The James Altucher Show

HOW TO GO FROM AMATEUR TO TURNING PRO? I had a full time job. I was trying to run a business on the side. I was pitching two TV shows. And I was obsessively playing chess day and night and traveling to tournaments. And nothing was going well. My attention was scattered. I was unhappy. I felt stuck. One time I was talking to one of the partners in my side business, Randy Weiner. I said to him, "I'm reading this fascinating book about chess endgames". He said, "I don't care about that! Why are you even looking at those books? Chess is a game for kids. You should be working at this business full-time." The next day I quit my job. I joined the business full time. I never played in another chess tournament ever again. I stopped pitching TV shows. I went from being an amateur to being a pro. Which is why I'm glad the other day I spoke to Steven Pressfield, author of "Turning Pro", "The War of Art", "The Legend of Bagger Vance", "Do the Work", and more than a dozen other great books and novels. Sometimes it seemed like each new low was lower. And often the highs were higher. But I haven't had a job since. Ever since I made the decision to turn pro, I've been free. It took me two years of asking before Steven finally agreed to do the podcast. I've read all his books twice. But I was still scared to death right before the podcast. Steven and I spoke for two hours about turning pro, writing, how to improve, how to achieve peak performance in any field of life. I wanted to ask questions nobody else would ask him. Two hours later I feel good about it. The podcast is coming out later today. Here is some of what we spoke about: - HOW TO DEAL WITH THE DEMONS When I join a gym, I go until I stop going. Then it basically teeters off. I'm an amateur at going to the gym. Every single day I write. If I don't do it for two days in a row I feel physically sick. But so many times I feel bad about what I am working on. Or I feel unsure if I should work on the next book. or try the next new idea. The demons come up. I get blocked. I get frustrated or scared. Will I be a failure? Have I run out of ideas? Steven wrote several books about these very demons. Steven said, "those thoughts are 'the Resistance'. "Every time you want to go from a lower level to a higher level - becoming an entrepreneur., get in better shape, meditate, be an artist - the Resistance will ALWAYS attack. Every writer or entrepreneur feels the Resistance every day." Recognize each thought as it comes up, he said. Identify the thoughts that are the resistance. Say, 'that's the resistance". "There's no way to get rid of The Resistance. Be aware of it. Say to yourself, these thoughts won't help me achieve my dreams." - KEEP THE EGO OUT A friend of mine started a company once. It was clearly a bad idea. But he thought it was a homerun. This is a cognitive bias. We tend to believe that if we pour our heart and soul into someone (our personal "investment") then it's a good idea. When I do something I have to constantly stop and ask if I'm smoking my own crack. One time I made a website I thought was brilliant. It had an IQ test on it. And it was a dating site. And it would tell you if you were smart or stupid and you can then date people and know their intelligence. I thought it was brilliant! My six year old daughter told me, "Isn't this kind of mean?" My daughter refused to light my crack pipe. Steven told me he had to make sure with his most recent novel, the autobiographical "The Knowledge" that he had to keep his ego out of it. "I had to put some distance between myself and the writing because it was about my early struggles as a writer." - EVEN A PORN DIRECTOR CAN BE A MENTOR: Steven told me about how he switched from writing bad novels to going into screenwriting, to finally getting back to writing novels. It's important to keep switching around, to pursue every angle of an interest.... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 Joulu 20161h 3min

