JAMES ALTUCHER | How To Improve Every Day & Harness The Power Of Ideas | Modern Wisdom Podcast 137

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... that I like…

   1. JAJames Altucher0:00

      ... that I like convenience. So if I'm flying somewhere, I don't like to take three stops to save money, I like to just spend the money on no stops.

   2. CWChris Williamson0:09

      One of the resources that you cannot buy any more of is time, right? How long's this commute? You're talking maybe an hour a day there, an hour a day back? Two hours a day, five days a week? At the end of your life, you'd give your fortune for an extra minute.

   3. JAJames Altucher0:20

      I think that's very important. Now, all of that might change when there's automated driving. I think you'll see kind of these mobile offices driving around, so you can live much further away from your place of work. I mean, if you think about it, right now the equivalent is taking a train into work. But then a train, you know, it's a little crowded, you're sitting next to somebody, you don't really have, like, a desk. But still, I've heard of people doing remarkable things on their commute to work by working on the train ride in. One friend of mine wrote the movie Pitch Perfect by writing one page a day on the subway into work. When everything's automated and convenient and quick, people will think about this in terms of lifestyle. Like, "How can I live further away from the city and get all the benefits of being at work?" Which is what automated driving should give us.

   4. CWChris Williamson1:04

      James, hey man. Welcome to the show.

   5. JAJames Altucher1:06

      Chris, thanks for having me on the show. I am so glad to be here. Isn't, uh, aren't intros so awkward? Like you just know, you don't, you never really know what to say and how to bring people in. I always have a hard time on podcasts with the intros.

   6. CWChris Williamson1:19

      It is the single worst bit of the job. And I, I, you know, behind the curtain I hate doing it, every single time. Do I do this weird, like, foreplay fellatio thing, where I'm telling 'em about all of their accomplishments, or even your inside seam measurement and what you wear, what you like to eat before you go to bed and stuff. Like, I don't know.

   7. JAJames Altucher1:40

      (laughs) Well, you know, here's a, here's an idea. I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna do an intro, and then I'm gonna just start talking when people, when we get into conversation, and then I'm gonna hit record. And this way it's like people just jump right into the conversation.

   8. CWChris Williamson1:53

      Do you know who Rory Sutherland is?

   9. JAJames Altucher1:56

      Uh, yeah, I've heard the name. I don't, I don't know who he is.

   10. CWChris Williamson1:58

       Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Advertising in the UK. You need-

   11. JAJames Altucher2:01

       Okay.

   12. CWChris Williamson2:02

       ... to get him on. Let me link you two up for your podcast, man, 'cause you'll absolutely love him.

   13. JAJames Altucher2:05

       Excellent.

   14. CWChris Williamson2:05

       But that, that guy is e- the exact same as trying to step onto a s- a train that is moving at high speed. So podcasting with him, he just went. So I was like, "Right, Rory, I'm just gonna, um, I'm, I'm just gonna do a little bit of a sound check and then we'll do an intro." And he went, "Right, Russia." And then just started talking about Russia. And I was like, "No, Rory, I, uh, uh, uh, nevermind. Just hit the record button." Then I was like, "Right, I'll just get cracking from the beginning."

   15. JAJames Altucher2:30

       That's funny. Yeah, that's a good idea.

   16. CWChris Williamson2:32

       It's fun.

   17. JAJames Altucher2:32

       I'm gonna try that too.

   18. CWChris Williamson2:33

       It's fun, man. Right, so, um, where do we start? I'll tell you what, why don't we start, we started something that, that would be a good story for everyone. So you've failed, uh, quite spectacularly (laughs) uh, a couple of times and then bounced back and then failed again and bounced back. Can you take us through some of those experiences and sort of what they meant to you and what you learned from them?

