The Crypto wonder, WonderFi with Kevin O'leary and Ben Samaroo

You have no idea. None of us did. Until now.Everything I've done for the past two years is unfolding before me.I interviewed Dr. K Anders Ericsson. You know his work. He discovered the 10,000 hour rule.The rule that says if you do 10,000 hours of "dedicated practice" you can master a field. But what we've been lead to believe is false. And it's finally being corrected. Today.  Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise uses thirty years of research to reveal what we never knew before, including:What you're truly capable of, how you can achieve it, and where to start. I started this podcast two years ago. And I just realized what it's actually about.  Everyone I interviewed has one thing in common: peak performance. They excelled in their field. They're the smarter person in the room. They mastered their craft. Go to jamesaltucher.com for 7 things I learned about how to become a PEAK performer ------------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.

12 Apr 20161h 3min

Before writing this, I closed my eyes. I allowed myself to rest. I went from, "think, think, think" to nothing. And nothing felt good. Nothing worked. Nothing is my success. Today. I used to have another kind of success.  I was a hedge fund manager, web developer, producer, investor, corporate employee, CEO, writer. I still do some of these jobs. But not because "they" tell me to. I look back and see desperation. I was desperate to secure my future. My income. My relationships. There was always a risk of getting fired. I knew my then-wife could decide she didn't love me anymore. My kids could, too. I was shrinking. Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually shrinking. I thought if I was miserable, "they" would help me. They didn't. I bled out on the floor.  And then I chose myself. Now I do the daily practice. I experiment. I find what works for me. And I write about it. Because advice is autobiography. But something is still stopping me. And, if you've read to here, I bet there's something stopping you. If you learn one thing today, I hope it's this: experiment everyday. The steps are: Experiment. Pay Attention. Experiment And if it doesn't work out how you imagined, then you'll have a better story. I got evicted last week. The same day, I did this interview with Charles Duhigg. You'll hear it in the podcast. Charles is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of two New York Times bestselling books, The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business.  Renting doesn't work for me. But I tried it. It was a successful experiment with a failed result. I'm finding what works for me everyday. Charles says that's what the most productive people do. They cycle through systems. Charles cycled. He wasn't always smarter, better, faster. "I would come home every night and tell my wife, 'If this is what success feels like, sign me up for failure.' It was killing me," he says. "It's very easy to lose sight of the 'why,'" he says. "[We] lose track of why we're doing something, how it links up to our deepest values or our biggest aspirations... what we actually want to do with our life." This interview might teach you something about experimenting, or focussing, or motivation. Or it might teach you nothing. But, nothing is a lesson, too. ------------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.

5 Apr 20161h 2min

He didn't have permission. But he did it anyway. And one day Elon Musk called him. "He was either going to make life really horrible on me or he was going to cooperate with the book" said Ashlee Vance, author of the New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal's "best books of the year," Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Ashlee did 200 interviews before Elon agreed, proving permission is not a starting place. I wish I wrote the book. But I didn't. My "quest" is different. Instead, I mastered curiosity. I called people and recorded. I did a ton of research. I read every book, article, interview and watched every talk. I've spent 10,000 hours interviewing and more than 10,000 hours preparing. I didn't need permission. And neither do you. Here are 5 ways to bypass the gatekeepers: A) Master something Like anybody, Elon is smart in some things and probably stupid in others. But he mastered his interests. Mastery is learning 90% of everything you could learn about a subject. You can't reach 100%. I hope that's comforting. Explore your interests. Combine them and you'll find what works for you. Then improve 1% each day. Along the way, you'll master it. B) Make your own decisions Elon doesn't let people make decisions for him. They'll choose wrong. And he knows it. If you choose for yourself you will choose yourself. C) Play for pay I remember my childhood. Some of it. I read comic books and Dear Abby. Now, at 47? 48? I search for "superhero" stories. And I get to be Dear Abby. "Ask Altucher." Every Thursday at 3:30 PM EST, I have a Twitter Q&A. I answer texts and emails from strangers. 203-512-2161 I answer Quora questions and co-host a podcast with my friend, Stephen Dubner. He wrote the New York Times bestseller, Freakonomics. I wonder if he read Dear Abby growing up, too. We answer questions with questions. But before all of this, I worked in finance. I did what "they" wanted me to do. I got lost. Elon did, too. "He just got swept up in the internet for a little while," Ashlee says, "and then once he made a ton of money (from PayPal), the light went on and he just said, 'Now I can go chase everything I've ever wanted to go do.'" "Elon appears to have some kind of calling to go save humankind," Ashlee says. "When he was 12, he designed a video game that was exactly that concept." But at one point, he changed course. We all do. We forget play. Now he's saving humanity. D) There are always problems When I interviewed Derek Sivers last week, I said "You can always disappear from your problems." And you can. He did. But then what? Derek spends a lot time answering emails and giving advice. And Elon is exploring electric vehicles and life in space. Everyday, I have a choice: find new problems or help others with theirs. Create problems or solve them. When I help people with their problems, I forget about mine. Sometimes. Elon sees extreme problems and extreme solutions. All his basics are covered. He's doesn't worry about his boss or the mortgage. "The weird thing to me," Ashlee says, "was that [when] you started talking [to Elon] about mankind being wiped out, he wells up with emotion." Suffering graces all life. There are always problems. "What I saw with Elon is that he's very clear-eyed. He meditates on what he thinks is important and has a absolute devotion to pursuing these goals" "He gives you a sense of urgency in your life. Maybe I'm just getting older," Ashlee says, "When I finished doing the book, I sat back and I said, 'I need to be much clearer about exactly what I want to do with my life.'" I don't have the same problem as Ashlee or see the same problems as Elon Musk. And I'm grateful. E) Be on the right side of history You only have a certain amount of energy each day. Don't waste it fighting the inevitable. "Going against Elon is the equivalent of going against Steve Jobs these days and you... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Mars 201658min

