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How to be successful (at your career, Twitter edition)
- haecceity 7y agoOr just be lucky.
- 0kl 7y agoI like to think of all the things he said as stacking luck as much as you can. It will always come down to luck, but you have to be prepared to grab luck when it comes.
- 0kl 7y ago“How to be successful” always struck me as the wrong phrasing. It suggests a guarantee, the way “how to make a pie,” suggests if you follow these steps perfectly, then you will have the pie they were trying to tell you how to make. Maybe a better title for everyone that is responding negatively to this might be: “How to slightly increase your chances of success”
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y agoThe saying "Luck favors the well prepared" exists for a reason. Keep an eye out for opportunities and seize them when you can, and you'll find that your chances of success increase quite a bit.
- samwestdev 7y agounrolled version -> https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1214274038933020672.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1214274038933020672.html
- dot1x 7y agothanks for this for us behind corporate firewalls
- harimau777 7y agoI wonder how happy those people generally are? Maybe that would be a better definition of "successful".
- geohuz 7y agoAbsolutely right! What is successful?
- 0kl 7y agoSome of them are very happy. Some of them are very unhappy. Success =/= happiness - I don’t see Sam saying it does.
- ramblerman 7y ago> success =/= happiness If you say so. Bit of a weird definition of success though, no?
- joncrane 7y agoHumans are irrational.
- 0kl 7y ago> the accomplishment of an aim or purpose Not trying to be cheeky, but that you understand immediately that I’m not talking about happiness here tells you that success =/= happiness. We can argue over what we should consider successful, but in the context of what Sam Altman is saying it’s unproductive: we all know Sam is talking about professional success, and most of us also know there is more to life than professional success, but we (collectively) have been so burned out (either by not achieving it, or by missing out in our lives achieving it) chasing after professional success that have a knee jerk reaction to anyone talking about it. I also think it’s presumptuous of us to think Sam and whoever else did pursue success ambitiously are not happy - everyone’s definition of happiness is their own.
- StavrosK 7y agoIn the end, what matters is having good friends and family, having your basic needs met so you don't have to worry about them, and having fulfilling things to do with your time. I think many people chase money/"success" because they think that's how they'll be happy, but being a millionaire probably doesn't correlate with having good friends.
- jeffshek 7y agoBlog Post (Last Year) : https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful
- blackrock 7y agoEasy. Step 1: Have a lot of money. Especially family money. Step 2: Start a business with family money. Step 3: Fail. Step 4: Goto Step 1. Repeat 5 times. ... Step 5: Maybe.. success? Step 6: Write a book on how to be successful. Sell for $50.
- codesternews 7y agoI think successful people think everybody can be successful like they know some secret. Not successful people have many problems like hunger, self-doubt, laziness, distraction. I think first step is very difficult. Most people like me do not know what to do. What will bring success? Is there really a secret?
- tluyben2 7y agoDepends in the definition of success. Most people I know consider themselves successful when they have a nice (upward) career, nice healthy and happy family, close friends, 36 hr workweeks, vacation(s), car & house and early retirement. For instance, for programmers in, let’s say the Netherlands starting out now (today) fresh from uni, there is no worries achieving that kind of success without working like a beaten horse, ignoring your friends and family, running around an office trying to make everyone happy etc. You won’t get rich but you’ll retire comfortably and will be the envy of most (which should be incredibly unimportant to anyone, but I guess people who think ‘am I successful?’ often need some kind of measurement tool). Advantage of this view of success depends far less on luck besides where you are born (or able to immigrate to).
- pbalau 7y agoYes, there is a "secret": don't learn from other people successes, learn from their failures. However, most people will not objectively describe their failures, instead they will blame their shortcomings on other factors. Thus, to get the data to train yourself is hard.
