Ented1948838: August 2018

Some of these movies I first saw as a kid and my life and my greatest ambitions and successes and projects have been motivated by what I learned in these movies.

Sometimes not the obvious scenes. Sometimes the very obvious. These movies weren’t just special effects for me (I actually hate fancy special effects) but were simply special and unique.

I’ve loved science fiction since I was kid. For many reasons: page turning stories, imagining what possible futures might look like, and inspiration.

For instance, watching Star Wars was like smoking crack. This was what a galactic empire might look like. It was the perfect page-turning / arc of the hero. And it was inspirational.

I loved The Force. Even as a nine year old I lived my life surrounding to the Force. I am not kidding when I say it saved a business I had in 2004 and again in 2006. If I believe in any one thing it’s the idea of surrendering to powers in the Universe I don’t understand.

This was given to me by science fiction.

And the “Foundation” series by Isaac Asimov gave me the idea (long before Nobel Prize winning economist Kahneman) that basic human behavior (e.g. investing) can be modeled by statistics (to an extent).

This was the basis of my first hedge fund.

I love all fiction, even romance. But science fiction brings me back to childhood and even in the past few years I’ve had many sci-fi writers on my podcast (Hugh Howey (“Wool”), Andy Weir (“The Martian”), James Luceno (“Darth Plagueis”), etc.

But, for movies, my criteria are the above criteria for science fiction plus:

– more focus on story than action

acting has to be decent.
The movie should be as good as the book (when possible).

And, MOST IMPORTANT, they have to change my life. Not every movie below does but 8 of the ten do.

Star Wars

I’m including the entire franchise here. It’s funny how fans are upset at each movie and yet they all keep coming back. So what about Jar Jar Binks!? There’s Yoda (Frank Oz, the voice of Yoda, has been on my podcast and I feel blessed as a result).

So what about the Prequels. There was more info on The Force than the original movies.

So what about “The Last Jedi” when Rey’s parents might not be Force sensitive. The whole idea is that anyone in the Universe has access to this amazing philosophy.

Here’s how 40 years of Star Wars has saved my life.

Blade Runner

The music alone.

The grimy post-noir Tokyo-like city. The beginnings of cinematic cyberpunk.

Harrison Ford’s disdain for life yet desire for a life worth living.

Edward James Olmos.

The final scene with Rutger Hauer maybe among the most beautiful in all of cinema.

Even if you never watch the movie, watch this scene. It makes me cry every time:

The first, of many, attempts at understanding what it would be like in a world of multiple human species, some man-made, some evolution-made.

The Matrix

I was neck deep in this movie. For one thing, my company, Reset, created the website for Warner Brothers. So I watched it a million times, read the script a million times, helped with the comic book, created online games for it, etc etc.

The idea of Red Pill vs Blue Pill is baked into the philosophy of my book: “Choose Yourself”. Do you subscribe to the agendas of society that are programmed into us by parents, teachers, bosses, colleagues, spouses, friends, or do you Choose Yourself.

When others make the choices of your assumptions the results will never be as good. Only you can take “the red pill” and choose yourself. Such an important concept for living life and introduced in the Matrix.

Plus, Lawrence Fishburne.

Planet of the Apes (the Charlton Heston version)

What a brilliant Arc of the Hero. The call to action (a crash landing), greater and greater obstacles (there are apes! they are in prison! they escape! the statue of liberty!)

He meets his helpers and friends along the way (I had a crush on the chimpanzee, Dr. Zira) and the way the movies twisted around to go from future to past to show how the Planet of Apes even started in this recursive manner.

I watched the movies, read the book by Pierre Boullet.

It covers what it means to be an authentic person in a BS society (Charlton Heston’s character), how our current economic status could result in scary future, and even got me to understand how the beginnings of the Theory of Relativity.

District 9

I put this here because I loved the movie. But I can’t think of any way in which it changed my life.

I get that it’s an ultra-modern take on racism, which is more important now than ever, right where we are on the precipice of globalism vs breaking down into nationalism.

So I keep it on the list but it hasn’t changed my life.

Minority Report

Minority Report is already possible and is already happening.

A company called Palantir (which I regret not investing in when I had the chance) monitors so much data (e.g. bank transactions, probably Google searches, etc) to find fraudulent or terrorist behavior even before it happens.

It’s genius. It’s the latest in the state of AI (i.e. very sophisticated uses of the marriage of Big Data and Statistics). And it’s very much just one degree of separation from the technology in Minority Report to predict crimes.

Seeing Minority Report is a prediction of the world we already exist in but only questions of ethics prevents us from taking the final leap. And I say “question” because it’s very unclear if you should STOP crimes that have not been committed yet but you can predict just on the basis of AI.

But what really gets me is the one scene where they find a ton of evidence against the probable criminal. The detective says, “We call this an orgy of evidence. You know the last time I saw an orgy of evidence?” And the other person says, “When?” And the detective says, “Never!”

The implication being is that if something is too good to be true, then it’s not true.

My entire investment behavior has been determined by this one line.

Always people call me with “an AMAZING opportunity”. Nobody has ever woken up thinking to themselves, “I have to give James Altucher and nobody else the best opportunity ever.”

That has never happened. An “orgy of evidence” never occurs in any situation in life.

(the Orgy of Evidence scene):

Her

First off, Scarlett Johannsen. I feel like she’s played every technologically enhanced human (or computer in this case) over the past decade.

But this movie in particular is a love story. Not between Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett. But between the director, Spike Jonze, and his ex-wife, the director Sophie Coppola.

Her “Lost in Translation” (also with Scarlet Johannsen co-starring with Bill Murray) and his “Her” were each their interpretations of their marriage and why it fell apart.

Art is a very real way to interpret and help us deal with sorrow while giving entertainment and pleasure to others.

I don’t quite think “Her” is in our future. I don’t think AI will “wake up” any more than I think a TV will.

But I do like how (as opposed to similar “Ex Machina”) the form of consciousness the “Her” starts to take goes way beyond human understanding.

This is how it should be. If another species, even a technological one, has consciousness, it should be radically different from ours. For the simple reason that our brains are different. Like an ant’s consciousness is different from ours.

(“Her” vs “Lost in Translation” – a love story of two movies)

The Road Warrior

I was a kid. And this movie was SCARY.

This was probably the first dystopian movie I saw and it was the grandfather of all others.

What would I do if I ended up in such a world after “the wars”.

For a book that is even bettter but along the same lines, check out, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. One of the best books ever written.

Has this movie changed my life? Not really. But it introduced me to the idea of a bleak dystopian future and that normal human ethics is not a guarantee in such a world.

(this guy scared the hell out of me)

Edge of Tomorrow

Another Tom Cruise movie (“Minority Report”).

What a great idea. Again, the concept that an alien consciousness would be radically different from our own.

So different that it could distort our own perceptions of time and space, as it does with Tom Cruise when he replays the same scenes over and over.

Again, a perfect Arc of the Hero as he figures out his obstacles and gets closer with his female protagonist to defeat the bad guys.

Has it changed my life? Like “Groundhog Day” (perhaps the best sci-fi movie ever but not quite sci-fi enough to make this list), it gives me some sort of aspirational hope. I wish I had the opportunity to live life again and again and improve each time.

But since I can’t (but who knows?) I have to make of this moment right now.

I have to live life not like today it’s my last day, but I live life as if it MIGHT be my last day.

