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Choose Yourself

Choose Yourself

by Parker · 172 things on Twos

James Altucher
The day and age of the massive corporations that take care of us from beginning to end are over. But that is exciting news
We can choose the life we want for ourselves. You choose that life by doing the best you can right in this moment. Right now. By being bold in this moment. Right now. There is no other moment to wait for
Choose yourself right now. If you do this, not only can you not plan the impact you're going to have, you often won't recognize it while you're having it
If you don't make courageous choices for yourself, nobody else will
There's no one path. Every path starts with this one moment. Did you choose yourself for this moment? Can you be bold?
Nobody else is going to do it for you. If you are going to thrive, to survive, you have to choose yourself. In every way
Every second, you have to choose yourself to succeed
You're definitely not going to find opportunities reading a book
For our entire lives, we have been fooled by marketing slogans and the Masters of the Universe who created them. You can't blame them. You can't blame anyone but yourself. Every second you are manipulated and coerced and beaten down it's because you allowed it. They were just doing their jobs
The learned man aims for more. But the wise man decreases. And then decreased again
Build your own platform, have faith and confidence in yourself instead of a jury-rigged system, and define success by your own terms
Companies simply don't need the same amount of people anymore to be as productive as they've always been
Ideas are more important than people and everyone will have to choose themselves for happiness. From internal health the rest will come. The starting point for all of this is developing the inner perspective that allows you to choose yourself in the first place. Success by itself won't bring you happiness, because you can't do any of this from a position of ill health. If your body is sick, if you are around negative people who bring you down, if your idea muscle has not been refined into the perfect machine, and if spiritually you haven't developed a sense of gratitude and surrender, you will have less chances of success
The only things that really matters in this world are the relationships you have with the people you love, and the meaningful things that you do
You have two choices: become a temp staffer or become an artist-entrepreneur. Choose to commoditize your labor or choose yourself to be a creator, an innovator, an artist, an investor, a marketer, and an entrepreneur
Rejection—and the fear of rejection—is the biggest impediment we face to choosing ourselves
When you put yourself out there on a daily basis you are going to get rejected
You can't hate the people who reject you. You can't let them get the best of you. Nor can you bless the people who love you. Everyone is acting out of his or her own self-interest
What you need to do is build the house you will live in. You build that house by laying a solid foundation: by building physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health
Freedom: freedom to explore the blessings that surround us. Freedom to help ourselves so that we can help others. Freedom to live the life we choose to lead, instead of having to live the life that has been chosen for us
The only truly safe thing you can do is to try over and over again. To go for it, to get rejected, to repeat, to strive, to wish. Without rejection there is no frontier, there is no passion, and there is no magic
Obessing on the things we can't control is useless
The idea that we need to "pay our dues" is a lie told to us by people who wanted our efforts and labor on the cheap
Simply ask the world for your proper place in it. Without a doubt, you will get what you ask for
You will be the beacon that will enhance the lives of everyone around you and, in doing so, trigger the actual law of nature that says when you enhance everyone around you, you can't help but enhance yourself
Success comes from continually expanding your frontiers in every direction—creatively, financially, spiritually, and physically. Always ask yourself, what can I improve? Who else can I talk to? Where else can I look?
Only do the things you enjoy. Down to your very thoughts. Only think about the people you enjoy. Only read the books you enjoy, that make you happy to be human. Only go to the events that actually make you laugh or fall in love. Only deal with the people who love you back, who are winners and want you to win too
Every time you say yes to something you don't want to do, you will resent people, you will do a bad job, you will have less energy for the things you were doing a good job on, you will make less money, and yet another small percentage of your life will be used up, burned up, a smoke signal to the future saying, "I did it again."
