porn

>> ...

>> Some sort of sleep tracker to figure out how to sleep best is helpful

>> ...

>> I take a low dose of sleeping pills (like a third of a normal dose) or a
very low dose of cannabis

>> ... I use a full spectrum LED light most mornings

>> ... so I get about 15 hours of fasting most days

The whole article is productivity porn.

~~~
dwaltrip
Eh, I think you are missing the forest for the trees here.

~~~
grosjona
Haha I guess he must have meant some really hardcore stuff...

------
gits1225
Off-topic:

> The most impressive people I know have strong beliefs about the world, which
> is rare in the general population.

Is this true?

The average person is irrationally immovable on religion, politics and sports.

On-topic:

My philosophy on productivity:

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done
at all ― Peter Drucker

~~~
ssijak
Yeah, the only thing in the article I disagree with.

~~~
fifnir
Interestingly, it was my favorite line from the article, and I strongly agree

------
fogzen
I hope Sam realizes that living this lifestyle is not possible for anyone in a
traditional 9-5. Most people I know don’t have the luxury of thinking about
what to work on, they have to get up, go to work, come home, and do it again
in order to even have a place to sleep. Every restaurant Sam eats at is
staffed with people working 80 hours a week just to stay above water.

~~~
naveen99
the advice isn't for everyone. Its for the people who might have otherwise
asked Sam for advice on productivity.

------
joshe
In addition to morning light (works great!) eliminating evening blue light has
hugely improved my sleep.

I use these orange glasses [https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-Blocking-Computer-SCT-
Orange-S19...](https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-Blocking-Computer-SCT-
Orange-S1933X/dp/B000USRG90/)

I don't wear them every evening, but whenever I need to sleep or am having
sleep troubles, it solves the problem. Great for traveling too, because you
can start moving your circadian clock during the flight. You can still use the
phone/computer and not worry about avoiding light.

I also use flux, nightshift, and Philips hue lights (set to orange at night)
so that I can set and forget it. The glasses are the place to start though.
They block all blue light and are super cheap, portable, and simple to try.

------
nosefrog
Hey Sam!

Regarding sleeping, I've had really bad sleep problems since I was a kid, to
the point where I pulled all nighters a couple times a month just because I
knew I wasn't going to get to sleep that night.

I fixed all of my sleep problems over time by taking a low dose of melatonin
(1g, low doses are more effective than high doses) and wearing orange glasses
at night to block out blue light. It took a while for melatonin and the
glasses to work consistently, so I occasionally took sleeping pills as well,
but now I go to sleep consistently without sleeping pills. I'm down to one
sleepless night every 3-4 months, and it usually happens when I don't do my
routine.

Regarding protein, it's likely you don't need as much as you think.
Unfortunately, I don't have great resouces to cite, but I'm vegan and I lift
weights 3x a week, and I never think about my protein intake. I may be a bit
biased, but the things I've read say that we emphasize protein too much in our
diets and don't need as much of it as we think we do
([https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.php](https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.php)).
You might want to try cutting our your protein shakes to see if you really
need them.

~~~
tcoff91
Do you mean 1mg? I find that 250 micrograms is the right melatonin dose for me
so I figure you must mean 1mg not 1 gram..

~~~
nosefrog
Yup, my bad :)

------
pascalxus
Your productivity is only as good as what you decide to work on. This is an
excellent point!

"Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t
worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on."

~~~
bachmeier
Unfortunately, very few people have the option to only work on things they
enjoy. Even professors get stuck doing things they don't want to do, and that
aren't valuable, but there is no choice unless you have at least a few million
in the bank.

~~~
deltron3030
Which programmer enjoys typing, or which builder enjoys the physical activity
itself? It's about the way to the end result, getting from nothing to
something, or not? For the professor it would be the understanding and success
of his pupils.

The stuff in between nothing and something, especially what you don't like,
could be an opportunity if theres nothing in reach that already solves the
problem.

~~~
philwelch
> Which programmer enjoys typing, or which builder enjoys the physical
> activity itself?

That's actually a reason to get better at these things, though--the better
your fundamentals are, the less attention you have to pay to them and the more
attention you have left over for actually thinking about what you're doing.
When I'm coding, typing is the last thing on my mind--I just think code and my
muscle memory translates it into keystrokes. And I'm a Vim user.

~~~
deltron3030
But wouldn't you prefer to just being able to connect your tested UI prototype
and data model without having to translate it into code yourself? That's what
I'm doing when I code, I translate things that already exists into a different
language. I'd rather focus on other things if I could.

~~~
philwelch
Maybe if you could type faster, the tedious parts of your work won't take as
long :)

------
staunch
> _I think I am at least somewhat more productive than average, and people
> sometimes ask me for productivity tips._

This is probably just self-delusion of the emperor-has-no-clothes variety. A
lot of investors think they're funny, smart, insightful, good writers,
tweeters, and super productive.

Why? Because they spend all day being followed and flattered by courtiers
seeking favor.

A common saying in Silicon Valley is _" if you want money, ask for advice"_
because it's well known that many investors make decisions based on ego
stroking.

------
pi-squared
Why are posts by Sam Altman and Paul Graham upvoted unconditionally? I know,
it's yc domain but is everything they write so good that it always require an
upvote or is it because they are the bosses? Maybe I don't understand
something about news.ycombinator.com, a.k.a. hacker news or I joined too late
- was it originally posts only for yc funded startups and it eventually became
general techie/science news and thus acquired a lot of people who are yc
startups?

~~~
mchmr
Granted I don't pay much attention to the y-combinator side of all this, but I
didn't know who this dude was when I read the article. I immediately disliked
a lot of the advice because of how out-of-touch it is (don't do something you
don't like, buy a $4000 mattress, etc.) and came to the comments expecting
some level of critique of that. Nope, everyone is fawning over this guy:

"What do you think he'll think when he starts meditating" "How do you feel
about him using canabis?"

What kind of cult is this?

ed: spelling

~~~
logfromblammo
It's just people trying to bottle the lightning.

Person X becomes successful. Other people ask X how they did it. Person X
explains some personal philosophy, and the other people nod sagely. Then
persons Y, Z, and Q follow the recipe by X, and do not become successful.

It's probably better to ask failures what they did wrong. You end up with
rules like "don't ever try heroin", "always insure the things that make you
money", "let your lawyer review it first", "get a pre-nup", and "keep offsite
backups". Most spend a lot of time figuring out exactly where it all went
wrong, and can tell you exactly what they should have done differently to
_not_ fail (from that particular cause).

~~~
mchmr
It's almost like there is more to success whether or not someone sleeps on a
tempurpedic mattress with a cooling pad, earplugs and eye mask... or whether
they write lists on paper... or whether they have that unfortunate
characteristic where they only work on stuff they don't like (you know, a job)

~~~
logfromblammo
To me, the talk of such things suggests that they don't actually know where
their success comes from. Or they do know, and need to sell a distracting
narrative for some reason. Perhaps the more people that know about it, the
less it would work for them.

------
Mahn
Somewhere in a room HBO's Silicon Valley writers are secretly reading this
blog post for inspiration for jokes for the next season :)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Somewhere in a room, HBO's Silicon Valley writers are actually frequenting
HN... ;).

------
tabeth
> Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t
> worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on.

How can one say this? How can you know without action? You can spend your
entire life thinking about what to work on. Ultimately, you have to _do_
something. There's a saying... 失败是成功之母 (failure is the mother of success).

~~~
Asdfbla
Yeah, I also never liked that kind of advice. For me personally just doing
something that roughly seems somewhat interesting was usually enough - if you
get good at something, the motivation can often follow.

If I had spent more time thinking about what my passion is in life then I'd
probably still sit there pondering without an idea of what to do.

------
dasmoth
_Here’s what I like in a workspace: natural light, quiet, knowing that I won’t
be interrupted if I don’t want to be, long blocks of time, and being
comfortable and relaxed_

Sounds good to me.

Is there some hope that we’ll see Y Combinator declare war on the open plan
office?

------
yannis7
I'm surprised how many people mention reduction of sugar intake as a component
of productivity boosting.

Though I am currently on a low-carb diet for weight control, the times I
remember me being the most productive were when I was eating tons of simple
carbs and junk food.

In fact the most productive people I've met, if you look at their desks they
are full of muffin, candy and energy drink leftovers. They must consume tons
of sugar per day, and they output work like a damn machine.

------
profalseidol
> I’ve been very fortunate to find work I like so much I’d do it for free,
> which makes it easy to be really productive.

HA! Take that mr/ms economist who say that incentives is needed to achieve
productivity.

One hidden information here thought, that is worth emphasizing is that the
author has the money to do what he likes. This is not so easy by the majority
of humans in the world to no fault of their own.

~~~
davidivadavid
The incentive is the utility derived from the activity itself.

------
fitpolar
I agree that productivity is key, then you don't have to "overwork"!

I can accomplish something in about 3-4 hours in an 8 hour work day, of what
used to take me the whole day when working 12+ hours. That, to me, is
productivity.

~~~
itamarst
Exactly. Productivity is the _opposite_ of working hard. You can't work smart
and work hard, you have to choose one.

~~~
naveen99
that's efficiency not productivity.

~~~
itamarst
Productivity is "output/input". So e.g. for US economy it's GDP divided by
total hours worked.

------
jwilliams
Productivity for me is more about managing my energy and motivation than time.

Hence I find a lot of planning and prioritization actually counter-productive.
Some level is important, but not that much. I generally know what I need to
do. More planning really doesn't clarify that.

Instead I work on energy. A lot of the things Sam mentions -- but for
goals/priorities I tend to take a very long view (decades out) and a very
short view (sometimes minutes out). So something inspirational I can get
behind. Combined with something I can do right now.

Generally I find that creates the momentum.. and everything works out from
there.

~~~
rkhassen
Wondering if you can say more about managing "energy and motivation"? I'm
curious abut the details, how one does this. It sounds like a great approach!

~~~
jwilliams
Thanks! I'll give the most simple and effective technique for me.

On a day-to-day basis, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I should be
working on _.

My issue is actually doing it. I can work hard for a full day, but not
seemingly get anything done.

So one technique is to chunk the tasks up. Pretty well established technique.
But I'll chunk smaller and smaller until I get momentum on what I need to do.
That could mean picking a goal that only takes a minute.

Sounds laborious, but it's more about building momentum than building a plan.
Maybe I want to start a newsletter. So I set a goal of setting up a Mailchimp
account. And by the time I get to that... I pick something else.. eventually
momentum kicks in and I start getting it done.

Works for me anyway!

_Looking at the long term is important too! But I do that infrequently, and
usually big, big picture instead.

~~~
rkhassen
Cool! Thank you - it's great to get a peek inside your approach.

------
OrganicMSG
>This is likely to be controversial, but I take a low dose of sleeping pills
(like a third of a normal dose) or a very low dose of cannabis whenever I
can’t sleep.

