Reinvent Yourself

by James Altucher

All my life, I had tried to be creative, but I kept trying to force that creativity into something that would generate money instead of just being creative just for the sake of it.

I always say it first has to come from within: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. I.e., write down 10 ideas a day. Be around good people. Be grateful, etc.

the IRS says the average multi-millionaire has seven different sources of income.

Five years and you need to start learning new skills, practicing new efforts, trying on new careers for size.

Defining freedom in different ways (reducing expectations, increasing sources of income so no one source controls you).

But the reality is: reinvention is life. This is the call to adventure that constantly whispers to us. Do we answer it? Do we take the call?

Learning never stops. Many people die at 25 but are not put in the coffin until 75. The learning stopped for them early.

I send ideas for how they can improve their businesses.

The ideas have to be so good that it’s possible they have never thought of them before. I write, let it sit, rewrite, let other people look at them sometimes, and finally send.

Some people are simply too busy and will never be a mentor. They already have their mentees. Or they just don’t want to. That’s fine. But, that said, I have a technique here, which is to provide updates every three to four months. This has worked for me in about two or three cases where they have eventually gotten back in touch. One of those cases resulted in the sale of a company I started. Also, quantity is important because there is never just one thing you have been placed on this Earth to do. Life is a buffet and not a fixed-price meal. Speaking for myself, I like to sample.

I’m infinitely grateful for these people who have spent some of their hard-earned time on me. Every day I wake up grateful for that.

Why do they hate me? A poor mentor can’t handle when the student goes sideways or higher. A good mentor will, with his last breath, push you to the top of the mountain, even at their own personal risk.

Your legacy is not what you do. It’s what the people who you teach do.

Small random facts from the book: If you name a restaurant “Studio 97” instead of “Studio 17,” people are more likely to tip higher.

Let me summarize the seven aspects of influence: 1.Reciprocity – if you give someone a Christmas card, they will want to return the favor. 2.Likability – make yourself trustworthy. For instance, outline the negatives of dealing with you. 3.Consistency – ask someone for a favor. Now they will say to themselves, “I am the type of person who does James a favor.” 4.Social Proof – if you are trying to get someone to do X, show them that “a lot of your peers do X.” For instance, if you are at a bar and you are a guy trying to meet women, bring your women friends and not your guy friends with you. 5.Authority – “four out of five dentists say…” 6.Scarcity – “only 100 iPhones left at this store!” 7.Unity – you and I are the same because: location, values, religion, etc.

The entire purpose of language is to influence. We are not strong animals. We are weak. The language of influence saved us.

Speak to breathe spirit into an idea, to be enthusiastic, to convey emotion, to influence. This is the only way to have impact with your unique creativity.

You always want to get more information in a negotiation with as little commitment as possible on your side.

If one side says, “Show up with $1 million tomorrow,” you can say, “How am I supposed to get you $1 million by tomorrow?”

Whatever they say, repeat the last one to three words. Do this as much as possible.

“Always make sure your list is bigger than theirs so you can give up the nickels in exchange for the dimes.”

“No,” he said. “Let them throw out a number first.”

List your negatives down on a piece of paper. Figure out your terms and conditions in advance.

“People say, ‘My phone sucks.’ No, it doesn’t! The shittiest cellphone in the world is a miracle. Your life sucks. Around the phone.”

“Self-love is a good thing but self-awareness is more important. You need to once in a while go, ‘Uh, I’m kind of an asshole.’”

If you’re great at ideas, or great at execution, but you eat poorly and are constantly sick, then you’ll be constantly sick and never get anything done. We’re as good as our weakest link. Find the parts of your life where you can jump on the steepest learning curves and make that jump.

8.“Life’s too short to be an asshole.”

“I don’t worry about how I’m doing, I just do what I’m doing.”

Mac Lethal said to me, “Nobody remembers your bad stuff, just keep working at it and you’ll put out good stuff and that’s what they will see and remember.”

So that’s why I listen. I want to be the man with nothing to lose.

“People don’t remember what they don’t like.”

“To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.”

Picasso once said, “Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.”

Reinvention is scary. And it’s risky. But it is unavoidable. I’m scared right now.

But the arbiters of taste are all using the past as their metrics. The future is still a blank slate. Else we’d be there.

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

Most of the time, people say “no.” In almost everything I’ve done, I’ve gotten 20 “no”s for every “yes.”

Picasso also says, “I am always doing things I can’t do—that’s how I get to do them.”

In 1953, Picasso gave up painting—he thought forever. For the first time in his life, he started writing poetry. Then singing. Was he good? Probably not. He went back to painting. But he turned a “can’t” into an “I did it.”

“There are three things,” Chip Conley, now the head of hospitality for Airbnb, told me. “A job, a career, and a calling.

“Despair = Suffering - Meaning.

When I do a podcast, I feel like a zero.

I ask people to come on my podcast because I want to learn something from them. How to be a better person. They are +1 people. I’d like to be like them. So I ask them questions.

Here are the qualities ...

LISTEN to what people...

OBSERVE what people do.

BE HUMBLE.

BE CURIOUS. A zero starts with: *What are they doing? *How are they doing it? *How can I help? *How can I get better? *How can I be competent? Then build trust? Then build excellence?

HAVE THEMES INSTEAD OF GOALS. Chris Hadfield wanted to be an astronaut for 21 years before he became the commander of the International Space Station for 166 days. Sometimes he had disappointments along the way.

“If I had only focused on big successes,” he said, “then I would be disappointed most of the time. You have to focus on the small succe...