   19. JAJames Altucher2:57

       Yeah. I mean, I think it's always hard because I've told, you know, I've, I've written about this story and I always try to have a new take on it. But the reality is, I didn't, I n- I, I, I always got ahead of myself, didn't know what I was doing, and then failed spectacularly. So for instance, I built and sold a business in, in the '90s. I, I wasn't a businessman. I didn't wanna be an entrepreneur. I had zero interest. I just kinda stumbled into it. Sold the business, made millions, uh, and I thought I was smart. Like, you think when you're, when you're smart in one area, you kind of think you're smart in every other area. So I started just, I don't, I, you know, I had, I had enough money for not only me to survive a lifetime, but my children's children to survive a lifetime. And two years later, I was so stupid during those two years, I had, I had 140... I was left with $143 left in my bank account total. That was all I was worth. I was losing my house, losing everything, didn't know what I was gonna do. I had, I had no friends left, because, you know, I, I... And this was 20 years ago, um, but, you know, basically on the way up everyone wants to be your friend, and on the way down nobody knows you. And it wasn't because they were bad or I was bad or I was good, it's just, you know, I didn't do the right things to cultivate the best possible relationships. And I kind of thought the money would always last and the money would keep on flowing. And I just didn't realize that, that for the first time in my life, bad things could, could really happen. I was used to just starting from zero, having nothing. It was better when I had nothing than when I had millions, because then I just started making stupid decisions and started getting really depressed about losing everything. And then by the time I had lost everything, I was phenomenally depressed. And so then, you know, starting from scratch is hard, but I'll, I'll, I'll, you know, we could talk the details, but I basically, this happened to me several times. Like, I would start something new, make a lot of money, then lose everything. Start something new, make a lot of money, lose everything. Start something new, make a lot of money, lose everything. It took me a long time to realize, "You know what? It's me (laughs) "

   20. CWChris Williamson5:16

       (laughs)

   21. JAJames Altucher5:16

       "... that's doing something wrong."

   22. CWChris Williamson5:17

       The common denominator here.

   23. JAJames Altucher5:19

       Right, the c- the total common denominator was that I was an idiot. And there's three skills to money. There's making it, keeping it, growing it. And somehow I had the skill of making it, uh, and which by the way, I didn't know at first. Yeah, I had to learn that. But then I realized it took... Unfortunately I learned re- l- le- realized too late. I had no skill at keeping it and growing it, and I had to really start from scratch learning those skills. And that was, that was difficult. You know, now it's 20 years later, knock on wood, I think I have those skills, but, but we'll see. Maybe I'll go broke tomorrow.

   24. CWChris Williamson5:52

       (laughs)

   25. JAJames Altucher5:52

       We never know. (laughs)

   26. CWChris Williamson5:54

       (laughs) Yeah. I suppose those strategic learning experiences, right? Like, there's no bigger way to deliver a hammer blow learning than by going broke a couple of times from a few million.

   27. JAJames Altucher6:10

       ... no, I mean, and but the thing is, you don't, you don't say to yourself, "Oh, this is great, I just lost everything, learning opportunity."

   28. CWChris Williamson6:17

       (laughs)

   29. JAJames Altucher6:17

       Like, it just doesn't-

   30. CWChris Williamson6:19

       There's something, a bit more visceral there, right?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   (laughs) …

   1. JAJames Altucher15:00

      F- first of all, I felt like there was a gun to my head. It's not like I was just gonna give up at this point. Uh, I had to do something. And so I had to ask myself, "Well, what, what was working for me on the way up, and what was not working for me on the way down?" It's not like... People sometimes ask me, "I wanna start a business. What's the right idea?" Or, "I wanna invest something. What's the right stock?" Uh, or, or, "I need to find my passion in life. Well, how, what do I do?" And, eh, that's sort of, like, the, th- uh, the last questions you ask. First, I had to kind of build up my inner, my inner frame, or my inner presence, so that I could have strength again to succeed, and I realized that's what I had always done on the way up, and I had given up this, what I'll call a daily practice, on the way down. And so what, how do you... So I s- so I started very seriously, every day, focusing, and it's very simple, and again, it's so simple it almost sounds like a cliché, um, but I very simply started focusing every single day, am I 1% better in terms of my physical health, emotional health, creative health, and I'll call it spiritual health, for lack of a better word? And physical health means, it's very simple, am I eating better, moving better, sleeping better? Doesn't mean I have to go to a gym and lift weights every day, doesn't mean I have to be a vegan, but you know, am I eat- am I eating a little better today than I did yesterday? Am I moving around or exercising a little bit more today than I did yesterday? Just a tiny bit. Just a tiny, tiny bit. Am I sleeping eight hours a day? Emotional health. Am I pruning the toxic relationships in my life and focusing on the better relationships? And there's a lot of reasons for that. First off, with the physical health, if you get sick, you're not gonna come up with ideas while you're sick, so that's why that's so important. Second off, with the emotional health, if you're constantly arguing with a spouse, or bad partners, or other toxic people in your life, you're not gonna be creative and have the energy to build a business, or to write a book, or to do exciting things in your life. Creative health, people don't realize this, but creativity is a muscle, and like any muscle, it atrophies within days or weeks if you don't use it. So I just make sure I'm creative every day. Specifically, what I try to do is I try to write down 10 ideas a day. Like, "Oh, what are 10 ideas for businesses I could start? What are 10 ideas for books I could write?" And by the way, it doesn't have to be about me. I could say, "What are 10 ideas Jeff Bezos should do to make Amazon better? What are 10 ideas Gmail could have to, to be better?" And they're, they're, uh, it's not intended to create businesses that I could start, because I'm, I'm coming up with 3,650 ideas a, a year.

