My guest today, author Oliver Burkeman, has a strong opinion on the power of positive thinking: he can’t stand it.

In his book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver writes in a humorous and thoughtful way about how self-help books are ineffective.

Oliver believes we should coexist with both our positive and negative thoughts, be attached to neither, and take the actions we need to take without giving into emotions.

His approach is partly Stoic: he believes that telling people that everything will work out doesn’t replenish their optimism tanks. He also believes it can be paralyzing for people to think that whatever success they are seeking must be realized.

We talk a bit in-depth about one of Oliver’s favorite quotes from Shoma Morita:

“Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator or unhealthy or lazy or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die.”

Oliver and I discuss some of the books we enjoy like: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle, and The Art of Taking Action by Gregg Krech, among others.

We also take a look at the self-help books we don’t find helpful.

Oliver’s book is an insightful and creative look at the negativity of positive thinking.

Links and resources mentioned in the show:

Oliver Burkeman’s website

Oliver’s book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

 Susan Jeffers’ book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

The Art of Taking Action by Gregg Krech

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

image credit: Christopher Lane for The Guardian

The post Ep 122 – Oliver Burkeman: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

A lot of people call Jim Kwik a brain expert. On today’s show, he gives us a sneak peek into his seminars that teach people how to optimize their brains to be more productive and powerful every day.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Jim reverses the iconic saying to put normal people in control of their own accelerated learning: With great responsibility comes great power.

When you take control of your own learning techniques, you are capable of great things.

What if you were born with superpowers but nobody showed you how to use them? You may not feel like you can excel at accelerated learning, but that does not mean you aren’t capable.

Jim reveals that even he experienced learning difficulties as a child after an accidental fall when he was in kindergarten.

“It took me two years longer to learn how to read,” he says, and because of these difficulties, he was able to find new ways to learn and excel.

Your brain never stops learning.

You may have been told that your memory is fixed, like your shoe size, but that is not the case. Learning new things creates more brain cells and will help you live a longer life.

But how can you continue to learn new things? Jim breaks down a few of his techniques and key anecdotal lessons, including:

• How to distance yourself from your own self-talk and break the trance of “I can’t.”
• How to ask new and exciting questions in order to learn new things.
• How to take an active approach to learning in order to get the most out of your experiences.
• How to incorporate EFT, or emotional freedom techniques, into your learning style.
• How to improve memory through the location method.

Jim takes the time to share a few of his tricks and techniques for boosting charisma to improve your memory and conquer your fears of public speaking.

He reminds us to be present in the moment in order to find the motivation we need. This will also help us remember the new information and recall it from memory just as easily.

Unleash your cape…

Links and Resources

• For free seminars on speed-reading and memorization, check out Jim Kwik’s site www.freememoryseminar.com. The three videos will start you on your way to memory improvement.
• Follow Jim Kwik on Twitter @JimKwik 
• See the photo of Jim and the X-Men on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jimkwik

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep 121 – Jim Kwik: Brain Coach and Superhero appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

Brett McKay is the founder of The Art of Manliness, a website dedicated to delivering inspiring, actionable, and life changing advice to both men and women. A lot of times men just need a little more help being organized and getting their lives together than women do. As James says, “Women just grow up faster.”

Brett’s wife Kate is also his business partner.While there are many advantages to having your spouse involved with your business, it also introduces the difficulty of separating work time from personal time. Even during dedicated work time it sometimes is hard to clearly define roles and responsibilities in the business. This is a theme that spans most business relationships, but generally your business partner isn’t also the person you share a bed with each night.

Brett keeps it simple by living by the mantra that both you and your spouse should “Seek to Serve Each Other.” This doesn’t need to be an equal relationship all the time. Go out of your way to be generous and giving to your loved ones.

The Art of Manliness is currently publishing blog posts, podcast episodes, and videos about how to live well as a man in the modern world. As opposed to many of the existing Men’s publications, The Art of Manliness is geared toward slightly older, professional men, and isn’t focused on how to have six-pack abs or toe-curling sex for 5 hours every day. There are professional tips, parenting tips for men, and what some may call “Old Fashioned” advice that men can take to live a better, more fulfilling life.

The site is currently experiencing revenues in the high six-figures-per-year range, and has been publishing consistently this entire time. As James has recounted before, it often takes 4 or 5 years to change your life, “Choose Yourself,” and create the reality that you want.

