Choose Yourself! (26 page)

I was six when I got together one of those rockets that you fill up with water and then it shoots into the air, spraying water everywhere. It goes up a hundred feet. “Will it go into space?” I asked my dad. “Maybe,” he said. And why not? I was six, and anything could happen.

I was six when I designed a pair of glasses that could see backward. I drew it and showed it to my grandparents. “You drew this?” said my grandpa, and right then I was pleased with my invention. I was six when I believed not only in Jesus but in Zeus and Hermes and Thor and Superman, and my only wish was to be a superhero when I grew up.

When you’re a kid, everything has a question mark at the end of it. Only later do they turn into periods. Or even exclamation points. “Will I get over this?” becomes “It’s too late.” Becomes “I can’t get over this!”

My only hope for my future is I learn to dot the landscape of my life once more with question marks instead of periods. To turn judgments into queries. To turn “this” into “that?” To make every problem a maze. To be like a six-year-old. The next time the president of Chile wants me to get run over by a tank I might say yes. Or I might ride away on my spaceship and French-kiss the angel on the moon. “Lips are beautiful,” I might say, before finally falling back to Earth.

TAKE OVER THE WORLD

Okay.

It’s over.

That whole “job” thing. The corporate safety net that the Industrial Revolution created. We thought we were “safe.” That we didn’t have to make it on our own anymore. That big corporations would take care of us once we paid our dues with a college education.

Well, that was a myth. I can’t say it was a lie, because we all truly believed it. From the top down, we wanted to make it happen. But society isn’t so simple. You can’t break apart spirit from science, arts from finance, or jobs from innovation, and expect the results to be clean and neat. They aren’t. And the shift has already happened. The earth has split apart.

Some will fall into the abyss created when the earth quakes. Some will not be able to master the tools of keeping healthy and building the platform of self-sufficiency that is necessary to choose yourself.

But many will. I hope the readers of this book will.

The key is not different from any other time in history. But it’s more immediate now if we want not only to survive but to flourish.

It is, of course, to help ourselves. 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.

One way to think about it is with the image of the circle:

I want you to take out a pen and a piece of paper and do something for me.

Draw a little circle. Put what you do in that circle. If you’re a secretary, put “secretary.” If you’re an artist, put “artist.” If you are a mother, put “mother.” Put the thing that is central to your life. If you are unsure what is central to your life, put your job title. If you don’t have a job title, put what title you would like to be central to your life.

Draw a circle around that. Draw lines dividing up the second circle into compartments. Like apartments in a space station. Write down the names of the people who are affected by your first circle. Maybe you help them do better jobs. Maybe you’re a doctor and they are your patients. Maybe you are a secretary and they are your colleagues, your bosses, your family whom you provide for, your relatives who listen to you, your friends who rely on you. If you are a blogger, they are your readers.

Draw a circle around that one. Draw the lines again. Who lives in these compartments? The people who are affected by the people you affect. For instance, the children of your friends. The friends of your children. The people related to your employees. Or your employers. This would be in the third circle.

Next circle: what your center circle can turn into. A blog can turn into a book, or a show, or a consulting service, or a novel, or who knows? Keep thinking of it. A janitor can rise up to be CEO of a company. Make your brain sweat. A doctor’s job can turn into a business, a book, advice, a class, a mission. A secretary can turn into a boss, a company. What does your center circle evolve into if you stick with it over time?

Draw one more circle: the people you would like to affect. Maybe you would like to affect Barack Obama. Or a movie producer. Or a book publisher. Or the CEO of your company. Or all the venture capitalists in the world. Put them there. Why not? We’re just drawing. We’re just playing.

It’s not impossible. For instance, Oprah can read my blog. Maybe she has already. Or maybe the relative of an initial reader shows Gayle King my blog or my books, who shows Oprah. It’s possible.

And then finally one more circle. This circle has everyone in the world in it. Because of Oprah or Barack or a book publisher or if all the venture capitalists in the world are strongly affected by your work then eventually the entire world, in some small way, the indent in a paragraph in the tale of our history, will be changed.

Maybe you can’t draw these circles. Maybe you think your work, or your love, or your friendship, or your charitable efforts, or whatever you consider your “center” today (just today, we only care about today) doesn’t affect anyone else. Or if it does, maybe you feel the effect stops there. Or even if the effect moves on, spreading like a disease, it disappears over distance or over time, until finally its impact on the world is negligible. Nil. Nothing.

