Post: #1

This was depressing but very motivating too. On a few different levels.

https://www.facebook.com/james.altucher/...7696040636

Quote: THERE'S NO PAINLESS WAY TO KILL YOURSELF

I gave my 11 year old daughter important advice the other day: there's no painless way to kill yourself.

"What about with a gun?" she said.

I told her about a friend of mine who shot himself in the mouth. He put the gun in his mouth and pointed upwards towards the brain.

He missed.

He shot off half his face, he went blind in one eye, and he is now in a wheelchair.

If you type in "I Want to Die" into google, my website is the first result.

My first business I sold for $15 million. We built websites for entertainment companies. Bad Boy Records, Miramax, Time Warner, HBO, Sony, Disney, Loud Records, Interscope, on and on. Oh, and Con Edison.

Mobb Deep would hang out in my office. Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails would stop by. RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan would want to play chess. We even made a website for a brothel in Nevada.

Then I saw that kids in junior high school were learning HTML. So I sold the business.

I bought an apartment for millions. I rebuilt it. Feng Shui! I bought art. I played a lot of poker. I began investing in companies. A million here. A few hundred thousand there.

Then I started more companies. Then I bought more things. Then I became an addict. The worst kind of addict.

From June 2000 until September, 2001 I probably lost $1 million a month.

I couldn't stop. I wanted to get back up to the peak.

I wanted to be loved. I wanted to have $100 million so people would love me.

Writing this now I even feel like slitting my wrists and stomach. I have 2 kids.

I felt like I was going to die. That zero equals death. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been.

I lost all my friends. Nobody returned calls. I would go to the ATM machine - from $15 million to $143 left.

There were no jobs, There was nothing.

One weekend when I had $0 left in my bank account I called my parents to borrow money but they said "no". "College was enough" they told me, even though I had ended up paying for every dime of college. That was the last time I spoke to my dad, who had a stroke six months later.

I tried meditation to calm down but it didn't work. I never slept. I lost 30 lbs. I'm 5'9". I went from 160 to 130. I couldn't talk to anyone. I couldn't move. I stopped having ideas. I cried every day.

There was never a moment when I didn't feel sick. I had let my kids down. I would die and they would never remember me.

We moved 80 miles north of NYC with the tiny bit of money we took out of our apartment after being forced to sell at a million dollar loss.

I couldn't leave the house for three months. I was depressed. I gained back all my weight and then another 30 lbs.

Finally I had to either die or feed my family. I was forced to choose myself.

- I started to exercise every day. I started to eat better. One item for breakfast. A healthy lunch. Tiny dinner. No snacks.
- I started to sleep 9 hours a day.
- I started to only be around people who loved and supported me. I broke off all ties with anyone who I felt bad to be around.
- I wrote down ideas every day of articles I could write and about businesses I could start. Bit by bit I started to get paid to write. If you don't exercise the idea muscle it atrophies.
- I decided I wanted to help people every day and be honest every day. I was grateful for my daughters. I was grateful for what I had. I didn't fight reality or regret. This was my reality and I had to make the best of it.
- Every day I came up with ideas for new businesses. I had a waiter's pad. I would go to a cafe at 6 in the morning with about 4 books and read for an hour or two and then start writing down ideas for new businesses, articles, etc.
- I started a hedge fund. I started a fund of hedge funds. I started a newsletter. I did deals. I made introductions every day, expanding my brand new network from scratch. At least 5 introductions a day.
- I got involved in a mental health company I sold for $41mm.
- I started a website, Stockpickr! which got millions of unique users. I found advertising for it. I sold it to thestreet.com
- I had made millions again from scratch.

Then I stopped using the fundamental techniques I described above. Every time I've lost money it's because I squandered my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

I was really bad. I did everything you should not do. I was like an addict. Picture the worst abuses. That was me. Again.

And then I lost it all again. Everything. Agh!

I had to start over. I couldn't even believe I had to start from scratch atgain.

