Sam Altman on the best way to take notes
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is creating technology likely to upend humans’ relationship with the written word. But when Altman needs to keep his thoughts organized, he still relies on pen and paper.
Speaking on the “How I Write” podcast hosted by David Perell, Altman laid out his formula for good notetaking.
“There’s all these like fancy notebooks in the world. You don’t want those. You definitely want a spiral notebook because one thing that’s important is you can rip pages out frequently, and you also want it to lie, like, flat and open on the table,” Altman said.
Sam Altman's spent years refining his note-taking process. Here's exactly what he does. pic.twitter.com/vpIWkK7WYG
— David Perell (@david_perell) September 24, 2024
He prefers notebooks small enough to slip into his pocket and says they need to have hard front and back covers.
Ripping pages out is a key part of Altman’s routine. “I take a bunch of notes and then I...rip them out so I can look at multiple pages at the same time and I can, like, crumple them out and throw them on the floor when I’m done.”
Altman says his housecleaner will see piles of papers on his floor that have been ripped from his notebooks.
The CEO also has some favorite pens. He recommends the Uni-Ball Micro 0.5 pen and a Muji (RYKKY) pen with dark blue ink.