Looper

I love the paradoxes of time travel. The movie didn’t change my life. But I remember thinking as I left the theater: “That was great. I’d see it again.” Maybe I’ll rewatch tonight and change this article as to why it changed my life.

Arrival

So beautiful in cinematography and music.

Again, the idea that an alien consciousness (in this case, aliens visit the Earth and Amy Adams has to figure out how to communicate with them) might be so incomprehensible to us that the entire movie is about bridging that comprehension.

As opposed to Star Trek where every alien magically speaks English. In “Arrival” the aliens speak in, almost, four dimensions, including time.

And this changes Amy Adams view of the world as she is the first to begin to understand them.

(how do you speak to an alien)

I love the idea that a switch in consciousness, the way we use words, can actually change the way we view the world.

In the case of “Arrival”, Amy Adams view of the world becomes intertwined with the way she and the aliens view time and her own future despair.

But it underlines that the very words we speak with can change the thoughts we think.

Beautiful.

P.S. Let me know if you’d like me to do a podcast on this topic. And any comments here I’ll talk about on the podcast.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2018

385 – How Failure Turned Me Into An Idea Machine

“I’ve been following you for a couple of years,” Carolina said. “I read your book the ‘Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth’. And it really changed a lot of things for me in my life. I want to thank you for that book.”

We were exactly one minute into the podcast. And I wanted to dive into this quickly.

“What did it change?”

“I was always beating myself up,” she said.She felt like she wasn’t doing enough. “But in the book you talk about this concept… of 1% progress financially, mentally, spiritually, physically. Then you’re in a good place.”

I started explaining the concept to her. And then I couldn’t stop talking.

The lessons just kept flowing.

“The other concept that I really loved about the book was the idea muscle,” she said. “Since I read the book I’ve been carrying around a little book. And I write down my 10 ideas when I think of them. Even if they’re crap.”

“Yeah, that’s good. I do this everyday.”

Then she asked how I came up with this idea.

Essentially, she was asking how failure turned me into an idea machine…

I was dead broke. It was 2002. I was losing both of my homes. One was upstate. And the other was right next to Ground Zero. It was a horrible, depressing area. And not just for me, for everyone.

I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get a job. I’d been an entrepreneur in an area that was now dead. I was trying to become an investor. But I didn’t have any professional or educational experience. No one would hire me.

I really had no opportunities.

So I read.

Part of that was because I couldn’t sleep. I was too anxious. I’d wake up early. And read through 3-4 books.They were all different types of books.

1 nonfiction
1 fiction
something spiritual
And one about games

This got the idea muscle moving. It was like stretching before the heavy lifting.

I’d take a waiter’s pad (because this stops you from writing anything longer than a simple list. And it’s cheap. You can buy them in bulk. And it’s a conversation starter.)

Then, in the middle of knowing that everything I ever loved or owned or had a relationship with was fading… I’d write 10 ideas.

Even if they’re crap.

People ask me all the time “what kind of ideas do you write?”

It doesn’t matter.

Write 10 ideas on how to improve something. Or write a list of 10 people you could reach out to or learn from. And then expand.

Write down ten ideas for each of those people. Write how could you help them. Figure out how you can add value to their business, their life, their website. Write it down.

People get afraid to come up with ideas because they don’t want them to be bad. If you’re afraid to write bad ideas then you’re afraid to become an idea machine. Period.

Most ideas are bad.

The idea is ONLY to exercise the idea muscle.

And it works.

I noticed after 3 months of writing 10 ideas a day, I had tapped into something… an ability to get unstuck. You can literally feel yourself climb out of the hole of despair.

This was 16 years ago. And I still do this. Everyday.

“You’ve started 19 businesses,” Carolina said. ”And you say most of them failed horribly. What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned?”

“This is always a hard question. Failure is really painful. And I don’t recommend it for anyone. But most things that are worth it are so difficult to learn that you’re going to inevitably fail.”

Back when I was sitting in those cafes, I was a failure. And I had to stay above water.

Now, I try to say that it wasn’t a failure. It was an experiment.

But I didn’t always have this mindset. It took me decades to figure this out. Every failure at every level is a learning experiment. Looking at failure as an experiment makes it easier to rationalize.

—-

I was rambling. I was probably talking too much. But I couldn’t give her a short answer. I tried and it was still long.

“I like long answers,” Carolina said.

So I continued to ramble. I spoke about business, investing in yourself, why I started writing a blog and how it turned into a business.

I’m so happy to know I’ve helped even one person improve their life.

And I like when people ask me questions.

One last example about failure vs experimentation.

People always say Thomas Edison failed at making the lightbulb a thousand times in a row. He didn’t fail. He was experimenting with different filaments of wire. He was trying new ideas.

And he learned every time.

Again nothing is really “failure.” Unless you label it that way. And give up.

I treat everything as an experiment. It helps me start something new. And it helps me prevent getting stuck in the past.

FAILURE = EXPERIMENTATION

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Monday, August 27, 2018

3 Habits To Transform Your Life Completely

“If you don’t change, within 11 months you’re either going to be dead or in jail. Probably in jail.”

A friend of mine told me this.

Actually, I can think of three times, three different friends told me the exact same thing.

One time I was in a bad relationship. I came close to death at least once. Other times I came close to jail. Mostly from trying to hurt myself.

One time I lost money, which was very depressing to me when I had two kids to raise. I figured out how to kill myself but…I always it off to the next day fortunately.

Another time I got someone pregnant and I could barely take care of myself, let alone two other people.

In each case, I had to pull myself together and change my life.

Reinvention is hard. You can’t just read a book about how to be a success and then suddenly be a success.

The first key is to “cleanse”. This is not like a juice cleanse. It’s like a life cleanse.

Then you are ready for what it takes to reinvent your life. But first…these below three habits.

THE THREE HABITS

1) NO NEWS

I used to read four newspapers every morning. And then I would read about a dozen or so magazines a month.

I thought I needed to stay “informed”.

This is BS.

One time I was backstage while a TV news show was being produced. I had been a guest on the show many times and the producer invited me to come by one time and see how it was made.

It was a mainstream news show. Take the news of the day, invite some “experts”, and then have an anchor or two moderate.

At one point an assistant producer was whispering into the mic of one of the guests, “now’s the time to argue.” This had also happened to me many times.

The producer leaned over to me and said, “All we are trying to do is fill up the space between advertisements.”

That is what TV news is.

I’ve written for many print news publications. The editor has a meeting first thing in the morning and says, “Ok, how can we scare people today.”

That is what print news is.

I am not blaming the reporters or the producers. A video on Facebook might get 20,000,000 views in a day. Local TV news is watched by about 50,000 people a day.

The numbers are dwindling so reporters have to be more and more sensational to get people to look.

And what about quality reporters? They are leaving.

One time I was sitting down with the Managing Editor of one of the top four newspapers in the country.

He said to me, “I’m having a big problem. My best reporters are getting huge social media followings and they want raises. I have to fire them because everyone should be a team player. Nobody should be a brand by themselves.”

So he fired his top reporters. And then he was fired.

But that is the direction of quality news. It doesn’t inform. It sensationalizes. It isn’t unbiased. It tries to persuade. It isn’t quality writing because it has to turn around so fast.

And, yes, the type of advertisers determines the type of content.

The hour or so a day I used to read the news I now use to read quality books.

I start the day reading quality fiction, quality non-fiction, and usually a book about games.

Quality fiction because that’s where the best writing is. When I read quality writing, I become a better writer and communicator.