The only real fire to cultivate is the fire inside of you. Nothing external will cultivate it. The greater your internal fire is, the more people will want it
Every time you say yes to something you don't want, your fire starts to go away. You will get burned out
All you need to do to live longer is to constantly make sure you are doing everything you can to protect your heart and the blood that flows through it. This is a function of diet, exercise, sleep and other things. If the heart gets sick, you die
Take care of your physical body. The shell that we must take care of to live. It houses everything we do
You just need to be healthy
Take care of the emotional body. Surround yourself with only positive people who inspire you. This way you can learn to be positive. Be a beacon to those around you
Acknowledge that the person is driving you crazy. You can't supress that. But with observation, the pain will begin to wither. And the less you engage with the person, the less overall effect that person will have on you
Say hello in the hallway, smile nicely, but no engagement
You can't be beautiful unless you get rid of the ugliness inside. People become crappy people not because of who they are, but because they are crapping inside of you
Take care of your mental body
The way you tame it is through focused use. Set a goal
You need to make the mind sweat so that it gets tired. So tired that it's done for the day. It can't control you today. Tire it out. Then do it again. 10 more ideas
Come up with 10 ideas a day
Take care of your spiritual body. Most people obsess on regrets in their past or anxieties in their future. I this "time traveling." The past and future doesn't exist. They are memories and speculation, neither of which you have any control over. You don't need to time travel anymore. You can live right now
When you surrender and accept the beautiful stillness around you, when you give up all thoughts of the past, all worries and anxieties of the future, when you surround yourself with similarly positive people, when you tame the mind, when you keep healthy, there is zero chance of burrnout
Recognize a bad mood, say, "I'm in a bad mood," and wait it out. So you can get back to enjoying things. So you can get back to making decisions and making choices, but only when you are in a good mood—a mood where you are fully present and not time traveling
You will add brilliance to the lives around you. You will become a beacon, a light that attracts abundance, instead of a flickering flame that is eventually smoothered
This is how we form a better society. First we become better as individuals. You can't help others if you look in the mirror and hate what you see
All you really need to do to get off the floor is acknowledge that it's not your external life that needs to change but that external changes flow from the inside
Simply being healthy
Sleep 8 hours, eat two meals instead of three, no TV, no junk food, no complaining for one whole day, no gossip, return an email from 5 years ago, express thanks to a friend, watch a funny movie or a stand-up comic, write down a list of ideas, read a spiritual text, say to yourself when you wake up "I'm going to save a life today." Keep an eye out for that life you can save, take up a hobby, write down your entire schedule and cross out one item, surprise someone, think of ten people you are grateful for, forgive someone, take the stairs instead of the elevator, tell someone every day that you love them, don't have sex with someone you don't love, shower, read a chapter in a biography about someone who is an inspiration to you, make plans to spend time with a friend, breathe deep
"I lovee myself"
If a painful memory arises, don't fight it or try to push it away. Struggle reinforces pain. Instead, go to love. Love for yourself. Feel it. If you have to fake it, fine. It'll become real eventuall
Much more value is created when I do the things I enjoy, when I work on my own creativity and continue to build the foundation for health
Work smarter, not harder
Help people
Help you clients. Do what they say, do it on time, do a little extra to surprise them, give them ideas for how their jobs can be even better, make their lives better, listen to them
Sales rule #1: your best future clients are your current clients
Be artistic. Being ann entrepreneur means you're going to create something in a way that a customer can't get anywhere else. Creation is art. It's how ideas collide in your head, then how materials collide too make your ideas real. Then it's how people collide to bring your creation to life in the real world with real users. Then it's how so much value is created so people are willing to spend money on it
Ignore the petty worries. Find beauty in the silence. The silence is the only place your creative ideas will come from
Make a lot of money. If you make money, someone will buy your company
The key is to always have the base foundation built; your physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies need to be healthy and flowing with each other. This will provide the foundation from which your ideas will get generated, solutions and opportunities will appear almost magically in the face of the problems that inevitably arise for all entrepreneurs, and everyone around you will feel the benefits
People go through so much of their lives pretending to be someone else, someone who is liked, instead of being who they really are
Come up with ideas
There is no such thing as competition. The world is big enough for two people in the same space
Your tribe is defined by you but also defines you
Be an expert. When you start a business and you have a service or product that is good enough for people to use over other similar products or services, then you are now an expert in your space
The only way to create value for yourself is to create value for others
Think of two people in your network who don't know each other but you think can add value to each other's lives. Introduce them
Abundance will never come from your job. Only stepping out of the prison imposed on you from your factory will allow you to achieve abundance
How to start a business: take out the middleman, pick a boring business, get a customer, build trust while you sleep, blogging is not about money, say yes, treat each customer like a real human being, customer service is the most reliable touch point to keep selling your service to them