   2. CWChris Williamson17:48

      (laughs)

   3. JAJames Altucher17:48

      Like, you can't, you can't act on more than one or two of those. But, uh, the whole idea is, again, to exercise that idea muscle. What happens when I'm coming up with 10 ideas? By idea number seven, I, it's like my brain is sweating. Like, it's, if you're, if you're, if you're doing it right, or you're trying to come up with the best ideas for the category you list, I'm, I'm, I'm sweat- I keep counting, "Have I hit 10 yet? Oh, no, eight. How do I come up with nine and 10?" And it's just, it should be really hard, eight, nine, and 10, and it usually is. And, you know, people say, "Oh, ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is everything." What they don't realize is that execution is just a subset of ideas. You need execution ideas in order to execute. 'Cause I know people who are really bad at executing on a good idea. There's a whole spectrum of bad execution to good execution. So you need to be creative to have good execution ideas as well, which is why this creative mu- creativity muscle is so important to exercise.... now, spiritual health, it doesn't mean pray, doesn't mean meditate, although it could mean those things. Just means a little bit more of a sense of some things in life you can control, some things you can't. Don't be anxious or fearful or worried about the things you can't control. Focus on the things you can control and keep expecta- expectations low, or else you're going to set yourself up for disappointment. So those-

   4. CWChris Williamson19:11

      And you're going, you're gonna be in a helicopter flying next door.

   5. JAJames Altucher19:14

      By the way, I'm taking a helicopter tomorrow-

   6. CWChris Williamson19:15

      (laughs)

   7. JAJames Altucher19:15

      ... so I hope I don't go broke now. But, uh, and again, if I just focus on these four things each day, and nothing else. Like don't w- don't worry, "Oh, am I gonna be broke two years from now? Am I gonna... How am I gonna feed my kids six months from now?" Just simply get back to that practice of, "Did I improve myself physically, emotionally, creatively, spiritually today?" 'Cause those are the... It's right, like today, right now, those are the only things you can control. Yeah, maybe I can send two or three emails to connections, or maybe if I have a great idea for Amazon, and I know somebody at Amazon, I could send an email to Amazon, "Here's my 10 ideas for you." But most of the time, you can't do that. You just have to focus on what you can focus on today. By the way, sending idea lists to other people when I really feel the ideas are good can turn directly into dollars.

   8. CWChris Williamson20:06

      One of the things that I think that's really interesting is how we try and break down the messiness of life, right? Life is this big, chaotic, amorphous, nebulous, ephemeral blob and breaking it down into these more manageable chunks, it appears to be something that's quite... It's quite a common tactic. Mutual friend and mutual podcast guest of ours, Kamal Ravikant, his practice about loving yourself, it's a daily practice. It's, you know, it's only a small part of your day, but it ekes into the rest of your day, right? Is there... Is, is this a, a modern problem, do you think? The fact that we've got this kes- messy, chaotic life at the moment and, and people are really struggling to kind of make sense of what's going on? Is this a, a practice which has only recently become useful?

