To list all of James Altucher’s accomplishments would take more space than we have here, but the short version is this: he’s written something like 18 books, he’s got a wildly popular blog called the Altucher Confidential, an awesome podcast, and he’s started 20 (yes, 20!) companies– and that’s just the highlights. But what makes James really stand out in my opinion is his honesty, specifically his honesty about failure. Failure is an inevitable part of the creative process, so it’s something that all creators need to understand in a very nuanced way.
Today on the podcast,
- We talk about a great framework for a daily checklist: Am I doing something for my physical health? For my personal relationships, creativity, and practicing some gratitude?
- We get into some specific tips on how to deal with anxiety, specifically how to keep it from coming between you and your dreams
- James talks about why you need to think of yourself as a business (literally as a collection of SKUs) and why we’re all likely to be “hyphens” in the future
Enjoy!
You can only learn from experience, so try anything.
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Some Questions I Ask:
- What’s the backstory on the failure of your 17 startups? [5:33]
- What’s been your most painful failure? [7:36]
- After your huge financial loss and contemplation of suicide, were you clinically depressed? [11:45]
- What kinds of successes have you seen in your 20 startups? [24:30]
- What’s your take on how the public education system is preparing our youth for today’s world of being multi skilled? [32:24]
- Is there a future where we should all lean into the freelance life? [37:34]
- What do you see around the corner? [41:17]
- What has you excited outside of technology? [50:00]
- Do you think we are hardwired to remember stories? [55:40]
- What do people not know about you that if they found out, they’d be surprised? [56:56]
- What’s the basis of your book “Choose Yourself”? [58:03]
- What advice would you give your yesterday’s self? [59:14]
- Do you have the practice of asking yourself what’s the worst that could happen? [59:50]
- When you were talking about entrepreneurship earlier, were you actually talking about mitigating risk? [1:01:00]
- How do you leave your day job? [1:01:57]
- What do people come to you for advice about? [1:06:24]
- Are you somewhat of a minimalist to maximize personal freedom? [1:09:48]
- What am I not asking that you wished I would have or think I should have? [1:10:48]
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- The steps I take when creating a photo, and the advice I offer James in taking his best photo ever. [1:21] James’ take on failure. [3:40]
- How James swiftly turned $10 million into a mountain of debt. [9:23]
- The rationale that James applied to his life in deciding whether or not to end his own life. [11:08]
- The introspection it took for James to realize why he was self sabotaging his successes. [12:30]
- The four step action plan James advises others as well as himself to keep going forward, even when life delivers big blows. I happen to use those four same actions in my daily practice to feel alive, present, and know that I can deal with any emotion that I feel. [15:00]
- Why asking why doesn’t move you forward and won’t make you any happier. [17:40]
- Being grateful for the good things in life is easy. Try James’ “difficult gratitude problems” on for size. [18:14]
- The ten things that I do every day and the app, Habit List, that I use to track them to make sure that I am thriving, not just surviving. [18:57]
- The compound benefits of good habits. [21:26]
- Anxiety and how even the most successful people in the world have it and deal with it. Try giving it a name. [22:14]
- How James uses his motto of “I’m an idiot” to shape the teams around him and constantly be learning. [25:28]
- James’ formula for finding success in investing. Step 1: Find a company with a CEO who’s done it before with success. Step two: Find other investors who are smarter than him who will do the due diligence. Step three: Take advantage of the cheap valuation. [26:08]
- Why you should be thinking about yourself as a business with multiple product lines (side gigs). [27:25]
- How many creative and professional projects you should be working on simultaneously: five. [30:04]
- Where the idea of the standardized school system came from. [33:37]
- The only two quotes about repetition that you’ll ever need to know. [36:05]
- Why I love startup culture. [36:34]
- How virtual reality is the next big investment and creative opportunity. [42:50]
- Why James recommends that everyone writes their personal story down. [48:00]
- How to make money newsjacking. [49:05]
- Why my answer to “what kind of camera should I get?” doesn’t matter, as long as it doesn’t kill the asker’s desire to take a picture. [51:20]
- The skill of telling a great story will always be more important than having the best tools to tell those stories. Master the art of storytelling. [53:09]
- Why you shouldn’t quit your day job so fast to pursue your next big idea and what to do first. Questions to ask yourself if you’re considering making the jump. [1:02:36]
- How to be more creative; write down ten bad ideas per day. [1:07:42]
- Why James does all his writing in a Facebook status update to be more focused and creative. [1:08:59]
- Why you lose your own value as a creative if you only serve the market. [1:11:50]
This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts — Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.
