James Altucher is a no non-sense and direct author. He has earned it and lost it and earned it all over again and in this book he tells exactly how he did it. I choose this book because I think Altucher is seeing the future, whilst we all won’t be entrepreneurs in the future the existence of a life time career at one company is almost completely extinct. We all need to prepare for a world where we focus on ourselves, the secret to empowerment will be ideas and the conversion of good ideas into reality.

Below are the notes I took on the book, as well as some direct quotes from the book, I highly recommend you read it yourself, I’m sure there are more key lessons and takeaways in the book I’ve missed, enjoy!

Average number of income streams for multi-millionaire is 14

Over-promise & Over-deliver….it’s not that hard

Being an entrepreneur is NOT about taking risks, it’s about ELIMINATING all risk.

10 Things Rich Employee Does;
– 1. Love the Product
– 2. Know the History
– 3. Know History of Executives
– 4. Make your boss look good
– 5. Know all the secretaries
– 6. Test your value (on job market)
– 7. Study the marketing campaigns
– 8. Study the Industry
– 9. Become the Company
– 10. Leave

Do the Following;
– view your job at just one source of income among many
– Build up sources of income
– Be creative
– Write a blog
– So consulting on the side
– Get more skills
– Do speaking
– Be an entre-ployee

Luck = Persistence + Diversification

Energy = Physical Health + Emotional Health + Spiritual Health

How to be the smartest person on the planet? Always assume you are the least intelligent person in the room, always. Several things will happen;
– You’ll listen & learn from everyone around you
– When you’re done listening, listen to the silence
– Now when they are done talking, ask at least one question
– Intelligence compounds exponentially. ‘Network Effect’
– Humility

Excellence spreads like a disease.

When discouraged, encourage others. This is how you get out of your head.

Entrepreneurs have 85% failure rate

The only thing you have control over is your mind-set, your habits, and the choices you make internally about how you’re going to deal with a situation.

Don’t gossip. You can’t change what people think of you. But you can change your need, our species need, our species natural addition, to harmful gossip.

The economy is growing and pay checks versus inflation are going down. This is because the era of Corporatism is over but the era of ‘Idea-ism’ is just beginning. Everything but ideas can be outsourced. Software development, design, accounting, translation, research. Almost everything you can go to school for, you can now outsource. Except you can’t outsource your ability to build & deepen relationships.

Law of reciprocity – cognitive bias we have to help people who give something to us. Try to help everyone.

The Rich Employee doesn’t care about taking credit

The people who own are getting wealthier. The people who sacrificed ownership for the myth of stability are getting poorer [income versus inflation is going down].

Study is one thing, writing is the next, but doing and then repeating is how you learn.

Leadership is not about achieving your dream. It’s about helping everyone else achieve their dreams.

A good leader helps the people around them succeed past them.

Some people send so much time, effort, and money creating their particular vision that they have ‘investment bias’ that prevents their brains from saying, ‘maybe I’ve made a mistake’.

Daily Practice of Choosing Yourself – striving to improve every day 1% across physical, emotional, mental & spiritual health

Hal Elrods Miracle Morning Strategies;
S – Silence – Meditation/breathing
A – Affirmations – List of 10/12
V – Virtualization – imagine affirmations
E – Exercise – Get blood flowing
R – Reading – Learn positive ideas
S – Scribing – writing / journaling

‘Hub the Spoke’ – Have one hug (e.g. Blog) and reference everything on Facebook, Twitter etc to that Hub

MAKE MORE CONTENT – Michelle Phan did 54 YouTube videos before she made a missive hit.

Kevin Kelly – ‘1000 True Fans’

Drop Selling – Buying something cheap & then immediately selling it on at higher cost

Ensure everything you put up has the following;
– High Quality
– Value
– Consistency
– Authenticity

We are the sum of our experiences and not the sum of our belongings. There is nothing wrong with making money but it is only one small part of living a life on comfort, of compassion, of calm.

Pick a theme, any theme will do, and write down ten ideas a day. Every day.

Habits of Mentally Strong Rich Employee;
– Strong Relationships
– Honesty
– Constantly focuses on others
– Reading
– Health
– Curiosity
– Learn, Say, Repeat
– Exercise the Idea Muscle
– Permission (to be great & fail)
– Presence (live in present, not past)
– Life Changes Fast (Don’t try to control it)
– Experiences are more valuable than goods
– Listen
– Pretend everyone is going to die tomorrow
– Politics, Government, News is completely unimportant
– The 5×5 Rule
– Autonomy
– Food, Sleep, Move

5×5 Rule;
– You’re the average of the 5 people you spend time with
– You’re the average of the 5 thought you most have
– You’re the average of the 5 types of food you eat
– You’re the average of the 5
– Things you are most grateful for
– You’re the average of the 5 things you are reading today

Get good at three, four or five things. Then find the intersection. Then become the best in the world at the intersection.

10 step technique for learning;
1. Love it
2. Read it
3. Try it. But not too hard – Quantity not Quality
4. Get a Teacher (+ 10x Rule)
5. Study the History, Study the Present
6. Do easy projects first
7. Study what you Did – be obsessed with your mistakes
8. You are the average of 5 people around you – humans are tribal mammals, find the best group
9. Do It A Lot
10. Find Your Evil Plan

The secret of happiness is not ‘being great’ – the secret is ‘growth’

Ideas are the currency of the 21st Century

Listing 10 ideas a day gets the idea muscle flexing

There is a myth that everyone is talented at least one thing and you just have to find it. This isn’t true. Most people are not talented at anything.

Pattern recognition and mastery is a combination of; study + history + experience + talent + a new thing…Love.

Subtraction, and not addition, is what makes the window to the brain more clear, wipes away the smudges, and opens the drapes.

85% of start ups fail. If the CEO has built and sold a start-up before then the odds go down to 25%

Provides good tips on choosing which start up might be best for you to join

A successful today simply meant that I focuses on 1% improvement each day in my physical health, emotional healthy (surrounded by people loved & supported) mental health (writing down 10 ideas a day) and spiritual health (replacing regrets & anxieties with gratitude).