- thrav 7y agoLike losing weight, I think it’s much simpler than people make it. Eat less and not crap. Exercise more. Desire / Curiosity is #1. (Not “I want money” — I must do X, solve Y, create Z) Discipline is probably number #2. (This other front page article really nails the wrong kind of desire: https://www.bennettnotes.com/post/obsessed-with-success-and-prestige/ https://www.bennettnotes.com/post/obsessed-with-success-and-... ) Some people have 1, and little to no 2. Some people have 2, and have completely lost all 1, preferring to learn to love and appreciate what they have, which is great. Some people’s 1 is shallow and fleeting and changes daily. The ones who have both find a way to align what they like doing with what makes them money and devote more time and effort to that than anyone else. This leads to an exceptional individual, who might do something great, if they can apply their 2 to things that capitalize on their exceptionality — ultimately, they need to be exceptional enough that others recognize it and start to take on work for them / propel them towards further capitalization for their own benefit. If you’re exceptional and no one can see it, you’ll never clear that last bar. You have to apply 1 and 2 to figure out marketing and networking and be seen, or find someone who believes in you enough to do that part for you. You might have to move. You might have to face embarrassment and/or ridicule. You will face all manner of headwinds, and most people will fail not because they don’t know the steps, but because there are some steps they refuse to take (probably for very good reasons). And yes, I do believe everyone has it within themselves to be exceptional at something — they just need to find the right thing. Today, more than ever, exceptionality pays. If twitch and competitive gaming had been a thing in my childhood, I’d probably be a pro gamer. I was wiring my PS2 through capture cards and uploading gameplay videos online before YouTube existed, standing out in wars against the perennial top 5 clans on the Socom GameBattles ladders. There was no money in it back then. I was just obsessed. Now there’s money everywhere, hunting for exceptional individuals who have mastered a thing, so they can convert them into more money. In summary, be exceptional and then show people. —— I just pulled this out of my ass, but I kinda like it. Happy to discuss and have it picked apart. Shit, today you can literally be exceptional at showing people your path to trying to be exceptional at something else. There are loads of people doing that really well.
- scandox 7y agoSubtitle: At Your Career Stow the angst everybody.
- Proziam 7y agoI sometimes wonder at the underlying cause for so many people to, seemingly intentionally, take an uncharitable view of something. It seems to just be part of the human condition, though HN is less rife with this than other places.
- anotheryou 7y agoI think another big aspect is having or creating opportunities. "Chance" encounters at e.g. a conference or a great company are far from just chance. I fear here once again the playing field is quite unequal.
- mgamache 7y agoThis post is related to the delusional discount that we all apply to luck. Luck is the by far the single most important factor in success, but observing that reality is counter productive. It keeps us working like mad and blaming ourselves if we aren't successful, but without out that delusion no one would play the game and we would have zero successful people. Humanity would suffer.
- benjaminsuch 7y agoI don't think luck is the most important factor. Sure luck can and often plays a role but it's the human being who has to realize and take advantage of it. And even then, he has to put a lot of effort into his work.
- dazc 7y agoMany of us will experience a few lucky opportunities during our lifetimes but, sometimes, we only see these chances with the benefit of hindsight.
- vsareto 7y agoMost of the luck is geographic and what country gives you citizenship. Then it's how well off your parents are because that affects your resources and access to knowledge growing up. If those things are good from the start, you don't have to spend years correcting them.
- esotericn 7y agoYour initial dice roll is random, but after that, the actions you take are meaningful. It makes far more sense to compare amongst individuals in a peer group.
- james_s_tayler 7y agoI took a trip to Vegas once and met a cab driver from Somalia. I was surprised. As far as I understand you can't even get a passport in Somalia as there is no central government to issue them. His brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles probably aren't in America, but he made it. I don't think being hardworking in Puntland and being prepared to seize the opportunity and by opportunity I mean Oil Tanker that comes along really leads to the same quality of life as winning the genetic lottery to be born in a nice country and also having the fortune of being someone who for some reason enjoys working hard. Luck is massive. Hardwork is also massive. Luck towers over hardwork, but if you want to be somewhere other than you are you better not be coasting.
- leothekim 7y ago‘Compounding success (which means “growth” in the case of an early-stage start-up) solves almost all internal problems, particularly hard ones.’ I’d say that growth can compel you to ignore internal (and external) problems more than solve them. You don’t develop the right culture that can stand up to adversity or attract the right talent, your growth (and success) isn’t sustainable.
- dyeje 7y agoThis reads like a bot that ingested a bunch of masturbatory medium articles.
- lengxzai 7y agostep 1: lie, cheat, sabotage your peers... step 2: write bullshit blogpost/ book/ tweets glossing over your dishonesty step 3: get followers step 4: $$$
- a_bonobo 7y agoI found your steps particularly dishonest in the recent accolades for Shopify: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/26/shopify-ceo-you-dont-have-to-work-80-hours-a-week-to-be-successful.html?utm_content=buffer1b817&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/26/shopify-ceo-you-dont-have-to... The reason Shopify is so successful is that they have 0 morals as to who they host. They run a whole slew of shops for white power/neonazi pages and don't care at all. They run shops for Rebel Media, a Canadian neonazi page, and Breitbart. If you get rich by enabling Nazis you can talk about easy working hours all you like, it's all BS.
