Sam Altman Quotes

Every hour that you spend doing something, even if you love it more than anything, you're not with your family. Every project that you take on, that's another choice.

TaskRabbit is really my first baby. So balancing the second child is something I've tackled, but I'm really passionate about what I do, and then I'm passionate about coming home and putting my baby to bed.

In 1980, after 10 years at 'The Times,' I was at a crossroads in my personal life. I loved my family, but I was also so obsessive about my work that I found myself devoting more and more time to it. I wanted to be everywhere there was a good story, and that meant I had to choose between that and being with the family on important days.

I won't try and combine training and a family.

My first company was MicroSolutions. I worked 20 hours a day. I didn't take a vacation for 7 years. I didn't even take the time to read a fiction book. It was all about work. When I sold it, I promised myself I would never wear a watch and only wear a suit to weddings, funerals and to meet the President.

I'm very active. I've got two small daughters and four restaurants in three cities. I'm busy.

I want to work. I'd be unsatisfied if I couldn't be pursuing this. But I love my family more. This is really life.

All the family gatherings, I'm too tired, or I can't because it conflicts with work... I have seven grandkids. I've been missing recitals and graduations. To me, it's just not worth it. There is a better way to live life.

I never wanted the business to dictate my life. I'm sure I've sacrificed and missed out on a lot of stuff, but I don't know what that stuff is, so I just raised kids, and I wanted to be around for that.

If you want to spend weekends with your family, something's got to give.

I just don't want to miss anything in the lives of my children while they are still young. It's why I don't audition for leading roles at all and why I say no to some of the supporting roles that I do get offered.

Women are trying to have it all but are trying to regain control over their time. That's why many women are busting out of the traditional workforce and starting their own businesses.

It's hard to kind of marry your personal life with the theater. It always works so well for my life, and then I had kids, and the thought of missing putting them to bed is a tough one for me. You know, I'm there a lot for them.

I find so often, you know, just on a very mundane level; you've got a meeting and your child's acting in a school play. You can't do both things. And it's not simply that you can't do both, but whatever you do, you're going to be neglecting something that's really important.

Look, I don't want to edit the 'Scotsman.' I have too many other things going on. I have four newspapers to run and two dot com companies going gangbusters.

You only have so much time in the day, and you only have so many working years. Where do you want to invest that life?

What I learned is that it's very hard to have both a family life and a touring life simultaneously.

There are so many easier ways to live your life than to start a company.

I love the WWE, I love the company, but I have two kids, and they want me home. They want me to see their recitals and sporting events, and I want to see them grow and evolve.

This goes to all the individuals out there, be in control of your business don't let your business take control of you.

I would love to coach and teach people about football. It's just that the time constraints are so tough to coach, especially when you have seven kids and they are growing up. I'm just in too blessed of a situation to spend from five in the morning until 12 at night coaching and not watching my kids grow up.

Right now, I think I have time to be three things, in no particular order: a father, a husband, and a filmmaker. That's why I don't go out - I have no space for it. I feel like one of those main things would suffer.

I used to work until two in the morning every night, then still get up at six. Now, I have to help my daughter with her homework, spend time with my wife.

An awesome thing about starting your own business? There's no one there to tell you what to do! But that, you might quickly discover, is a double-edged sword. If you're not careful, you won't shower for four days straight, and you'll spend half your time researching 'girly, stylish office' on Pinterest instead of getting any real work done.

Of course, juggling a career and a baby is tough but, as it's my business, I pick and choose.