   9. JAJames Altucher20:57

      Uh, yes and no. I mean, life is much more complex now. So if you're a, a serf in the 1700s in, I don't know, the Ukraine or whatever, life wasn't really that pleasant. It wasn't re- nobody... You wouldn't, like, say to yourself while you're surfing the, you know-

   10. CWChris Williamson21:15

       Yeah.

   11. JAJames Altucher21:15

       ... while you're, you know, plowing through the fields and pulling up weeds or whatever serfs did, you wouldn't be saying to yourself, "I've got to love myself. I've got to love myself."

   12. CWChris Williamson21:24

       (laughs)

   13. JAJames Altucher21:24

       Uh, you just had to do what you had to do. But now, everything's complex. Like, you know, we, we sort of... We don't live in our, in the village we're born in. We don't, we don't see every day the family we grew up with. We kind of create our environments. That, in itself, is complex. Then, let's say you start a business. It's so easy to get caught up in, "Ugh, did I maximize revenues today? Did I reach out to all the clients? Did I cover all the details? Did I pay everybody? Did I motivate everybody? Did I work on product development?" I don't know. But if you just focus on these four things I said, you'll end up doing the right thing. Like if you, if you're doing that, it's not like you'll suddenly say, "Okay, well, I'm, I'm done with my day. Now I can go to sleep." No. "Okay, if I'm, if I'm being creative, if I'm healthy, uh, if I'm, if I'm not worried about my relationships, okay, now it, now it's time to get to work. I can work on an article. I can work on an email to a client, you know? But, um, I could collect... I could delegate collecting some, you know, invoices that are outstanding." Whatever it is. Whatever it is that we're worried about. But life is really complex, so it helps to boil it down to simple things, where if you do those simple things, you know you're gonna be okay in the long run. Like I have huge faith, 'cause now I've seen it in action for a long, long time. I have huge faith that if I do my version of this daily practice, uh, and everybody's version could be different. If I do my version, then things are gonna be great in the long run. I never have to think about the long run if I'm, if I did what I need to do today. So some people tell me, oh, they, they have a to-do list. And I'm like, "Why do you have a to-do list?" And then they say, "Oh, to keep track of the 50 things I have to, I have to do." And I'm like, "Well, how are you gonna do 50 things, like, right now? Uh, what are you gonna do right now?" And, and they don't really know. They don't really know how to answer that question. At any given point during the day, like let's say after this podcast, I have some free time, and I've already done my kind of daily practice of the day. I wrote my 10 ideas a day down. I worked on my relationships. I took a walk, whatever. Okay, if I have some free time, and I, and I'm not yet ready to relax for the day, maybe I will write to a customer, or maybe I will come up with, uh, you know, start work on writing, uh, another article or, or do something related to business or whatever. Like y- at any point, you know what is the highest priority thing to do. So I don't need to keep a to-do list, because at any given point that I have free time, I'm just gonna do the one thing that is the highest priority. And then when I finish that, I'm gonna do the next thing. And now how do I know what's the highest priority? If it's not high priority, I'm not gonna think about it.

   14. CWChris Williamson24:07

       (laughs)

   15. JAJames Altucher24:08

       I'm always thinking about what's the highest priority, and then I'll do it.

   16. CWChris Williamson24:12

       One of the things I'm thinking about as you were talking about that, the serf from Ukraine. I don't even know what a serf is. I thought you meant a surfer. Um, one of the things that I've got in my head there is that (clears throat) as we've got more abundance and life has become a lot more comfortable and convenient for everybody in the 21st century, um, thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? And previously, like if you, if you didn't have food or water or safety or you were maybe gonna freeze or maybe one of your kids was gonna get taken away by a mountain lion tonight, like you're probably not wondering about whether or not you're self-actualizing. Like you're-

   17. JAJames Altucher24:49

       Right.