Quality non-fiction so I can learn. (people who write quality non-fiction often aren’t the best writers because they spent their lives being the best in the world at the non-fiction topic they are writing about).

Also, quality non-fiction is really how to be informed. If the news today is about tariffs, I’d much rather read a history of tariffs over the past 500 years to form my own opinion of what’s good and bad.

If the news today is about “AI STEALING JOBS”, I’d rather read a book explaining more about AI trends and other attempts through history at a Universal Basic Income and what happened.

If the news today is about Kim Kardashian (as is often the case) or the latest Donald Trump tweet, I’d rather read the biography of a hero of mine so I could see the habits behind true success.

And a book about games (chess, Go, poker, etc) because I like to improve at things that are difficult and I love games.

Reading is about becoming a better person. “Being informed” happens when I overhear people talk on the subway.

[Below image is the “breaking news” on the front page of CNN.com. Should I stay informed?]

[Below that image is the table of contents from a book I read pretty regularly, Kahil Gibran’s “The Prophet”. I’d much rather “be improved” than “be informed”. ]

and now for “The Prophet”

2) WRITING DOWN TEN IDEAS A DAY

I read when Stephen King had a bicycle accident he couldn’t walk for a few weeks.

By the time he started to walk he needed physical therapy because the leg muscles atrophy so fast.

But, even worse, he couldn’t write. After just two weeks out of action, his “writing muscle” had atrophied. He had to write every day to build it back up. And that’s Stephen King, one of the bestselling writers of all time. And one of the most prolific.

Ideas are the same way. Each of us has an “idea muscle”.

It atrophies very quickly if we don’t use it. At least, it atrophies for me. I become dull and I can’t come up with ideas or be creative.

I write down ten ideas a day since 2002, when I was at my lowest point financially.

I can’t say I’ve done it every day since. But the periods where I have not done it – I’ve lost money, lost relationships, didn’t improve myself, missed opportunities, and was an all around loser.

Here are some types of ideas I write:

ideas for businesses I can start. (“stockpickr.com” was started that way)
ideas for books I could write (all of my books started this way).
ideas for chapters in books.
ideas for apps I could develop
ideas for shows I could do
ideas for OTHER people to help their businesses.

For instance, I once wrote to all my heroes in the investing business. Warren Buffett, George Soros, etc.

I said, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee.”

I got zero responses. ZERO! Because it’s not like Warren Buffett is going to say, “Hold everything! James Altucher wants to buy me a cup of coffee!”

So, for each person, I researched them a lot more (read books, bios, etc) and then I wrote down for each person ten ideas for their businesses.

I wrote to 20 people.

I got three responses:

One writer I wrote, “10 ideas for articles you can do” and he wrote back, “These are great! Why don’t you do them for us?” and it was my first paid writing job.
One hedge fund manager I wrote, “10 software programs I wrote that can predict the markets” and I sent the track record I had using them. He ended up allocating money to me and it started me off in the hedge fund business.
One person I wrote and I forget what my ten ideas were but he wrote back and said, “Let’s have lunch”. I responded to him 12 years later and he came on my podcast, the only podcast he ever went on.

Because of this list of ideas I’ve visited Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, and many others. I’ve sold businesses. I’ve written books.

It’s changed my life.

How long does it take to build the idea muscle so you become an idea machine?

About 3–6 months. But it will take one week to atrophy so you have to keep doing it.

Do I keep track of the ideas? No, not at all. The entire idea is to exercise the idea muscle. 99.9% of ideas are bad. But if you exercise, some of the ideas will be good. But when I write these ideas down I expect most to be awful.

And yet…it just takes one to change your life.

[The Ten Ideas for Today: Ten Master Classes I Could Teach. Again, the idea is not to have GOOD ideas. Just any ideas. And, who knows? Maybe one idea will muster it’s way to the top in the long run.]

I’ve made millions of dollar because of this one habit.

3) DON’T OUTSOURCE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM

Confession: I care what people think of me. I care too much!

So much “self-help” is about not caring what people think of you. Blaze your own path! Go the road less traveled! Be a unique voice!

But my brain rebels against that. I want to be liked. When I was a kid I was very unpopular. It’s hard to get rid of the need to be popular.

I had acne, glasses, braces, curly hair. I played chess all the time. I had one good friend but mostly people didn’t like me.

I was shy. I skipped school a lot because I hated everyone. Sometimes I’d get beaten up. I hated school. I hated growing up.

But inside me now I’m 50 years old with a little 13 year old boy that nobody liked still whispering to me that nobody will like me.

When a woman wants to date me I almost can’t believe it. When a company wants to work with me I feel like I’m a fraud.

I try everything I can to get people to like me. I write books (so they can like me through my writing). I do standup comedy (so they can laugh at my jokes instead of laughing at me). I start and sell businesses (so maybe if I have enough money people will like me, although it’s never enough and this is the worst method to get people to like you. I usually go broke doing it).

I have to constantly remind myself I am very different at the age of 50 than I was at the age of 13. I’ve done X, Y, and Z. A, B, and C. And so on.

When I start to date someone, I can feel myself outsourcing my self-esteem to her (and this is the best way to explain it but it happens in business, friendships, etc).

I only value myself as much as the other person values me. I’ve given her the keys to my self-esteem.

Let me tell you: nobody wants to handle my self-esteem. Nobody wants responsibility for that. It’s hard enough for them to handle their own self-esteem, let alone mine.

And yet I do it.

It’s a constant battle. I think I’m winning it but the key for me was:

awareness that it happens.
identifying my 13 year old self somewhere in that outsourcing.
reminding myself of the things I’ve accomplished.
actively de-stressing if I find myself anxious about what someone thinks of me.

THE SECRET OF SELF-SABOTAGE

When you are anxious about what someone thinks of you (a date, a boss, a colleague, a partner, etc) you can self-sabotage. Or…I self-sabotage.

The closer I get to something good happening, the more obstacles I throw in my way. Like I get too shy to go on a date. Or I try to impress too much. Or I take a worse deal in a negotiation, etc.

So awareness is key to stop the self-sabotage and then I get back to focusing on improving my life (ten ideas a day, being around good people, not lying, being healthy, respecting the lives around me, etc).

We only have one life to get this right.

But that means we only have TODAY to get this right.

Tomorrow is not promised us.

Don’t live life as if it’s your last day. Live life as if it MIGHT be your last day.

I’m scared of change.

And these three habits are just the beginning.

When I forget them it’s painful. I usually end up in the road drunk. Or in a motel where police locked me up for a night. Or lonely with nobody to talk to. Or dead broke. Or all of the above.

But I had to start.

These habits are necessary for living a life worth living. For creating an impact. For living a life of well-being.

Today might be my last day. So I’m going to love the people around me.

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Thursday, August 23, 2018

And the most common mindset for every successful person is…

Bernie Madoff once rejected investing in me.

I went to see him because I was raising money for a project. My neighbor worked for him..

As I was walking up the steps to his building (the famous “lipstick building” in NYC) other hedge fund managers were calling me and begging: “PLEASE help us invest in his fund” (they all denied this later).

Bernie gave me the tour. “One day,” he told me and looked out at all his traders, “robots will replace all these guys”. My friend, about 50 feet away, didn’t hear us but saw us looking at him and gave us the thumbs up.

“Ok,” he said, “what can I do for you?”

He was successful, charming, polite. I made my pitch to raise money.

He held up his hand mid-pitch.

