John McAfee is a billionaire on the run from the government. He owes millions in taxes. And has strange and somewhat dangerous opinions on government, coronavirus, public safety, etc. (you’ll see what I’m talking about). But some of his insights are worth debating. You’ll hear what a totally insane person running from the government thinks about the current state of the world. And if you’re asking yourself why his name is so familiar, it’s because he started McAfee Associates, the anti-viral software you have on all your computers. 

Here’s what we talked about:

• tax evasion
• the wild west
• running from your country
• people who think for themselves vs. people who don’t think at all
• the media
• coronavirus and quarantine
• inflation
• The French Revolution

And more.

Enjoy

The post 585 – How Think For Yourself with John McAfee appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

I always wanted to learn to play music, even now, I just bought the Jazz Piano Book, and try to learn it! In this episode, I have neuroscientist, operatic soprano, author of How Music Can Make You Better, professor and podcast host, Indre Viskontas, on to talk about the relationship between neuroscience and music, what music trigger which part of the brain! We also explored the 10 thousand hours rule of music learning! Enjoy!

The post 646 – When music meet neuroscience, how music can make you better – Indre Viskontas appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

Ed Latimore, professional boxer, chess player, author, influencer, social media guru, and even physicist! In this episode, I talked to him about Ed about how he looks at things differently, and what makes him want to dabble into different professions, learning different skills, and how does he get out of his comfort zone! Before the podcast ended, we also talked about the power of annoyance, which have proof effective in some scenario.

The post 645 – Conquering your comfort zone with Ed Latimore appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

I went to the website for the Federal Elections Commission.

I filled out all the paperwork. It took me ten minutes. It cost me zero money. Now I am an official candidate in the eyes of the government. You can search for me there.

You should do this also. God speed!

First off, this is an experiment.

In my book, “Skip the Line”, I discuss how the “10,000 Experiments Rule” is one of the quickest ways to “skip the line” and be in the top 1% (and monetize) whatever field you love.

The 10,000 hour “rule” is BS.

At any given point, I usually have five or six experiments going. You should too. It’s not hard and it’s fun. And there’s no pressure because most experiments fail.

That’s the nature of having a theory and testing it. Most theories are wrong but that’s how we learn.

The characteristics of a good experiment: 

• – it’s quick and easy to set up. 
• – It’s free or super cheap
• – There is little downside 
• – There is enormous upside in the rare case that your experiment “works” (I could be President!!) 

And that’s it. 

Most experiments fail but this is why they are valuable: 

– By definition you are doing something that is unique to you and perhaps the world. Hence the need for an experiment. 

– Because of the above you will always learn something new. Have a theory, test it out, and if it works you will learn and if it doesn’t work you will learn. 

Thomas Edison famously tried 10,000 different filaments before getting a light bulb to work. Then he created the lightbulb and started a tiny company called General Electric.

General Electric is the only company that was part of the original Dow Jones index in the 1890s that still exists today. 

Sadly the company, “Distilled and Cattle Feeding Company” , is no longer part of the Dow. They got acquired.

When asked by a reporter, “How does it feel to fail 10,000 times”, Thomas Edison said, “Sir, I did not fail 10,000 times, I learned 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb.” 

Many people say they don’t like the two party system. People feel obligated to vote for the lesser of two evils else they believe a non-vote is really a vote for the other side. 

Don’t be ridiculous.

150,000,000 people vote. Your one vote will not help. And when I ask people about the issues I usually find that most people, including myself, don’t know the issues.

They just know what the party they vote for vaguely believes. But not even really that. 

People will say, “If you don’t vote for one of the two parties then you should have no right to have a voice in our society.” 

This is BS. 

Run for President. 

Here’s why: 

– it’s easy. It took me ten minutes to set up. 

– If anyone says, “You have no right to have a voice,” you can reply, “I’m running for President of the United States.” 

– When you DO something, it starts to form cognitive biases in your brain. For instance, I feel I have more of an obligation to have a stance on the issues or at least a stance on how to govern and lead. 

Plus: 

– Just by doing the process, I learned new things about how our government works. It’s interesting to see how many people are running for which office and other factors involved in running. 

– It’s a fun story to tell. People laugh. 

We should have many choices for President. It doesn’t make sense that there are two groups where everyone in one group magically believes in 80 of the same things and everyone in another group magically believes the exact opposite about those 80 things. 

That’s statistically impossible and yet it happens because the way our system is set up leads to cognitive biases that polarize people. 

I searched on newspaper-dot-com (an archive of every newspaper dating back 250 years or so) for the phrase “most important election ever”.