   18. CWChris Williamson24:49

       ... what you need to worry about is only a few levels thick. And I-

   19. JAJames Altucher24:53

       Right, like...... you know, and, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs is interesting because we've kind of gotten through that first level, which is nobody's really worried about being thirsty later today. Like, you could just turn on the faucet and get a glass. E- even if you're homeless, you can ... Most countries in the world, there's places you could go and get, uh, a meal and water and even find shelter. And in fact, you know, the, the big problem with homeless people is not, uh, that people can't find a home, it's that a l- many of the homeless people are mentally ill and are not being treated correctly. But, uh, that, that aside, you know, I think a lot of our basic needs are taken care of and, and then we fool ourselves into thinking, "Well, I'm only gonna be happy when I have the car I want or, or the private jet I want," or whatever, when all that is, is stupid. Like, a few years ago, I, I did an experiment, but I, I decided to ... I was renting two apartments, one upstate New York where my kids were and one in New York City where all the opportunities were, and both my leases were up. And I don't like to own a place, I like to rent, but I decided, you know what? I don't even wanna rent anymore. So, I threw out all of my belongings in both apartments. I had 40 years worth of belongings-

   20. CWChris Williamson26:17

       (laughs)

   21. JAJames Altucher26:17

       ... that I, that, you know, just in general, you accumulate-

   22. CWChris Williamson26:20

       Stuff.

   23. JAJames Altucher26:20

       ... crap over time. Yeah. And you don't even realize how much you accumulate. So, I, I was going on a trip and I said to a friend of mine, I said, "Clean out my apartments and throw ... You can do w- you can do this. You can either give anything, or you can either keep anything for yourself, whatever you wanna keep you can keep for yourself, or, or give to charity, or throw it out." Uh, and, but when, I said, "When I come back, I want nothing at all. I'm not gonna go back to these apartments, I'm never gonna set foot in them again. I don't want, I don't want anything left in them." And, and I said to her, "It should take you just a day. You know, just bring your car, it'll take a day."

   24. CWChris Williamson26:58

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JAJames Altucher26:58

       It took ... She had to rent a truck-

   26. CWChris Williamson27:00

       (laughs)

   27. JAJames Altucher27:00

       ... like, an 18 Wheeler, and it took her, her husband, and all her cousins, like, an entire week-

   28. CWChris Williamson27:08

       (laughs)

   29. JAJames Altucher27:08

       ... to, to clear everything out. You don't even realize how much junk you have. And the, and the only time she called me during the whole week, 'cause I told her not to call me at all, and the only time she called me was, she said, "What about your college diploma? You must have worked so hard for that. Like, are you sure you want me to throw that out?" And I'm like, "Yeah, burn that-

   30. CWChris Williamson27:23

       (laughs)
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   (laughs) …

   1. JAJames Altucher30:00

      minimalist, and maybe it is, but for me it was just my own experiment for me about, about what, what do I really need to, to live. And I was perfectly happy. I could have lived that lifestyle the rest of my life except for the fact that, you know, I think when you wanna get, when you wanna date and you wanna get married-

   2. CWChris Williamson30:17

      (laughs)

   3. JAJames Altucher30:18

      ... uh, s- you know, your, your spouse might not like that lifestyle.

   4. CWChris Williamson30:20

      (laughs)

   5. JAJames Altucher30:21

      And-

   6. CWChris Williamson30:22

      It's a big buy-in, yeah. But one of the things, so I, I, I watched the, the documentary a little while ago. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it's pretty cool, by The Minimalists. And, um, it made me feel so bloated, so bloated. It's like the same as seeing some, like, incredibly f- fit, lean athlete on, on Instagram or on a documentary or something and you realize just how s- physically inadequate to them you are. And then with that, I was like, I've got ... Just looking around at all these different possessions, all of this stuff that gets used whe- oh, once every year. Like, you know what I mean?

   7. JAJames Altucher30:59

      ... yeah.

   8. CWChris Williamson31:00

      Yeah, it's-

   9. JAJames Altucher31:00

      So, so, like, like, one, one trick to use, and I, I, I don't know if this is a Marie Kondo trick or not, but one trick to use is to basically put everything you own into s- into, you know, one room which you don't use, or storage, or whatever, and then only go and retrieve things as you need or want them.

   10. CWChris Williamson31:21

       Mm.

   11. JAJames Altucher31:22

       And then at the end of the year, throw ... Or at the end of six months, throw out ... Just simply throw out everything that you didn't use.

