James Altucher

I’m an entrepreneur and angel investor. I’ve achieved the rank of chess master. And I’m the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book “Choose Yourself.”

Four or five years ago, a reader of some of my columns bought the domain name jamesaltucher.com and gave it to me as a birthday gift. It was a total surprise to me. I didn’t even know the reader. I hope one day we meet.

Two years ago a friend of mine, Tim Sykes, insisted I had to have a blog. He set it up for me. He even wrote the “About Me”. I didn’t want a blog. I had nothing to say. But about six or seven months ago I decided I wanted to take this blog seriously.

I kept putting off changing the “About Me” which was no longer really about me and maybe never was.

A few weeks ago I did a chapter in one of the books in Seth Godin’s “The Domino Project”. Mohit Pawar organized it (here’s Mohit’s blog) and sent me a bunch of questions recently. It’s intended to be an interview on his blog but I hope Mohit forgives me because I want to use it as my new “About Me” also.

Author Website

Philosopher's Notes on James Altucher's Books

LockedPhilosopher's Notes

Skip the Line

by James Altucher

James Altucher is an entrepreneur, active angel investor, writer, podcaster, stand-up comedian, and chess master. This book is FANTASTIC—perfectly capturing his eccentric, iconoclastic style while challenging A LOT of the cultural norms we think are fixed in stone which, in fact, ARE NOT. As per the sub-title, “Skip the Line” is all about “The 10,000 Experiments Rule and Other Surprising Advice for Reaching Your Goals.” As you’d expect, it’s PACKED with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m fired up to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

Quotes by James Altucher

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When someone says, ‘You can’t do that!’ they are trying to be important. So important that they think they can tell you what to do with your life.

James Altucher

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Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired magazine, told me, ‘Don’t be the best, be the only.’ Finding your own unique perspective is what separates people who have skills from people who will be in the top 1 percent of their field and who will eventually find great success in that field. ... Uniqueness plus new knowledge helps you reach the top 1 percent of any field you choose.

James Altucher

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Ironically, your ability to say no to opportunities, even good ones, is necessary to live an extraordinary life. ‘No’ is a lot harder to say when you don’t respect yourself. This is because it’s easier to go along with what other people are asking you to do. You need enough self-authority to say no and even more to follow through when you do say it. Both are hard if you don’t respect yourself. You also need to prepare your ‘no.’

James Altucher

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Muscles atrophy quickly. If you lie in bed for two weeks, you might need physical therapy to walk again. That’s how fast leg muscles atrophy. The idea muscle is the same way. Use it or lose it.

James Altucher

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Being resilient is fine. And many people go through hard times, grit their teeth, and bear through to get to the other side. Taleb’s example of being ‘antifragile’ goes one step further. If something hurts you, it should make you stronger.

James Altucher

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I get emails: ‘I have a correction for you. I think you meant ‘underpromise.’ No, underpromising is lying. Don’t lie to your customers. Don’t lie to anyone. If I say I can get the job done in twenty days but I know I can do it in five, then I say five and deliver it in four. First off, everyone else is lying and saying twenty. You win the job by saying the truth (five). And you push yourself and challenge yourself to do it in four. You become a better person. The client is with you for life. And you exercise the muscle that pushes you to exceed your own expectations. Otherwise, you’re mediocre like everyone else. Don’t be mediocre.

James Altucher