MBA1188 Must Read: Choose Yourself by James Altucher

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Today's must read is Choose Yourself by James Altucher. This is a book that has been on my reading list for some time because I've heard so many good things about it. I was also interested in reading this book because I find James Altucher quite interesting. He's a New Yorker like me. I love his attitude. I used to listen to his podcast with Stephen Dubner called Question of the Day. I loved him in that and Choose Yourself. Today's Must Read is his most successful book. It's the book I have heard has made the most impact on people that I know. In the book, Altucher explains that after the 2008 global economic crisis, you can't wait to be chosen. You have to choose yourself. This means you have to take full responsibility for your own success. You got to take responsibility for your own happiness by reclaiming control of your aspirations and your dreams. Heavy stuff, I know, but he actually unfolds and unpacks this really well. He gives you the tools and the daily practices that you could do to stay physically, mentally and emotionally healthy so you can pursue your dreams. In today's episode, I'll be sharing with you how this book shows you how to stop worrying about pointless things, how to stop letting others make decisions for you, and how to stop surrounding yourself with the wrong people. Can't wait to get into this one. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Choose yourself as one of those business books, entrepreneurial books, that makes you step back from all the little details, makes you analyze why you're doing this, how you're doing this, how it's affecting your mood, your emotions, your life, your health, and how to fine tune those things so you can sustainably build a business so you can keep on doing it. There are certain things that will hold you back, and James shares his own stories about how some of these things held him back and how you can combat these things every day. You'll no longer spend time and energy worrying about things you can't change. Instead, you'll focus on more creative and meaningful ventures. You'll lose the fear of rejection that makes most people passive and allow others to make decisions for them. Instead, you yourself will take control and take control of your dreams. You also learn how to distance yourself from people that just drain your energy and make you angry. You know what I'm talking about? People that just when you leave them, you're just in a funk. But this book starts out with a clear statement that the American Dream of a steady middle class job and keeping up with the Joneses is all over. Those days are over. I mean, if you're 30 or older, if you asked your parents, you know, what their ambitions were when they were growing up, many of them would say just to get a good education, have a steady job, buy my own house, because that was a clear path for them. That path is no longer there and a lot of us think it still exists. A lot of people call this the American Dream. From the end of World War II until the global financial crisis 2008, this is sort of the period that is called the American Dream. And of course, if you live outside of America, this applies to the Belgian Dream, the Swiss Dream, the Japanese Dream. The global financial crisis really affected the majority of the developed world. But what's behind this dream is one word, and it's work. The idea that if I put in enough time and work into a job, then I can have a comfortable life. Those days are totally over. If you want to have a comfortable life, you're going to have to do more than just that. You're going to have to create something for yourself. And I think we all know this now. And if you're listening to the show, you're probably curious or already an entrepreneur and understanding. I got to build something for myself so I can have some modicum of comfort in my life. Nowadays, especially in the United States, jobs are temporary and they offer no security or freedom. There's no real retirement plans planned out for most companies these days. Most people don't stay in jobs for 40 plus years like they used to because, hey, there's no incentive to do so. And the cost of living has become incredibly high. So just being frugal is not gonna be enough. You're gonna have to also earn more money somehow. I know this sounds like a devastating story, but we shouldn't be sad about it. We should take control and say, hey, this is a situation I need to recognize for what it is and work around it. And this is what the book is all about. And this is why the book is called Choose Yourself. So you could take control of your own destiny, of your own life, your own future. He talks about what it takes to empower yourself. Takes self confidence. It takes the ability to understand today's technology, whether it's using a laptop and the web and smartphones and all that stuff. He talks about how you can write a book without even needing a publisher or an agent. You can publish it online yourself and make all the money. He says if you want to create a TV show, you don't have to pitch it to others. You could just put it on YouTube and start to get some traction and start to get an audience. But the book really emphasizes that you need to avoid falling into the trap of just chasing money. The basis of the American dream was the need to earn more than buy more. As long as your work paid for your lifestyle, it just didn't matter because you essentially were happy. But in this new era, it's different. We have the freedom to do what we want. The Internet has opened so many doors for us. There is less and less gatekeepers. So now we can be happy with what we do and not what we buy. So essentially he's saying, before we had to just slog in a job for 40 years so we can earn the money to buy the things that make us happy and content and feel like, hey, I'm somewhat successful now. We can do what we love and earn a living from it, even if it's not a huge amount of money. You're a happy camper because every day you're doing something you love. The book also talks a lot about how you have to get over your fear of rejection. It says our fear of rejection means that we are forever waiting on someone else to decide our fate. And if you don't go out there and try and move forward despite your fear of being rejected, then somebody's going to make a decision for you. You're not going to get a vote. Think about all the things that you missed out in life because you didn't try, because you are afraid to fail, afraid to be rejected. Those are missed opportunities. Those are missed chances to turn your whole life around. And if you miss too many of those all your life, you're going to run out of opportunities. And he talks about how he believes that there's a certain number of opportunities we all have in our life, and if we just keep saying no to them, then we're going to have few and few of them. You got to start saying yes. You got to start, you know, trying and putting yourself out there despite your fear of rejection. Instead of fearing rejection and letting others choose for us, we should make our own decisions and empower ourselves to choose. Hey, I have the ability to choose to go for this opportunity to speak to somebody who I might be intimidated to speak to. You might be at a conference and see somebody you admire and. And, hey, you're just like, I don't want to