16: James Altucher: Be Happy, Make Millions and Live the Dream

James Altucher is a successful entrepreneur, chess master, investor and writer. He has started and run more than 20 companies, and sold several of those businesses for large exits.

He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, angel funds, and currently sits on the boards of several companies.

His writing has appeared in most major national media outlets (Wall Street Journal, ABC, Financial Times, Tech Crunch, Forbes, CNBC, etc). His blog has attracted more than 10 million readers since its launch in 2010. He has published 11 books and most recently Choose Yourself and the Power of No.

Favorite Success Quote

“If I have no expectations than I will easily exceed them” – James Altucher

Key Points

1. Do What Works and Forget the Rest

Once you have reached a certain level of success, it is easy to start falling into the trap of trying too many new things and reinventing the wheel.

But the simple truth is that success leaves clues.

There are certain habits, patterns, and routines that lead to your success, and there are certain patters that will result in failure.

The key to life is to pinpoint the patterns that create the most success and fulfillment in your life and just do those things.

In the next four steps, we detail James’ daily practice. These are the four areas of life that he works on and improves daily.

When he consistently followed these practices, he made millions, loved life, and had abundant levels of happiness.

And when he didn’t, he lost millions, got divorced, and was constantly sick.

2. Take Care of Your Physical Health

The first step to success in life is success in your health.

Who cares if you have a billion dollars if you don’t have the health to enjoy it or if you have a beautiful wife who you can’t enjoy because you are bed ridden?

Luckily, the keys to physical health are actually pretty simple.

Take care of your body by sleeping at least eight hours a night, eating healthy foods, and exercising on a weekly basis.

That’s it.

If you do these three things (and avoid hard drugs and other damaging substances) your health will flourish and you will be able to show up in every area of life with more energy and vitality than ever before.

3. Take Care of Your Emotional Health

Your emotional health is almost entirely dependent on one thing and one thing only.

The people that you associate with.

If you are around positive people who energize you and encourage you, it’s hard to stay negative.

And if you surround yourself with pessimistic a-holes, then it’s hard to stay positive no matter how emotionally healthy you might be.

Stop spending time with people who drain your energy and start spending time with people who inject life into your days.

Your life will never be the same once you do.

4. Take Care of Your Mental Health

We all have an idea muscle that provides us with a constant stream of things we can do to be happier, healthier, and wiser.

The only problem is that most people have allowed this muscle to atrophy.

To reclaim your ideal muscle and your emotional health, start stimulating it every day.

Write down 10 new ideas a day about any topic.

Do this for 30 days and watch your results explode.

If you want a few extra hacks to improve your mental health, you can also start listening to new types of music, watching more stand up comedy, and playing analog games like chess and backgammon.

Most of us are so stressed and focused on the negative parts of life that we don’t take the time to relax our minds like we should.

Start implementing the above tips and you will be amazed at how quickly your mental health improves.

5. Take Care of Your Spiritual Health 

When most people hear the word spiritual, they immediately think about God and religion.

But in James’ world, spirituality is simply the act of being grateful for what you have and surrendering your fate to whatever powers may be.

The simple fact is this:

If you can read this article or listen to this podcast, you have alot to be grateful for.

You are in the top 10% of the world and you are more blessed than the majority of the world will ever be, and you need to take the time to accept this and acknowledge the gift that is your life.

As soon as you shift your focus to what you are grateful for, your attitude and outlook on life will change and you will feel like a totally new person.

Influential Book

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Mastery by Robert Greene

Connect with James Altucher

JamesAltucher.com

Choose Yourself

The Power of No

Next Steps

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