“I’m sorry James,” he said. “I would hire you in a second if you wanted to work here. But I have no idea where you put the money if I were to invest with you.”

I could feel my heart shatter.

He said, “The last thing we need is to see ‘Bernard Madoff Securities, LLC’ on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.”

So I left. Walking out of his building I felt like a failure. He was a better fund manager than me and I never will be able to compete. So I shut down that business and started a new one.

Bernie Madoff changed my life that day. And now he’s in jail, both children dead, his wife living in a garage somewhere.

Be careful how you measure success. Or happiness. Or wealth. Or goals.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of the most successful people in the world. Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, Jewel, Coolio(!), Tony Hawk, Garry Kasparov, and on and on. I’m really proud of my podcast.

But I want to quit.

They all say basically the same thing. The keys to their success. I can almost say what they will say to me before they say it.

A) HONESTY

Be honest with yourself. Be honest with others.

At heart, we are tribal animals. Like our primate ancestors millions of years ago.

When you are honest, other people can say to people you don’t even know, “listen to James, you can trust him.”

Bernie Madoff will die in jail. But many of the people I’ve met on this journey have their names on the hospitals they’ve created (Ken Langone) or the schools they’ve built (Adam Braun) or in the memories of the many people they’ve helped and even saved.

Honesty doesn’t build your network but it solidifies it.

B) OBSESSION

Sasha Cohen, the Olympic medalist figure skater, told me it was only obsession that catapulted her to the top.

Garry Kasparov played chess 12 hours a day (and studied foreign languages and worked out in his spare time to stay physically healthy) to become and remain world chess champion.

Tony Hawk kept skateboarding non-stop even during the dark years when it was mostly illegal (before the X-Games catapulted him to the World Championship 11 years in a row).

Sara Blakely worked for years in quiet designing and redesigning her “Spanx” underwear until she got her first order. And now it’s a multi-billion dollar company.

The obsessed person will beat out the non-obsessed person 100% of the time.

How come?

Because when you are obsessed you see every nuance. You learn from 100s of mentors, real and virtual, you read every book, watch every video, you remember everything, you compare notes with everyone.

You are a cosmic sponge, soaking up all the information that others don’t see.

In order to be an Andy Warhol-level artist you have to know everything about the art that has become before you so you can figure out what is the NEW thing you bring to the art of the future.

Only obsession can give you that.

How do you become obsessed?

BOOKSTORE: what section would you enjoy reading every single book and then leave it wanting more.
13 YEARS OLD: What were you obsessed with at age 13 that has “aged” with you. Matthew Berry was obsessed with sports. But he wasn’t going to be an athlete when he was older. Instead, he quit his job as a Hollywood movie writer, started blogging about Fantasy Sports for $100 a post, and is now the Fantasy Sports anchor at ESPN with milions of listeners who hang on his every word. List the things you were obsessed with at age 13.
READ. Read everything you can on a variety of topics. See where your curiosity takes you.
TRY: Try all the things that you love but have been always afraid to ‘go for it’. Do you love Mystery novels? Try writing one. Then two. Do you love standup comedy? Try going on stage. Do you with you had an app that would match you with the perfect soulmate? Do DNA tests on couples that lasted 40+ years together and find what makes their DNA different from the couples that didn’t last and then build an app that searches for people who would match you statistically based on their DNA.
WRITE: Ten ideas a day. Then ten ideas the next day. Then ten ideas to help other people. Build your idea muscle. You will need it to come up with the ideas that are perfect for you. But the idea muscle requires exercise.

C) STUPIDITY

I used to think I was smart. I had sold a company so I must be smart, right?

I invested huge amounts of money in companies I knew nothing about (but I’m SMART, RIGHT??). I bought houses. I gave money to friends.

I lost everything.

Not once, not twice, but three or four times.

I only made money when I repeated to myself every day, “I am the stupidest person I know.” I repeated this every single day.

I was confident I had the capability to learn. But I always kept “stupid mind”. This way I would seek out new ways to learn.

I was always the outsider. So I needed to learn in unusual ways. I never had the degrees or the pedigree. But I’d find my “plus, minus, equal”.

– PLUS: Teachers, mentors, virtual mentors, books, videos, etc.

– MINUS: People I could teach. If you can’t explain something easily then you don’t know it.

– EQUALS: People struggling along the same path as me. Learning from each other.

D) PERSISTENCE

Everyone says, “Fail fast”. This is BS. How about, “Don’t fail at all.”

Everyone who uses failure as a badge of honor has never failed.

Failure hurts. It’s painful. It’s life changing often in a bad way. It’s years out of action.

But life has obstacles. View them as experiments. How do you solve a problem? How can you build your health to make problems easy to solve:

– physical health

– emotion health – be around people who love you and support you

– creative health – write ten ideas a day to make problem solving easier

– spiritual health – to surrender to the things you can’t control so you can focus on the things you can.

E) HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS?

About three years ago I started doing standup comedy up to six times a week.

I was horrible at first (and maybe still am. Who knows?)

But I was obsessed. I did all of the above.

What’s my goal? I don’t want to be an actor on a sitcom. I don’t want to go on tour. I don’t want to fill a stadium with thousands of people. I don’t want to have a Netflix comedy special.

I just want to improve at a craft that I love and that I’m obsessed with. I don’t even want to make money at it (I have other ways I make money).

I just love improving. That is my measurement of success.

Too often people have a “goal” that is not well thought out. Or borrows from society’s goals (“money”, or “bestseller”, or “lots of Instagram followers”).

Simply improving at something you love doing is a path to individual freedom.

Make sure your goals line up with reality and what will give you a sense of well-being.

F) 10,000 HOURS, BUT WITH A TWIST

Many people find their passions later in life.

But what if you need 10,000 hours of what is called “deliberate practice” (as defined by Anders Ericsson, who researched the 10,000 hour rule of success).

Here’s what I do. I borrow.

For instance, I want to be better at comedy. I will NEVER do 10,000 hours of comedy. I’m too old.

BUT, I have spent more than 10,000 hours as a communicator. A writer, a podcaster, a speaker, etc.

I can borrow from those 10,000 hours to improve very quickly at comedy, rather than starting from scratch.

When I needed to get good at investing, I was able to borrow from my 10,000 hours doing business. If something makes a good business it will usually make a good investment.

When I wanted to get good at being a salesman, I was able to borrow from my 10,000 hours of writing.

When Richard Branson wanted to start an airline, he borrowed from his 10,000 hours of being a music mogul.

When Scott Adams wanted to create the most syndicated cartoon strip ever (Dilbert), he borrowed from his hours as an illustrator, a businessman, a writer, and a humorist (he calls this a “talent stack”. )

Beg, borrow, and steal from the thousands of hours you’ve put into other activities.

G) MINIMALISM

This doesn’t mean throw out all your possessions (although it could. I tried it for awhile).

It means throw out resentments, jealousies, angers, etc.

The only way you can become the best at something is to focus on what you love instead of focus on what makes you angry. Or focusing on news that makes you upset so you fight all day on Twitter.

——

Ignore the haters. Embrace the lovers. Remain stupid. Stay persistent. Become obsessed. Work on health every day. Be creative every day. Borrow knowledge from your other areas of expertise.

Determine how you measure success.

Maybe the most important rule, though is: be the most successful person at being you.

Nobody else can.

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One Page A Day Might Save Your Life

This is the story I told my two little girls when they were just babies. “Daddy, tell us a story”.