To blog well you need to be totally transparent or it won't work
Make a service business on whatever the cutting edge of the Internet is
You're always selling: selling your services, selling your customer's services and selling your company
Books give you credibility in your area of expertise or interest
The way to get good ideas is to do two things: read two hours a day, and write ten ideas a day
Don't worry about satisfying anybody else's preconceived notion of what spirituality is
All you have to do is stay in the present. When you catch yourself upset about the past or worried about the future, say to yourself, "Ah, I'm time traveling," then stop
Try to label your thoughts: "future" or "past." If you can do that, you stand a pretty good chance of remaining in the present
When you start to question and practice in these four areas—when you get all four of these bodies healthy—the quality of your ideas will get better, you will have more energy and time, and you will build the basic foundation that will later turn into the house you want to live in
With new technoloogy, new methods of marketing, and a healthy, balanced life that helps you come up with ideas and execute on them, you can become the sort of person who solves problems that help millions of people
If every day you wake up a say, "What adventure will happen to me today?" then adventures will happen to you
The only way to get anywhere is to come up with ideas and then have a strong ability to sell them
To succeed at something: know every product in the industry, know every patent, try out all the products, understand how the products are made, make a product that you would use every single day. You can't sell it if you personally don't love it
If you have something that's worthwhile, you can't be afraid to cold-call. They need you more than you need them
If there's a need, people will love to meet you
If you have an idea, don't focus on the money. Don't focus on how you will make a living: build your product, sell it to a customer, start shipping, then quit your job
Nobody questions anything if you have confidence. intelligence, and you are proud of your product
If you don't promote yourself, nobody else will
If you want to be successful, you need to study success, not hate it or be envious of it. If you are envious, then yoou will distance youself from success and make it that much harder to get there. Never be jealous. Never think someone is "lucky." Luck is created by the prepared
When you add value to people's lives the opportunities that come back to you cannot be quantified
You need to love your client. Love all their products
Give extra features. Do the first project cheap and whatever was in the spec, add at least two new cool features. Don't forget the client is a human, not a company. That human has a boss. And that person wants to look good in front of her boss. Don't forget to always give extra. A simple effort willl get you a customer for life
Often the real reason someone buys from you is not for your product, but for you
You can only make money doing what you love. If you love something, you'll get the knowledge, you'll get the contacts, you'll build the site with the features nobody else has, you'll scare the competition, and you'll wow the customers
Our thoughts can make our ideal reality possible. If you think you can do something, if you have confidence, if you have creativity, the big ideas become smaller and smaller. Until there is no idea too big
"Whether you think you can, or you can't—either way you are right" - Henry Ford
Every day, read/skim chapters from books on at least four different topics
Write down ten ideas
Ideas mate with other ideas to produce idea children
Don't underestimate the power of being social
Walk around bewildered all day. It's much more peaceful
Don't focus on those things in the material world that you cannot control or possibly ever change, when you can focus on inner health, on your inner world, on the things that matter
Give money away, hug, laugh, walk, call people, listen to music, eat good food, breathe
When you expect nothing, you have the immense satisfaction of getting everything you want
Try to figure out why you are procrastinating
It's your body trying to tell you something. Listen to it
Keep failing until you accidentally no longer fail
The best ideas are when you take two older ideas that have nothing to do with each other, make them have sex with each other, and then build a business around the bastard, ugly child that results
Being honest at every level is really the most effective habit of all if you want to have massive success
If given the chance, the human mind will constantly fill us up with thoughts
Our goal is to be conscious. To be the one who is aware of the actions and reactions around us
Because people sense and appreciate honesty, the honesty about imperfections, believe it or not, creates enormous opportunities
When stuff is weighing it down you lose about 10 to 20 percent of your intelligence. Give up control and get smarter
We never learn when we are talking. We only learn when we are listening
Sometimes we just have to shut up
Dishonesty never works. Honesty is the only way to make money in today's world
Honesty compounds exponentially, oover years and decades. More people trust your word and spread the news that you are a person to be sought out, sought after, given opportunity, given help, or given money
Be dishonest once, and all of those seeds will be washed away
Give credit
Hording your ideas for the moment when you can shine, will only leave you by yourseelf in a dimly lit room with only a mirror to stare at
Be the source of ideas, then you are always the source
Introduce two people
The universe has limitless resources. You have limited resources and limited time. The only way to create abundance is to behave more like the universe
Take the blame
"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid troouble" - Gandhi
Don't be angry. Anger is a form of dishonesty. Nobody is perfect. It's a lie to expect the people around you to be perfect
No excuses
Make others look good
Everyone wants to be acknowledged for small achievement. Take out your microscope. Acknowledge even the smallest accomplishments of the people around you. At heart, everyone wants to be perceived as special. That's because everyone is special but are often never acknowledged that way. Be differnt. Be aware of the smallest movements around you and acknowledge them. Nobody will forget that