I was very late and I was very upset at myself. I had flown three thousand miles. I moved into an Airbnb right next to where Tim was staying. I had written thousands of notes on ripped pieces of paper and stuck them all throughout the book. I had notes written up and around all the margins. I listened to dozens of his podcasts. And I've known him for years. All morning I had jotted down possible questions. And I was late to meet Tim for our podcast. Because the west coast is three hours a way in time travel from the east coast. That's how stupid I am. I rushed over and he was waiting. Tim follows his own advice. He was relaxed. No problems. I apologized, we spoke for awhile, and then started the podcast. Three hours later...not even close to done but we stopped. I want to be a better person in life. I want to be healthier. I want to be more creative. I want to find what is hidden inside of me, dig around, unleash it. I want to find the strength to do that. It's not an easy to thing to do. To scrape the dirt and dust that collects inside of ourselves. To explore. To wander. To create. Tim's book, "Tools of the Titans" is a guidebook for doing the above. And I had a lot of questions. ---- A few months after I started my podcast in 2014, Tim wrote me and said, "Can I call you and ask you some questions about podcasting". I said sure and he called and we talked for quite awhile. He called many podcasters during this period. Then he started his own podcast. He DOMINATED. All of his guests were amazing. He told me he was getting so much great advice from his guests it was overwhelming. The aftermath of a hailstorm where everything is just glowing and even the air you breathe seems cleansed. But that lasts only a short time until the atmosphere is filled with the everyday pollution of life. So he took a month off, re-listened to all his podcasts, and just for his own use he wrote down the advice he was hearing. "But it was too much," he told me. "I kept writing. It was clearly a book." It's not like any other book he's written. He steps out of the way in many cases, and let's these super-achievers do the talking. He curates their thoughts. They had found the hidden gems inside themselves, and long ago brought them up to share with the world to achieve their successes, and now they documented them with Tim. That's why I flew 3000 miles. I wanted the gems. I wanted answers. ---- I've had so many ups and downs I try to quantify what works on the way up. What goes wrong on the way down. I try to quantify: what are the steps for reinvention? I wonder: what makes someone break out of mediocrity? About seven months ago I threw out all of my belongings. I gave away or donated to the library about 3000 books. All of my books now are on my kindle. None of the answers were in my things. But now I have one physical book. Tim's. And I plan to keep it. Here are ten things (among many) I learned from the book and from our podcast: "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP" I'm impressed how Tim did his work before starting a podcast. Starting something new is not about taking risks. Jumping into the unknown, getting out of the comfort zone, doing something scary. It's not about bravery. It's the exact opposite. You can only do so many "new" things in life. So do the work beforehand. He called people up. He learned the craft as much as he could. He talked to people ranging from me to people at Apple. He had initial guests lined up. He had a huge launch. And he told me the other day that he is persistent at getting his guests. One recent guest, he told me, took two years to book. Which was refreshing for me to hear since it often takes me that long or longer to book many guests. Comedian Whitney Cummings told him: "My work is not done on the night of a big standup special. My work was done three months ago. All I have do is show up." Even though I was late for our podcast,... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

8 Joulu 20161h 19min

I was very late and I was very upset at myself. I had flown three thousand miles. I moved into an Airbnb right next to where Tim was staying. I had written thousands of notes on ripped pieces of paper and stuck them all throughout the book. I had notes written up and around all the margins. I listened to dozens of his podcasts. And I've known him for years. All morning I had jotted down possible questions. And I was late to meet Tim for our podcast. Because the west coast is three hours a way in time travel from the east coast. That's how stupid I am. I rushed over and he was waiting. Tim follows his own advice. He was relaxed. No problems. I apologized, we spoke for awhile, and then started the podcast. Three hours later...not even close to done but we stopped. I want to be a better person in life. I want to be healthier. I want to be more creative. I want to find what is hidden inside of me, dig around, unleash it. I want to find the strength to do that. It's not an easy to thing to do. To scrape the dirt and dust that collects inside of ourselves. To explore. To wander. To create. Tim's book, "Tools of the Titans" is a guidebook for doing the above. And I had a lot of questions. ---- A few months after I started my podcast in 2014, Tim wrote me and said, "Can I call you and ask you some questions about podcasting". I said sure and he called and we talked for quite awhile. He called many podcasters during this period. Then he started his own podcast. He DOMINATED. All of his guests were amazing. He told me he was getting so much great advice from his guests it was overwhelming. The aftermath of a hailstorm where everything is just glowing and even the air you breathe seems cleansed. But that lasts only a short time until the atmosphere is filled with the everyday pollution of life. So he took a month off, re-listened to all his podcasts, and just for his own use he wrote down the advice he was hearing. "But it was too much," he told me. "I kept writing. It was clearly a book." It's not like any other book he's written. He steps out of the way in many cases, and let's these super-achievers do the talking. He curates their thoughts. They had found the hidden gems inside themselves, and long ago brought them up to share with the world to achieve their successes, and now they documented them with Tim. That's why I flew 3000 miles. I wanted the gems. I wanted answers. ---- I've had so many ups and downs I try to quantify what works on the way up. What goes wrong on the way down. I try to quantify: what are the steps for reinvention? I wonder: what makes someone break out of mediocrity? About seven months ago I threw out all of my belongings. I gave away or donated to the library about 3000 books. All of my books now are on my kindle. None of the answers were in my things. But now I have one physical book. Tim's. And I plan to keep it. Here are ten things (among many) I learned from the book and from our podcast: "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP" I'm impressed how Tim did his work before starting a podcast. Starting something new is not about taking risks. Jumping into the unknown, getting out of the comfort zone, doing something scary. It's not about bravery. It's the exact opposite. You can only do so many "new" things in life. So do the work beforehand. He called people up. He learned the craft as much as he could. He talked to people ranging from me to people at Apple. He had initial guests lined up. He had a huge launch. And he told me the other day that he is persistent at getting his guests. One recent guest, he told me, took two years to book. Which was refreshing for me to hear since it often takes me that long or longer to book many guests. Comedian Whitney Cummings told him: "My work is not done on the night of a big standup special. My work was done three months ago. All I have do is show up." Even though I was late for our podcast,... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 Joulu 20161h 18min