Turns out 1800 was the “most important election” ever (Adams vs Jefferson) but so was 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, and every election up to, of course, 2020.

If I like a candidate it would be impossible to agree with him or her on everything. I should listen to how the candidate thinks about issues and then decide if I like his methodology for having an opinion, pivoting if things change, etc. 

If you run, I set up a Facebook page, “President 2.0”. You can announce you are running (perhaps you signed up at the FEC) and you can start to present your issues. 

Link to the Facebook page. Come join it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/president2.0/members

Issues can be nuanced. You don’t have to just say “Bad climate change” or “No war”. You can have your own opinions. 

Nobody can stop you. You are running for President! 

Have a cool name for your political party. Maybe your party is “The Bachelor Party” or “The Pre-game Party”. 

I’m going to call my party the “Skip the Line Party”. Because I don’t believe there should be gatekeepers to expressing your opinion and having a voice in society.

If you experiment in life enough, you will learn a lot, have fun, and eventually find yourself Skipping the Line in fantastic ways you never would have thought. 

I have examples I will share over the next few days and weeks. 

But for now, spend ten minutes at fec dot gov. Run for President of the United States (it doesn’t cost any money) and then announce it at the President 2.0 Facebook page. 

Then you can announce your issues if you want. Or announce how you would govern. And participate fully in our great democracy (yes, I know, I know, people will say, “it’s a republic!” Shut up with that stuff. )

In 1980 I was obsessed with the Federal Elections Commission.

I tried to interview every random person who was running. My interview skills consisted of “Why are you running?” “What did you eat for breakfast today.” https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=7698840749874559395

As the great Jim Boren told me when he was running for Vice-President in 1980: “When in doubt, mumble.” 

That might be another fun experiment to try. 

(me on the campaign trail).

The post WHY YOU SHOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

– Jerry Seinfeld.

“It’s his first book filled with practical advice that has worked for him and others. I wish I read it when I was a young comedian.” )

—

“You can’t skip the line, James.”

I wanted to be a hedge fund manager but I was broke. I lost $15,000,000 of my money because I invested poorly. So of course I got obsessed and wanted to do it for a career.

Only problem was, I was a computer programmer and writer. And our world loves labels.

“You lost all your money investing and now you want to be a professional investors?”

He worked for JP Morgan. He was a professional investor.

I was feeling shy asking him. I wanted JP Morgan to give me money so I could start a hedge fund.

I had already stopped paying my mortgage. I had two children. I was suicidally depressed. I had no friends. My friends were with me on the way up but I had no friends on the way down. It’s a cliche but true.

“Yes,. I know I went broke. But then I wrote software to model the markets. I look for trades that have historically have had a high probability of success. It works.”

“Can’t your parents give you some money?”

“They don’t have money. And they don’t talk to me anymore.”

Steve had that look. Not a frown like he was trying to figure out how to get me money. More like a look that he was sorry for me.

“You can’t do that. Listen, I have to tell you. You probably need an MBA. Then you need to work at a big bank for a few years. Like Goldman Sachs. Then maybe you work for a big fund or two. Get experience. And THEN maybe you can break out and start your own hedge fund.”

How was I going to support my kids. I had taken on too much in expenses. I had worked so hard building a company and then selling it and now it was all for nothing and nobody respected me. And nobody cared.”

“Good luck,” he said.

———-

“You can’t do that,” Cindy told me.

It was 1995. I was on the way to the CEO’s office. Companies didn’t have websites back then. HBO didn’t even own HBO.com.

I wanted to tell Jeff Bewkes, the CEO of HBO at the time (and later of all Time Warner), that he needed to create a website for HBO and that he should do original web shows on the website just like they did original TV shows.

My title at the time was junior analyst programmer in the IT department. I can’t even remember what I was working on all day. Nothing probably.

Cindy wanted to stop me from going directly to the CEO. “He’s your boss’s boss;s boss’s boss’s boss’s boss. You can’t skip the line over all of those people.

The only people who ever tell you “you can’t” do something you want to do, something you love to do, are people who can’t do it themselves.

They don’t want you to change. They like the version of you that “doesn’t.”

———

I started my hedge fund in a year (see “The 10,000 experiment rule” chapter in Skip the LIne) and did it for the next ten years.

It led to books, writing for the Financial Times, starting new businesses, and every adventure I’ve had since. (See, the “Spoke and Wheel” chapter in Skip the Line.

Creating HBO’s website led to me starting my own business creating websites for Fortune 500 companies.

Richard Branson was a 27 year old music magazine publisher when he wanted to start an entire airline to be the only competitor to British Airways. “You can’t do that!” everyone told him. “It’s not only impossible but you know nothing about how to run an airline.”

