Sam Altman Explains Burnout

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the real cause of burnout I was told and I thought actually comes from And I find that I have infinite And so I think you see a lot of founders And that's actually not true. And many people then find that, really successful people and say, is really not energizing.

Sam Altman sits outdoors with an interviewer and discusses the real cause of burnout. He argues that failure and a lack of momentum are more draining than hard work, while interesting projects that are working create energy. The clip is shared as a reaction to startup failure, burnout, and the realization that the problem may be a bad project rather than a lack of motivation.

I was told, and I thought for a long time, that you get burned out from working too hard. And at least in my own experience, what I found is that burnout actually comes from failing and things not working. Momentum is really energizing. The lack of momentum is super draining. And I find that I have infinite energy to work on things that I find interesting and that are working, and almost none to work on things that I either don't find interesting or aren't working. And so I think you see a lot of founders try something and fail and assume that that they just can't work hard enough or not enough energy or passion or whatever. And that's actually not true. It's just that that thing didn't work and what you should do is shut that company down, go on vacation and try again. And many people then find that, oh actually when I'm doing this thing that I like and that is working, I have a huge amount of energy and I can get a lot of stuff done. And so when you look at really successful people and say how do they get all those things done? It's they have the benefit of momentum and momentum is energizing. and the lack of momentum is really not energizing.

• @jemalloc / 1419 2023-12-07