Choosing Projects, Creating Value, and Finding Purpose

Altman says busy days can create motion without meaningful progress, especially when attention goes to urgent distractions, office politics, or status games. He sets aside time to ask whether he is working on the right things, and uses a yearly review on December 31 to assess what went well and plan the next year.

Altman recommends trying many projects cheaply and quickly, following interests, and accepting that most attempts will fail. He says the hard part is being candid about what is working and cutting projects that are not. A year off after selling his startup gave him time to study fields including AI, nuclear engineering, and synthetic biology, travel, and reconnect with people; some ideas from that period paid off later.

Altman points to poker and angel investing as ways he learned about business, risk, and psychology. He argues that career risk includes spending years on work that does not matter, and that people should preserve time for ambitious projects. For productivity, he favors simple tools such as written lists, along with focus and prioritization.

Altman says taking random meetings can bring valuable ideas and overlooked talent, though most meetings waste time; he once spent 10 to 15 hours a week on them. He warns against delaying a desired career until after making a large amount of money, using rocket building as an example. People can sense whether someone is committed, and ambitious work often takes years and emotional resilience.

Altman says people can find meaning in many paths, from raising a family to building AGI, and values human relationships and creating value for others. He expects biological intelligence to become less advantageous if AGI arrives, much as physical strength mattered more in some earlier eras. He also recommends *The Way to Love* by Anthony de Mello, a short book of meditations.