Reinvent Yourself

by James Altucher

Wayne Dyer was going to come on my podcast. I read about 10 of his books. I watched five or six of his PBS specials. The man has sold over 150 million books.

book, Your Erroneous Zones,

DO WORK YOU BELIEVE IN SO MUCH YOU’D GO TO JAIL FOR IT

LOOK AT YOUR LIFE FROM A DISTANCE

GO TO THE PEOPLE

“ARRANGE WHATEVER PIECES COME YOUR WAY”

ALWAYS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN LIFE

“LEAVE YOURSELF OPEN TO WHATEVER COMES UP”

WE ARE “DOOMED” TO MAKE OUR CHOICES

HOW TO FIND YOUR LIFE PURPOSE

“SELL YOUR CLEVERNESS AND CREATE A SENSE OF AWE”

DON’T REGRET YOUR LIFE

The quest for enlightenment is about improving your daily life in real ways.”

“Maybe you can’t control the terrible things that happen to you, but you’re in control of how you respond.”

REST WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DO.

RID YOURSELF OF EVERYTHING YOU DON’T NEED.

PRACTICE GOODNESS.

BE AROUND OTHER JEDIS.

BE OPEN-MINDED

TRUST THAT LIFE IS CYCLICAL

“If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.”

“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”

“It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”

“Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”

“You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.”

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

“Life is too short for long-term grudges.”

“Don’t be afraid of new arenas.”

“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”

“I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.”

On his favorite book when he was a teen, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “It taught me that the tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but that once you do that, the rest is really easy.”

How did the band survive for 50 years? Same front man: Mick Jagger. Same guy on guitar: Keith Richards. Same guy on drums: Charlie Watts. Drugs, divorces, deaths, diseases, debt—they just kept going.

Unlike their peers: The Beatles, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin. How do they keep going?

OBSESSION WITH MUSIC

The band’s name comes from the song “Rollin’ Stone” written by Muddy Waters.

BLUES MEETS ROCK

While The Beatles combined pop/Elvis/early rock, the Rolling Stones covered those forms plus blues and R&B

Gotan Project, which combines old school tango music with a more techno feel.

It’s hard to call “Sympathy for the Devil” or “Paint It Black” rock, or blues, or any other musical style.

PERSISTENCE/REJECTION

Rolling Stones. There was one concert where lack of any money forced them all to hitch rides together with young musicians Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton, etc. on the way to see The Beatles in concert.

“I Wanna Be Your Man”

NEVER SAY NO

This reminds me of when The Beatles were playing almost 20 hours a day, seven days a week at strip clubs in Hamburg, West Germany from 1960 to 1962. It was the non-stop playing that gave them experience and mastery.

CONTENT IS JUST THE TRUNK OF A TREE

The rights to the songs you know—“Paint It Black,” “Sympathy,” “Satisfaction,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and on and on—were signed away to their manager Allen Klein.

“State of Shock,” which Mick Jagger did with Michael

They’ve done over 40 tours, with four of their tours appearing in the list of top 10 grossing tours of all time.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.”

Francis’s quote: “No one can grow if he does not accept his smallness.”