Every day without fail I focus on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. And it's worked. I hope. I hope I don't squander again.

People say it's not about the end, it's about the journey.

This is total BS.

It's not about the journey and it never was.

It's about right now.

Right now is the only place you'll ever be. Choose yourself not to waste it.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #2

An article by the same guy:

Quote:How to be THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE PLANET in 4 Easy Steps

Posted by James Altucher

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[Note: I set up a site to help people practice the principles in this article and be apart of the community that is doing so. TDP.ME. Since it's in beta, all suggestions welcome.]

I told my dad, “I’m a lucky guy.” He said, “But are you lucky in love?” I was six years old. Love was the most disgusting thing in the world to me. What the hell was he talking about? Love was living in another neighborhood at that time. Or another planet. It would be years before Love stuck its ugly little nose into my house and said, “hello, anyone here?

Luck was all about rolling the dice. Or finding a quarter on the ground. Or seeing a double rainbow after a quick storm.

But now I’m different. I’m constantly checking in and out of the Hospital of No Luck. I’m older. I need luck to be constantly transfused into me or I run out of it. Without luck, I’m dead. For me, good luck equals happiness. On a scale of happiness from 0 to 10, I think I’m about a seven or eight. But that’s a big improvement. When I was lying on the floor here, I was probably about a zero. Or at different points in this story, I was maybe at negative. So I’m trending upwards. I get lucky when I stick to three simple goals:



My ONLY Three Goals in Life

A) I want to be happy.

B) I want to eradicate unhappiness in my life.

C) I want every day to be as smooth as possible. No hassles.

That’s it. I’m not asking for much. I need simple goals else I can’t achieve them.

There’s been at least ten times in my life that everything seemed so low I felt like I would never achieve the above three things and the world would be better off without me. Other times I felt like I was stuck at a crossroads and would never figure out which road to take. Each time I bounced back.

When I look back at these times now I realize there was a common thread. Each time there were four things, and only four things, that were always in place in order for me to bounce back. Now I try to incorporate these four things into a daily practice so I never dip low again.

THE DAILY PRACTICE

A) Physical – being in shape. Doing some form of exercise. In 2003 I woke up at 5am every day and from 5-6am I played “Round the World” on a basketball court overlooking the Hudson River. Every day (except when it rained). Trains would pass and people at 5:30am would wave to me out the window. Now, I try to do yoga every day. But its hard. All you need to do, minimally, is exercise enough to break a sweat for 10 minutes. So about 20-30 minutes worth of exercise a day. This is not to get “ripped” or “shredded”. But just to be healthy. You can’t be happy if you aren’t healthy. Also, spending this time helps your mind better deal with its daily anxieties. If you can breathe easy when your body is in pain then its easier to breathe during difficult situations. Here’s other things that are a part of this but a little bit harder:

Wake up by 4-5am every day.
Go to sleep by 8:30-9. (Good to sleep 8 hours a night!)
No eating after 5:30pm. Can’t be happy if indigested at night.

B) Emotional– If someone is a drag on me, I cut them out. If someone lifts me up, I bring them closer. Nobody is sacred here. When the plane is going down, put the oxygen mask on your face first. Family, friends, people I love – I always try to be there for them and help. But I don’t get close to anyone bringing me down. This rule can’t be broken. Energy leaks out of you if someone is draining you. And I never owe anyone an explanation. Explaining is draining.

Another important rule: always be honest. Its fun. Nobody is honest anymore and people are afraid of it. Try being honest for a day (without being hurtful). Its amazing where the boundaries are of how honest one can be. Its much bigger than I thought. A corollary of this is: I never do anything I don’t want to do. Like I NEVER go to weddings.

C) Mental – Every day I write down ideas. I write down so many ideas that it hurts my head to come up with one more. Then I try to write down five more. The other day I tried to write 100 alternatives kids can do other than go to college. I wrote down eight, which I wrote about here. I couldn’t come up with anymore. Then the next day I came up with another 40. It definitely stretched my head. No ideas today? Memorize all the legal 2 letter words for Scrabble. Translate the Tao Te Ching into Spanish. Need ideas for lists of ideas? Come up with 30 separate chapters for an “autobiography”. Try to think of 10 businesses you can start from home (and be realistic how you can execute them)? Give me 10 ideas of directions this blog can go in. Think of 20 ways Obama can improve the country. List every productive thing you did yesterday (this improves memory also and gives you ideas for today).

The “idea muscle” atrophies within days if you don’t use it. Just like walking. If you don’t use your legs for a week, they atrophy. You need to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6 months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me on this.

(use waiter pads to write down ideas)

D) Spiritual. I feel that most people don’t like the word “spiritual”. They think it means “god”. Or “religion”. But it doesn’t. I don’t know what it means actually. But I feel like I have a spiritual practice when I do one of the following:

Pray (doesn’t matter if I’m praying to a god or to dead people or to the sun or to a chair in front of me – it just means being thankful. And not taking all the credit, for just a few seconds of the day).
Meditate – Meditation for more than a few minutes is hard. It’s boring. Here I give tips for 60 second meditations. You can also meditate for 15 seconds by really visualizing what it would be like meditate for 60 minutes. Here’s a simple meditation: sit in a chair, keep the back straight, watch yourself breathe. If you get distracted, no problem. Just pull yourself back to your breath. Try it for 5 minutes. Then six.
Being grateful – I try to think of everyone in my life I’m grateful for. Then I try to think of more people. Then more. Its hard.
Forgiving – I picture everyone who has done me wrong. I visualize gratefulness for them (but not pity).
Studying. If I read a spiritual text (doesn’t matter what it is: Bible, Tao Te Ching, anything Zen related, even inspirational self-help stuff, doesn’t matter) I tend to feel good. This is not as powerful as praying or meditating (it doesn’t train your mind to cut out the BS) but it still makes me feel good.

My own experience: I can never achieve the three “simple” goals on a steady basis without doing the above practice on a daily basis. And EVERY TIME I’ve hit bottom (or close to a bottom, or I’ve been at some sort of crossroads.) and started dong the above 4 items (1991, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2008) magic would happen:

The Results

A) Within about one month, I’d notice coincidences start to happen. I’d start to feel lucky. People would smile at me more.

B) Within three months the ideas would really start flowing, to the point where I felt overwhelming urges to execute the ideas.

C) Within six months, good ideas would start flowing, I’d begin executing them, and everyone around me would help me put everything together.

D) Within a year my life was always completely different. 100% upside down from the year before. More money, more luck, more health, etc. And then I’d get lazy and stop doing the practice. And everything falls apart again. But now I’m trying to do it every day.

Its hard to do all of this every day. Nobody is perfect. I don’t know if I’ll do all of these things today. But I know when I do it, it works.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how...asy-steps/

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #3

Nice. I love hearing about people come from nothing or falling off hard and getting back up.

Post: #4

James Altucher is a legend.

He is super smart as well. He has done alot of 'red pill' thinking when making moves in his career. His blog is full of interesting shit. People have interesting ideas all the time. But Altucher is one of the few people who will use his balls to actually make a go of them.

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/

Here is a recent post that I liked:

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/05/why-do-anything/

Post: #5

This dude writes a fucking lot. He has a book coming out called Choose Yourself.


He is offering everyone that buys his book a refund if they ask for it, which is crazy b/c he stands to make a lot of money of it.

Post: #6

This guy has an AMA at the fastlane forum - just now digging into it but I foresee some solid nuggets getting dropped.

Fastlane AMA: James Altucher; Startups, Publishing, Bloggin More...

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #7

A shotgun round inthe head will kill you pretty fast and painless. Also a jump above 10 floors.

Post: #8

Very motivational post! Also, the AMA is awesome.

Post: #9

(09-07-2013 12:08 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  A shotgun round inthe head will kill you pretty fast and painless. Also a jump above 10 floors.

Survivors say when they jumped off a bridge their perception of time was altered, everything slowed down and they were in agony as you could feel everything when you hit the bottom. I wouldnt doubt this as when i was in a car crash it happened to me too.

Post: #10

(10-31-2013 04:49 PM)pheonix500000 Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 12:08 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  A shotgun round inthe head will kill you pretty fast and painless. Also a jump above 10 floors.

Survivors say when they jumped off a bridge their perception of time was altered, everything slowed down and they were in agony as you could feel everything when you hit the bottom. I wouldnt doubt this as when i was in a car crash it happened to me too.

Perhaps a wild guess here, but you guys may have missed the point of the article....

LOL

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #11

(11-02-2013 12:19 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

(10-31-2013 04:49 PM)pheonix500000 Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 12:08 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  A shotgun round inthe head will kill you pretty fast and painless. Also a jump above 10 floors.

Survivors say when they jumped off a bridge their perception of time was altered, everything slowed down and they were in agony as you could feel everything when you hit the bottom. I wouldnt doubt this as when i was in a car crash it happened to me too.

Perhaps a wild guess here, but you guys may have missed the point of the article....

LOL

Maybe there is a more interesting article in the minds of some RVF guys, regarding suicide rather than overcoming adversity? LOL. That is what I thought this thread was going to be about.... but I also see the thread seems to be about a slightly different theme...

Anyhow, personally, I seem to be more interested in the implied theme of the title of the thread and the questions that guys might have in their heads when they chose to end it all, and what tactic a guy may chose. That is what I believed this thread was going to be about.... but it is NOT, so far... awe, shucks!!! :

Post: #12

How "legit" do you think he is? Some of his stories seem to be a bit exaggerated.

For example "How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $ 2mm (and lost $ 100mm in the process)" :

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/how...e-process/

Post: #13

(11-03-2013 07:31 AM)Steve9 Wrote:  How "legit" do you think he is? Some of his stories seem to be a bit exaggerated.

He is a "soft" BS artist. He is not a pathological liar, but he stretches the truth till it's skin-thick, and omits crucial information in order to sell his message. I enjoy reading some of his posts, though, as he's a bit of an artist, a good story-teller.

Post: #14

(11-03-2013 07:43 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

(11-03-2013 07:31 AM)Steve9 Wrote:  How "legit" do you think he is? Some of his stories seem to be a bit exaggerated.

He is a "soft" BS artist. He is not a pathological liar, but he stretches the truth till it's skin-thick, and omits crucial information in order to sell his message. I enjoy reading some of his posts, though, as he's a bit of an artist, a good story-teller.

Icarus:

In my view you make very valid points concerning reality versus fantasy, and as readers we constantly need to recognize the extent that some writing is fantasy or based on reality b/c even various fantasy pieces may have 95% truth, and when there are high percentages of truth, guys sometimes get mislead into thinking that it is all or nothing, regarding truth and sometimes get mislead into thinking that fantasy is reality.

I have been in some disputes on this forum in other threads in which the fantasy / reality divide seems to become quite blurred and fantasy sometimes will interfere with perceptions of reality. All that is fine, if we know whether we are talking about fantasy or reality. Some of the information, like i said, may have a large percentage of truth and reality, but it contains quite a bit of fantasy about what guys want to believe.

I believe that there can be some benefits to fantasy; however, on a personal level I prefer to recognize the difference between fantasy and reality and to NOT get them mixed up.

Guys are gonna chose varying levels concerning which fantasy/reality world(s) and/or spaces he chooses to spend his time and/or energies. And, I am NOT gonna hate on guys who chose a place that I would NOT chose for myself; however, if I recognize the difference, then I can appreciate how much credit that I should give to that guy's point of view.

Post: #15

I don't like much of what I've read of James Altucher in the past - he's very self-centered and perhaps this is the real reason for his unhappiness.

But I liked this piece you posed BB, so thanks.

Also, often in my experience, the people you have an instant disliking for are often the ones end up liking the most.

Post: #16

It's interesting, I came to almost these identical conclusions recently when I wrote that post about creating positive feedback loop everyday.

Great finds BB.

Post: #17

Nitrogen oxide is the painless way to kill yourself.

I may be missing the point of this thread though in giving this answer.

Post: #18

Though I take everything Altucher writes with a grain of salt, he is brilliant for the "inner game" of professional success.

If you want someone who inspires while also talking Xs and Os, you won't do much better MJ DeMarco and his book Millionaire Fastlane. The AMA linked above was on DeMarco's forum.

There's some bullshit in both of their work—they're great salesmen, after all—but if read in tandem, they'll teach you the two key points any would-be hustler should internalize: you don't get rich without working hard, and you won't get rich while working hard in another man's office.

Post: #19

Has anyone read his book Choose Yourself? A few people have recommended it to me

Post: #20

(11-04-2013 12:33 PM)d3traktion Wrote:  Has anyone read his book Choose Yourself? A few people have recommended it to me

Yes, almost finished.

It's good. It's like a nice guy's version of a lot of stuff I and others have written.

He "gets it" but is very compassionate and has a lot of sympathy for human foibles.

THe ebook is $1.99 and if you can't afford a copy, he'll send you one for free.

Post: #21

(11-04-2013 01:10 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

(11-04-2013 12:33 PM)d3traktion Wrote:  Has anyone read his book Choose Yourself? A few people have recommended it to me

Yes, almost finished.

It's good. It's like a nice guy's version of a lot of stuff I and others have written.

He "gets it" but is very compassionate and has a lot of sympathy for human foibles.

THe ebook is $1.99 and if you can't afford a copy, he'll send you one for free.

Off topic but it really annoys me the way most authors/publishers price their ebooks. $10 for a physical copy, $8-$10 for the ebook? How does that make sense? The physical copy has higher overhead and can be lent, resold, etc. You can even buy it used if you're so inclined.

The ebook costs nothing to make, can't be lent more than once, and can't be resold. Also, I can get the book for free in ten seconds if I want to. It's the fucking internet.

It's the same thing with other digital media. Hell, music is even worse. Why would I pay $10 for a digital music album when I could buy the CD for the same price and just rip it to my computer? Then I still have a physical copy to do with as I please.

I appreciate the convenience but not when I'm paying the same price for something that actually holds less intrinsic value. I think they just take advantage of most people's need for instant gratification.

At $1.99, I have no reason not to buy this book.

Post: #22

(11-04-2013 01:47 PM)Enigma Wrote:  The ebook costs nothing to make, can't be lent more than once, and can't be resold. Also, I can get the book for free in ten seconds if I want to. It's the fucking internet.

The cost is your lifeblood to create the work.

Post: #23

(11-04-2013 02:16 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

(11-04-2013 01:47 PM)Enigma Wrote:  The ebook costs nothing to make, can't be lent more than once, and can't be resold. Also, I can get the book for free in ten seconds if I want to. It's the fucking internet.

The cost is your lifeblood to create the work.

Yeah, I get that. But if you're selling a paperback and ebook edition, the paperback costs more to produce and actually has physical value outside of pure intellectual property. There's no reason they should be the same price. My comment isn't about the price in general, just the prices of the physical and digital copies in relation to each other.

This guy priced his aggressively which is why the book is a self-published bestseller. He made bank.

Post: #24

James Altucher, the author of the article that started this thread, has a podcast now. I'm lazing around, watching movies today, so I haven't had a chance to listen, but might be of interest to some people here.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-...30859?mt=2

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #25

Thank you for sharing this. Lots to learn from guys like this.

His post about how he met his wife Claudia is interesting. Makes me see how fortunate I/we are to have found game sooner than later. The amount of bullshit he went through is ridiculous.