When was the last time you chose yourself? In Choose Yourself by James Altucher, he describes the many times he’s been knocked down, repeating the same mistakes over and over again. He finally learns the importance of choosing himself. To attain success, you have to choose yourself.
Altucher chooses himself because he knows no one else will. I loved Choose Yourself, however, some people may find some of the author’s views extreme and uncomfortable.
One of things James Altucher has been preaching for years, is that it’s important to generate ideas all the time. He says that ideas act like currency, and we’re living in the idea economy. Write down 10 ideas each day, that’s what he recommends professionals do. If you have ideas, you’ll make money. Not all of your ideas will be great, but you’ll have some good ones. He covers the concept of writing 10 ideas each day in Choose Yourself.
His ex-wife, Claudia Azula Altucher, wrote Become An Idea Machine: Because Ideas Are The Currency Of The 21st Century. Based on James Altucher’s concept of writing down 10 ideas each day, the author provides daily prompts. I’m embarrassed to say, I abandoned Become an Idea Machine. I simply couldn't wrap my head around some of her prompts. A friend bought the book on my recommendation and went through the daily prompts with her husband. She told me that she benefited from the process.
Why am I writing about this when I’m supposed to be reviewing Choose Yourself?
A big part of choosing yourself is your ability to consistently generate a pool of ideas so that you always have options in your life. One idea can completely transform your life. However, you have to apply the idea. It’s important to cultivate yourself. Improve every day.
5 Big Ideas From Choose Yourself by James Altucher
- Every day write 10 ideas about a topic. For instance, you need to sell more of your core product/service. Write 10 different ideas to do so. The first few ideas will be obvious and the kind of ideas that others will come up with. However, by the time you get to 10, you’ll have more non-obvious ideas.
- Develop a sense of gratitude and surrender. Every day, I write five things that I’m grateful for and have been doing that for about three months. I went through the book Gratitude Journal: 100 Days of Gratefulness. Every day, you get a prompt and you use that as a guide to write what you’re grateful for.
- Read for two hours each day. If you read the right books, this could be a game changer in your life. The trick is to take notes as you read. Review what you’ve written, then pick out the big ideas. To take it one step further, after you’ve read a few books, it’s time to combine ideas across books.
- You have to first change yourself before you can change the world. People will know if you’re not living your truth. You must do what you’re asking others to do. Work on yourself to make changes. You’ll be more credible.
- Promote yourself. No one will. Promotions often lead to sales. If you don’t sell your products and services, you don’t have a business. Become a master salesman. Sales is everything.
What is Choose Yourself by James Altucher About?
You need to choose yourself because no one will do it for you. There’s a blueprint James Altucher uses to choose himself. He has the ability to bounce back from setbacks. This tells me he knows what he’s talking about. Develop ideas, execute them, and choose yourself for success. Take the time to refine your “idea muscle” into a machine. Develop a sense of gratitude and surrender.
“Love yourself to choose yourself.”
Remember that people act out of self-interest. So don’t waste time hating those who reject you. Choose to be in the game. Don’t focus on events and things you have no control over.
“What you need to do is build the house you will live in. You build that house by laying a solid foundation: by building physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health …. And you need to build a positive base: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Once these four “bodies” are working in harmony, you can reach out into the world. You build the foundation for the house you want to live in.”
Write a book. It gives you credibility and gets you,
- Consulting
- Speaking gigs
- Media opportunities
- Writing opportunities
- Email list you can sell things to
Content: Choose Yourself by James Altucher
Expand your border in all different directions:
- Creatively
- Financially
- Spiritually
- Physically
In what areas can you improve? Do the things you enjoy. Only read books you enjoy. I don’t know about this one. I’ve read books that I didn’t enjoy, but gained a lot from the experience. Cultivate a fire inside that won’t go out. Others will catch on.
Physical Health
Be healthy to act on your dreams. Get enough exercise. You don’t have to run a marathon, a 20-minute walk will do. You can walk around the block. Stay away from processed foods and get enough sleep. Don’t eat shortly before going to sleep. It interrupts the quality of your sleep.
Emotional Health
Surround yourself with positive people who inspire you. Avoid those who bring you down.