The Explorer's Code:  I wanted to wake each morning, not anxious about my day anymore. Not worried about what so-and-so would say, or where my career was going, or what was I going to write today. My only job each day is to explore something new. So I called up Josh and asked him how I could be an explorer. He told me. - Have A Mission Every day, whether it's "be creative today." Or "go some place you've never been" or "talk to ten random strangers", make a mission. Learn something new. Missions are for people who DO. Mission statements are for people who DON'T. -Uncomfortable Situation Try to put yourself in as many uncomfortable situations as possible. "For instance," he said, "you should apply for a temp job. See what it's like." Or maybe one day you and a friend can make a bet: who can get the furthest out of town with just $100. The uncomfortable zone is where you find out who you are, the comfort zone is where you sleep. Task: make a list of uncomfortable situations. Stretch the idea muscle. -Partners/Team Josh has 100s of people who submit items to Atlas Obscura and atlasobscura.com. "There's over 10,000 weird and obscure places on there now." He also started it with two partners. Even superheroes need a team. Superman still needed the Justice League. Luke Skywalker still needed Han Solo and Princess Leia. Luke Cage needs Iron Fist and Jessica Jones. Who are on your team? Are they good people? Do you each have your super power? I am constantly looking for my team of fellow explorers. "Try to experience wonder every day," Josh told me. A few months ago, my mission was to throw out everything I owned.  What would it be like after 40 years of collecting things, to own absolutely nothing. And a few months before that, my mission was to track down someone who had disappeared from my life. I failed at that mission. But I experienced wonder along the way. And today, I'm going to change my life forever. I will text you about it.   ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

29 Marras 20161h 3min

What does it sound like when you change your mind? That's the name of Seth Godin's next book. He only printed 5,500 copies. And he's not printing anymore. He doesn't just view a book as pages surrounded by two covers. He makes a 3-dimensional object that's beautiful to look at and read. "It's not new," he said on my podcast. "It's the best of the last four years of my work. And it's illustrated with hundreds of photos by Thomas Hawk, who's the most prolific and talented internet photographer." The book weighs 18 pounds. And it's 800 pages long. I asked him about art and marketing... and he told me about life. A) START FROM THE BEGINNING "No business, no project, no novel ever started big," Seth said. It started with fear, uncertainty, excitement, possibility. Tons of "what if's" that lead to real action. And real action halts the what if's. The what if's turn to what is. Seth said, "Instead of saying, 'I need to leap to the middle,' say, 'I'm going to start with people who want to engage with me.'" All successes start with one person. That's it. One person, then two, then three. Success is a curve. We all know it. Don't try to cheat the curve. B) KNOW YOUR WORLD I asked Seth, "How do you know what the world wants to hear?" "Well, first of all," he said, "never the whole world. You pick your world." Where do you hurt? Where you do you feel a knot? Can you loosen it up and ease the pressure? Can you create something for the people who want to love what you want to love? C) WHAT DO YOU CARE ENOUGH TO SAY? We talked about Facebook. And the Lays Potato Chip guy who re-designed the bag. His job was to make it sound crunchier. Kids had slamming competitions. Who could slam a soda the fastest? So Coke-A-Cola created a bottle with a mouthpiece meant to maximize chugging efficiency. They sold product. But it's the message that matters. I always say: message over money. Invention happens at the edges. Between heart and lungs, breath and vocal chords is the message. It's the thing you want to say. The thing you're afraid to say. "What really matters isn't what time you posted on Facebook," Seth said. "What matters is, what did you care enough to say? D) ANYONE CAN LEAD... "'Purple Cow' says, 'How do I sit in my office and make a thing that people talk about?'" "What 'Tribes' says is 'Now that anyone can stand up and lead (because anyone can have a media channel... because anyone can make connection) will you choose to lead? And if you're going to lead, who will you lead? How will you connect the people you're leading? That is marketing, but it's also life." E) CULTURE BEATS EVERYTHING "No one has a Suzuki tattoo," Seth said. "What's a Suzuki tattoo?" I asked. Then I got it. Harley Davidson makes half their revenue licensing their brand. T-shirts, jackets, etc. "If you're in the Harley tribe, you can't show up on a Suzuki," he said. "Tribes aren't about the alpha to the omega. Leaders always go away. The alpha person dies or moves on. But the tribe doesn't. The tribe persists. Because culture beats everything. Scenes have a culture. Tribes have a culture. It's culture that determines how an organization make its choices, how a nation will evolve." I've said this before. It doesn't matter who the president is. What matters is who you surround yourself with. Who's in your tribe? Who's in your heart? And if they're toxic to your creativity or well-being, detox now. "The Beatles didn't invent teenagers. I'm not saying we invent our tribe. We just show up to lead them." I didn't invent the choose yourself community. The cubicle job did. I'll never say what other people should do. I just say what I like to do. I say what gets me past just getting by. F) SHOW UP "Half my blog posts are below average," Seth said. I asked if he feels bad. Intellectually, I understand failure. But it still hurts. It can turn your life upside down. I lost everything more... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Marras 201659min