That’s okay. Start over. Tweak something. Maybe you aren’t a secretary or a doctor. Maybe deep down you are an artist. Maybe you’re a mother. Or a father. And the impact is further reaching than you thought. Do the circles over. Do it over until you can draw that outer circle and affect the entire world. Throw out the old people. Draw more circles.

When we were kids and took a bad test, everyone would yell, “I want a redo!” We’re not in school. We’re in life. You have your redo. Again and again. Draw the circles again. Keep drawing them until you finally have that outer circle. The circle of possibility. The one where the entire world changes because you exist.

Redo!

Too many people, in the rush of their lives, stop at just the second circle, the ones they immediately impact. They might even stop before that. Maybe they just wonder how their first circle impacts only themselves. Don’t stop. Push yourself outward. See the web you spin. See how the world is caught in that web. Push yourself until that web is spun all around, circles within circles within circles. 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.

And start connecting the inner circles with the outer circles in deeper and deeper ways. Eventually the lines between the circles go away. It’s one big circle. You’re in the middle. You’re doing the daily practice. You’re choosing yourself. You’re the source. And your light and choices are now affecting everyone.

Are you better off? Yes. We’re all better off. Thank you.

TESTIMONIALS

I’m always grateful to get e-mails or see tweets where people mention the help they have received from some of these ideas. When you share an idea that worked for you, all you ever really know is this: it worked for you.

So it’s nice when people say it worked for them also. That your experiences are translatable into other lives. And that your way of expressing them was an effective way of communicating those experiences.

These are just a few of the testimonials I’ve gotten. I took a one day snapshot of e-mails and tweets I received.

Again, I’m very grateful to receive them and others, and I hope people always stay in touch with me to let me know how things are going.

Andrew Ferri
@Andrew_Ferri

“Been doing my daily practice so long I got it on auto-pilot. Now when people ask me how’d I get so awesome I just say, “Ever heard of
@jaltucher
?”

Scott Balster
@scottbalster

“
@jaltucher
. WHEN you come to CO I am building u a handcrafted throne & carrying you on my back to a slice of heaven.”

Carrie Armstrong
@CarrieArmstrng

“Ah Colonel Altucher—your blog is finger lickin good.”

jackyism
@jackyism

“
@jaltucher
all I can say is wow and thank you.”

Doctor Coke
@AmielCocco

“
@jaltucher
Loved your article ‘10 reasons why 2013…’ It gave me strength to finally start my own business.”

“Your articles have served for a noble, wonderful purpose in my life. I get fresh perspectives every time I read them.” (Cesar Trujillo)

“You’ve perfected the art of storytelling.” (Joe Choi)

“In so many ways, what you are doing is revolutionary. But don’t think about that too much or it could ‘jinx’ it. Just keep perfecting yourself.” (James Kostohryz)

“You are a beacon of honesty, James. Every time I read your posts, I see things in a different light.” (Ashish Hablani)

“I found I was able to smile thru one of my toughest workdays in 16 years. @jaltucher, your blog got me started on the way to this. Thanks.” (Cristy Skram, @UCAGWUW)

“James, just wanted to let you know you are one of my biggest inspirations. I needed to send a personal thank you through here.” (Vincent Nguyen, @SelfStairway)

“I don’t expect you to remember me, don’t feel like you have to respond to this please. 2 years ago, you quite literally saved my life.

I was in rough shape, had lost my dream job, my wife and I were on the edge, I had to take a crap job, the list went on.

I had found your site, I sent you an e-mail and you had actually taken the time to respond. I’ve never forgotten that.

Things got worse but I fought like hell, in large part because of your advice, and slowly started to pick myself up off the ground.

Now, things are getting better. I got a better full time job, my wife and I have had a better relationship, my kids are happy and live well and I’m working my butt off to realize a few dreams.

James, man, I know you must hear this so often but you changed my life. Thank you, thank you for taking the time two years ago, thank you for being who you are.”

—Anon

Please send me your e-mails at
[email protected]

ABOUT JAMES ALTUCHER

JAMES ALTUCHER
is a successful entrepreneur, chess master, investor and writer. He has started and run more than 20 companies, and sold several of those businesses for large exits. He has also run venture capital funds, hedge funds, angel funds, and currently sits on the boards of several companies. His writing has appeared in most major national media outlets (Wall Street Journal, ABC, Financial Times, Tech Crunch, Forbes, CNBC, etc).
His blog
has attracted more than 10 million readers since its launch in 2010. This is his 11th book.

Choose Yourself!

Copyright © 2013 by James Altucher

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written permission, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

ISBN: 9781619610231

Cover design by: Herb Thornby