   12. CWChris Williamson31:29

       (laughs)

   13. JAJames Altucher31:30

       And, you know, I think Marie Kondo's a little different. She's like, "Oh, lay out all of your objects on the floor. Pick up an object and put it to your heart."

   14. CWChris Williamson31:37

       (laughs)

   15. JAJames Altucher31:37

       "And if you love it, you gotta keep it." I don't really love any of my objects. Like, that ... I ... You ... What, what ... At the ... A- you know, if I write ... So I'm a writer at heart. I've been writing every day for 30 years, since I was a kid. And if I write something good that day, th- I love that, and that's, and that's about it, you know, other than, you know, my family, kids, friends. But there's no object-

   16. CWChris Williamson32:03

       Mm.

   17. JAJames Altucher32:03

       ... I can think of loving. Uh, o- one way in which I'm not a minimalist is that I like convenience. So if I'm working in a certain location, I like to live across the street from that location. That's convenient. And, or if I'm flying somewhere, I don't like to take three stops to save money. I like to just spend the money on no stops. (laughs) So, so, uh, convenience is very important to me. I think-

   18. CWChris Williamson32:26

       Right.

   19. JAJames Altucher32:26

       ... I think money is good for buying convenience. And, and by the way, convenience is related to better health, longer life, and, and many other things.

   20. CWChris Williamson32:33

       Well, one of the resources that you cannot buy any more of is time, right?

   21. JAJames Altucher32:39

       Yeah.

   22. CWChris Williamson32:39

       And when you're talking about the, the extra cost, whatever it is that you want to save, so, okay, how much would you pay for, I don't know ... Like, I've been to New York. I went last year, and the commute in there takes f- days. It's measured in days.

   23. JAJames Altucher32:51

       Yeah.

   24. CWChris Williamson32:52

       Um, (clears throat) li- how long's this commute? You're talking maybe an hour? An hour a day there, an hour a day back? Two hours a day, five days a week, you know, however long you're gonna be working in this business for? But all right, how much would you pay for, for that? Because at the end of your life, you'd give your fortune for an extra minute.

   25. JAJames Altucher33:08

       Yeah. That's right. So, I think that's very important. Now, now all of that might change when there's automated driving. I, I think you'll see kind of these mobile offices driving around, so you can live much further away from your place of work and stuff, 'cause you could work in your, your mobile office.

   26. CWChris Williamson33:24

       Mm.

   27. JAJames Altucher33:24

       But, uh, uh, right now, I like to ... I mean, basically, everything I do during the d- uh, uh, 90% of the things I do during a week happen within 250 feet of where I'm sitting right now. (laughs)

   28. CWChris Williamson33:38

       That's so (laughs) funny. Do you think, uh, I'm, I'm sort of envisioning, like, a flexible work station, like a library on wheels in an articulated vehicle with, like, quite nice airy windows. Do you s- do you see us getting that soon?

   29. JAJames Altucher33:52

       Yeah. Yeah, within the next five to ten years.

   30. CWChris Williamson33:54

       Oh, fuck. Man, I am ... James, I am so ready for that. I'm so ready to take a journey some place and just be, be able to have ... Do you think they'll have standing desks? 'Cause I'd love it if they had standing desks.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   You're not allowed to…

   1. JAJames Altucher45:00

      And okay, I, I did-

   2. CWChris Williamson45:02

      You're not allowed to try and raise money to buy a nation? Is that against the-

   3. JAJames Altucher45:06

      Well, well, I was trying to raise $100 million, and they didn't think I would succeed, so they would get stuck with the credit card chargeback fees. So, uh, eh, so I c- I would like to say that it was for political reasons that they shut me down, which makes the story more interesting, but it was really just a financial decision on their part.

   4. CWChris Williamson45:24

      Yeah.

   5. JAJames Altucher45:24

      And, and, but, so, so I did all this. The entire thing took me a day, and it was a fun idea. It was a fun experiment. I learned something about ... Not only did I learn something about Greenland, but I had never done a Kickstarter or Go- GoFundMe project before.

   6. CWChris Williamson45:39

      Mm-hmm.