Brett gives advice on how to grow a site like he has with today’s social media and sharing tools. He is a big advocate of “Guest Posting” on other blogs as a way to increase your reach online. The age of the solo blog is slowly going away. Today, sites like The Art of Manliness, with guest contributors, allow for a diverse set of voices and perspectives that one single person could never give. To make it easier on the site you’re looking to guest post on, do most of the work for them. This includes image formatting, sizing, tagging, and including a scope of what type of post you would like to submit for that site.

Digging into some of the more popular posts on the site, James and Brett discuss a few key topics:

· Regarding Minimalism, Brett and James discuss how trying to be minimalist often leads to an obsession with the things you do have. Instead of just focusing on having things, even if it’s fewer things, both advocate spending your time and money on experiences. This has been scientifically proven to increase happiness and is a great way to parent, as well as live your life if you don’t have children.

· The concept of Antifragility applies not only to the financial markets, as originally described by Nasim Taleb, but also to many aspects of everyday life. Health, fitness, engineering, women’s health and vitality, and even society in general all experience aspects of Antifragility. We can all do things today to increase our Antifragility and be less susceptible to the trials of life. The redundancies in our lives can also increase Antifragility.

· The Art of Manliness closely mirrors a lot of the topics that James has written about time and time again, including Integrity. Until very recently the term Manliness meant not only physical strength but to be a man of virtue. This theme holds true through all of Brett’s website, and is helping to bring back a better way of life for men.

· Bringing back some of the older-style manly characteristics includes being decisive and leading in relationships. Gender roles can often get complicated by stereotypes and social norms but the fact remains that in most relationships there needs to be a leader. And many times modern women are looking for the men in their lives to be that leader.

In parting, the one piece of information that Brett thinks that women need to know about men is that most men are very attuned to status. How people perceive men is something very important to many, regardless of what they may say.

You can reach out to Brett directly on Twitter @ArtOfManliness or check out TheArtOfManliness.com for much more of Brett’s writings.

Resources:

Brett McKay: The Art of Manliness Book Collection

Nassim Taleb: Antifragile

Scott Eyman: John Wayne The Life and Legend

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep 120: Brett McKay – Art of Manliness appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

Surrendering to what the universe has put in front of you, being able to set aside fears, and living in the moment sounds like an awesome way to go through life.

Today’s guest, Michael Singer, has written two books that say it is entirely possible to do that.

His first book, New York Times No. 1 bestseller The Untethered Soul, was released in 2007. In The Untethered Soul, Michael explained ways to find inner peace. He also found himself on the other end of a phone call from Oprah, who loved the book and wanted to interview him on her show.

He never thought of giving an interview.

He made it a point not to.

When The Untethered Soul came out, he paid for marketing but said he would not do interviews… That is, until Oprah called him directly.

They talked on the phone for 45 minutes and he went to Chicago. That was his first and only “in-person” interview.

The “second in-person interview” was… You guessed it, the one with Claudia and me, “because there was something there.”

Claudia and I both e-mailed separately and a bunch of coincidences made our name stand out. One woman who lives on the grounds had read Claudia’s yoga book. Another woman tweeted with me.

And so here it is.

Michael just released a second book, The Surrender Experiment, which details his journey following his spiritual awakening as events unfolded in front of him, including running a multibillion-dollar company and finding himself embroiled in a lawsuit.

Michael, who also goes by the name Mickey, founded the Temple of the Universe in Florida in 1975. It’s a nonprofit organization established as a yoga and meditation center where, according to the site, people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience the inner peace Michael talks about.

The Temple of the Universe is where Claudia and I caught up with him.

On the day of the interview, Michael took us to all the sites he mentions in the book.

He took us to his house, which came to him when God called on the phone (an amazing story in the book). It has a meditation pyramid on the third level. I kid you not.

It was the first house built on the property with all glass on the front… It was where he was staying when the guy dressed in Egyptian clothes (a story that is not in the book but is on the podcast) helped him grow by bothering him.

He took us to the temple, of course, where we sang devotional songs ranging from the Gayatri Mantra to a Hebrew devotional song to the Our Father prayer to the Gita… and on and on…

He also showed us the huge five-building office space that “him getting out of the way” co-created while he was a CEO. It’s a beautiful place of which he calls himself “the groundskeeper.”

In the interview, we talked with Michael about his books, the inner awakening he experienced, and how it has affected him personally and professionally. He explained how we can all achieve a similar state of being. He broke down some of the ways to do that, including:

• Quieting the noise in our heads, which keeps us from achieving a high level of awareness

• How fear affects us

• Allowing events to unfold and how to deal with them as they do

• Letting go of personal preference

• How to live harmoniously rather than in a state of mental chaos

Michael stated that it’s important to relax and be in the moment and that our inner state is meant to be healthy. He said we need to surrender to the unfolding of the universe, and by doing so, we will flourish and life will become phenomenal.

The Surrender Experiment is Michael’s journey as he applies it to his life and the results he found from living in a state of surrender to the universe.

Links and Resources Mentioned in the Show:

Michael’s website can be found at untetheredsoul.com. Here you can read more about Michael, his books, audio lectures, and get on his mailing list.

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

The Surrender Experiment

For more information about Michael’s nonprofit organization, head to the Temple of the Universe.

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 119: Michael Singer – The Surrender Experiment appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

If you want to see into the future, if you want to live longer, healthier and happier then you must tune into today’s podcast.

It may scare the hell out of you but there is no holding it back.

The future is here and you can’t get out of it’s way.

Steven Kotler the best-selling author, journalist and entrepreneur joins me for today’s show.

Steven’s books include Abundance, Rise of Superman, Bold and his newest release, Tomorrowland: Our Journey from Science Fact to Science Fiction.

Tomorrowland offers a positive and optimistic look into the future, and at the same time is a bit scary.

With an introduction of, the future is here, Steven’s book outlines the rapid pace that technology is and will continue to define us in every way imaginable.

Some of the highlights from the book include:

• Strap-on bionics that reverse the aging trend and put force back into our bodies.
• Extending life and how stem cells can be used to swap out old body parts for new ones.
• Things like artificial vision that restore what was lost.

With all the advancements, questions are raised.  Steven asks the question of how all these things that are rapidly becoming possible will affect religion and our thoughts about theoretical mortality in the face of technological immortality.

We discuss having the ability to move our short-term memories to a place in the brain where long-term memories are stored.  On the scary side of all this is synthetic biology where somebody can make a customizable disease that can target even one specific person without them knowing.

Criminals will exploit it and the use of microsensors in public places could be a way to fight back.

Steven believes the greatest opportunities are currently in virtual reality where immersive virtual reality will be exploding in three to five years.

He thinks even our jobs will move into the virtual world eventually because we will be spending more and more time there.

According to Steven internet-sized opportunities exist in this because:

• Technology is progressing at a rapid rate.
• Economic possibilities have been proven.
• Deeply meaningful experiences will be created.

Links and Resources Mentioned In The Show: 

• To learn more about Tomorrowland and Steven’s other books and articles, head to Steven Kotler
• Steven is the co-founder and director of research for the Flow Genome Project.  While you’re there check out the free flow profile.
• Also, Steven writes a blog for Forbes.com, it’s called Far Frontiers: forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler
• Follow Steven on Twitter at  @kotlersteven  

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 118 – Tomorrowland: No Matter How Hard You Try You Can’t Get Out Of Its Way appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

Today I’m very pleased to welcome David Bach to the show. David is the author of several books on achieving your financial goals, and doing so while reducing stress along the way. With titles including Automatic Millionaire, Smart Women Finish Rich, and Smart Couples Finish Rich, David has become an absolute authority on choosing yourself first. Or as he says, “Pay yourself first.”

With financial troubles being the leading cause of friction and divorce amongst couples, David has found several key ways that families can manage their finances easier. Steps couples can take to improve their financial lives include:

• Talking about small purchases more often.

• Twice a year, work with your spouse or a financial advisor to monitor your personal financial statement.

• Have a vision for your financial future. This clarifies every decision you make in your financial life.

David is a big advocate of “The Latte Factor” and doing small things to save money every day. This helps people overcome the biggest obstacle to better financial behaviors: getting started.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, the thing you can do that will have the most effect on your financial path is to increase your income. For entrepreneurs, this means increasing your rates. If your services are indispensable to current customers, they will gladly pay a higher rate. If you’re working within a company, getting a raise on a regular basis is the way to go. Be valuable to your employer and they will gladly reward you.