Brian Koppelman and his wife Amy Koppelman saved my life. Many years after he ruined my life. First off: when he wrote the movie "Rounders" I became obsessed with poker. I went to the same club he played at and played for 365 nights, including the night my first daughter was born (I was there for the birth though!) .   I was an addict. But eventually I stopped in order to start another company. I wish I had never stopped because that other company cost me all of my money at the time.   Then he wrote several of my favorite movies after that. I didn't even know it was the same director until the first time I interviewed him here.   Now he is writing and producing my favorite TV show, "Billions" on Showtime. About an aggressive hedge fund billionaire going after an equally aggressive US Attorney played by Paul Giamatti.   Brian has been on the podcast several times but there's always so much more to talk about in terms of creativity and inspiration and how to succeed as an artist / entrepreneur.   Ditto for his wife Amy who has also been on this podcast and written three of my favorite novels. One of which was turned into a movie ("I Smile Back") starring Sarah Silverman.   But here is how they saved my life.   Awhile back I had a personal emergency. Things were going haywire.   Amy called me and said, "What's going on?" I told her.   She had me take a photo of every meal I was eating ("I want to make sure you are eating") and a photo of everyone I was eating with ("I want to make sure you are around people") and had me write to her every day what was going on in my head ("write!")   That was one time.   Another time: I lost millions of dollars in a half hour while I was on the set of "Billions" watching it be filmed.   I was called into an emergency board meeting by phone and found out the company was going to be shut down. It was a disaster.   But 90% of how we feel about a situation is determined by our choice of how we will react. Only 10% is based on the situation itself.   And since I was on the set of my favorite TV show being filmed, I decided to enjoy myself. Brian later said to me, "You lost what!? We couldn't tell at all. You were making jokes, asking questions, and you were the last one to leave."   I used being on the set of "Billions" to change my reaction to an otherwise horrible event. This allowed me to easily change my 90% reaction into a positive one.   So not only is Brian a creative genius, but he's a good friend.   I went up to his offices where they are writing season 2 of "Billions" and I had maybe 1,000 more questions about creativity, writing, the arc of his career, and of course, billions of dollars.   But one thing stands out for me.   Everyone always says, as if it were advice that has come down from heaven to all writers: "Write what you know".   Brian doesn't agree with this. And this is the secret to his success. And the secret to all the great writers in history.   Stephen King didn't know what it was like to be a bullied teenage girl with psychic powers when he wrote "Carrie".   Ernest Hemingway didn't know what it was like to be an old Cuban man who spent his life fishing.   JK Rowling didn't know what it would be like to be a boy attending Hogwarts Wizardry School.   Brian Koppelman told me:   "Don't write what you know, write what fascinates you."    This is the key to all good art.   In this podcast, we also talk about what it feels like to hit a dead-end. To be unsure how to move forward. To be scared that maybe the best was behind us.   How do you move past that. Recreate yourself. Start the work again. Flourish.   I ask. Brian delivers. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15 Marras 20161h 5min

