Life lessons by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after he turned 30

"Youth is a really great thing. Don’t waste it. In fact, in your 20s, I think it’s ok to take a “Give me financial discipline, but not just yet” attitude. All the money in the world will never get back time that passed you by," states OpenAI CEO Sam Atlman.

Altman turned 30 last week... and a friend asked him if he did figure out any life advice in the past decade worth passing on. Atlman shared advice on success, work, money, time and relationships.

According to him, "Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it. Make it count. Time is extremely limited and goes by fast. Do what makes you happy and fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die anyway. Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most often when other people want you to do something). Don’t spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative people out of your life. Negativity is really bad. Don’t let yourself make excuses for not doing the things you want to do."

He also highlights the importance of family, friends and significant others. He shares, "Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list. Prefer a handful of truly close friends to a hundred acquaintances. Don’t lose touch with old friends. Occasionally stay up until the sun rises talking to people. Have parties."

Altman's nuggets of career wisdom revolve around accepting that it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about. "And it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what you do for your work. Work very hard — a surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard — but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by."

"Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good place. Figure out your own productivity system — don’t waste time being unorganized, working at suboptimal times, etc. Don’t be afraid to take some career risks, especially early on. Most people pick their career fairly randomly—really think hard about what you like, what fields are going to be successful, and try to talk to people in those fields," he adds.

Altman acknowledges that even though it's debatable if money can buy happiness, it can surely buy freedom. "Also, lack of money is very stressful. In almost all ways, having enough money so that you don’t stress about paying rent does more to change your wellbeing than having enough money to buy your own jet," he states.

Altman shares that he personally has never regretted money he has spent on friends, new experiences, saving time, travel, and causes he believes in.

"The days are long but the decades are short," he signs off.