The most powerful currency in the world is not what you think. Not anymore. We're turning to a new economy with two powerful currencies. And you have an opportunity, right now, to build a more fulfilling and rewarding life. I'm going to tell you what these two currencies are and how to leverage them successfully. I'll tell you what works for me. But before I do, I want to introduce you to Derek Sivers. He's an influential thinker, speaker, entrepreneur and the zen master of entrepreneurship writing. If you're starting a business, you have to read his book, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur. It's in my top three. Derek built his business, CD Baby, around doing people favors. It became the largest seller of independent music online, with $100M in sales for 150,000 musicians. Derek later sold CD Baby for $22M and gave the proceeds to charity. "If you focus entirely on others the world seems to reward you the most," he says. That's one of the two most powerful currencies today: favors. But there are limits. "You have to serve others within the limits of what you're able to sustainably do. You can't do something that makes you absolutely miserable," he says. That's choosing yourself. I got a lot of ideas from interviewing Derek, which is the other currency: ideas. But you already knew that. Derek moved to New Zealand. He takes 3-day hikes, spends 30 hours a week with his family, and answers thousands of personal emails asking for his advice. He wrote a list of his priorities and said "I don't want to do anything else right now. (No more interviews or speaking at conferences until further notice.)" This is his last interview for awhile. I'm grateful he chose me. Chose us. And chose himself. I encourage you to write him. And listen to this interview. Share what you learned.  I wrote a list -- 7 ways to a "make a killing" and master the new economy. Because Derek quoted Kevin Kelly, futurist and founder of Wired. He said, "We should focus on making a living, not on making something huge." Derek changed it to "It's about making a living, not making a killing." To me, that's success in the new economy. 7 ways to a "make a killing" and master the new economy: A) Leave in the cracks Derek was listening to Sheryl Crow. But he didn't know it was her. Her voice cracked. And she got his attention. "That little fault is what made me like her," Derek said. B) Admit your faults I know I'm bad at a lot of things. Derek gave an example. When I interviewed Ramit Sethi, I admitted I forgot to read something. And I wasn't totally prepared. "To me it kind of seems like a brilliant way of asking the world to love you," Derek said. And maybe it is. Everyone wants love. How sad is it that we, as humans, contemplate hiding ourselves? We have two choices: be yourself or fear being yourself. C) You can always disappear from your problems But do you want to? Did Kurt Cobain kill himself because he was too famous? Or because he got everything he wanted? And didn't know what to do with it. We always want things. Happiness, love, appreciation. But then do we ask for the right things? Raises, promotions, more responsibility, less freedom? You can choose f-ck you money and f-ck you problems. Or you can focus on happiness. That's what Derek did. He had a company, CD Baby. It's basically the original iTunes. People said he'd get a lot of money with an IPO. But he didn't do it. "What's the point of making money?" Derek said, "It's to be happy." "And if it would make me unhappy to have so much responsibility then I'd rather not make more money. I'd rather just focus on the happiness." D) Do more favors Anyone can do this. Derek started by selling old CDs online. He made money right away. So people asked for favors. Can you sell my old CDs? He said yes. And it spread. Friends of friends asked. Then strangers and soon he had a profitable business. But... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Mars 20161h 21min