WHAT I CAN LEARN IN ONE MINUTE THAT WILL CHANGE MY LIFE FOREVER Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics) has a new podcast and it just hit #1 in the iTunes charts. "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" is the name of it and it's about to change my life. He came over to play backgammon and I asked him about it. He told me he became a journalist because it was an easy way to start talking to people. He said, "If I ask people to tell me something I don't know," then I often learn new things and it keeps the conversation going. My mind blew open. I'm tired of freezing up. Feeling too paralyzed to talk. I'm a shy introvert. This will help unfreeze me. For everyone I meet, I will try to learn something I don't know. I'll simply ask them. This will be my new habit. --- I listened to Dubner's first podcast of the new show. I learned something new from one member of the audience. First off, it's a hard podcast to create. Listen to it. There are three panelists. There's a fact-checker. And there's 100 people in the audience. I've never heard of a podcast like that. It's crazy to put that much work into a podcast! To be creative, go beyond what everyone else says is crazy. And to be crazy, go beyond what everyone else says is creative. Creativity is a lose-lose proposition. You're crazy and you're lost in the woods. But if you aren't creative, you're stuck in traffic with everyone else. Someone on the show said something I didn't know: when you sleep, the nerve cells in your brain constrict, allowing spinal fluids to wash right through and clean up the proteins that often attach to nerve cells in the brain to cause Alzheimers. I learned about five new things on that very first episode. I went to sleep that night in anticipation. Spinal fluids washing through my brain, giving my cells a much needed bath. --- If I can ask everyone, "Tell me something I don't know," I'm going to learn from everyone. It adds up. It compounds. It will give me more knowledge and help me be less shy. I hope. "Tell me something I don't know". ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

8 Marras 20161h 12min

He died. He was giving a speech, sat down, and the next thing... he was dead. They called an ambulance. They got paramedics. They did that thing. They brought him back to life. But his body didn't like living. He died again. Eight more times they used machines to convince the machine in his body that we call a heart, to come back to life. Please come back to life, the machines said to his heart. And finally his heart decided to stay. After that, things changed. Like they often do when we die at the age of 47. "There are three things," Chip Conley, now the head of hospitality for AirBnB, told me, "a job, a career, and a calling." "I had been building and running hotels for 20 years. It was my calling to be in the hospitality business. I built over 50 hotels. But it was starting to feel like a job." "When I died, I realized I couldn't do it anymore. I had to go back to my calling." Within a few years he had sold his business. He had nothing left to do. "I had faith in my calling, though," Chip said. "Something would happen." And it did. It did. Adam wrote me. He was my Airbnb host. I've been in 4 different Airbnbs that Adam owns over the past three years. So we knew each other. I only live in Airbnbs and I know many of the regular hosts in New York City. "I'm having a special guest in the apartment right downstairs from you," Adam wrote me. "He's the head of all hospitality for Airbnb. Would you like to meet?' Yes, very much so. I had spent 90% of my life in Airbnbs over the prior three years and just about 100% in the prior year. In 2014 I even wrote an article, "10 Ways to Improve Airbnb." Adam made the introduction. Chip Conley, the man who had died a few years earlier and sold his hotel business, responded. "Should I bring a bottle of wine?" he said. He came upstairs and we started to talk. "Brian Chesky, the founder of Airbnb, called me and asked me if I wanted to be the head of hospitality. Airbnb was a tech company, it wasn't used to being a hospitality company." "When I ran 50 hotels, hospitality was my main focus." "For each hotel, I had the hotel managers come up with five adjectives for what that hotel would be." "Maybe the adjectives might be: funky, hip, modern, clean, rock & roll." "Every employee, even the housekeepers, would keep those adjectives in mind in whatever they did. And, if possible, we even made sure the five senses the customers would experience in the hotels would match the five adjectives." "This is a great idea," I said, "You can even apply ideas like this to writing a book. Or even building a career for yourself. What five adjectives do you want your life, or the objects you create, or your relationships, be used to describe it." "Absolutely," Chip said. So he went to Airbnb to start creating an atmosphere of hospitality among the hosts. He had found his way back to his life's calling. I had felt it. Since 2013, Now I live in them. Now they are home. All because Chip died. "How do you find your life's calling?" I asked him. "What did you love doing when you were 6, 8, 10 years old," he said. "Like I had one friend who even at 6 was making mudpies as if they were real pies. Then she became a lawyer but was always unhappy." "So she quit being a lawyer and is now one of the biggest pastry chefs in the world." "For me, I was always pretending to run a restaurant in my house. I always wanted to be in the hospitality business." I thought back to when I was ten years old. I was writing short stories. And when I was 12 I even wrote an article in the newspaper interviewing politicians. You find your interests from back then and see how they age into the current day. "Find the thing you did where you lost all sense of time while you are doing it," Chip told me. "Remember the equation from Victor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning'," he said. "Despair = Suffering - Meaning." "Find the things that bring you meaning.... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1 Marras 201651min