While I agree with this advice, it is amusing to see it coming from someone
lauded as a captain of industry, after growing up with all the propaganda
about how cannabis will destroy your life and get you started on heroin, etc.

Mind you, the whole "Winners don't take drugs!" line took quite a beating
after Michael Phelps got photographed pulling bong hits.

------
jdtang13
I like this article a lot. Productivity articles are usually pretty redundant,
long-winded, and pretentious. I'm glad Sam Altman was able to write down some
surprisingly counter-intuitive advice in a concise and unpretentious way.

------
pm90
I really like that its so easy for successful and productive people to share
their thoughts on what got them where they are and their advice on how others
can get there too.

The part of the essay I liked the most was perhaps his comment about having
strong convictions on things. This is incredibly important. To get to a level
of knowledge on anything to get that conviction though, requires a lot of
deliberate reading and experience. For instance, I didn't care much about
politics until the 2016 election; the entirety of 2017 I spent learning more
about the political structure of the US, the history of every party, the
history of laws and such... a lot of things that has given me a strong base
from which to view current events and future policies in a more nuanced way,
rather than being influenced by the latest Op-Ed in NYT. It took a lot of
effort, but for me its worth it if only for the perspective that you get from
history.

The lists part is also highly recommended: it helps me offload things that I
want/like to do in a concrete medium and not have to try and recall things
when I get some time.

~~~
hsrada
Just curious, is your life better for having spent that time learning more
about politics? What prompted you to get started?

Asking as somebody that doesn't care much about politics but not averse to the
idea of making an effort to understand it if the benefits>cost.

~~~
pm90
Certainly I'm biased since I put in that effort into learning more about these
things. I'm an introvert and certainly didn't care much for politics in
general. For better or for worse, I do live in a society and am dependent on
it for sustenance though and that is what prompted me to delve into politics.

From my understanding, it seems like its much easier for charlatans and snake-
oil salesman to cast themselves as able politicians and that is a bad thing.
To debate them, or the ideas they promote, in a reasonable way does require
some understanding of the underlying factors and reasons for why things are as
they are. e.g. initially I was very anti-welfare state. But after learning
more about the systemic reasons for poverty, the discrimination against
minorities etc. this has greatly softened my views about these things. Which
is important because.... its hard to be sympathetic to e.g. homeless people
when the only interaction you have with them is usually negative (I've often
been heckled by them, even followed, which is rather scary) until you realize
how many of them suffer from mental illnesses that they don't really get
treatment for.

Essentially, I think its beneficial if you want to truly understand the
society you live in and its problems. Politics is all about allocating
societies resources towards common benefits by enacting policies and such. But
you can only be effective if you understand what problems your society is
really facing, and try scientific approaches to solve those problems.

So in conclusion, I think it has been largely beneficial. I do hope more
people get involved in politics instead of dismissing it as a useless effort:
it does seem very often to consist more of rhetoric rather than actual
productive work which we engineers prefer. But that's how our society seems to
work.

~~~
hsrada
Thank you for the reply.

------
sudosteph
I don't know if Sam has ADHD, but these tips are very compatible with those
that I use to manage my productivity with ADHD.

ex: paper lists - physical stimulation from writing is rewarding, and re-
writing things helps reinforce importance and accommodate for bad memory /
executive functions (bullet journaling works great for this reason too)

skip breakfast + am espresso - I prefer medication for stimulation (game
changer) vs caffeine, but breafast can definitely be a distraction. Removing
unnecessary decisions in general helps me not go off track

AM blocked from interruptions - super critical for me to have time without
people expecting me to respond immediately. this is prime "hyperfocus" time
for deep work

Sleep hygeine - many adhd'rs struggle to sleep since their mind keeps running,
indicas are preferred among my friends for helping with that. Personally I
fall asleep better than most so its more of a matter of not giving into
temptation to stay up late with my night-owl husband.

Needing to be interested to work on something - definitely a hard requirement
for me. Those periods of low motivation / brainfog are relatable too. I'm not
sure if it's burnout, overstimulation catching up, weed messing up my dopamine
(I try to take a month or two off per year to keep that in check) or just that
the world is sometimes too boring.

Tempted by "productivity porn" \- I'm bad about totally buying into a system
(ie, GTD) and using it perfectly for about a week before getting bored. to be
fair, it's not bad for a week, but sometimes I use it to avoid doing other
things which is a problem.

Exercise - I dont do this enough but I probably should. There's a semi
prominent ADHDer (Peter Shankman) who swears that it makes a huge difference.
But I dont lean towards the hyperactive type anyhow so it's not as appealing
to me.

The only thing I might add would be that making time for mindful meditation,
15 min a day, has been tremendously helpful in maintaining a healthy emotional
state. Practicing non-reactivity and learning the value of not dwelling
excessively on negative thoughts and experiences really gives your mind more
time to think of better stuff. Self forgiveness is a big one too.

Anyhow, if anyone is able to use Sam's advice to reduce stress or reclaim time
for themselves, it will have been worth the writeup. Always love reading this
kind of stuff.

~~~
opdahl
When do you practice the meditation? I’ve been struggling to find a good spot
to fit it into my routine. Usually I’m too anxious to get working in the
morning, and too tired to do it before bed.

~~~
sudosteph
The best times for me are either at lunch time, or late afternoon / early
evening. I like to use it to help transition between parts of the day, it's a
good way to wind down and collect yourself so you can change gears.

I mostly wfh these days, so it's not hard to find a quiet spot, but when I
went into the office I would usually just take a lunch break in a nearby park
and put headphones in, nobody bothered me. Walking meditations can be nice too
if your space to practice is limited or noisy. If it comes to it though,
morning sessions are actually pretty great. It's only 15 min so if your
schedule allows it, doing it then and just observing the work anxiety might
actually be great practice. Probably worth trying at various times and seeing
what is most effective. Agreed about before bed time being tough though, I
would fall asleep if I did it then.

