Love Your Work

James Altucher doesn't need an introduction for many of you. But for the rest, James is currently best known for his book, Choose Yourself, which is a National Bestseller, and which USA Today named in the top 12 business books of all time. You can buy Choose Yourself at kadavy.net/choose   He also has a very popular podcast. The James Altucher show has featured guests such as Tim Ferriss, Dan Ariely, Peter Thiel, Coolio, and Jewel.   James has published well over a dozen books, and first made his name as a financial pundit, writing for The Financial Times, and TheStreet.com. He's also appeared many times on CNBC as a financial expert.   James has become a millionaire, then lost it all, multiple times. He's been an entrepreneur, a hedge fund manager, and even hosted an HBO show. He writes about what he's learned through the ups and downs of his life and career on his website, jamesaltucher.com. Popular articles include "How to be the luckiest guy on the planet in 4 easy steps," and "I want my kids to be drug addicts."   Listen to this conversation to learn the hows and whys of investing in yourself, including why buying a house may be a terrible decision for you.   James and I will also talk about our recent experiences with going minimalist. He has a method for getting rid of things that I wish I would have used.   I really wanted to dig into how James has managed to be so prolific in his work. He produces a ton of work, It seems like he rarely doubts any ideas he has.   It seems like it's always been that way for him. Which doesn't help much if you're struggling to be more courageous in your work. If you're someone, like me, who wasn't born thinking big, James will share his tips on how to make progress.   As someone who has learned a lot from reading James's writing, I was also excited to learn more about how he approaches writing. James is going to share some absolute gold on writing that has already helped me make my own writing connect with others.   Also, learn how my former neighbor, Warren Buffett chose himself. And, if you happen to be a podcaster too, I selfishly asked James how he connects with influential guests, and how he prepares for interviews. Even if you aren't a podcaster, his answers, of course, could help you connect with influencers, and help you get more out of the books you read.   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/pre http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video   Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/james-altucher-interview/

One of the more subtle underlying themes of this show is that you should invest in yourself. There's a lot of noise out there you'll hear from others who want you to spend your money in ways that will benefit them. Ultimately, you have to be mindful in your decisions so that you're sure you're really investing in yourself.   I'll be talking about that a bit more in my conversation next week with James Altucher.   Look out for that episode to drop next TUESDAY. I'm going to release it slightly early so it doesn't interfere with Thanksgiving in the US.   For now, I want to share my own story of choosing myself. This is about the time that I almost went to business school. What I decided to do next defined the course of my career.     Sponsors http://wpengine.com/pre http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video   Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/my-40000-diy-mba/

Dan Ariely is a researcher on the forefront of behavioral science. He specializes in understanding irrational behavior, for example, why do people take less candy if you give it out for free, than if you charge a penny for all the candy you want?   Dan actively works to find ways to change behavior for the better using this knowledge. Dan is a professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He's also the founder of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, which helps companies improve well-being using behavioral science. Dan has also co-founded many companies, including a productivity app called Timeful. I worked with Dan on Timeful, and Google bought the company. Now, some of Timeful's features, such as "Goals" have been integrated into Google Calendar, impacting what must be hundreds of millions of people. Dan's numerous TED talks have been viewed nearly 15 million times. He's the author of three New York Times best-selling books, including Predictably Irrational. He has a new book called "Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations," which you can buy at kadavy.net/payoff.   In Dan's new book, he unlocks the secrets of motivation, whether you're motivating others, or yourself. Listen to this interview to learn why bonuses can reduce productivity, what is it that people really want from work? How does Dan – who is a self-proclaimed bad manager – manage a big lab of talented people? And how can you hack your own motivation using behavioral science research?     Sponsors http://wpengine.com/pre http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video   Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/dan-ariely-interview/

The current productivity wisdom is all about getting things done. Now, productivity is about making creative breakthroughs happen. Getting Things Done brought us beyond todo lists and priorities, and made us think about breaking projects into actions, and giving those actions contexts. By considering the context of our todos, and by giving ourselves a place for the “someday maybes,” we freed up our minds from the overwhelming wave of clutter delivered by our newly-digital world. GTD was the killer tool of the knowledge worker. But, in an increasingly distracted world, where even knowledge work is threatened by technology, productivity needs to evolve once again. This article originally appeared on Medium. You can follow me on Medium at kadavy.net/medium   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/lyw http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/productivity-isnt-gtd/      

