The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

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Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

#365: James Altucher - How To Become An Idea Machine

• "Vulnerability equals freedom."
  • "You need to say something interesting. You need to step outside of your comfort zone."
• James started writing in 1990 after a girl he liked chose to date a writer instead of him.
  • He wrote 3,000 words a day and yet didn't publish anything for 12 years.
• Why write about your flaws?
  • Watch the movie 8 mile... "Eminem shares all of the negative aspects of himself. He left his competition with nothing to say about him. He beat him to the punch."
  • "I don't hit publish unless I'm worried. Am I afraid? If yes, then publish."
  • "All good writing has to have a story."
• Commonalities of people who sustain excellence:
  • Physically healthy - They are in shape
  • Emotionally healthy - They have good relationships
  • They are extremely curious - "Ken Langone came in my comedy club and asked tons of questions. He's so curious."
  • They are very creative
  • They have a "ready, fire, aim" approach - Sara Blakely started Spanx and got a $300K order and hadn't figured out how to manufacture her product yet.
• Creativity/Idea generation is a muscle - If you don't work it, it atrophies.
  • Write 10 ideas a day.
  • Quantity is more important than quality. "He who has the most ideas wins."
    • You'll have a lot of bad ideas. You have to get through those to get to the good ones. Quantity is important.
    • "Writing 10 ideas a day changed my life. I wasn't depressed anymore."
• Write ideas for companies and share with them... They might call you.
• Being an "intrapreneur" within your company - Think of ideas that can help your company and share with the CEO.
  • "Success is always on the other side of can't."
• Great entrepreneurs focus on reducing risk
• How to speak to powerful people?
  • Realize they are just people
  • Humor is key. "Laughter is the way to level the playing field."
• Developing a skill - Deliberate practice
  • The "10,000 Experiment" rule
  • The key to getting good is to experiment
  • Be in the top 1% of doing experiments
• Work your idea muscle every single day - The neurons will be re-wired
  • Share your ideas to help other companies
• Over-promise AND over-deliver. Do both. Everyone else under-promise with the hope to over-deliver. Don't do that. Overpromise upfront and over-deliver.