Gene Wolfe needed to fit a baked potato into a tennis ball can.

Imagine if you were given that assignment at work. What would you do?

He crushed the potato into powder and then baked it into thin slices, and fit the thin slices into a tennis ball can.

Then he put a bit of salt on, a bit of sugar, dusted it with fat, and maybe a little flavoring.

He called them…Pringles.

This is no joke: the man who was initially given the task ended up in a mental institution and Gene took over the job .

The greatest food known to mankind. If aliens came down and had a BBQ Pringle they would conclude we were a highly intelligent race.

Gene Wolfe would be my hero just for this.

But then Gene decided his life’s mission was not yet over. He had much more to do.

While many normal human beings, not as obsessed with status and creativity as Gene was, might say: “Ok, I just did my life’s achievement. I’ve achieved my PURPOSE. I’ve created an easily storable food based on a vegetable that, when doused with a ton of salt, will please children and adults for decades, maybe centuries.”

I mean, what would you do at that point?

If I were Gene, II would’ve rested on my laurels, collected awards, imagined playing golf with friends, can of Pringles always in tow, maybe a little belly develops but hey, he deserved it. He EARNED it.

But Gene knew the magic secret. And it is only with his lifetime (and at 87 he’s still going) that he is able to share that secret.

The secret: One page a day.

Gene has been an adult for almost 25,000 days.

He writes a page a day. A page is about 300 words. A paragraph or two. Can you do that? 25,000 pages. About 80 books worth of pages.

Sit down and think of the worst thing that happened to you in the past week. That’s at least a paragraph or two.

Gene ended up writing 50 published novels, including many bestsellers and award-winners

He didn’t get stereotyped and stuffed into that Pringles can. As dead as the chips he created. Even though that was the pinnacle of his engineering career.

Instead, at the age of 40(!) he totally changed careers and became one of the best known science fiction writers ever.

He did what he loved to do. That’s what keeps you alive every day. That’s The Push.

Life is just an invitation every day to reinvent yourself.

I was talking to James Manos, the creator of Dexter. He said, “my definition of success is if you can’t distinguish between work and pleasure.”

It’s ok if right now the two are separate for you.

We repent what we want to change. We regret what we never changed.

This is my page today.

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STOP IT WITH THE FAILURE PORN

Just stop it.

Michael Jordan didn’t make it to his junior varsity basketball team. We all know this already.

It’s not what made him a success. He didn’t make it to his team because HE WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Period.

He sucked. He admits it.

He went home and cried. He kept picturing the list of names that made it that were tacked to the locker room door. His name was not on it.

It didn’t matter that he loved the game. It didn’t matter that it was “his goal”. it didn’t matter that he played every day with his friends.

He simply was no good.

Many people fail and view it as a valuable experience. They think, “now I’m a real entrepreneur. So if I just persist through this, I WILL succeed.”

This is bullshit.

The definition of insanity (ugh, cliche coming again) is trying the same thing over and over but expecting the outcome to be different.

People often think persistence is: 1) failure 2) keep trying 3) succeed 4) give a TED talk.

Michael Jordan started practicing 16 hours a day.

You can’t improve by 5% and think that you are going to go from failure to success. Nobody can tell if you are 5% better. Or even 50% better.

You can’t just write another book and think it will be a bestseller.

You can’t just start another business and think that “Now I have what it takes to succeed. I’m going to be optimistic and persistent!”

You have to change your life COMPLETELY. Failure is awful! It’s shameful. It’s painful!

I hated that pain. Hated it! I hated it so bad I gave up. I stopped running a hedge fund because I sucked at it.

I was good at the investing part. I sucked at the raising money part. I just couldn’t succeed.

I found something to work really hard at (writing, podcasting, personal investing) and I worked 16 hours a day at it. I followed the 80/20 rule (20% of your work creates 80% of the value) but it takes a long time to know which 20% works!

I still work too much. I think I need to start relaxing a little but I don’t know where.

I worked harder than anyone I knew. And I was more vulnerable on the page that anyone I knew.

I also loaded up on Klonopin when the anxiety got too great. I was addicted to it.

If I tried to get off Klonopin for even two days I’d have hallucinatory nightmares while awake. I used painkillers to try and wean off Klonopin and then I got addicted to that. It took a long time to get all of that under control.

I also completely eliminated toxic people in my life.

I am a VERY poor judge of character. So I started to have a “one strike and your out” policy. I don’t know if it worked. But I love everyone in my life now.

And I changed my definition of freedom. It wasn’t money. It was being able to CHOOSE what I wanted to do every moment of the day. I’m up to 80% of the day. Which seems good enough.

Money is a byproduct of freedom. Not the other way around.

Michael Jordan got 10x better. Not 5% better. He would still suck if he only got 5% better.

Plus he grew 8 inches. That helped also.

——

A famous quote by Thomas Edison, “I failed 10,000 times before I got the electric bulb right”.

People quote this moronic quote all the time.

The only problem is: he never said it.

It’s part of our failure mythology. If we pray ten thousand times to the great god of Failure then blessings will rain down on us. Just look at Thomas Edison!

Here’s what he said, in a 1921 journal: “I recall that after we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates [..] expressed discouragement and disgust. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn’t be done that way, and that we would have to try some other way.”

He was an experimenter. Not a failure.

That one mindset change is everything.

He just worked harder at experimenting. He learned what happened in each experiment. He did what Anders Ericsson (developer of the “10,000 hour rule of success”) called “deliberate practice”.

Now we can see in the dark.

How to be 10 times better?

I know i write this a lot. But bear with me. It’s the only thing that’s ever worked for me.

And I desperately need it right now.

Last week, for the first time in 32 years, I had to go to a doctor. I had pneumonia.

The doctor gave me some pills and I got “better”. I put it in quotes because I have to think: why now? Why did I get sick? The doctor can’t tell me that.

Something is wrong in the way I am internally trying to get better. Health comes from within. Success starts inside.

I have to look: am I doing my daily practice of getting 1% better in:

– PHYSICAL health – Eat. Move. Sleep well
– EMOTIONAL health – being only around people who I love.
– CREATIVE health – writing down ten ideas a day. Doing one creative thing a day
– SPIRITUAL health – surrendering to what I can’t control. I like to call this “surrending to ‘The Force’ “.

I don’t know the answer yet. Something went off balance in those four pillars of my life and the result is that I got sick.

But I am experimenting. I am working on it. Writing about it is a way of reminding myself.

Remind me to tell you of the time I almost played one on one basketball with Michael Jordan.

The cost: $30,000. That was part of my formula on how to go broke in ten easy lessons. And I don’t even like basketball.

I’m pretty stupid. But I love my children so there’s that.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2018

384 – Maria Menounos: Finding Wellness: A Battle With Brain Cancer

Links and Resources

Conversations with Maria (Maria’s podcast)

Afterbuzz TV

Also Mentioned

Access Hollywood

Entertainment Tonight

Dateline

Today

Extra

Nightline

Maria’s Serius XM show

Maria’s philanthropic work with Soul Patch

Born This Way on A&E

Chris Jenner who told Maria, “Tomorrow is never promised.”

Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts:

Follow me on Social Media:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

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This Is What Artificial Intelligence Is. And It’s NOT what you think…

Stop it.

Artificial intelligence is not “intelligence”. And it’s not “artificial consciousness”.

Everyone is afraid that AI will suddenly wake up, get upset, and take over the world.