bother this person. You know, I'm kind of shy, and what if they just think I'm a loser? No, you gain nothing out of just sitting there. By simply introducing yourself, you open the opportunity to maybe have a relationship with this person, maybe become their friend, or very least learn something in the moment. James Altucher also is a big believer of physical and mental health and how it can help you be successful. He says this builds a solid foundation. So if you take care of your body and you take care of your mental health, everything else will fall into place a lot easier. Our physical body, you know, it's obvious you got to be healthy. You got to be able to get up in the morning to get to work, right? But it's just not that simple. We have to make sure that we eat right, we exercise, we sleep right. A lot of us neglect these Things in pursuit of our dreams. We think, hey, I'll sleep later, I'll exercise later, I'll just eat something quickly here. It doesn't really matter. And you just can't perform at a high level if you're doing that to your engine, to yourself. A lot of people don't realize that your brain that you use every day to, you know, pursue your dreams is just like a muscle, just like an athlete uses their body to perform. If NBA star LeBron James didn't exercise, didn't eat right, didn't sleep right, there is no way he's going to be one of the best basketball players. It's so easy for us to see that because that's his physical body. And we don't think exercise and, you know, diet and sleep affects our brains. It does. And you're at the helm of the business. You got to be in tip top shape so you can be able to really, really lead your company. He also talks about the importance of getting fresh air. And I thought that was pretty interesting because a lot of people don't talk about that, but it's so true. A lot of us, we sit in our offices, we might be living in cold climates and closed cities, so we don't go out enough, but fresh air really does bring oxygen to your brain. When I have a problem I can't solve at work, when I'm just trying to work something out or trying to figure a solution out, one of the best things I can do is just go for a 15 minute walk. I highly advise you to do that. Even if it's cold, go out there, go for a walk, even if it's raining, go for a walk, get close to nature, somehow get some fresh air. And I actually think it's more helpful if you do it by yourself. Because if you're somebody else, you're going to try to talk it out, you're going to try to talk about other things. You might vent when you're just by yourself, you're just you and nature and your head in the fresh air and, and allows you to have some focused time to clear your head. And this leads into what he calls your mental health and your mental energy. He talks about how to stop compulsively overthinking and worrying about things, worrying about things you can't control. He says this is just like a habit. It's a habit that's easily to be developed and a habit that you're gonna have to break. He also talks about how to train your brain to be open minded. To be a big thinker. And he says note down at least 10 ideas a day. It doesn't matter what those ideas are. The content of ideas don't is irrelevant. Okay? It can be grand ideas like solving world hunger or more modest ones, such as a list of ways to make your partner in life happy. The main thing is to generate ideas and set them down and just put them down in a notebook, put them down in a note app and just get in the habit of producing ideas. I love this idea, I love this concept of this practice, he says. Soon you'll find yourself with no time to worry about pointless things because you're, you're focusing on your body, you're focusing on your mind, you're thinking of new ideas, you're getting into new habits. You're replacing old habits with new habits.

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In summary, choose Yourself by James Altucher really emphasizes that the American dream, the French dream, the Australian dream is dead. That era is over. Waiting for your superiors to give you a promotion. You, he says, choose yourself today. This means reclaiming control over your dreams, taking full responsibility of your success and happiness, taking control of your mental health, your physical health, your emotional health and how to build routines to stick to those new habits. I want to wrap up with some takeaways, some actionable advice that I got from this book. Number one, only do things that make you happy. He emphasizes this in the book and I love it. He says most People go through their lives doing things they don't want to do, which makes them stressed out and unhappy. You need to avoid this at all costs. Do whatever you think works best for you and make sure that the hours you work, the clients you take on, and the job that you do is based on your desire and something that you enjoy. You have that ability now in today's world. Next one Believe in yourself. Nothing's more important than choosing yourself and believing that you can make a difference. You can change things around. And lastly, don't underestimate your physical and mental health and and spiritual health as well when it comes to the success of your business and your success in life, period. There's some really, really good takeaways in this book. I highly recommend you check it out. It's a breath of fresh air and also just puts things in perspective. It kind of puts things in the right priority. Reminds you, hey, these things are important. I got to realign my priorities. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you love what you hear, leave us an iTunes rating and review. We'd love to hear what you love about the show. And don't forget to hit subscribe on whatever you use to listen to podcasts, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Overcast, Spotify, or on all platforms. So whatever you're listening to right now, hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I want to be honest with you. When you read a book like this, it inspires you to change things in your life. But changing things in your life is not easy. Life is kind of like a big snowball, and as the days go by, it gets bigger and bigger and it gets harder to kind of move the direction of the snowball. Right? But it's well worth it and you can do it. I've made some major changes in my life several times, and every time I look back I think I'm so happy I did that, but at the same time I wish I did it earlier. Life is a challenge. Life is hard, but that's what makes it interesting. One of the things that is great about making changes in your life is that you feel like, yes, I'm living without regrets. I'm doing the right thing for me and not feeling guilty for choosing myself. Because after all, if you don't, you can't serve anybody. You can't be good to anybody if you're miserable. Make the changes you need to be your best self. All right, I'LL check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care. ADP knows anything can change the world of work. Like what if a blocked shipping port caused a worldwide coffee shortage? Suddenly, businesses are scrambling to manage an increasingly drowsy workforce. Productivity slips 20% just due to the extended time it takes to conduct a job interview while yawning. Anything can change the world of work. From HR to payroll. ADP helps businesses take on the next anything. ADP always designing for people.