Expertise has slowly made taking bodily notes a factor of the previous, to the delight of Gen Z who’ve lengthy embraced jotting down concepts on their telephone or leaning on voice memos.
Nevertheless, its full demise could not occur anytime quickly, not less than if OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has something to say about it. Regardless of being the chief of the digital productivity-enhancing ChatGPT, the billionaire stays a staunch believer in writing bodily notes. Particularly when the going will get robust.
“I consider writing as externalized considering. I nonetheless, if I’ve a really laborious downside, or if I really feel a bit bit confused about one thing, (I) haven’t discovered something higher to do than to sit down down and make myself write it out,” Altman mentioned on the How I Write podcast.
“I’m an enormous believer of, I take a bunch of notes after which I clearly rip them out so I can have a look at a number of pages on the identical time, and I can crumple them up and throw them on the ground once I’m achieved.”
Word-taking is a follow that Altman maintains has helped him change into a greater thinker whereas constructing his $300 billion AI large—and in addition to eager to crumple them up after, he has some extra extremely particular necessities on the subject of his note-taking habits.
Sam Altman’s note-taking habits
Altman added this week on the Federal Reserve that he retains his notes personal as a strategy to manage his ideas—however his course of is much from simply scribbling. His note-taking follow is relatively meticulous, and it facilities on having the correct provides. This consists of having a pocket-sized, spiral pocket book with a tough back and front and the flexibility to put flat on a desk, he informed Perell. The paper additionally should really feel good to put in writing on.
His pen selection is restricted, too: both the Uniball Micro 0.5 mm or the “Muji 0.36 or 0.37 in darkish blue ink” (although, he could also be referring to the Muji 0.38).
Solely then can he get to work considering by way of robust concepts. Every time he sits down to put in writing, he comes away shocked on the energy of the seemingly easy train.
“I discover it astonishing how a lot writing only for your self…helps make clear what you really suppose, helps sharpen stuff in a method that for me—and I feel for lots of different folks—is someway inconceivable to do, similar to considering rigorously on an extended hike,” he mentioned on the How I Write podcast.
“It’s tougher to cover actually messy considering when you need to really write it down and stare at it.”
And whereas enterprise leaders could prioritize clear communication initially—Altman mentioned that clear considering needs to be prime—and probably the greatest methods to realize that’s by writing issues down.
“Clear communication may be very a lot much less vital, and really a lot downstream, of truly clear considering…Unclear communication is a symptom of unfocused considering for essentially the most half.”
Fortune reached out to OpenAI for remark.
The behavior shared by billionaires like Invoice Gates and Richard Branson
Sam Altman isn’t alone in his analog strategy—his habits are additionally shared by many fellow billionaires, together with Invoice Gates and Richard Branson.
The Microsoft co-founder mentioned he believes handwritten notes are key for info processing.
“You received’t catch me in a gathering with out a authorized pad and pen in hand—and I take tons of notes within the margins whereas I learn,” Gates posted on LinkedIn final 12 months.
Equally, Branson, the co-founder of Virgin Group, mentioned it’s laborious to search out him with out a strategy to write down his ideas.
“I am going by way of dozens of notebooks yearly and write down every thing that happens to me every day. A few of the concepts contained inside find yourself turning into actuality, and a few don’t – however they’re all noteworthy,” he wrote in a 2017 weblog submit.
“An thought not written down is an thought misplaced. When inspiration calls, you’ve bought to seize it.”
With out note-taking, his firms wouldn’t be the identical, he added.
And whereas he admitted he isn’t against digital notes, what issues most is that some type of note-taking is going on: “It doesn’t matter the way you file your notes—so long as you do.”