~~~
criddell
I recently stopped meditating. I got some nice benefits at the beginning but
diminishing returns set in. The skills I learned are certainly still valuable
to me and I use them enough during my week that I'm not afraid of losing them.

I quit because I wanted to take guitar lessons and needed to find 30 minutes a
day for practice.

------
iooi
Never heard of people using LED lights in the morning. He's already
supplementing with vitamin D, so what is the benefit of using the light on top
of that?

~~~
whalesalad
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_blue_light_technolo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_blue_light_technology)

The significance is on blue light. The same way it has negative side effects
at night (which is why tools like f.lux and night shift exist), it has
positive effects in the morning. Folks who live in northern regions struggle
in the winter with depression due to the lack of sun and the impact that has
on your circadian rhythm. Not sure the folks in SF have much to worry about
here ;)

~~~
kevindqc
According to this random 20 year old study I found, taking Vitamin D
supplements is better than light therapy:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10888476](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10888476)

~~~
netrap
Dead link?

~~~
kevindqc
Works for me? Maybe something is blocking you

------
dotBen
What do people think of the admission by Sam that he uses cannabis to help
sleep, and thus uses cannabis in general? I have no problem with it, but it's
interesting to see high profile people in business become more open and on the
record about their usage.

~~~
cynusx
I don't see why he doesn't use first-generation anti-histamines instead. They
are not sleeping pills and not controversial, they just make you sleepy.

~~~
dcx
Isn't long-term use of antihistamines linked to increased risk of dementia?
Example writeup - [https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-
anticholinergic-d...](https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-
anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-increased-dementia-
risk-201501287667)

------
polskibus
Does Sam Altman have kids and/or partner he lives with (that did not yet leave
him due to lack of attention, spending time together) ? Just trying to find
out whether the tips/lifestyle is in any way comparable to a typical situation
of a 30+ yo.

~~~
ndh2
Did you see the last paragraph?

> _Don’t neglect your family and friends for the sake of productivity—that’s a
> very stupid tradeoff (and very likely a net productivity loss, because
> you’ll be less happy). Don’t neglect doing things you love or that clear
> your head either._

~~~
polskibus
That doesn't really count as a tested productivity tip. What I mean is most of
those productivity tips are not helpful when a lot of your non work time is
occupied by your relationship, kids and chores. Where are the startups that
free up more time?

------
davebryand
I can't wait until Sam "gets" meditation. It will be fun to watch how these
tips and preferences change. It's a privilege for us to watch the thoughts of
an individual destined for enlightenment as they do the work.

------
heurist
This all sounds very familiar, even down to the supplements...

> Like most people, I sometimes go through periods of a week or two where I
> just have no motivation to do anything (I suspect it may have something to
> do with nutrition). This sucks and always seems to happen at inconvenient
> times. I have not figured out what to do about it besides wait for the fog
> to lift, and to trust that eventually it always does.

I experience this and believe it is allergy-related (or at least inflammation-
related). It seems to happen around certain times of the year and allergy
medication usually clears it up temporarily.

------
davidjnelson
Thank you Sam! I really enjoyed your essay, especially this theme you
repeated:

> Finally, to repeat one more time: productivity in the wrong direction isn’t
> worth anything at all. Think more about what to work on.

If anyone has pointers on how they found the right thing to work on, I’m sure
that would help a lot of people.

I can add my anecdote, which is seeing patterns of repetitive, unfulfilling
work being done, and inventing ways to simplify them for the goal of reducing
suffering. Also, not going solo and exploring what/who inspires you. For
instance, I find Bret Victor’s work very inspiring.

------
jonbarker
For those who have struggled as I have with the Zeigarnik effect attempting to
do David Allen's GTD or other list-based systems, there is an answer:
[http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2015/5/21/the-
final-...](http://markforster.squarespace.com/blog/2015/5/21/the-final-
version-perfected-fvp.html)

More on Zeigarnik here:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect)