Mental Health
Don’t let your mind control you. Set a goal and come up with 10 ways to achieve it. Altucher is an idea machine. Read for two hours each day. Write 10 ideas a day. One of them will be a home run.
Spiritual Health
Live in the present moment. Surrender and accept all the surrounding beauty. Let go of thoughts of the past. Stop worrying about the future. Think of five people you’re grateful for.
Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson’s Rules of Success
- Take out the middleman. Go straight to the source. When many people first go into business, they target their former employer as a client. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. What Johnson would do is go directly to the people his former employer serves. Go to the source.
- Pick a boring business. Deliver better service than what’s being offered.
- Get a customer instead of relying on venture capital funding.
- Build trust while you sleep. Let people know how you do what you do.
- Blogging is not about money. It’s about being trusted. Trust leads to opportunities.
- Say yes. When you get opportunities that will stretch you, say ‘yes.’ You can elevate your business or career to a new level.
- Treat customers like human beings. Make it easy for a customer to get in touch with you.
Bryan Johnson is a very successful serial entrepreneur, so he has a few thing to say worth listening to.
Important Lessons from Choose Yourself by James Altucher
- You have to first change yourself before you can change the world.
- Do one thing every day to better your situation.
- Turn an obstacle into a moment of bountifulness. For instance, he talks about a traffic jam being an abundance of cars.
- Be helpful.
- Make people’s lives better.
- Create something that customer’s can’t get elsewhere.
- Solve a problem you have. Other people have the same problem.
- Promote yourself. No one will.
- Become a master salesman. Sales is everything. Negotiation is worthless. Sales is everything.
- Look at the big picture.
10 Keys to Selling
- Lifetime value: Make it a habit to add value to people’s lives. The opportunities will come to you.
- Ancillary benefits of having this customer. Will the customer get you other customers?
- Learn the history of your client, audience, readership and your platform. Love your customer and their products. Become knowledgeable about their products and services. When you want to get a customer, invest time to study them.
- Give extra features. Do the first project cheap. Give more than you promised.
- Give away the kitchen sink. This reminds me of Gary Vaynerchuk.
- Recommend your competition. Link to your competition and other websites. If you offer value, they’ll want access to you.
- Idea machine. Put your feet in your client’s shoes and think of ways to help them.
- Show up. In what ways can you help your client?
- Knowledge. Learn about your area of expertise. Create value.
- Love it. You can only make money doing what you love.
Have you read?
Start Taking Steps Now to Crush It Post Isolation
How to Become an Idea Machine
- Exercise your “idea muscle” every day.
- It takes six to 12 months to become an idea machine.
- Develop confidence in yourself about your ideas.
- After you get an idea, ask yourself what’s the next step, then take it.
- How do you make your ideas achievable?
- Be a transmitter. Find your underground stream – source for new ideas.
- Get the four parts of your life in harmony.
- Activate another part of your brain. Do something different. Shake things up. Do something different from your everyday norm. It gives your brain a jolt.
- Collisions. Allow ideas to collide. Read through your old ideas and compare them to new ideas.
- Don’t pressure yourself. Let the unseen force work on the seeds you’ve planted. The best ones will take root and sprout.
- List your childhood passions. What were you interested in?
- Surf the Internet, you never know what you’ll find at Google University?
Honesty Makes You More Money
“Honesty is the only way to make money in today’s world.”
- It compounds exponentially.
- Give credit.
- Don’t lead a double life.
- Who you are in business should be who you are in your personal life.
- Stop making excuses.
- Don’t gossip.
- Be impeccable with your word.
- Enhance the lives of others.
Books Mentioned in Choose Yourself by James Altucher
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
by Brené Brown
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravikant
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition
by Henry M. Robert, III
The Elements of Style by William Strunk JR. and E.B. White
On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Final Thoughts: Choose Yourself by James Altucher
I’ve had the book, Choose Yourself for about five years. But a few months ago was the time to read it. I read it about a months ago. And I’ve started to incorporate some of the information into my life. Have you read the book?
If someone clicks on a link and buys something from Amazon, the company will pay me a very small commission. First published October 2020.