Or that AI will wake up and take all of our jobs. This will happen. But without the “wake up” part.

Below I describe what real AI is.

Then, if you are at a cocktail party and someone says, “but what if robots are intelligent?” you can argue with facts, mixed with a little bit of alcohol.

———

A) STATISTICS

Statistics is at the heart of most AI programs.

Just like statistics is at the heart of a lot of human decision making.

For instance, if you see clouds in the sky, your brain thinks: “Hmmm, the last 100 times I saw clouds this dark, it usually meant it was about to rain”.

When you think like that, you are using statistics to make the decision: “I should _probably_ go inside now.”

I’ll give an AI example: Siri or Alexa. How does Alexa understand the words you just said?

In 1989 I was visiting Carnegie Mellon to decide if I would go to graduate school there.

One of the graduate students, Kai-Fu-Lee (now one of the most famous investors in the world and I would check out his excellent recent TED talk on AI) showed me what he was working on:

It was speech recognition for the 60 or so commands that might happen on a Navy battleship (ten guesses as to who was funding his project).

When you say the word “Fire!” a sound wave is created. When you say the word “hello” a sound wave that looks different is created.

If 100 people say “Fire” and 100 people say “hello”, all of those sounds waves are stored in a database.

Now, if a brand new person says “Hello” the computer program needs to determine if that person said “Hello” or “fire”.

There might be 10 different attributes of every sound wave. It breaks the new person’s sound wave into those 10 attributes.

Then it compares that “vector” of 10 attributes with all of the vectors in its database for “Hello” and “Fire!”

It uses a statistical technique called “Hidden Markov Analysis” to determine if the sound wave is more like the “hello”s in the database or more like the “Fire!” in the database.

Then it says to itself, “This guy said “Hello”. ”

It then has a line of code that says, “If someone says “Hello” Then say “Hello” back”.

Additionally, it adds your “Hello” to it’s database.

Your “Hello” might be slightly different than the other 100 “Hello”s so it just learned a new way to say “Hello”. That gives it greater ability in the future to recognize the word “hello”.

In other words, it “learned”.

So it used Statistics to hear you, code to respond to you, and database technology to learn. There’s no real intelligence there but it feels like it’s intelligence.

Multiply that by 30 years and millions of patterns and computers a million times faster and you have Alexa and Siri in today’s kitchens.

Ask “Siri” what gender it is.

B) EVALUATION FUNCTION

I just mentioned about language recognition. But how does a self-driving car work?

Every second it has to make a decision. Does it move forward? Does it brake? Does it swerve to avoid an accident? Does it turn left?

How does it get from point A to point B?

1) Google Maps. – Using GPS it knows where it is. And it puts itself on Google Maps.

2) List all of the possible routes. This is a “hard” problem in the mathematical sense (there’s no way for it to guess the fastest route. It has to list each route and then sort by the shortest. )

But now computers are so fast what would normally be a slow decision (drive me from this corner in Piscataway, New Jersey to the capital building of Sacramento, California) now just takes seconds.

3) Waze. Use Waze to eliminate the routes with too much traffic.

4) Start driving.

5) Statistics: Every microsecond it uses statistics to see if there is blank space or an object that must be avoided or a traffic sign that must be followed.

6) Decide what to do according to the code. For each traffic sign, it has code that tells it what to do (if a sign says “Stop” it Stops for a second, uses Statistics to see if any traffic is happening on it’s sides (with radar and cameras to provide the images). )

If there is a person standing in front of it, it might just stop.

If there’s traffic it didn’t expect, it might trigger the program to re-route.

If it’s blank space it will just keep going.

If there’s a baby crossing the street and it has to swerve to avoid hitting it, but if swerving will cause the car to hit a truck, killing the passenger in the car, then the “AI” of the car is dependent on the ethical decisions of the programmer of the car.

In other words, in every situation, it determines it’s options, then uses an “evaluation function” programmed by a coder, to determine which option has the most successful outcome (move the trip forward, don’t kill anyone).

Eventually the evaluation function will NOT be programmed by a human coder.

Instead, through thousands of experiences of other self-driving cars, the experiences plus the outcomes will all be put into a central database.

When a new experience is encountered, the code will look up that experience in the database and the database will spit back the best possible outcome.

The code will learn statistically what the best outcomes are of each possibly decision and change the code accordingly and send updates to all self-driving cars.

C) TREES

The hardest game in the world is a board game called GO. With chess, if a computer can evaluate a billion possibilities a second, it can be a world champion level player.

But a Go game can involve trillions of possibilities. How did Google make a program, Deep Go, to beat the world’s best Go player. This was thought to be impossible.

And yet Google did it.

For any game, a computer program first builds a tree of possibilities. Much like a human would.

A human thinks: “If I make this move in checkers, my opponent might respond with A, B, or C and then I can do D, E, or F and then my opponent can do G, H, I if I do D or it can do J, K, L if I do E and I’m never going to do F.

A computer doesn’t select as well as a human so it builds the FULL tree. Meaning, what are ALL of the possible moves it can do, what are ALL of the possible responses of my opponent, etc.

And then it uses a programmed evalautuon function to look at the leaves of the tree it built.

Whichever move results in the best leaf of the tree (as determined by the evaluation function) then that is the move it makes.

That’s how computer chess worked for decades. I’ll get to the secret sauce in a second for how computers conquered chess.

And then after that I’ll describe how computers miraculously conquered Go.

It’s only a miracle until science can explain it. It’s only “intelligence” until it can be coded by a programmer.

D) HARDWARE

Everybody thought for decades (including many Nobel Prize winners) that the best computer chess programs would be developed when scientists encoded the knowledge of the best chess players in the world into the evaluation function.

How does the world champion value a position instead of a weak player?

This turned out to be wrong.

The MORE code in the evaluation function (i.e. the “smarter” the evaluation function was from a human perspective) the SLOWER the program.

Which meant a smaller tree would be built, which meant less possibilities would be analyzed.

What really allowed the programmers at IBM to build “Deep Blue” which beat Garry Kasparov in 1997 were two things.

Both related to hardware.

a. Computers got faster.
b. First the creators of Deep Blue developed software. But then they made the software into hardware, building the logic right into the hardware infrastructure of the computer. Making the program 100x faster than it would have been.

And finally, they made the evaluation function STUPID in order to use less code so the hardware could value more positions.

Then, before anyone caught on to their “artificial intelligence” they retired Deep Blue right after it beat the World Champion of chess.

As hardware gets faster, artificial intelligence gets “smarter”.

—-

INTERLUDE

What I just described is all the basics. You can stop now.

The rest of artificial intelligence is simply combining the basics to make more advanced techniques.

—–

E) STATISTICS + TREE

Remember the TREE from computer gaming. And STATISTICS from speech recognition.

Now let’s go to the impossible game of Go. Google developed the program “AlphaGo” to win at Go when everyone else thought it would take another 20 to 50 years.

First, remember Kai-Fu Lee who worked on speech recognition. And later developed Apple’s first attempts at speech recognition in the 90s?

At one point in his grad student days, he was getting tired of navy battleship commands (as one does) and decided to focus on building a program to play Othello.

He ended up building the world champion of Othello.

He took a lot of games, let’s say a million, and put them in a database. And each position from each game, he would label, “winning” (if it was a position on the winning side) or “losing” in a massive database.

He would identify several attributes of each position (how many white pieces, versus black pieces, how many corners were controlled, how many pieces were on the sides, etc).

