Sam Altman: the biggest mistake talented people make is not thinking about what to work on
_AustinCalvert_ · x · 2026-10-05
Sam Altman argues that the highest-order mistake talented people make is spending little or no time deciding what to work on. Many brilliant, hard-working people are extremely productive yet never meaningfully consider their direction — and in his view, choosing what to do usually matters more than executing it. He also shares his go-to tool for hard problems: sitting down and writing out his thinking, both for himself and to explain to others.
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