The digital economy and the passing recession have given us a unique opportunity to reinvent ourselves. While many people are having to do this at an older age, David has a few key actions people can take to get on this road, even if it’s later in life:

• Spend Less.

• Setup an automatic saving plan. Pay yourself first and allow compounding to do its magic.

• Meditate regularly.

• Journal immediately after you meditate.

• Focus on what is making you unhappy, AND what you can do to help make you happier.

Links and Resources Mentioned in the Show:

• To access more of David’s insights on how to be successful at managing your finances, head to Smart Couples Live – Enter coupon code “tour”

• You can learn more about David and his works on Finishrich.com

• Follow David on Twitter at @AuthorDavidBach

• If you’re looking for a financial planner, David and his team at Edelman Financial Planning can help you reach your goals.

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 117 David Bach: How to Live Your Best Life appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

If you’re into hunting for buried pirate treasure then this is the show for you. Today I’m very happy to welcome bestselling author Robert Kurson to the podcast.

Robert has just released Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship. This is the second book featuring John Chatterton and is about his quest with John Mattera to find the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. Bannister, a gentleman and business owner working with shipping companies in the Caribbean, one day turned pirate and stole a boat named The Golden Fleece, setting off on a pirate’s adventure for years.

Treasure hunting may seem like a romantic, childish notion, but most treasure hunters are often seeking adventure, encountering huge adversity in their search and often risking all to solve the mysteries they encounter beneath the water. Chatterton (a police officer) and Mattera (a commercial diver) worked all week, used their savings, and spent every free minute of their time searching for this long lost ship.

Shadow Divers was Robert’s first book featuring Richie Kohler and John Chatterton on their quest to solve the mystery of a WWII German U-boat found off the New Jersey coast in 1991 and how the questions surrounding this discovery would haunt these men, their marriages, and ultimately challenge every aspect of their lives.

In Robert’s first book, Crashing Through, he tells the story of Mike May who was blind from the age 3 and regained his vision at age 46 via a rare stem-cell transplant procedure. May had lived a very fulfilling life as a blind person, and actually delayed doing this procedure for over a year.

Robert learned the lesson of storytelling early on. Growing up he was regularly brought out of school, sometimes for extended periods of time, to travel the country. By age 8 he had visited all 48 continental United States. This time away allowed him to get a first-hand sense of the power of storytelling. This unconventional upbringing also empowered Robert to discover and follow his passion from an early age.

Robert recounts how he found himself utterly miserable living the life of a typical day-job employee. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he feels lucky that he was miserable enough to have the courage to do something as daring as leaving a high-paying, comfortable job to pursue his passion, just like John Chatterton did years ago.

Robert and I agree that a good barometer of your happiness in a job is how you view the people you work with. If you enjoy the people you’re working with then you can be happy at your job. If you don’t enjoy being around attorneys, for example, then there’s virtually no chance you’ll be happy at work every day as an attorney.

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 116 – Robert Kurson: A Life’s Obsession With No Way Out appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

“I’m the kind of person who is embarrassed to lie,” says ‘Freeway’ Rick Ross. Not the words you would expect to come from a convicted felon.

Rick built an empire, a drug empire that is, the notorious LA crack cocaine empire.

But the man who built this is not an evil man as you might suspect. He is charitable, a teacher, and an ideal leader. “I always knew I was gong to jail,” he tells me.

So why did I interview him?

First off, his story is the kind that creates curiosity. It is so foreign to me — a good, jewish boy. It’s thrilling.

Second, our stories have a common theme: how do you pick yourself up when you’re at rock bottom?

His rock bottom was finding out he was sentenced to life in prison. How do you stay motivated after discovering your entire future will be in a cage? How do you not run away? Can you choose yourself?

Yes.

Before bottom, Rick was illiterate. He picked himself up by improving everyday. He read 300 books, the Wall Street Journal, the LA times and more all before bail.

He was given a sentence, but he changed his destiny. You can, too.

Rick also has expert advice on how to resolve conflicts. In his business, he had power and guns but chose peace over force time and time again. His story is telling of how to build loyalty. You can use his experience to create loyal teams and partnerships in your life and work, too.

The moral of the story here is not how you get success. It’s what you do with it that matters. On his rise to the top, Rick gave back to his community. He gives back today by advocating literacy and speaking in schools.