------
monkeydust
Personally I look to automate repetitive tasks, if am doing something which
can be described to someone else in simple rules and the input a d output of
this task is digital then it should be codified.

~~~
duderific
I read somewhere "if you have to do something three or more times, write a
script for it." I've been doing that lately and it has helped my productivity
quite a bit.

------
Bizarro
Great write-up. I pretty much agree with everything Sam said.

I'd add one caveat about working out though. Be sure to monitor your fatigue
the next couple days after a workout. It's surprisingly easy to overdo it, and
feel lethargic/foggy-brained for a day or so after working out too much even
if you have got enough sleep and are eating right. And it's easy to dismiss it
as something else - not enough sleep, not eating right, etc..

Drink lots and lots of water. Many people are dehydrated, don't know it, and
it has some nasty side effects.

Look into taking magnesium supplements. I believe there was a study that most
people are magnesium deficient and magnesium is a great, natural "chill pill".

I need to start making informal lists a daily ritual. I kept on thinking that
I needed to find the perfect note taking app, but I've started just creating a
file for each day in a folder in drop box. It's not even a list file, but
whatever I happen to be thinking about. I'd still like to find a killer note
taking app, but that will do for now.

Analysis paralysis (or fear of making the right choice) is a big productivity
drain. Manage fear by tackling low-hanging fruit.

As an example, I've been wanting to clean up some code of mine for a while,
but fear breaking things and going down rabbit holes that I don't to go down
(forget the tests for now). So instead of digging into core business logic, I
work on just moving some startup code into modules where I know they should
belong. This (hopefully) diminishes because it'll typically either work or
not, without heisenbugs creeping around. At least doing something like that
gets you going in the right direction and in a mindset of taking on bigger
tasks.

I'm not hungry at breakfast too and I tried the intermittent fasting and while
sometimes it worked great, most of the time it didn't. So these days I try to
eat some protein mid-morning. I actually try to delay caffeine intake until I
reach the mid-afternoon blahs, making sure to not intake too late in the day.

Naps are awesome. Five minutes will do wonders. Even closing your eyes and
almost getting to the point of going to sleep helps. I tell Alexa to set 5-10
minute timers.

------
itamarst
More propaganda for working long hours coming from a VC. Surprise!

""" You have to both pick the right problem and do the work. There aren’t many
shortcuts. If you’re going to do something really important, you are very
likely going to work both smart and hard. The biggest prizes are heavily
competed for. This isn’t true in every field (there are great mathematicians
who never spend that many hours a week working) but it is in most. """

"Work both hard and smart" is pretty much always code for "I want to exploit
your work". It's bullshit.

Real productivity comes from working towards goals, yes, but then it comes
from avoiding _unnecessary_ work, not from working _hard_
([https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/25/the-01x-programmer/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/25/the-01x-programmer/)).
There's no virtue in inherent effort. "Work hard" is a scam from people who
are playing the numbers on your startup, where they have 10 other investments
and they don't care if you burn out.

Longer version: [https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/09/18/when-startups-pay-
le...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/09/18/when-startups-pay-less/)

~~~
DenisM
I appreciate your cynicism and can relate to your irritation, but I think
Altman actually believes what he writes. So it's less "propaganda" and more
preaching the community values of the SV culture back to the community itself.
It may get tiresome after a while, but less so when you settle comfortably
into your own work ethics.

On a related note, there is an essay "In praise of idleness" [1] by Bertrand
Russell - he is one of the greatest minds, and his work gives excellent form
to many of your thoughts. I think you will thoroughly enjoy it.

[1] [https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-
idleness/](https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/)

~~~
itamarst
It's a "community" based on exploitation. Another rant on an earlier iteration
of "work hard!!!!!": [https://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/11/watch-a-vc-use-my-name-
to-s...](https://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/11/watch-a-vc-use-my-name-to-sell-a-
con/)

------
taylorjacobson
For me many of these techniques can be bundled by doing virtual coworking
sessions with an accountability partner. I'm able to block off big chunks of
time, I'm accountable to show up, I am forced to set meaningful intentions at
frequent intervals, I work intensely when I have one and fully unplug when I
don't. It is a little weird at first but insanely effective. You can do it
with a friend, or colleague, or find partners via a (free) service like
www.focusmate.com.

~~~
jakebaker
Focusmate has been an incredible boost to my productivity. So glad to see it
getting mentioned here. It's uncanny how the connection to another person has
enabled me to unlock immediate productivity. I strongly recommend it.

------
manmal
My personal tip is related to one in the article: Instead of a full spectrum
LED, use a near-infrared (Eg 850nm) light and shine it on your forehead for
5-10 minutes. The concentration gains I get from this are substantial, and
they last up to 2 days. Security camera IR lights with 850nm can be had for
$30 or so at Amazon. The name of the mechanism by which this works is called
photobiomodulation, and there’s thousands of papers on how it improves body
function.

~~~
nategri
Seeing a "mercola.com" domain show up in the first page of google results for
this phenomenon just increased the difficulty of parsing whether or not the
effect is legit or not by an order of magnitude.

~~~
manmal
This is IMO a good review:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5066074/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5066074/)

------
Balgair
To expound on some of sama's points:

> My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”,
> “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”.

Proper use of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix is _key_ (Note how quads 2 and 3
are arranged):

[https://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/10/23/eisenhower-
decisio...](https://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/10/23/eisenhower-decision-
matrix/)

[https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2013/10/Eisenhowe...](https://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads/2013/10/EisenhowerDecisionMatrix11.jpg)

> I use a Chili Pad to be cold while I sleep if I can’t get the room cold
> enough, which is great but loud (I set it up to have the cooler unit outside
> my room).

I guess that he got the idea from Tim Ferris, right? To be fair, I've seen a
lot of people adopt these and love them

> This is likely to be controversial, but I take a low dose of sleeping pills
> (like a third of a normal dose) or a very low dose of _cannabis_ whenever I
> can’t sleep. (emphasis mine)

Yeah, that's controversial as heck. The issue is the use of weed when
traveling. Many many countries do not allow you in if you have 'a record' with
weed possession on it and I wonder if this admission will follow him the next
time her tries to enter China or Canada.

> I wrote custom software for the annoying things I have to do frequently,
> which is great. I also made an effort to learn to type really fast and the
> keyboard shortcuts that help with my workflow.

I would _love_ to see that code.

~~~
hnthrowbackaway
> or Canada.

What do you mean by this? Canada has fully legalized cannabis and stores will
open for sale in a couple of months. I don't think someone admitting to
smoking cannabis online will get them _banned from Canada_.

~~~
Balgair
D'oh! My bad!

------
mifeng
Irony: a blog post about productivity inspires lots of discussion on the site
where tech workers go when they're feeling unproductive.