Don't gossip. People always hear
Do what you say you are going to do
Enhance the lives of others. Always help people grow into their own potential
The power of community you build will be felt in ways you can't predict
Persistence is more important than industry validation because it's not the industry that is buying what you are selling
Focus on what you can do for your business right now instead of trying to aim for things years from now
To help with knowing if you're good or not, you need a mentor. You have to have someone who either knnows the industry or knows what's commerical or successfully experimental or whatever it is you're trying to achieve with your music and can tell you honestly whether or nnot you're mettign that standard
We rob ourselves of our joy and happiness when we stoop and check in with what everyone else if thinking and saying about us
In life, you will always have 30 percent of people who love you, 30 percent who hate you, and 30 percent who couldn't care less
You just may be astounded by the sparkly diamond you are hiding beneath the layers of limitational beliefs. You are beautiful. You are raw perfection already; maybe it's time to polish up
Stick with the people who love you and don't spend a single second on the rest
Start off by realizing you still have a secret identity. Acknowledge it .Wake up every day and say to yourself, "I',m a superhero—what can I do today to save the world?" And there will be annswers. And you'll see opportunities. And you'll figure out next steps. You'll figure out how to fly where you are needed
Before I could tell your son to stop eating sugar, I had to stoop eating sugar first
Nobody can tell you what to do. No matter what they pay you. No matter what obligations you feel you owe them. Every second defines you. Be who you are, not who anyone else is, or who anyone else wants you to be
Only you can act to change the world with your ideas
It is through silence that sound, activity, and action errupts
It is only through contemplation that the hidden shades of reality can be seen and right action can be taken
It's only through stillness that one can actively create
I don't give any advice on things I don't know about firsthand
Sugar is bad. And since moost processed carbs break down into sugar, it's all bad for you if you wan to live healthy. Almoost every disease out there comes from inflammation and extra weight. The extra weight comes from the sugars that the body breaks down so quickly it forgets to digest
Nothing is more important than the cultivation of yourself
Once you divide the world into categories, into an "us" versus "them," then you immediately become a "the," and lose touch with who you really are
Society is made up of individuals. The only way to improve society is to come at it from a place of deep, individual satisfaction. The only way to do that is to spend long periods of time just being silent. Find out who the real you is. Ask yourself, "These thoughts that I am thinking, what is generating them?" They are not your thoughts. That is just the biological brain dancing in front of you. Who is the "you" they are dancing in front of? Find that answer, and then you can save the world
"You must first be the change you want to see in this world" - Gandhi
Pretend everyone was sent to this planet to teach you. This will give you a strong feeling of humility. And guess what, you will learn from people, you will appreciate them more, and they will actually appreciate you more. Because everyone loves to teach
You set out in life wanting certain things but things become different. You have to adapt and be flexible
"If you work only 3 to 5 hours a day you become very productive. It's the steadiness of it that counts" - Woody Allen
Nothing comes out exactly how we want it. But we have to learn to roll with it and move to the next work
To be experimental, first you have to know how to use all the rules of grammar. You have to be an expert first in tradition
Confidence that comes with experience enables you to do many things that you wouldn't have done in earlier films. You tend to beccome bolder... you let your instincts operate more freely and you don't worry about the niceties
Master the foorm yoou want to operate in, get experience, be willing to be imperfect, and then develop the confidence to play within that form, to develop your own style
80 percent of succeess is showing up
Study the history of the form you want to master. Study every nuance. If you want to write, read nnot only all of your contemporaries, but the influennces of those contemporaries, and their influences. Additionally, draw inspiration from other art forms
Wake up early, avoid distractions, work 3 to 5 hours a day and then enjoy the rest, be as perfectionist as you can, knowing that imperfection will stilll rule, have the confidence to be magival and stretch the boundaries of your medium, combine the tools of the medium itself with the message you want to convey, don't get stuck in the same rut—move forward, experiment, but with the confidence built up over experience, change the rules but learn them first
A creator can't ever rest. No matter what you do, no matter what your creation is. Every moment is the audition. Every time you create is a chance to do something new, in a way that hasn't been done before, in a way that is potentially disruptive, playful, unique and vulnerable
Take a hard look at the product. Can you improve your offering? Can you take a step back and improve what you are doing? Maybe you can and maybe you can't. But brainstorm first. What are the ten things you can do to improve what you are doing?
Can you widen the audience for your product?
Give somehting for free so people immediately see value in your approach immediately
Someone rejected you? Ask why
The normal thing is to be rejected. Acknowledge that it's perfectly normal to feel rejected over something
How do you get past this? Diversificationo is everything. You get past this by having lots of thats
Help ourselves to health. Give ourselves more choices instead of being reliant on others. And then creating wealth for ourselves. Financial wealth, emotional wealth, and spiritual wealth
This is not about making the most money, or having the most impact. This is about being connected with who you are. This is about seeing how far your potential truly can unravel, simply because you are human