- thendrill 7y agoWelcome to IT. Where nothing matters as long as you can laught all the way to the bank. Also I like your random triggering strawman... Forgetting the "Don't be evil" and "Sorry we sold your democracy and we lied to congress" companies....
- thomaspaine 7y ago>Getting caught up in the parts of a job that don’t matter is a dangerous trap and for some reason one that a lot of people fall into. Let other people play political games and avoid them as much as you can. My experience at big companies is the inverse. The people who advance are the ones who spend 80% of their time focused on politics, while the heads down engineer will get a thank you and inflationary raise.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoIt seems to me that you have to be really good at politics in order to avoid politics. If you don’t understand politics you usually get taken advantage of. You don’t have to play the game all the time but you need to understand it.
- j45 7y agoI read recently being nice goes further and has more merit in California than elsewhere. I avoid politics, but in a rapidly changing world politics often find technologists when others are on the side of resisting change.
- epiphanitus 7y ago+1. Maybe this is more important at a big company that at a startup where your business model and your tech is either good enough or it isn't. But even then you still have backers, etc. Some people understand this stuff, and some people don't, and I don't see a lot of ways for someone who doesn't get it to become someone who gets it.
- smallcharleston 7y agoThey have a lot of books on the subject. Many of the articles in eg Harvard Business Review are about it. Who knows whether someone without the natural skill will ever become great, but I am convinced it can at least be learned to competency.
- solidasparagus 7y ago
- Ididntdothis 7y ago“However, they are willing to work on something for a long time even if other people don’t get it. "Important" does not mean "popular".” I don’t like this one. On the one hand you have some people who are successful with a lot of persistence but then you have probably many more who fail after being persistent. If you win you are being celebrated but if you fail you get accused of wasting your time. I think there is a lot of luck and timing involved when people succeed after working on something for a long time.
- ameister14 7y agoI think Sam Altman is a smart guy and he's definitely an example of someone who has met with success but I don't know that he's actually had a 'career' yet. That being the case, I'm going to take anything he says about how to have a successful career with a large grain of salt.
- zpeti 7y agoWow, not one positive comment so far. I guess the American dream really is dead. Feels like Eastern Europe. A man goes to hell and upon arrival sees two giant boiling cauldrons - one with a large detail of devils, and one completely unattended. The man inquires about the cauldrons and a helpful devil explains: "One is a Russian cauldron, another one is American one. The American one needs serious attention, because when Americans try to escape, they all start helping each other,and it really is a bitch trying to beat them back in. TheRussian one, we just leave it alone, when a Russian tries to escape - the other Russians pull him back in.
- larodi 7y agoYou may well be assured Eastern Europe seems quite different at present moment from what you described now with lots of IT money pouring in nearly every single EE country, many countries tax less than 30% on salaries, and less than or around 20% in corporate tax. So maybe pick another place to relate with.
- zpeti 7y agoI was going to include this in the post but then forgot :) I live there, so I know, you are right.
- calmworm 7y agoOld anti-communist propaganda?
- krageon 7y agoDoes not being positive about the sort of self-help drivel everyone has seen a million times before equate to being "like Eastern Europe" (which is apparently based on old state propaganda in the guise of a joke)?
- lioeters 7y agoI'm thinking, a more accurate picture would be that the American cauldron also doesn't need any devils: the few that manage to get out will conspire to make sure the others stay in.
- sequoia 7y agoMost of this advice is not actionable. It falls into the category of such advice as "take breaks and have fun, but not too much" when the initial question was how much is too much. That is to say, you don't know more after hearing the answer than you did before.
- ydnaclementine 7y agoI disagree, he says do things that are important but not popular. This could mean asking to be put on an older legacy project that provides a ton of value that people are scared to touch.
- proc0 7y agoPart of success is choosing the right tools for the job. Twitter is not a blogging platform, and posting 15 times in a row just looks silly, imho. Link a blog FFS.
- gorpomon 7y ago> If there is a single key to success, it is the trait of being able to make things happen in the world—willfulness, determination, execution focus, not giving up when you hit a roadblock, the ability to solve any problem that comes your way, and self-belief. This is a great distillation of what's needed to make it in America. It's missing one vital ingredient-- the ability to take on risk, both by having the actual means (money, time) and the mental fortitude.
- jiofih 7y ago1. Go to an elite college 2. Found a social network startup in SV around the turn of the century 3. Get VC 4. Sell the espoil for millions. Enjoy
- cryptozeus 7y agoWow after reading the comments I feel I should not have posted this here. This is crazy! Do some people really think he was just lucky or he just had money to try all these things. These people take real risk and are smart enough to see the world as it is. There are few things to be learned here. How does these negative comments help in any single way ?