Sam Altman's spent years refining his note-taking process. Here's exactly what he does.

this reminds me of seth godin's 'what kind of pencil does stephen king use' anecdote

Also: the process of writing physical notes helps crystalize memory in a way that typing doesn’t. And as much as I’m a tech person, electronic systems can be “a coat with 1000 pockets” - if that phrase rings true, a pocket spiral notebook might be for you!

He makes his house cleaner clean up his crumpled up notes off the floor…

Wow, Sam Altman takes notes? I'm shocked. Next you'll tell me he also breathes air and drinks water. Groundbreaking stuff.

For me, it's always been the Pilot-G2. Since primary school. Do love that gel on the top as well.

I may or may not have purchased a hardcover 3x5 spiral notebook and Uniball Micro .5mm pen immediately after watching this.

He says like a lot

Some good points! Lie-flat=usability. A notebook that’s too “precious” (e.g., Moleskine) can break flow as you pause to consider if the thought is “worthy” of being written down. Being able to tear sheets out lets you remove to-dos, shopping lists. Pen choice is deeply personal.

If you would like some actionable note taking tips from an avid note taker: 1. Title and date your sections 2. Come up with a short hand style that makes sense to you (skip useless words) 3. How ever fast you can write, slow down a tad in favor of readability (future self love) 4. The side bars are great for little tangents or details. 4a. Don't be afraid to live edit with scribbling out or squeezing in notations 5. Outline your sections and subsections to break up the page 6. Add color. Vary your pen ink and highlight only the most useful parts 7. Use doodles and diagrams to replace complex descriptions, notate complex components in short hand as a guide 8. Don't smear what you just wrote with your hand 9. Stop and review your work 10. Use page arrows if your subject continues to help cluster long subjects 11. Earmark your main sections with sticky tabs Good luck, fellow note takers!

or you could just toss the crumpled papers into, idk, a waste bin