(see the chapter on “Frame Control”).

Sara Blakely was selling fax machines door to door when she came up with the idea of Spanx. “You can’t skip the line like that!”, everyone told her, “You don’t know how to design clothes, manufacture them, make a clothing line. You’re just a fax machine salesman.”

In my 40s I became obsessed with doing standup comedy. I had changed careers so many times everyone thought I was ridiculous. The other comedians kind of hated me.

“You can’t skip the line, James,” Dante (an excellent comedian).

“We’ve all been doing it 20 years. You have to do open mics, then hang out at clubs, then do the check spot, then MC, then maybe you get a Tuesday night. You can’t just skip the line.”

He said this to me five seconds before I was to go up to do my first hour-long show. I don’t know why he chose that moment to tell me that I was going to fail if I tried to skip the line.

Since then I’ve toured all over the country and the world.

I skipped the line.

I don’t hate the people who told me I couldn’t do something. They didn’t want me to leave their sandbox.

——-

WHY NOW?

This past year 55 million people had to file unemployment insurance. Almost half of the nation’s workers.

There is no loyalty in corporate America. Corporations, government, your peers, your professors, your family, all want to stop you from doing the things you love.

They tell you, “How will you make money?” , “How will you get good enough to compete with the people who have been doing it all their lives?”

What they are really saying is, “Don’t leave me”.

They want you to swear undying loyalty to their tribe. Else you will be cast out into the woods and eaten by the lions.

Shame on them!

People thought they were taking the safe route. “Safe” is not 55 million people unemployed.

They took the scared route. They thought they had to be “serious” rather than the “fun” of mastering and monetizing what they love.

This is sad. It’s sad because I regret the many times I chose to do something “safe” without realizing I was really really scared.

The times I didn’t skip the line I always ended up in the back of the line.

—-

I wrote a book.

I hate self-help books. “This research study says if you mirror someone’s actions then they will agree with you.” Etc.

BS.

“This study says if you feel grateful every morning then your dreams will come true because you’ll notice them when they occur in life.”

BS.

I’ve switched entire careers six times. EVERY SINGLE TIME people told me “You can’t do that” and “YOU CAN”T SKIP THE LINE!”

I’ve spoken to a thousand podcast guests about how they skipped the line.

In fact, everyone successful has been told, “you can’t do that.” because what they wanted to do was unique to them, to their DNA, to their unique love for what they wanted to do.

And it’s hard. It’s hard to go against the crowd. Particularly when the crowd includes parents, friends, etc. Anything worth doing is difficult.

Malcolm Gladwell says it takes “10,000 hours” to master something. This is bullshit. Total utter bullshit.

I should know. The original studies on the 10,000 hour rule occurred in the 90s. I was a part of them. They studied areas like chess, violin, memory, etc and concluded 10,000 hours of deliberate practice are required to master something.

I’m a chess master and was included in those studies.

10,000 hours is 10-20 years. I don’t want to take that long to get good at something. To make money from it. To live the dream that I might have had for years.

From my own experience and hundreds I’ve interviewed, it takes about one year, maybe less, to be in the top 1% of the field that you love and good enough to make money at it.

Julia Cameron, author of the classic book, “The Artist’s Way”, even said to me, “You poor baby. You are trapped in the prison of this 10,000 hour rule.”

And I was. But then it was like solving a puzzle that was so difficult but then nce you see the answer it was like, “how could I have missed that for so long? What an idiot I must be!”

(See the chapter on the “10,000 experiment rule”.)

My book, “Skip the Line” comes out today. I’m so proud of it.

Which is rare for me.

I’M AFRAID

The past few times I’ve written something, it’s caused a lot of people to be angry. This is no different.

Someone told me: “First they laugh at you, then they hate you, then they claim the idea was theirs.”

I get it. I’ve been torn apart.

So many people in despair right now. So many people haven’t dug out of the hole 2020 caused.

This book is for them. Some of my chapters / techniques include:

– The 10,000 Experiment Rule (really 100 experiments are enough when you use “Idea sex”)

– The 50/1 Rule (think the 80/20 rule but cubed)- Frame Control (real, practical persuasion techniques and not theoretical “Influence” techniques)

– Microskills

– The Two Steps Back Rule

– The Power of Wobbling

– The Incerto Technique (I hope Nassim Taleb doesn’t sue me)

– Idea Calculus (every trick I use for generating ideas).

– The “Spoke and Wheel Technique” to maximize how you monetize what you love.

– And a chapter of what I tell my kids since they don’t read what I write (!).

There’s more. But my main goal was to write a book that WORKS.