Now, if the computer was playing a brand new game, it would determine all the attributes of that position, then use Hidden Markov Analysis (remember: speech recognition) to match that position to the database.

If the position pattern-matched a “winning position” then it would make the move that would lead to that winning position. If it matched a “losing position” it would not make that move.

That program became the world champion of Othello.

AlphaGo took it one step further.

It put in the positions of millions of Go positions and did the same sort of breakdown.

It used faster hardware to speed up the process.

Then, once it became pretty good at GO, it played BILLIONS of games against ITSELF to put many BILLIONS of new positions into the database. In other words, it “learned”.

Now it was ready to play Go. It crushed the world champion

——

That’s basically it. That’s all of artificial intelligence.

Let’s say a bank wanted to fire all of the employees in charge of lending. And replace them by artificial intelligence.

How would the bank lend money?

Well, there’s 100s of millions of loans already out there. And for each person who has ever borrowed money I know:
– their age
– where they grew up
– what their job is, are they married?
– are they divorced? do they have kids?
– How often do they move? how have they done on prior loans like this? and I even know what they buy on Amazon and how often they fly to Las Vegas.

I can put all these vectors in a database and divide them into people “most likely to pay back the loan” and people “most likely to default”.

Then, just like speech recognition or the Othello program above, I can use statistics to determine who I should loan money to.

And if I say “no”, I don’t have to explain. On to the next one!

—

Let’s say I want to fight terrorists.

I already have examples of many terrorists who trained in the US and then went on to perform or attempt acts of terror.

I know everything about their bank accounts. How often they transferred money. How often they traveled. How often they took out cash versus using a debit card.

And so on.

I can build a vector of attributes of what a terrorist bank account looks like. Then I can match new people against that database of vectors of terrorists.

Believe me, every time you do a bank transfer, some AI program is out there trying to determine if you are a terrorist.

—-

This is all that AI is.

It is nothing more. It’s not “intelligent” from a human sense. It’s not conscious, nor will it ever be.

Here’s how AI has improved in the past forty years (and how it will improve the next 40):

– statistics has gotten better
– methods of building the trees have gotten better (this was the subject of some of my research when I was in graduate school)
– hardware has gotten faster
– more data is available about everything.

What is changing the fastest is data. The land grab of modern society is not land, or gold, or oil.

It’s data.

I have been invested in many companies that collect and sell data. I was an early investor (and on the board of) bit.ly, as an example. bit.lyaccounts for about 2-5% of all Internet traffic.

Believe me when I say, data-driven companies know how many strawberries you ate last summer.

And right now that data is used mostly to target you for ads about sneakers. Or politics.

But this is AI 1.0. Soon that data will be used to target your every movement, your every want, your every need.

Amazon Prime won’t be about delivering you what you want tomorrow. Amazon Prime Plus will be about delivering you what you want yesterday.

Police 2.0 will be like the. movie “Minority Report”.

And the middle class, that has worked loyally for corporations for 150 years, will soon become the useless class.

Even art and music will be driven by AI that studies the neurochemical responses to music you like to music you don’t like. And then compose accordingly.

Where will humans still be unique?

I don’t know. Ask the humans with AI implants that enhance their brains so when they look at you they know exactly what answers will make you happy.

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Monday, August 20, 2018

383 – Rob Corddry: The Idea of Character Building

I got to watch the new season of HBO’s “Ballers” before it came out. But it came with a message: “Everything might change.”

I watched it all anyway. Because I was interviewing Rob Corddy (a.k.a “Joe” in “Ballers.”)

Rob usually plays this likable jerk character. He has some sympathy. But for the most part he’s a jerk who knows he’s a jerk.

There’s something to this idea of character building. Because, growing up, we’re all told who to be and who not to be. What to say and what not to say.

But Rob sort of created a new “okay” for himself by being this easy-going, not so mean, mean guy.

People started to recognize him for his character. And then one day he got a phone call from the creators of “Hot Tub Time Machine.” They wanted to hire him.

“It was the first movie I didn’t have to audition for,” Rob said. “I don’t even know what the audition would be like.”

They saw him on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” He was a correspondent. I remember watching and I’d always ask myself, “Is he likable?”

Then in the movie, “Hot Tub Time Machine,” they wrote a line that will forever be the best description of Rob Corddy’s characters… They said, “He’s an a–hole, but he’s our a–hole.”

But Rob wasn’t always enjoying his life and his career as much as he is today.

2006, 2007, 2008. Those were his dark years.

His show had just been cancelled. It was called, “Winners.” They had six episodes. It looks like just a tiny blip on his resume.

But those blips are scary.

Even by definition, they’re scary…

Because you don’t know what’s temporary until everything shifts again.

“What were you going through in those years?” I asked. “Were you worried you weren’t going to get a job?”

He told me the backstory.

“I was making no money. It was the writer’s strike so there wasn’t even a chance to get a job at that point. I just moved to a city that I didn’t know or understand with a two month old daughter.”

Plus, it was also the middle of the financial crisis.

“It was a very, very stressful time. So because I didn’t have anything to do, I spent 8 hours a day learning how to be productive.”

“What were you doing?” I asked.

“A lot of different things, but mostly, I landed on this thing called GTD (Getting Things Done). It’s David Allen’s thing about how to write a better to-do list. And it’s basically getting everything out of your head onto some sort of device or peice of paper. The idea is that your mind is calm and still for ideas and creativity to happen. Cause if you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got to do X,’ and you don’t write it down, it’s in your head… you’re a little afraid that you might forget it. And that causes a certain amount of stress whether you know it or not.”

Then it came full circle.

Because he had an idea for a new show come to him in one of these really quiet moments. And then he bypassed the gatekeepers and turned the idea into a web series.

The show was called “Childrens Hospital” (no apostrophe). Each episode was 11 minutes. And Rob had the title of “Creator.”

—-

My studio engineer gave me the “wrap” signal. We were out of time. But I kept asking questions.

“How did you come up with the idea for your show? What made you go out and do it? How did it become a TV show?”

I’m pretty sure my engineer was going to throw his iPad at me. But I would’ve dodged it and kept going anyway.

Because I never want a good interview to be just a blip.

Links and Resources

HBO’s “Ballers”

Also Mentioned

“Entourage”

“Sports Management”

“Hot Tub Time Machine”

“The Daily Show”

Rob Huebel

“Do You Want to See a Dead Body”

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

“Childrens Hospital”

Rob Corddy’s appearance on Ari Shaffir

creator Steve Levinson (and his dad Papa Dave)

Fantasy Football

Ed helmes

Upright Citizens Brigade

“The Winners”

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How To Succeed In Life

I had millions of dollars from selling a business and then I lost it all. I lost home. I had the IRS all over me.

Then I lost my family. Then all my relationships fell apart.

My friends and family from the year 2000 no longer talk to me. I take that back. One friend from the year 2000.

I built back up. Built another business. Sold it. Bought another house. Then lost the money and lost the house. Lost my friends.

I changed my definition of success.

This is my new definition:

CONNECTION: Being with people I love who love me. NO TOXIC PEOPLE. For better or worse, I have a “one strike and you’re out” policy. We wear this bag of skin for only so long.
COMPETENCE: Find the things I love, get good at them, even a little bit, every day.
FREEDOM: When I do something I don’t want to do, I feel resentment, I don’t do a good job, people get upset, and I lose track of who I am. If you don’t make the choices in your own life then someone else will and the results won’t be as good for you.

This is hard to do.

It’s not about “ building good habits”.

I put that in quotes because so many bullshit self-help writers think it’s about habits.

A “habit” is “make the bed” or “brush your teeth every day.”

And it’s not about goals.

Again, many self-help gurus say “have big goals”. “Think big or die small”. Blah blah.

This is BS also. If all you have is a big goal you’re guaranteed to not make it.

When I was going to shoot myself in the head I started to figure out what was important to me. And ever since then I’ve had success.

In the past few years I’ve written many bestselling books. I’ve built an almost $100 million in revs. business that’s still growing. I have great friends that I love. My family is better than ever.

I have a podcast that’s had over 70,000,000 downloads. And, my biggest achievement: I’m a Top Quora Writer for five years in a row.

I’m in control of most of the decisions of my life. And I’m ok with the decisions I have no control over (it’s raining today, for instance, so I have a raincoat).

I have a cough today but I’m carrying cough drops. I hope it gets better.

But I don’t care. I’m looking forward to going to the hex game cafe later and playing board games.

I’m sick of interviewing billionaires and world champions.

So boring. They all say the same things. But they speak the language of success. I’ve learned so much by interviewing them.

None of what they say is a surprise. But actually putting it to work and seeing the results right in front of me is proof that these ideas, these processes they put in place, have worked for them.

They’ve worked for me also.

But I think I’m a little lazy. I like to bingewatch TV also.

A) VALUES:

What do you stand for?

I ask this to people and they say stupid shit like, “I want to help entrepeneurs succeed”. Or, “I want to help people communicate better.”

I don’t mean to be harsh. But really check yourself to see if anyone gives a shit about what you say.

For me: I want to be honest with the people around me. I want to do the things in life that I love (and that changes almost every day).

And when I say I will do something: I overpromise and then deliver.

That beats out the people who think they are smart by “underpromising”. That’s the strategy of a loser.

I want to be healthy and creative. I want to entertain.

I want to raise children to be good adults.

I want desperately to not care what people think about me. I want to treat people with grace and respect and not care about the consequences.

If I help myself, share how I do it in an entertaining way, then I can hope for the best.

Oh, and whatever I am interested in: I want to be a threat.

B) PERSISTENCE

If you improve 1% a day at the things you love, then very quickly you find obstacles.

1% a day equals 3800% in a year when compounding.

How do you improve?

“Plus, Minus, Equal”.

This was told to me by the greatest ultimate fighting champion ever: Frank Shamrock.

Find your Plus: a mentor or group of mentors, even if they are virtual (an author, someone on Youtube, etc).

Find your Equals: people who are moving up the chain with you that you can compare notes with.

Find your Minus: people who you can teach to. If you can’t teach, then you don’t understand what you’re supposed to be teaching.

(with former MMA world champion Frank Shamrock)

Business is a great example. Some people are great at building a one million dollar business. But at ten million in revenues, there are a different set of problems. And at $100,000,000 there is a greater set of problems.

Success means viewing problems as opportunities for solutions.

In business, relationships, family, friendships, writing, art, etc.

If you don’t have problems to persist through then you’ve stopped getting better and life will get worse.

C) PATIENCE

I’ve asked 400 of the most successful people in the world what they did when they were at their worst.

How did you survive?

Almost always the answer is: WAIT.

Keep being healthy. Keep writing down ideas. Keep being honest and helping friends and doing good.

But don’t force anything in your career or life.

Henry Winkler (the actor who played “The Fonz” on Happy Days in the 70s), told me during his NINE dark years of no acting that the worst thing he could have done was force it.

Instead, he kept his network alive. He learned how to produce and direct. And gradually he got back into acting. Last season, on “Barry”, he helped that show get 13 Emmies.

When you thrash, you crash.

Just be quiet. Don’t move too much. Be calm. Be patient.

Life rewards the patient.

(me and “The Fonz” at the comedy club, Standup NY, I am part-owner of).

D) READY. FIRE. AIM

Sara Blakely, the wealthiest self made woman in the world (she created Spanx) got her first big order and had only a few weeks to deliver.

The problem: she didn’t have a manufacturer.

So she found one. She was lit on fire and had to put that fire out.

So many people plan plan plan. Analysis paralysis.

Have the idea. Get the order. Then figure it out.

Want to swim. Get thrown in the water. Don’t drown.

Have a story. Write it down. Then edit the grammar and make a second, third, fourth draft of the story.

Richard Branson didn’t buy 10 airplanes and then start Virgin Air.

He called Boeing, convinced them to LEND him a plane for a year. Then got a route from the US to England. THEN started Virgin Air, which he sold for billions.

(Sara built Spanx (example in the image) into a multi-billion business without any fashion experience. She just wanted to help women feel better)

E) OBSESSION

When you love something, you’ll WANT to do it in every spare moment.

You’ll read about it. You’ll watch videos. Get mentors. Talk about it with friends. Study the nuances. Start trying it for yourself. And on and on.

The one who is obsessed will beat out the person who is not obsessed.

Why? Simple: the person who is not obsessed will NEVER know the nuance and subtleties.

I once started a business that combined my interests in writing, investing, and programming. All my prior obsessions.

Three months into developing my idea I realized I had a ton of competition. But I could tell they weren’t obsessed. They weren’t a threat.

I got millions of users with a month.

I sold my company for $10,000,000. They all went out of business.

Nobody can beat an obsessive.

(Sasha Cohen told me only obsession is what got her a medal in the 2006 Olympics)

F) TALENT SEX

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, told me, “I’m pretty good at drawing, but not the best. I’m pretty good at writing, but not the best. I’m pretty funny, but not the best, and I’m pretty good at business, but not the best. But I’m probably the best at the combination.”

Which is why Dilbert is the top selling syndicated cartoon strip and Scott is probably worth over $100,000,000.

When you get pretty good at a lot of things and then combine them: you’ll be among the best in the world at the intersection.

List your talents. Start figuring out how to combine them.

(Dilbert)

G) VISION

Don’t read the news. Read a lot of books by smart people. Here are some starting points:

Sapiens by Yuval Harari

The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb

Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke

Look around the world. Don’t listen to the people who are screaming and yelling and hating and fighting.

Think realistically about what you love doing: where will it be five years from now?

For instance, is the 2 party system in America going to last? Will TV shows still be 30 minutes or 60 minutes? Will bookstores exist? Will Uber still exist? Will AI be doing surgeries?

Have a vision for where the world is going. Or wait for one (see above). Vision is the mother of invention.

H) PERSUASION

Every successful person I know, knows how to persuade.

Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence” is the Bible of persuasion techniques.

BUT, Vision + Obsession + Health makes it easy to persuade others.

I) EMPATHY

Rule #3 of improvisation is: “Make your scene partner look good.”

Nobody gives a shit about you. Stop caring so much about what people think you.

Focus on how to make the people around you look good. Then the world around you will look good. Then the center of the world around you will look good.

I mean..you.

J) PROBLEM SOLVING

get a waiter’s pad
every day write down ten ideas

Within six months you will be an idea machine. People will throw problems at you and you will be able to solve them trivially.

This is a super power. And with great power becomes great responsibility.

On the TV show “Crashin”, Pete Holmes asks the famous comedian Whitney Cummings, “Can you give me advice? What does it take to succeed?”

I love her response. First she said, “I can’t tell you. There’s no answer.”

And he begged. “Please just tell me one thing “

She said, “The star is the person everyone else wants to be friends with.”

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