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Insights From Choose Yourself! by James Altucher
Insights From Choose Yourself! by James Altucher
Insights From Choose Yourself! by James Altucher
by James Altucher
“Human beings are born pioneers. The rise of corporatism (as opposed to capitalism) forced people into
cubicles instead of out into the world, exploring and inventing and manifesting. The ethic of the Choose
Yourself era is to not depend on those stifling trends that are defeating you. Instead, build your own
platform, have faith and confidence in yourself instead of a jury‐rigged system, and define success by your
own terms.” – James Altucher
Bypass the gatekeepers (corporate hiring managers, bosses, publishers) and choose yourself by making three fundamental shifts:
Become an Idea Machine
The choose yourself path is paved with ideas. The more ideas you can generate, the more profitable ideas you’ll
have, and the more confidence you'll have to pursue your ideas (because you’ll know that whatever problems
arise, you'll have the idea power to solve them).
We are all idea machines, but some of us have let our idea muscle atrophy from lack of use. Start building idea
muscles by buying a waiter's pad and filling it with 10 ideas each day. A waiter's pad costs less than a dollar, and it
is easy to store in your pocket. It is space constrained, so it forces you to be concise with your ideas, and the
pages are small enough to make the thought of generating 10 ideas less intimidating.
You can generate ideas on anything. But to get started, generate 10 ways that you can make a product or service you use better. For
example:
10 ways you can make this summary better
10 ways you can improve a marketing/sales email you have recently received
10 ways you can improve the frying pan you used to cook breakfast this morning
Once you have generated 10 ideas, either use those ideas yourself, send those ideas to someone who may benefit from them, or archive
them. Author James Altucher used to generate 10 ideas for financial articles and send them to financial writers in NYC. His idea generosity
led to a meeting with Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money and creator of thestreet.com, who then paid Altucher to write articles for
thestreet.com.
Focus on The Daily Practice
Bringing ideas to life requires energy and influence. Create an abundance of energy and influence by focusing on “The Daily Practice.”
The Daily Practice is the act of strengthening four areas of your life by 1% a day. The four areas are mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.
Imagine these four areas of your life like four separate bodies.
Mental Body: Generate 10 ideas or practice a new hobby (take a 15‐minute chess, piano, or creative writing lesson).
Emotional Body: Make plans to spend time with a friend or read a chapter of a biography about someone who inspires you.
Spiritual Body: For a few minutes, stop time traveling. Stop thinking about the past or future, and be grateful for what is
right in front of you. When author James Altucher walks through his New York City neighborhood, he marvels and
appreciates the architecture of the buildings around him.
Physical Body: Take the stairs, eat two meals a day instead of three, or go to bed 10 minutes earlier than you did
yesterday.
When you strengthen your four areas 1% each day, that 1% gets compounded. When you compound 1% a day, you are 37 times better by the
end of the year. If a year from now, you're 37 times more mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically stronger than you are today, your
energy and optimism will be infectious, and you'll have the capacity to turn great ideas into valuable products and services.
“What you need to do is build the house you will live in. You build that house by laying a solid foundation: by building physical,
emotional, mental, and spiritual health.” – James Altucher
Underprice and Overdeliver
When James Altucher was building websites, he built a website for New Line Cinema for 1/100th the market rate and
delivered a website that was better than most sites New Line Cinema had ever seen. New Line Cinema spoke highly
of Altucher’s work, which led to much more work.
Altucher says, "If someone pays you $100 and you give them just $100 in value, then you have FAILED. People are
like three‐year‐olds. They like to get presents. When you over‐deliver, you’re giving them an unexpected present. People want to do
business with people who give them presents. And when you give, you will receive."
Eventually, Altucher became so busy that he had to say ‘No’ to incoming work. When he started saying ‘No’, more people wanted to work
with him. Altucher says, "If you reduce the supply of you through no, then the demand of you goes up and you make more money and
you have more fun."
www.ProductivityGame.com