------
usernum3hundred
How to improve productivity in doing things that you don't care about? For
various reasons lot of people don't have the liberty to work on things they
love or care about or delegate the work they don't care about.

------
wkoszek
I wonder how many kids from here will start having 1 shot of espresso in the
morning.

------
cvaidya1986
How do you decide what to work on for the year?

------
JesseAldridge
This is a good essay, but it ignores a huge underlying question: How do you
measure productivity? If you spend 10 hours thinking about a difficult problem
from many angles before arriving at an ingenious solution are you more or less
productive than if you bang out a series of CRUD endpoints for some web app
during that same 10 hours? It seems like this sort of thing is nearly
impossible to measure. And without measurment it's very difficult to separate
placebo effect and other subjective biases from actual productivity
improvement.

------
dirtyaura
As a long time HN user may I offer a shameless plug about our product related
to the Sam's sleep quality tips:

If you are interested in improving sleep, our Oura ring
([https://ouraring.com](https://ouraring.com)) is a beautiful smart ring that
helps you track and improve your sleep. It also measures your body signals
during the rest: resting HR, HRV and body temperature.

Small form factor makes it comfortable to wear and the new generation 2 ring
has 7 day battery life.

We also have OAuth Cloud API and Oura Teams functionality for coaches.

------
gianpaj
I vouch for intermittent fasting. I'm doing it for 16-hours a day for 5/6 days
a week. Only for 2 weeks now. I can feel a lot less tired and able to work on
the computer (coding) with more energy and feel a higher threshold to giving
up on simple coding errors or issues. Sometimes I get too focused on a problem
that's not worth fixing, like some shadow or something wrong by few pixels in
the UI. So Sam's first tip on focusing on the right thing is essential.

------
uptownfunk
<edit> fair enough that makes sense. It just felt a little sterile.

I get that some people may appreciate these types of posts, and I appreciate
the intention of trying to be helpful, but it seems as if the tone were that
of a robot. Little attempt at humor and a very cold tone overall. Is that what
it takes to be a billionaire in Silicon Valley? Downvote me to hell but the
tone and expressions of the article were far more telling than the actual
explicit content itself..

~~~
SmooL
I took it as more of "these are my thoughts, straight to the point", which
fits in the theme of 'productivity' and not wasting time

------
criddell
I had never heard of the chill pad before. That might be a game changer for
me. I'm in Austin, TX and for about 100 days each year, my poor A/C can barely
keep my house at 77 degrees overnight.

I asked our HVAC company about replacing it with a giant unit and they advised
against it. Apparently it would create condensation and then mold whereas a
"correctly" sized unit might struggle to hold the temperature, but it will
also keep humidity down.

------
theoh
Sam is who he is, but I felt like this sentence dramatically undervalues the
importance of empathy (presumably in the service of decisiveness, or Getting
Things Done):

"If you find yourself always agreeing with whomever you last spoke with,
that’s bad."

It's like what (art critic) Peter Schjeldahl said about (world's most
prestigious gallerist) Larry Gagosian: “He's like a shark or a cat or some
other perfectly designed biological mechanism.”

------
rambossa
As someone with a vigorous evening workout, who awakes at 5:45am, and codes
most of the day... skipping breakfast is not optimal. The frustration and
anxiety caused from morning hunger is very anti-productive for me. My only
eating restriction is that I very rarely eat past 8pm.

I can possibly see this being different if I didn't have a static
position/desk and my mornings were consumed with meetings or high activity.

------
z3t4
I believe protein drinks are over-hyped. The reason they work so well for
gaining muscles/weight is probably because of the extra calories.

------
blackbagboys
There are few modern white collar spectacles more nauseating than watching
capitalist overlords jerk themselves off over their wise decision to make
lifestyle choices literally everyone else would also choose if they weren't
forcibly restrained from doing so by their own overlords.

The next time your boss calls you into a multi-hour meeting, tell him that
it's much more productive if you only attend for 15-20 minutes. If he assigns
you a task you find to be a "painful drag on morale", then go ahead and "be
ruthless about saying no." Let Altman know how it goes.

------
auston
> Like most people, I sometimes go through periods of a week or two where I
> just have no motivation to do anything (I suspect it may have something to
> do with nutrition).

As a fellow vegetarian, I tend to increase fruit intake & do early morning
workouts or yoga when I feel like this. Give that a try @sama

------
tinyhouse
Great article and advice! I like the emphasis on finding the right direction.
It's so true. I didn't fully understand the 15 minutes LED light in the
morning when reading email. Is it better than natural light? Or even better,
don't read email when you wake up :)

------
not_a_moth
Anyone have an opinion on his recommended mattress, as I nervously consider a
4k purchase this morning?