If I didn't listen to my pain, I'd be dead.  I've interviewed hundreds of "successful" people. When they look back, they see two things: struggle and a story. These are hero stories -- choose yourself stories. Directed by pain, they found passion. Because they listened. I was alone, on the floor, broke, desperate, hopeless.  I ignored the pain. I wanted to die. And then something shifted. But you don't need to hit rock bottom to be successful. You just need something that ignites you.  "There's a moment, a chemistry, where people find a spark... something inside you triggers greatness," said Terry George. He wrote and directed the award winning film, Hotel Rwanda, and the upcoming film, The Promise, about a love story during WWII's genocide. "I'm not interested in suffering," he says. But he is. "I'm interesting in alleviating it." He grew up Catholic during Ireland's struggle for civil rights across a divided nation. "I got beaten up in playgrounds and shit like that. There was definitely a sense that you were not welcome to put it mildly." "That was was my education," he says.  He never thought about turning something horrific into a movie.  But that's exactly what he did. Through film, he connects us to human frailty, vulnerability and fear. He calls it "a universal language." That's the art of suffering. ------------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.

15 Mars 201650min

Fifteen percent of you won't like this interview. "I like that," he says, "I like being doubted." But I don't doubt Gary Vaynerchuk. And that's why I'm giving away 100 copies of his brand new book, #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness. The details are on my podcast. Gary will be the first to admit that he doesn't know everything. But he knows everything about everything he knows. "I talk emphatically and with enormous bravado about the things I know and understand," he says, "and I hedge and punt things I don't understand." Gary is transparent. Authentic. Self-aware. And successful. So successful that I dont even like introing him. He wants you to win. And I do, too. "When you understand yourself, you're able to navigate the world," he says. But navigating is hard. I have more misunderstandings than understandings. That's ok. Because it allows me to be curious everyday, do this podcast, write and read three, four or five books a week. "Self-awareness is the single best attribute anyone can be gifted with," Gary says. But people don't know if they're self-aware or not. "Don't live life hoping and wishing you were something. Start for the first time in your life actually deciding what you are and navigating around that," he says. Listen to my interview with Gary. Get to know him. And yourself. So you can navigate the world and get your intro. Whatever that may be. Listen now for your chance to win his new book. I recommend it. Resources and Links: Read Gary's new book, #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness  Get your morning motivation from Gary every monday. Sign up on this website www.garyvaynerchuk.com Follow Gary on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Snapchat (garyvee) Subscribe to his YouTube channel to watch The #AskGaryVee Show Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk ------------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 Mars 201657min

I never thought about sex with Barbara Corcoran. I still don't. But she brought it up. We were talking about entrepreneurship. And she said how old she was when she lost her virginity. Twenty-three. I wanted to know how she turned a thousand dollars into a five billion dollar company. Then: $1,000. Now: $5,000,000,000. I wanted to know how she founded The Corcoran Group, the largest company in real estate. And how you become the type of entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran chooses on Shark Tank. I'm going to tell you how to get Barbara's investment. If that's what you want. But not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. According to Barbara. "I found a real difference between the superstars and everyone else," she says.   And I agree. That's why I wrote The Rich Employee. Entrepreneurship isn't everything. But it can be. Barbara reviews thousands of investment opportunities. And most hear "no."  She says you have to have "a nose for entrepreneurship." That's how you get a "yes," from Barbara Corcoran. But before you start doubting yourself, take the test. You'll find out how in this interview. Jump to [39:25]. It's scary. She says, if you weren't born with "it," (the nose for entrepreneurship, the "innate intelligence,") then "you shouldn't be an entrepreneur in the first place."  And you need specific characteristics: A) Handle rejection. You can't cry. Or feel sorry for yourself. The top people in Barbara's company made four million dollars a year in commissions. They took hits. Just as many as the others. Or more. "Because they were trying for more," she says, "But the real difference was how long they took to feel sorry for themselves." Get over rejection. And try again. B) Conserve energy. Monitor yourself. Just notice. I feel tired. Why? I'm not motivated. I'm drained. Burnt out. Why? Your energy leaks out. Through fear, regret, negative people, bad situations. Conserve it. Refocus. And put it to good use.  C) You shouldn't quit your job I ran my side business for 18 months before quitting my full-time job. I had eleven employees. But I'm not special. Really. Because that's what all of Barbara's "successful" entrepreneurs do. They keep their jobs.  D) You need to be "hungry, mean and insecure." "That's been my track record with the businesses I've invested," she says. You need to have something to prove. But nice is ok for me. I'll take nice.  E) Daydream. "Vision is daydreaming and seeing yourself in a role and seeing what your business is going to become," she says. Picture it. Use your imagination. Escape into the dream. She says, "I don't know any entrepreneurs who don't visualize." Listen to today's episode. Are you really an entrepreneur?  Maybe you don't know. But after listening to today's podcast, you will. Resources and Links: Follow Barbara on Facebook & Twitter Watch her on Shark Tank Read her book Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business ------------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... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1 Mars 201650min

