James Altucher — Ready, Fire, Aim and Other Strategies He’s Learned From Interviewing 500+ Peak Performers, Plus How He Uses Them To Pursue Multiple Careers, From Investing to Chess and Startups to Standup

Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and strategies to grow and monetize your audience.

On today’s episode, we learn from James Altucher, an entrepreneur, author, venture capitalist and podcaster, who pursues creativity every day. Hear how James has prioritized building skills through an exciting career that spans multiple careers, from investing to chess and from startups to standup. We also explore common themes he’s discovered in his pursuit of learning from 500+ top performers on his show.

 

Actions: 

1. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review.
2. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — click here to send a Tweet directly to James and Sachit or find James on Instagram or TikTok. 
3. Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses.

 

Episode Highlights: 

• James outlined his vital daily practice in a viral blog post. When he doesn’t do this practice consistently, his life feels off.
• He needs a daily practice to be at his best.
• Sometimes when you're an entrepreneur so many things can go wrong. It can be very difficult and stressful.
• There was a time when James felt blocked and on the precipice of depression. He realized he wasn't doing his daily practice and even just starting it again helped him.
• Are you taking care of yourself in tiny ways? Are you just attempting to do 1% more for your physical health, emotional health, creative health, and spiritual health?
• James describes an experience where someone was stealing from him and he decided to take extreme ownership.
• Are you improving your relationships and distancing yourself from toxic relationships?
• Are you eating well, sleeping well, and exercising?
• James likes to get good at the things he’s passionate about.
• By interviewing peak performers and reading about them he seeks to understand how to skip a line.
• Are there smart things you can do to achieve better performance faster?
• There’s a physical and emotional component to getting better at something.
• When you skip a line in any field, you're going to have people who don't like you.
• In order to achieve any kind of peak performance, you have to find your own unique voice in that area of life.
• If you just improve a little bit each day, your improvement gets compounded.
• James shares the story of how Richard Branson started Virgin Air.
• The ability to “ready, fire, aim” is a key characteristic of high achievers.
• Peak performers have a dedication to learning.
• In general, peak performers are very kind people that you want to be around.
• James shares an experience that demonstrates Ken Langone’s intensity.
• Many peak performers are very intense and they know exactly where to drill down to get the most information possible and as quickly as possible to understand the situation.
• Peak performers bring intensity and curiosity to everything.
• Brian Grazer produces movies because he's insanely curious. He schedules one curiosity conversation every week.
• Peak performers don’t accept no as an answer. Tyra Banks knew ANTM would succeed but was turned down again and again.
• James has confidence when he is excited about something.
• He's only able to persuade people when he's excited about something.
• In his late 40s, he decided he wanted to try standup comedy once. He tried it and loved it.
• Smoking crack bias = thinking the activities you have invested in have value no matter what.
• Always ask what you aren’t looking at.
• A lot of the skills people think they need to learn are not actual skills.
• Entrepreneurship is not a skill. It's an umbrella of skills.
• James found standup comedy to be a very complicated skill to acquire.
• They discuss the cumulative effects of becoming good at one skill and how that does and does not transfer to other areas.
• Standup comedy helped public speaking but public speaking did not help standup comedy.
• In the 90s, James created websites for big companies and started his first business. He quickly realized you need to be able to convince people about your vision. 
• Because he had a technological background, he knew every company needed a website.
• There's no wall between business and creativity.
• Art is very much a business endeavor.
• Building a platform is a business skill.
• His morning is devoted to writing and creativity. Writing has been the flagship of his creativity for thirty years.
• Software development helps James to understand or manage software development projects. He keeps track of the latest developments in software so that he's never behind the times. He programmed software to model the stock market.
• Having a software background helps you to understand what is the simplest, most rational solution to a situation.
• When you have too many factors, you're probably analyzing incorrectly.
• He professionally self-published Choose Yourself. 
• Figure out who the gatekeepers are and how to get around them.
• In every area of your life, you can choose yourself.
• He wasn't focused on money and instead did what his art wanted him to do.
• The best way you can prove yourself is by being the best you that you can be.
• He still feels insecure and has felt that way since he was a child.
• James shares his funny Madoff story that doesn’t work for standup.
• James tells us about his HBO web show.
• Interviewing is an ongoing thing that you learn. I think it's an art form.
• When interviewing, prepare really well so that the person is shocked by how much you know about them.  
• Sometimes a good podcast is really about the entertainment value. You only need a little bit of the podcast to be educational.
• No matter what, you have to be good at something.
• Deliver value. Be entertaining. Find the right platform.

 

3 Key Points:

1.   Decide to be 1% better each day in ways that serve your emotional, physical, creative, and spiritual health.  
2.   Learning from others allows you to “skip a line” and get better at gaining a skill more quickly.
3.   The cumulative effects of becoming good at one skill can often transfer to other skills.

Tweetable Quotes:

"I like to get good at things I'm passionate about." – James Altucher

“In order to achieve any kind of peak performance, you have to find your own unique voice in that area of life.” – James Altucher

“If your compass is pointing in a direction, that's the only direction you should go in.” – James Altucher

“There's no wall between business and creativity.” – James Altucher

"Figure out who the gatekeepers are and how you get around the gatekeepers." – James Altucher

 

Resources Mentioned:

• “How to Be the Luckiest Guy on the Planet in Four Easy Steps”
• Extreme Ownership (book)
• Ken Langone
• Brian Grazer
• Stillness Is the Key (book)
• Choose Yourself! (book)
• Joe Rogan podcast
• Andrew Warner podcast
• James Altucher’s TikTok, Podcast, Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

 

Actions: 

1. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review.
2. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — click here to send a Tweet directly to James and Sachit or find James on Instagram or TikTok. 
3. Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses.