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.