I'd rather be an alien. I'd rather be myself. Than be liked. It makes sense... why you'd want to be liked. Think about it. From an evolutionary standpoint, when you're liked, you're safe. You're in the tribe. People protect you. But now, I'd rather be an alien. I don't want stress. I don't want to worry, "Do I fit in?" There are consequences to being liked. You start compromising. You stop taking risks. You follow the herd. You get stuck in a crappy job at a fluorescently lit cubicle. Where they can watch you. You stop taking risks. You wonder, "Is this ok?" Ok to who? Not you. Not the only person who matters. I'd rather be an alien. If I'm an alien, I can act like I just landed here. And I'm not supposed to know if I fit in. I'm forced to be myself. No trying. Just forced. I can surrender. My guest today, used to be in a tribe. I won't say it's the worst one. But it's bad. Turney Duff is the New York Times bestselling author of, The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess, where he tells the truth. He bleeds. "Look, chances are people aren't going to like me after I tell the story, so at no point am I ever, ever, ever going to try to get the reader to like me," Turney says. But that wasn't easy. Because he spent his whole life trying to be liked. "I've always had this 'Nobody loves me' syndrome. I had this fear of ordinary, fear of being normal." On Wall Street, Turney was a trader. But he wasn't just trading stocks. He traded sleep, health, relationships, money. All of it for drugs. He was afraid. He'd go to hotel rooms and snort cocaine by himself. But nothing was enough. He made $2 million dollars a year. He thought, "If I could just make three million dollars a year, all of my problems would be solved." But before that he said, "If I could just make fifty thousand dollars a year, all of my problems would be solved. All of them." He wanted to be a journalist. But he traded. A lot of people trade. Maybe you traded. But it's not too late. You can choose yourself. There are three things you need to know to choose yourself. And I got these from my interview with Turney. He'll show you. He'll prove to you it's not too late. I believe in you. Three steps to (finally) choose yourself: 1) Don't try to be liked. When Turney wrote this book, he knew people would stop liking him. Or hate him. He told it anyway. And it saved his life.  That's what saved my life too. Bleeding on the pages. Telling my truth. Listen at [2:35] to learn how to cure something in yourself too. 2) Want less. Wanting more hurts. Because you trick your brain into believing you don't have enough. And start feeling sorry for yourself. Instead of grateful for what you do have. So I want less.  Listen at [6:28]. Turney explains why wanting more destroys you. 3) Build up your gut. We have instincts. And our bodies speak to us. But we're good at ignoring it. The pain. We think stomach aches are just stomach aches. But it's an accumulation abuse. Stress. Worry. Fear. You have to listen to your body. Notice the pain. Turney says, "I became successful on the trading desk because I had great instincts, and I used my gut. Along the way I lost that." Listen at [51:50] to hear how he got his gut back. After everything, I ask him, "Has it worked out?" "I'll tell you this..." Listen here for my interview with Turney. You'll learn how to choose yourself. And you'll hear how Turney did it himself. How he turned his back on his tribe, his drugs, his money.  It took him most of his life. But he did it. You can too. ------------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... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

23 Feb 201658min