Compound Yourself

Exponential curves are the key to wealth generation. Most careers progress linearly: you get a bit better, earn a bit more, every year looks like the last. Altman's first instruction is to make your life follow a compounding curve instead.

Look for work where each unit of effort builds on the last: learning that accelerates, leverage that grows, a career where the trajectory keeps steepening. A job where year twenty looks like year two is a linear trap, no matter how well it pays.

The counterintuitive part is patience. On a compound curve, the furthest out years are the most important, so trading long-term compounding for short-term wins is the most expensive mistake you can quietly make.