I don’t care how many copies I sell. I just want this book to end up in the hands of people who read it and use it.

I want to make an offer.

I WILL PROVE IT TO YOU

Buy the book this week. Prove to me you bought it and you will read it. I don’t know how you do that. Write me a letter. Show me you used the book. Write a review. Whatever.

I wanted to make a TV show, “I will make you a millionaire.” Where I select random people and make them a millionaire in a year.

Instead, I want to do this with you.

I will select the top 12 who write me (message me on Twitter or send me an email at [email protected]) and I will consult with each person so that within a year you are all on a path that you love with the potential to make a million dollars.

We will document everything so that I can prove that these techniques work. I don’t write things for the joy of it. This will work.

By the end of the year you will be clearly on the path to have a million in the bank.

And for everyone else who is able to write me in the next week or so with proof that they read the book then I will sign them up for my newsletter where I will be constantly writing about the “skip the line” techniques as well as additional ideas for making money and how to get on the path you’ve always wanted to be on.

I have to admit something. In August I wrote an article that got a lot of people upset at me. A lot of people loved the article but a lot of people hated it.

They all let me know. Even five months later people were still trashing me. I felt the writing goddess had punished me and I was afraid to write.

I always thought I didn’t care what people thought but I guess I do. It hit a level where I almost was afraid to write anymore.

And I’m still afraid. This book will get people upset. But I want to do it. I hope you read it and like it but most importantly, I hope you use the ideas in it and tell me about it.

Don’t do this for me. Do this for all the people who have ever told you, “you can’t”.

Ugh. That’s a corny way to end this.

Do this so you can cut the line at Starbucks and when people say, “Hey!” you can say, “Sorry…” and just show them this book. They will laugh and say, “ok”. I tried that technique as well and it works.

You can purchase the book through Amazon via below:

The post YOU CAN’T DO THAT! appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

I am a centrist, and I always try to have as many different sides on the podcast to talk about all the different issues from a different point of view, including Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, Dr. Jo Jorgensen, and more! In this episode, I have the former CIA officer, and conservative American radio host, Buck Sexton on to talk about the current issues, and the media. It’s okay and important to open to ideas. There are more important issues in your life other than just politics, such as physical and mental health, creativity, and all.

The post 644 – Explore the other side with Buck Sexton appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

Another episode of Side Hustle Friday! What happens after you wrote your 30 days book challenge? Publish it, market it, sell it! I have recorded this episode with Steve Scott, back in 2017, and now I dusted it out and put it out there for you that have finished the 30 days book challenge, time to monetize it!

The post Side Hustle Friday – Make Thousands from your 30 days book challenge with Steve Scott appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

Why are people afraid of change, new technologies, and, right now, election hacking!? I talk with Jason Feifer about why people are always more pessimistic than they should be and that optimism and skepticism are powerful tools to set you apart from the masses and find real success. Plus, Jason shares some fun stories about wild pessimism throughout history

I realized during this pandemic that most people are “smart idiots”. They come across as smart but then cognitive biases kick in and they start acting like fools. Which is why I asked Jason Feifer to come on the podcast and talk about election hacking (is it a real concern?), and other stories of mass pessimism and hysteria. If you understand the pessimism bias, that’s the first step in choosing yourself for success. 

Key Takeaways

• The law isn’t permanent. A law passed today can be overruled decades later. Even the Constitution is amendable. 
  • “The idea that we should write something down and then it should hold permanently forever is so insane that I can’t understand why it’s attractive to anybody” – Jason Feifer
• Every person and company is currently encouraging people to vote because they believe people will vote for their side:
  • “Every influencer and celebrity and brand and whatever are now saying vote, vote, vote…The funny thing about it is that everybody thinks by saying vote that they’re going to prompt a vote for their side.” – Jason Feifer
• A lot of people say that the 2020 election is the most important election of our lifetime, but Jason went back in newspaper archives and found the news saying the same thing about presidential elections in the 1800s
  • “We love a sense that we are participating in something that is unique and critical and that we stand at the crossroads of history…Therefore we are very, very attracted to any statements that tell us that we are experiencing and participating in something that is drastically important.” – Jason Feifer
• News and media companies taking political stances is nothing new, this has been going on for centuries: 
  • “They were all party newspapers. They were very partisan. They were all reporting news as they saw it to influence your decision making.” – Jason Feifer
• Technology doesn’t disappear overnight, it integrates over time:
  • People listen to radio AND podcasts
  • People ride bikes AND drive cars
    • “We can have both. Just because one thing comes along, it doesn’t necessarily wholesale or replace another, it integrates.” – Jason Feifer

Intro

• Jason Feifer (@heyfeifer) is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, and the host of two podcasts: Problem Solvers, about entrepreneurs solving unexpected problems in their business, and Pessimists Archive a history of unfounded fears of innovation.
• Host: James Altucher (@jaltucher)

Law & Society

• If you aren’t happy about the 2020 US Presidential election, just remember that no decision is permanent
  • One side can win but another opportunity for change will appear in 4 years
• Also, remember that the law isn’t permanent. A law passed today can be overruled decades later. Even the Constitution is amendable. 
  • It’s a good thing that no law last forever because society changes and evolves over time
    • “The idea that we should write something down and then it should hold permanently forever is so insane that I can’t understand why it’s attractive to anybody” – Jason Feifer

Thoughts on The 2020 Election

• After the presidential election, the prediction market shifted and the poll showed Trump at his lowest chance of winning and Biden at his highest point 
• Every person and company is currently encouraging people to vote because they believe people will vote for their side:
  • “Every influencer and celebrity and brand and whatever are now saying vote, vote, vote…The funny thing about it is that everybody thinks by saying vote that they’re going to prompt a vote for their side.” – Jason Feifer
• A lot of people say that the 2020 election is the most important election of our lifetime, but Jason went back in newspaper archives and found the news saying the same thing about presidential elections in the 1800s
  • “We love a sense that we are participating in something that is unique and critical and that we stand at the crossroads of history…Therefore we are very, very attracted to any statements that tell us that we are experiencing and participating in something that is drastically important.” – Jason Feifer

Elections Have Been Corrupted & Manipulated For Centuries 

• There’s been corruption in presidential elections throughout history:
  • There was a lot of controversy around the 1960 presidential election regarding voter fraud
    • “Election hacking is nothing new” – James Altucher
• There’s been foreign manipulation for centuries:
  • The very first foreign manipulation came in 1796 when France tried to intervene in the election  
• Russia doesn’t care about one candidate over another; instead, they care about the complete destabilization of America:
  • “Russian isn’t interested in one candidate over another. Russia doesn’t care about Trump in particular. Russia cares about destabilizing American democracy.” – Jason Feifer
    • Russia has been hacking politician’s emails and making up fake news about politicians for decades 
• News and media companies taking political stances is nothing new, this has also been going on for centuries: 
  • “They were all party newspapers. They were very partisan. They were all reporting news as they saw it to influence your decision making.” – Jason Feifer

Fear of Technology

• “Most of the things we worry about are just BS. Like they’re never really going to happen.” – James Altucher
  • Remember Y2K in 2000?
• Some people will always have a hard time accepting new technology:
  • When the car was first invented, bystanders would yell “Get a horse!”
• Technology doesn’t disappear overnight, it integrates over time:
  • People listen to radio AND podcasts
  • People ride bikes AND drive cars
    • “We can have both. Just because one thing comes along, it doesn’t necessarily wholesale or replace another, it integrates.” – Jason Feifer

More Views on Technology

• Technology moves so quickly it’s hard to even imagine what the future will look like. No one in the 1960s could have predicted life in 2020.
• As society and technology evolve, so does our perception of intelligence:
  • Before computers, people who could memorize a lot of information were seen as intelligent 
  • In 2020, people who know how to use computers and recognize patterns are seen as intelligent 
• It takes time to figure out all of the positive and negative side effects of new technology:
  • A lot of people said TV would make people dumber, but a study shows that it made people smarter because some shows would require people to follow multiple story plots at the same time 
    • “Change doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad” – Jason Feifer 

Additional Notes

• One of the silver linings of the pandemic: People are willing to consider and try things there didn’t consider before

James and Jason both loved the series Cobra Kai

The post 643 – Election Hacking and Fear of Change with Jason Feifer from Pessimists Archive appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

This is an important election. But forget about the personalities for a second. This is a step by step, a cocktail party guide to what all the relevant political philosophies are. Decide for yourself what you believe in, and what candidates, national, local, whatever, are most conducive to the philosophy you believe in. Also, now you armed yourself with the best cocktail party knowledge!

The post 641 – Are we fascists, socialists or…other? appeared first on The James Altucher Show.

Another Side Hustle Friday! This episode, I have Dan Granger, the CEO of the LA-based ad agency, Oxford Road, on to talk about the podcast advertising industry. We started out talking about Star Wars, and then we segway into the amazing overview of the media industry and the podcast industry! We also talked about how the polarization in the country affects the industry, also what we can help to avoid it.

The post Side Hustle Friday – Podcast Advertising Agency with Dan Granger appeared first on The James Altucher Show.