After listening, you could write a 10 ideas list on how you can give back to your community today.  If nothing else, I hope this interview inspires you to improve your destiny and others.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How to resolve conflicts
• How to build loyal relationships
• Examples of strong work ethic
• Why literacy is important
• How to gain clientele and use word of mouth marketing
• Plus much more…

Links and Resources Mentioned In The Show:

• Read Freeway Rick Ross’s inspiring book, Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography
• Follow Freeway Rick Ross on Twitter
• Check out Jayson Gaignard’s conference Mastermind Talks, which is where I interviewed Rick Ross
• My article on What I learned about leadership when I interviewed the biggest drug dealer in history

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep 115 – Freeway Rick Ross: How to Manage Your Employees When They’re All Carrying Guns appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

What are you best at? Whatever it is, you should do it more often and get paid for it, too. Unless if it’s sex. That’s illegal.

Do you know the ultimate site to choose yourself (besides jamesaltucher.com)? It’s freelancer.com. It’s “a global market for services” and “the eBay for jobs.” My guest today, Matt Barrie, is the genius who founded it.

This site changed my life. And in today’s interview, you’ll hear how I used the site to build a business and sell it for millions of dollars eight months later.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of successful people.

Matt, on the other hand, watches people become overnight successes in real time. He is an encyclopedia of success stories. You will feel motivated and empowered after hearing these extreme entrepreneur success stories.

Have you heard of giantflamingo.com? This guy outsourced manufacturing on freelancer.com and created an entire pool toy empire. Now, he’s a multimillionaire. You’ll hear his full story and realize you have the same potential.

If starting a business isn’t for, that’s ok. You can still make money from the site. “Everyone on the site is there to make money,” Matt says.

Here’s what you have to do: use the site to look up projects. Projects can supplement your income or even replace it. This way you’ll get paid to do what you’re good at all the time.

Let me know what you find. I love to hear stories about how you choose yourself.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How to make money using freelancer.com
• How to use freelancer.com to start and build a business
• How to use freelancer.com to get projects so you can quit your job
• How Matt Barrie came up with the idea of an “eBay for jobs”
• Plus much more…

Links and Resources Mentioned In The Show:

• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: freelancer.com
• A collection of essays by Matt Barrie 
• Also check out freelancer articles where you can become a contributing writer

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 114 – Matt Barrie: How To Get Paid Doing What You Love appeared first on Altucher Confidential.

Are you attractive? Some people thought Neil Strauss wasn’t. Until he got in the game.

Neil is a master pickup artist. But in decoding the pickup artist scene, Neil discovered a lot more about love, life, trust and how your upbringing is effecting your daily habits.

In today’s show, Neil and I take turns interviewing each other. He asked me, “What did you not get from your parents that you needed?”

My answer is the same as Hugh Hefner. And now it all makes sense…

This question says a lot about you. Neil uses the question to analyze your core beliefs. Beliefs shape habits.

According to Neil, you can learn techniques to changes your habits or you can learn deep down what’s inside yourself. He says, “A lot of people try to change their behavior, but if you don’t change your beliefs, then whatever it is that motivated your behavior will find another way to come out sideways.”

We also talk about writing. Neil has seven New York Times bestselling books.

A big challenge for people is what to write about. People let myths stop them from being creative.

One myth is that you should focus on one topic. Don’t box yourself in. Trying to be an expert is inauthentic. And building a platform around one idea is a dead end. That’s why I encourage you to become an idea machine.

Neil also shares his secrets to becoming a captivating storyteller.

Plus, he shares the greatest lesson of all: how to get over your fears. Neil says, “Chances are those things that you’re most afraid to share are the things other people need to hear.”

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How to get over your fear of humilation
• How to be an authentic storyteller
• Why your beliefs are holding you back from changing your habits
• How your childhood is effecting you today
• Plus much more…

Links and Resources Mentioned In The Show:

• My favorite book from Neil Strauss The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
• My other favorite book from Neil Strauss How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale
• Watch Neil pickup Jessica Alba on Jimmy Kimmel Live
• Also check out Neil’s website

Thanks so much for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode of The James Altucher Show, please leave a review or a rating on ITunes. I read every review and it helps to make the podcast better.

The post Ep. 113 – Neil Strauss: Go Do You appeared first on Altucher Confidential.