   7. JAJames Altucher45:39

      So I learned something. Uh, I learned a valuable skill. And n- and did I get anything out of it? Yeah, I have a story I could tell you. So now that's an entire story about ... It's a classic case of experimenting with an idea. By the way, if the idea succeeded, what does success mean for that idea? Well, maybe news reporters would pick up on this and I would get some renown, and who knows, maybe people would have this discussion about why this was happening and-

   8. CWChris Williamson46:07

      Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

   9. JAJames Altucher46:07

      ... and it would, it would turn into something exciting. I don't know. Like, there would be some, some excitement from it that would be generated. So that was success, but I had no downside. I had an hour of my time, and my, my ... The upside that I did get for that hour was I have a great story, which I'll probably include in my next book, which is gonna be all about, you know ... Part of it's gonna be about how to do experiments in your life to try to improve your life. And I have s- I have e- I have experiences like that all the time and experiments like that all the time, because I'm constantly trying ideas, but I give myself a very low threshold to quit the idea. So okay, Kickstarter and GoFundMe canceled it.

   10. CWChris Williamson46:44

       Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

   11. JAJames Altucher46:45

       I don't really need to ... I'm not really gonna buy Greenland, so I don't really need to do anything else, and I got a good story out of it. Time to move on to the next idea. Ideas are abundant, w- which goes along with ideas are a dime a dozen. Ideas are abundant, so I know I'm gonna have more ideas to experiment with maybe even every single day, which is true.

   12. CWChris Williamson47:04

       How do you allow yourself to have this optionality whilst still sticking to the core things that you need to work on in life? Because you could potentially continue to chase shiny objects for a very, very long time.

   13. JAJames Altucher47:19

       Yes.

   14. CWChris Williamson47:20

       Which would ... I, I don't know what your particular opinion is, but it's sort of common held productivity wisdom that you should have a, a, a balance between explore and exploit, right? And that the explore should only be a portion and the, the exploit should you be increasingly doubling down on the things that you find yourself to be good at. Do you disagree with that?

   15. JAJames Altucher47:42

       Yes. No, I agree with that. So, so for instance, if I'm experimenting with an idea and I'm like, "Oh, this feels good and I'm enjoying this," then I'll double down on it. Like, let's say I have an i- And, and I know you're asking also, there's, like, certain things you have to do, like your job, your work, y- make money, and so on. But let's say, hypothetically, I started writing a mystery novel, and after a page or two, I'm excited and I'm enjoying it, and I don't know if it's gonna be good or bad or whatever, but if I'm enjoying it, your, your heart is a compass and it will tell you what you should keep doing. So if you're enjoying something and, and it's, it, it ... And you're passing ... You don't seem to be hitting those thresholds at each point of when you should, should quit, then you just keep doing it. And, uh, that's usually how everyone ... every business I've ever started starts, is that, "Oh, I, I s- I have an idea for a business. Oh, I, I c- start implementing it. Oh, there's customers interested. Now I'm enjoying it. Maybe I'm gonna make money off of it," and I just keep going. You know, the podcast, I started a podcast. I did one, it was fun. I did two, it was fun. I started to get advertisers, now it's bringing in money. Uh, more people are showing up who want to be on the podcast. I hire people to help me. Oh, and I en- really enjoy it. I'm learning so much from it, so I just keep doing it. One thing, you know, you accelerate on the things you enjoy.

   16. CWChris Williamson49:06

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JAJames Altucher49:07

       But now let's say you, let's say you have a nine-to-five job, and l- let's say you have kids at home, and you know, you have the regular, uh, classic work day. When do you, when will you have time to do this? Well, first off, in a nine-to-five job...... and I've had nine-to-five jobs, everybody's had and every, many people still have. Uh, the average person, and there's studies on this, the average person works about two and a half hours a day at a nine-to-five job, but the rest of the time, they're kind of just like, you know, on social media, or they're taking a lunch break or a cigarette break or whatever. It's not, you know, that's average. Some people work more hours, some people work less. Uh, you know, but all the experiments I just described to you took me an hour at the most. You're incredibly productive, you're the, you're the most productive person in your workplace if you're working for five full hours. Um, that's still plenty of time to experiment on whatever it is you're experimenting on. I'll, can I tell you one more story? This could have been a business.

