Reinvent Yourself

by James Altucher

Pope Francis quote: “This is the struggle of every person: be free or be a slave.”

Many studies show that the key to contentment and confidence is three things: *Growing competence in a pursuit you love *Strengthening every day the relationships around you *Increasing your freedom of choices

He chose the name Francis when he became pope because of Francis of Assisi. Why? He explains: “Francis of Assisi loved, helped and served the needy, the sick and the poor; he also cared greatly for creation.” To me, this is the entire belief system of Pope Francis. He did not use the words “God” or “Jesus” or “spirit” above.

Gandhi quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” The truth is he didn’t say exactly that. What he said was: “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

Snoop Dogg’s first song with Dr. Dre, “Nuthin’ But a G Thang.”

a line from a song by Mobb Deep, another huge East Coast rap group

“Choose Yourself” as Robert Greene so aptly describes in his book, “The 50th Law”).

“There’s always something you have to give up for success. Everything comes at a cost. Just what are you willing to pay for it?”

Here is a little kid whose dad abandoned him, whose mom was a prostitute, who used to play the trumpet at brothels in New Orleans and who shoveled coal in his early years, playing trumpet in front of the Sphinx.

LEARN THE HISTORY OF YOUR FIELD

(The Beatles, U2, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones,

Ice Cube says one line: “If it’s not hard, it’s soft.”

His first hit was “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994. So he acknowledged it took him 17 years of writing every day before he had a hit.

He described to me how he took the rap style from the ‘80s (“I used inflection in my voice instead of just speaking”), a song from the ‘70s (Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”), the gangster rap that was getting popular in the early ‘90s out of Compton, and combined them to create “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

He mentioned Rakim (“he was the first rapper to use his regular voice”). He mentioned Melle Mel (“he used a much deeper voice”).

“People are lazy.”

Kurt Vonnegut has written almost 20 bestselling books. His book Cat’s Cradle is required reading in almost every high school.

Some of those books later became massive bestsellers: Cat’s Cradle, The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night,

“I don’t care what other people think,” he said. “Original artists don’t care.”

They have a deeply personal emotional anchor they can tie their work to.

For Kurt Vonnegut, he was dramatically affected by the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, where he was a prisoner of war. About 130,000 people died in a single day. Compared with 90,000 in Hiroshima.

Louis CK says, “If you think about something three times in a week, you have to write it.”

Asimov wrote 467 published books.

he published 1,700 words a day on average.

young adult books (82 million books sold), “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” “Blubber,” etc.

Then I memorized the sex scene in “Forever…” Then I memorized ALL the sex scenes in “Wifey.” She wrote a book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,

NORMAL WILL KILL YOU

“The most important thing in life,” she told me, “more important than anything else by far, is friendship.”

BE THE ONE PEOPLE TURN TO

People often say a lie: “Solve other people’s problems and you will be successful.” This is never true. Never. Show us how you solved your problems. Even if you never solved them, still show how you tried. You can give us permission to be confused just like you were. How do you show us? Write something. Create something. Build something. Talk to people. It doesn’t matter.

Ham on Rye by Bukowski probably the greatest American novel ever written. It’s an autobiographical novel

His first four novels are autobiographical.

novel “Women,”

it took him about 15 years of writing every day, writing thousands of poems and stories before he finally started making a living as a writer. He wrote his first novel at the age of 49 and it was financially successful. After 25 years of plugging away at it he was finally a successful writer.

movie “Barfly” but I think a better movie about Bukowski is the indie film “Factotum,” based on the book,

(the basis of the non-fiction novel, “Factotum”)

The post office job is documented, in full, in his first “novel” called, appropriately, “Post Office.” (Many people think that’s his best novel but I put it third or fourth behind “Ham on Rye” and “Factotum” and possibly “Women.”)

He also wrote a novel, “Hollywood,” about the blow-by-blow experience of doing the movie “Barfly.”

John Fante wrote the underappreciated “Ask the Dust,” which was completely forgotten until Bukowski’s publisher republished it, as well as all of Fante’s other books. (I also recommend the movie with Colin Farrell and a naked Salma Hayek.)

Michael Hemmingson wrote an excellent review of Bukowski in the book “The Dirty Realism Duo: Bukowski and Carver,” which I highly recommend.

Denis Johnson’s book of short stories, “Jesus’ Son,”

Hemmingson’s “Crack Hotel,” “The Comfort of Women,” “My Dream Date (Rape) with Kathy Acker,”

out of all the poets I’ve read, the only ones I really like are: Bukowski, Raymond Carver, and Denis Johnson. Poetry allowed them to master the art of making each and every word effective and powerful.

“What a joy it must be to be a truly great writer, even if it means a shotgun at the finish.”

Rick Ross had sold about $1 billion worth of crack cocaine during his “career.”

TRY TO GET THE PEOPLE WORKING FOR YOU TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN YOU

ONLY DO THE ESSENTIAL

DON’T MAKE IT ABOUT THE MONEY

REDUCE CONFRONTATIONS

He said that the U.S. jail system spends $45,000 a year per prisoner but refuses to buy prisoners books. These are the books he recommended: *As a Man Thinketh by James Allen *Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins *Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill *The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason