“Find yourself a mentor”, they say. So I looked for ‘mentors’ who are in positions I truly envy. Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Automattic, Jason Fried, Basecamp and now James Altucher.
What strikes me the most about James Altucher is his background. I have scoured the entire internet to watch his video, subscribed to his feeds, and now bought his book, Chose Yourself.
At a time where motivational books say the same thing, and speakers come out to sell their eloquence and nothing else shows, I have decided to inspire myself more than ever by DOING all what I have learned both in theory and in those things that in the past few years worked for me.
James Altucher strikes me as someone who ‘experimented’ with his life lessons and that’s what I want to do also. In his new book, Choose Yourself, there are a few points that have struck me and which I intend writing about. I also intend writing about my experiences on this new experimental path to a better me.
- Live by themes instead of goals! I tried that this week and it worked well. Instead of telling myself I would not drink any Coke this week or I will not sleep too late this week, I crafted a ‘healthy week theme’. Felt more fulfilling and I achieved most of my goals.
- Failure is a myth! I totally agree. A lot of people come out right now to talk about how they failed..as if it’s something to glory about. I believe seeing it as an experiment rather than ‘failure’ is more befitting.
- Save big! The hardest part….especially this season!
- Idea sex…writing 10 ideas daily. I’m on my first day and I have journaled amazing ideas. Execution is all that really matters. But according to Altucher, the more you journal your ideas, the better and more trained your idea muscles and then you can give out ideas. Ideas rule the world anyway!
- Always negotiate. I have been poor at that in the past
- Always sell- both in presentation and via copywriting.
- The Google rule- give constantly to the people in your network. The value of your network increases linearly if you get to know more people, but exponentially if the people you know, get to know and help each other! That’s why people will come back to Google. Google helps people find things. So when you need things…you come back to Google.
I am on a Javascript roll! Persistence! Consistence!
Justin Bieber’s new album has been on my constant play. I can’t believe the world is coming to an end!
Enjoy the TED video of James Altucher below!