   18. CWChris Williamson50:02

       It is, it is, man. It is.

   19. JAJames Altucher50:03

       So I had, I was at a dinner and there were two people at the dinner, a friend of mine was at the dinner I hadn't seen in a while, and he had, he brought his new girlfriend, and they were all, they were in their 40s, and they were all cute and cuddly. And I said, "Oh, things, sounds like things are going well for you guys." You know, I was just making conversation. And he said, "Yeah, we..." They're smiling. "Yeah, we just had the conversation. We decided to go steady." And I thought, that's such a weird phrase right now.

   20. CWChris Williamson50:31

       (laughs)

   21. JAJames Altucher50:31

       Like, that's like a high school phrase.

   22. CWChris Williamson50:33

       (laughs)

   23. JAJames Altucher50:33

       And, and so I asked him, like, "What does that really mean?" And, and he said, "Well, we're not... We, we, we deleted our dating apps from our phones." And so I thought to myself, on my idea list the next day, I was thinking of ideas for apps, and I said, "Oh, maybe there should be a going steady app where if you're gonna be going steady with somebody, you, you get the going, you each get the going steady app on your phone, you now connect with each other on the going steady app. It automatically deletes all the dating apps-"

   24. CWChris Williamson51:02

       (laughs)

   25. JAJames Altucher51:02

       "... uh, from your phone, and it notifies-"

   26. CWChris Williamson51:03

       Updates your Facebook, uh, relationship status.

   27. JAJames Altucher51:08

       Yeah, all, all that stuff. And, and it, uh, it, it, it notifies the other person if they start downloading dating apps again.

   28. CWChris Williamson51:17

       No, fucking hell. That's-

   29. JAJames Altucher51:18

       So-

   30. CWChris Williamson51:19

       If you start liking booty pictures, if you start randomly following a bunch of people that are from, like, your area from the opposite sex.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:01:42

   Yeah. …

   1. CWChris Williamson1:00:00

      got a pretend wound. I was like, "I'll do it! I'll do it!" Like, I just wanted to, I wanted to be-

   2. JAJames Altucher1:00:03

      Yeah.

   3. CWChris Williamson1:00:03

      ... a part of it. So it made me look really uncool.

   4. JAJames Altucher1:00:05

      (laughs)

   5. CWChris Williamson1:00:06

      Um, I don't, we didn't, I didn't get to learn anything at all about her, but it was like just such a, like a memorable experience for sure. For me, at least.

   6. JAJames Altucher1:00:14

      Right. So look, that's an idea on the list of ideas of like what's an interesting date night. Another thing is find restaurants where there's the restaurant, but then you happen to know there's another restaurant in the restaurant behind the kitchen, and so you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the other restaurant.

   7. CWChris Williamson1:00:31

      Oh, God, I don't think, I don't think I know many of them. Is that, is that quite common in New York?

   8. JAJames Altucher1:00:34

      No, but there's like two or three I know of, and it's always, that's on my list of ideas, like if, you know, if I were to ever, you know, I'm, I'm married now-

   9. CWChris Williamson1:00:42

      Mm-hmm.

   10. JAJames Altucher1:00:42

       ... so I'm, I'm not planning on going on any first dates anymore for the rest of my life.

   11. CWChris Williamson1:00:46

       You're wingman-ing me.

   12. JAJames Altucher1:00:47

       But-

   13. CWChris Williamson1:00:47

       J- James, this is, this is purely for, for me as a young, single, very available man with his email address in the show notes below, and you know, if, if, if I've, if there's a girl in New York that thinks, "I fancy going into the arse end of a, of a café and getting taken past the chef so that I can go to the thing," then you can send me the address and we can-

   14. JAJames Altucher1:01:06

       Yeah. So if you're ever in New York, I will tell you like the places to go and the things to say to get into the interesting place. And those are always on the list of ideas too. But again, it's, uh, when, whe- when I was in dating mode, which was a while ago, I used the creativity muscle to come up with these ideas. (uplifting music) Love fans. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Love fans.

Episode duration: 1:01:43