~~~
teachrdan
My wife and I got a Keetsa four years ago and it is phenomenal--we get amazing
sleep at less than half cost of Sam's mattress:
[https://shop.keetsa.com/collections/mattresses/products/tea-...](https://shop.keetsa.com/collections/mattresses/products/tea-
leaf-classic?variant=1294402)

~~~
dnr
I looove my Keetsa. I have the Plus, with a thin synthetic mattress pad on
top. Pure foam mattresses feel "dead"; this is the best of both worlds: some
bounce from the coils, foam for comfort, and a thin pad to keep it cooler.
Their memory foam pillow is also amazing. I hate using any other pillows now.
Eight years now and it's still springy.

------
sp527
Has Sam talked about depression? The mysterious periods of fog and lack of
motivation he mentioned as well as a previous post that had a somewhat overly
wistful tone about getting older (he's only in his early 30s!) seem like they
could be symptoms :(

------
drawkbox
Great points and very similar to how I have evolved for productivity.

I like/ _have to_ create/maintain lists as well to offload, the lists/todos
need to be lightweight as well so that it doesn't become a chore but an
exploratory period where you get prepped. Sam's way of writing them on paper,
starring important ones and transferring them also help with the thought
process on them. I have lists/todos for ideas, immediate tasks and long term
tasks. I make a onesheet document for everything I am working on and it helps
as a jump off point to get started.

To help with efficiency I use RescueTime and pomodoro to get started or a
check on when the balance of productivity is out of wack. Use tricks like
leaving a compile issue or nearly completed item at night to wake up and start
in on. Starting is the hardest part, fool yourself by telling yourself you
will just work for 20 minutes or a few pomodoros at the start, those days end
up being my most productive many times.

The ideas on working efficiently and when you tire switch to something else or
take a break are good. Sometimes you have to crunch but as long as there are
breaks and that isn't the norm it is good discipline and professional.

Engineers/programmers don't take into account the health aspect enough. The
points on health and sleep are also very important for the right mental
motivation. Get up and move around every hour, have a sit/stand desk, eat an
apple, eat well most of the time and be well rested. Use motivational tools
like music and when stuck move around, do pushups, crouches etc to get the
blood flowing. I have different music tracks for 'get it done' and 'ship it'
times, like Mitch Murder or Blood Brothers [1]

Schedule in time for leisure and don't be mad at yourself if you need to
chillax, games are great to get you thinking quickly. Allow some padding for
times when you get in a rut, get out and do something fun with the family or
friends.

Make sure you get done what you set out to get done every day and adjust as
you learn more about your capacity/style if you aren't meeting that. Capacity
is good lighter, it is better to get more done than you planned than getting
lots done and feeling bad because you didn't get it all done.

Have a regular delivery and ship early and often.

[1] [https://soundcloud.com/maddecent/sets/blood-bros-
series](https://soundcloud.com/maddecent/sets/blood-bros-series)

------
ck_one
Serious question: what's his source of motivation?

I am a young student, so my source of motivation to be more produtive is a mix
of money, status, girls and also build cool shit.

But for him money, status and girls are out. Make the world a better place
can't be it.

~~~
sudosteph
I can't speak for Sam, but I can give perpective as someone who can't relate
to any of those really.

I'm not goal oriented. I don't plan a lot for how what I do impacts my future.
I'm just driven to solve or fix things. I get external rewards from doing so,
but I would do it in some form regardless because I have to.

It's like chasing a high for me. Money and status are nice, but honestly, much
of what gets me going isn't to strive for any of those, but rather to prove
that people who do have those things aren't necessarily correct. Witnessing
incompetence or blatant inefficiency makes me angry. Injustice makes me angry
too. When I know I can do something much better than how it's being done, and
I have time and means of doing so, I just do it and it feels great. To steal a
quote from American Gods, "Angry gets shit done".

------
lifeisstillgood
There is nothing _wrong_ here, and I agree with pretty much all of it, from
vegetarianism to making lists.

But the biggest productivity win that Sam Altman _epitomises_ seems to be a
bit glossed over - it's his day job - that of making more efficient
organisations of people (no I don't mean "teams", i mean companies, that make
eco-systems that make machines that dwarf the output any productive human can
make)

Ok - bear with me - imagine a medieval mining company, with some guys in an
open face mine, with pick-axes and a few monks tallying up the baskets.

Then invent another company, but this one has the mine-truck on rails, it has
a steam engine to pump out the water from 200 feet down, and even Stakhanov
style they _organise_ miners into chains.

And up above the office tallying is so complex James Watt as to invent Carbon
Copy Paper just to keep up (#)

All the workers in the second one can break for tea, take weekends off and
still out-produce the medieval mine by embarrassing amounts.

Jethro Tull invented a wooden contraption the Mythbusters would laugh at and
trebled yields in English wheat. Knowing that planting turnips in fallow
fields would bring about a miracle is one thing - but that means changes in
harvest methods, storage, onward logistics and more.

Some of it is because of "technology" but more so it's _organising around the
technology_. We have all experienced companies that cannot move with the
times. And many companies and organisational structures from the middle ages
have failed to adjust. And failing to adjust means failing to bring in those
harvests - and that's a waste.

So my rather belaboured point is that Sam Altman has actually kinda nailed it
on his first sentence - pick the right job to work on. But the job he works on
is waaay more important to his productivity than his list making prowess -that
job is maximising the number of times humans try out new ways to put
technology to use.

Give a steam engine to a open cast mining organisation and will they move to
deep mining? Give a Roman society of slaves Hero's steam engine and will they
give up their social structure? There are so many ways we can miss the next
step that any step chnage in entrepreneurship is surely a win for us all?

Anyway, in the micro-side the lists and the staying healthy are all good and
sensible. i should do more of that instead of posting on HN :-)

(#) He really did. His steam engine business was a true multinational startup
success story!

------
tvvocold
Aaron Swartz's post is also worth reading:
[http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity)

------
oceanman888
When I try to eat as little as I can at lunch to prevent getting
sleepy(700kcal), I usually really hungry at 5 and productivity drops, any one
knows how to deal with this?

~~~
WhompingWindows
Have you tried snacking?

~~~
oceanman888
I used to snack too much, right now energy drink suits me well. caffine +1
sugar +1

------
boto3
Discussed earlier:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4166183](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4166183)

------
raresp
I'm curious about the average of your daily working hours. What will be a good
number? 10 is too much? What about 8?

What do you do to motivate yourself?

------
rjammala
Great post. Does anyone know why it says the "Email address is invalid" when I
try to subscribe using my email?

------
mfbx9da4
Relieved to hear a super high performer be honest about some of his
imperfections e.g. sweet tooth

------
LeicaLatte
Curious if Sam has any preferences in music with respect to productivity.

------
jczhang
"I think I am at least somewhat more productive than average.." oh come on, no
need for false modesty here, I think we can all acknowledge that average is a
pretty low bar, especially for someone in his position lol.

------
raister
your tips are strongly inconsistent with kids around...

~~~
tra3
Mind sharing what you mean? I don't find his advice to be unique, but having
kids made me focus in a big way.

~~~
raister
I dunno, my kid wont allow me to be at a mindfullness state at any time he is
with me... You _can_ focus, if the kids are elsewhere, with relatives or
friends, otherwise, forget about it. Constant attention. At least this is true
for _my kids_...

------
misiti3780
Surprised he didnt mention anything about alcohol.

~~~
Dirlewanger
Avoiding it as much as possible is probably best, but I suspect the
opportunity costs of completely forgoing it and not enjoying various happy
hours that various entities put on for whatever reason is not worth it in the
long-term. One has to indulge in vices every now and then.

------
dv35z
I've been thinking about productivity & task management - in particular how to
eliminate distractors from a getting stuff done I don't want to do (but have
to), in order to deliberately make space to do the things I WANT to do
(approaching from that "what to I want to accomplish this year"-vantage).

See this diagram of the situation and my ideal approach:
[https://imgur.com/a/GKoDs](https://imgur.com/a/GKoDs)

I frequently have that feeling of overwhelm, analysis paralysis, spending too
much time on areas I don't want to be, ignoring important areas, lots of
wasted "activation energy" consumed by second guessing "Is this the right
thing I should be doing?", balancing time between personal stuff,
relationships, work projects, work, life goals, family, etc - you get the
idea.

I've been noodling around thinking: What would be the ideal way I'd work on
stuff? And in the end, I thought, I'd love to have a big week/day agenda on my
wall, with a list of things I should be doing, with confidence that there is
some rationale to why I am doing these exact tasks and in that exact order.
And then - with that confidence negating the analysis paralysis - I'd get to
work, going thru the tasks.

Below is a description of my ideal system:

Premise: Determining % time allocation to categories of activities - I read
about Ben Franklin and how he categorized his time - personal, family,
reading, church etc, and thought that's a pretty interesting - deliberately
trying to arrive to a reasonable % time spent for each category of area you
care about. Another principle I like is the idea of "pay yourself first" for
personal finance - make sure your savings, retirement, etc get deducted first
to the right bucket before hitting your pocket (as opposed to trying to fit in
savings using remaining money). Simply - this lets me feel confident that I am
thinking tactically AND strategically.

Given: Available buckets of time in a week - Given a "vanilla" week, aside
from sleep, the time is spent at work (~8hr a day) and non work (~8 hour a
day). If we apply the categories and allocation %s in #1 to a typical week,
we'd zoom in and see that each work bucket and non-work time bucket is
subdivided - "soft constraints" on time spent. Obviously not the same each
day, but it'd likely even out throughout the week.

Getting to the tactical: Task list & level of effort - We start listing out
the specific tasks (think Getting Things Done style) - essentially a giant
list of unsorted tasks. These could live within work projects ("Create project
plan for XYZ Initiative"), personal goals ("write a poem"), and even recurring
tasks ("send client status report each Monday", "call grandma every
Wednesday"). If possible, these tasks should be assigned a level of effort
(e.g. time, Agile points). The abstract goal is to have a list of all specific
& actionable tasks from every area of your life in one spot, and a rough idea
of how much time each would take

Prioritize tasks - Using a model like Eisenhower Method, distribute tasks
according to importance & urgency

Allocate/Schedule tasks to time buckets in the week - Given those
buckets/categories of time as a model of how to spend a particular week, AND
this giant pile of prioritized AND categorized actions, we should be able to
automatically allocate tasks throughout a week, given hard constraints (like
hours of time in a day), and soft constraints like % of time spent on each
bucket, and order the tasks by urgency & importance. "What should I be doing
right now?" — As a result of distributing tasks throughout the week, this
would allow a tool to have a Day view: Given all of your tasks, and given your
time allocation goals, the tasks importance & urgency, you can answer the
question, "What are the optimal set of tasks which I should do TODAY?" and
"What should I ACTUALLY be doing right now?"

I've never seen a tool or approach which accomplishes the above, but I'd be
curious if other people think this way (am I just crazy??), and if there are
any tools which accomplish/approximate the above. Thoughts welcome!

------
AstralStorm
I stopped at the point where he said productivity gains compound. That is
already bunkum. (I suppose the author meant add up instead.)

The Xkcd chart is enough. There are physical ceilings and improvements not
worth to make.

~~~
tt293
Yes, that made me cringe as well.

------
LeicaLatte
Nicely written.

------
mankash666
Rule one of being productive - stop reading useless advice about increasing
productivity.

------
ruffrey
moderate to use https link?

~~~
dang
Ok, done.

------
inteleng
Great: productivity advice from a failed entrepreneur (and stoner) who slimed
his way to the top ranks of YC.

Edit: keep downvoting. Let the hate flow through you.

~~~
sctb
We typically moderate far less when a comment is critical of YC, but this is
such dross that we have to please ask you to post civilly and substantively,
as the guidelines do.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
inteleng
Okay.