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has been on the show before. We had a little debate about digital distraction back in episode 21. Nir and I have both been exploring new book ideas independently, and practicing writing about those ideas, somewhere within that space. I've been leaning more into the productivity space, which you've heard a lot of on this podcast. So, we recently had a call where we discussed where we were headed, how we're testing out new ideas, and how we might position new ideas. We figured, just in case, we'd record the conversation, in case it would make a good podcast episode. And I think it will make a good episode, especially if you're an aspiring author who wonders how to home in on the right book idea. We'll talk about writing for Medium.com, and why it's such a powerful tool for testing out new ideas. I'll get very specific about my process for analyzing ideas I write on Medium, and how I decide what's worth pursuing further. We'll also talk about the psychology of book positioning, book marketing, and coming up with titles for books – a bit of an extension of the book marketing conversation I had with Tucker Max on episode 29. Note that I say "we," and I'm aware I ended up dominating the conversation. This is something I do when I get too excited about something. Still, it should be useful. And if you have no book-writing aspirations, it will be a perhaps unsettling behind-the-scenes look at how the sausage is made.   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/lyw http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/medium-book-marketing-nir-eyal/  

If you have certain behaviors that you want to encourage in your life, you can be intentional about making them happen. Here's a trick I devised to make it easy to do things that are good for me, and a little harder to do things that are bad for me. This article originally appeared on Medium. You can follow me on Medium at kadavy.net/medium   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/lyw http://kadavy.net/freshbooks http://kadavy.net/video Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/make-it-easy-podcast/    

Jocelyn K. Glei is author of Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done. You can buy the book at kadavy.net/email It's an awesome book that I really wish I had when I was first trying to get things done with email in the working world. I've since gotten my email decently organized, just through learning the hard way. Still, Unsubscribe had some very useful ideas and tools for me, I'll be exploring it all in my conversation with Jocelyn today. Listen to this episode to learn how you can keep email from distracting you from your important work, how can you use it to move projects forward, to build relationships with influential people, and how can you use it in a way that will nurture the relationships that you do have?   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/lyw http://kadavy.net/treehouse http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jocelyn-k-glei-interview/  

Back when I was writing my first book, I was shocked how hard it was. I was spending all day just trying to get into that flow state. So, here's one way I've found to help make that flow state happen on demand.   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/speedy http://kadavy.net/treehouse http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/yolo-blank-wall/    

Cards Against Humanity's Max Temkin (@maxtemkin) is co-creator of Amazon's #1 selling card game – actually the #1 seller in all of the whole Toys & Games category. It's a game for horrible people, and it's also America's #1 gerbil coffin. You've probably played it before. Max Temkin and his friends were self-described "nerds." They didn't play sports, they didn't have girlfriends, and they were bored. So, they played lots of board games. They played Balderdash so much, they couldn't even play it anymore because they knew all of the words in the game. They became game connoisseurs. They played so many games, they had to make their own. Cards Against Humanity started as PDFs you could download and print out. The game is still available this way, for free, on their website, but Cards Against Humanity has independently produced and sold their game, making millions in profit. Listen to this interview to learn how to make a good impression on notable people, how to be ready to act when luck comes your way, what deep two psychological phenomena made Cards Against Humanity so explosively popular, and why it's important to figure things out for yourself. Also, learn how Max and team made $70,000 by literally selling "nothing," and nearly $4 million selling bullshit. I mean actual shit from bulls.   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/speedy http://kadavy.net/treehouse http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/max-temkin-interview/  

This week, I share you a story of failure. I know everyone seems to be obsessed with failure lately, and I always thought it was strange. I didn't usually look at things as failures, but as lessons learned. Well, in this case, I really tried for something, really thought I would succeed, and I really failed. Or at least I felt like it. In actuality, it could just be another lesson learned – another step on the path toward meeting my goal. This is an article that originally appeared on Medium. You can follow me on Medium at kadavy.net/medium   Sponsors http://wpengine.com/speedy http://kadavy.net/treehouse http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-work-episode-44-failed/