I’ve been reading this book lately. It’s called “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth” by James Altucher. I really like his down to earth style and his sense of humor. I admire his ability to live his life the way HE chooses, and I am thankful that he decided to share his lessons in how he got to that point.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that individual liberty and personal freedom are very important to me too. I’m trying hard to find any possible way to get out of the rat race and find a way to live my life the way I want to instead of being stuck doing things the way everybody else thinks is best, only so I can stay out of jail!
I read his earlier book “Choose Yourself” a while ago and I thought he had a lot of good points. I still think so.
I have been working on his “Daily Practice” that he explains in “Choose Yourself“. He means to take care of your mental, spiritual, emotional and physical needs every day. Makes sense to me, but still hard for me to put into practice every single day.
Today, I read a chapter he calls “Four Things I Do That Can Change Your Life In The Next Ten Minutes”.
Someone asked him “what can I learn in the next 10 minutes that will be useful the rest of my life?”
I thought, what a great question! Here’s what James had to say as an answer…
“I can show you four insanely stupid things that will make the rest of your life better. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.”
Here are the 4 things:
- Use $2 bills
- Wear a doctors coat
- Use waiters pads
- Watch standup comedy
He does give a little explanation for why he does these 4 things and why they work for him. I’m kind-of interested in what you may think the reasons are. 😉
What do you think about those 4 things? Do you have any suggestions of your own? Would you do his? Why or why not? I think I’m going to give it a try, have to go find me some waiters pads and a Drs coat!
I have been practicing 2 🙂
How about:
What If You Woke Up Today With Only The Things You Thanked God For Yesterday
🙂
In re: The four things, The fourth throws me off of my original thought, being that unless you are a race track tout you wouldn’t be exposed to two dollar bills, a doctor to have ready access to the coat or on a wait staff for the order pad, any of these three would indicate a move “outside the box” for almost everyone else. Watching stand up comedy, however, is not really a departure for most people. Still, my take away is in the value of purposely incorporating the unusual into one’s daily activity so that when that unusual opportunity appears it won’t seem quite so foreign. A long winded way of saying live, if not outside the box, at least on the very edge of it.
Thanks for the comment and the thought that went into it. Altucher says he uses $2 bills so people will remember him. I have to agree with that. I don’t see them very often. One place in Houston (McGonigals Mucky Duck) always gives them as change and I have always remembered that.
He likes the waiters pads since he likes to make lists and they’re perfect for that purpose. He’s all about becoming an ‘idea machine’, he promotes coming up with 10 ideas every day. Good ones, bad ones, doesn’t matter. Eventually, you might come up with a good one, and then more ideas to get that good one into a workable stage. It’s all about creativity and personal liberation.
The drs coat is just because it’s comfortable (and also has perfect pockets for the waiters pad). I love staying comfortable myself and hate it when I have to wear any shoes other than flip-flops! I usually insist on pockets too, if it won’t fit in my pockets, I don’t need it! I HATE what they’ve done to the airports!! Takes me forever to take everything out of my pockets and it’s REALLY none of their damn business WHAT I have in there if it doesn’t set off their metal detector. Last time flying home from Congo, the security guards had me count out every single $ (so they could take some of it)! What a freakin SCAM!
The stand up comedy is to watch, enjoy, have a few laughs and to open up your mind for your own creativity to flow.
I agree with your interpretation too. I think it’s a good idea to live outside the box as much as you can. I always remember my mother used to say, it’s be a really boring world if we were all the same. I totally agree!