The James Altucher Show

He denied Bill Clinton's phone call. He just lost the NBA finals championship. "I was inconsolable," John Wallace said on my podcast. "I didn't want to talk to anybody. I didn't want to talk to Bill Clinton. I didn't want to talk to my mom..." "But doesn't that make you a sore loser?" "You show me someone who accepts losing and I'll show you a loser," he said quoting Cam Newton. -- In the 90's, I...

Mick Jagger fooled around with Keith Richards' girlfriend. I wouldn't be able to work with someone after that. But maybe that's why I'm author. And not a rockstar. The Rolling Stones became a new band every 5-7 years. They were "perpetual amateurs." That's one of the keys to staying alive as an artist. Or as an entrepreneur. Or staying alive at all... "Remain the same but different." And be "open...

The party at the apartment one floor up lit lanterns and watched them fly into the sky. It's the type of lanterns you'd see in Asia. I heard her yell, "that's my journey right there! I'm going to be a mom and a doctor!" The lantern flew. "Angels! Angels!" She yelled She passed me a lantern from the balcony above. She must have laid on the ground to get her arm to reach mine. "Don't lose the wax. T...

I spoke to Kevin Kelly. He's the founding editor of Wired magazine and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, "The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future." He's a futurist. There are only a few people I trust with predictions about the future. He's one of them. "Tracking is coming. AI is coming. Robots are coming," he says on today's podcast. The futu...

I can't imagine walking into a situation like that... handing over $20,000. "You have too much attachment to money. Let me hold this in a jar," the psychic would say. "I'll give it back whenever you ask." Then of course you never get it back. "It's a slow building of a relationship, slow building of trust," Maria Konnikova said on my podcast.  "You have no idea how many times I've met people who s...

"You used to be arrogant," I said. He didn't know. I later decided it's arrogant to call someone arrogant on your podcast. Or anywhere else. I had a lot to learn. It's a good thing we had 90 minutes left in the studio. And dinner plans after. "I'm sure other people must have told you that around that time," I said, referring to when we first met a few years ago. My podcast guest, Ryan Holiday, dro...

I was trying to cheer someone up. "The sun feels nice," I said.   "I don't even notice those things," he said.   He was depressed. But I thought I could help.   They say you can't make everybody happy. But really, you can't make anybody happy.   I know this. But it doesn't always stop me from trying.   Six months ago, I did my first stand-up show. Now I have a new experiment. I take one photo a da...

The coffee pot at my cubicle job always smelled of fresh piss. It was probably rotting from the bright lights and manhandling. We all were. Maybe if I slept more, I would've quit my job (the right way). I would've chosen myself sooner. I'd leave the fog with clarity. That's what sleep can do for you. "This moment is all we have, and my mother always used to say, 'Don't miss the moment.'" "When you...

I was getting good at saying, "no thank you" to certain thoughts. Sometimes it was just conversations I didn't want to have. Like this one I'm writing. If I were sitting with you, I doubt I'd say any of what I'm about to. I guess that's why I have questions. Because maybe you know something I don't. Maybe I can learn from you. And I do. I always do. There's a formula for loneliness and a formula f...

You have a unique set of advantages and disadvantages. And you'll hear a lot about overcoming difficulties in today's podcast. But these are the steps:  Step 1. Find out what's different about you Step 2. Use your setback to create your skillset Step 3. Stop trying to figure it out Listen now and go to my blog for the full show notes. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltuche...

"Imagine... If you had suddenly learned that the people and the places and the moments most important to you were not gone, not dead, but worse- had never been." I was in LA at Imagine Entertainment. It's Brian Grazer's studio. He produced A Beautiful Mind, 8 Mile, a bunch of Jim Carrey movies. He's worked with Eddie Murphy and produced my favorite TV series, Arrested Development. "I bought the bo...

"You're scaring me now," I said. "Don't scare me." I was laughing. But I meant it. The news, the doom and gloom, the fear, it makes fresh air turn to vomit. Chunky streams of acid. I bet Ron Paul has thin stomach lining. We were talking about freedom. And if there's any left. I usually ignore all the doom and gloom. That's what works for me. But we talked about opportunities, hope, trends, the inn...

I'm homeless. By choice. I wrote about it. And it turned into a debate. Now I'm sharing the discussion with you. My podcast listeners and answering your questions.  "Does minimalism mean having no accomplishments?" "Does minimalism mean not having a lot of possessions?" "How do you deal with kids if you are a minimalist?" "What's the first step I should take? Should I throw things out?" This isn't...

I would've taken the money. A couple hundred million. He could've sold the business for a 100, 200 million dollars. Bill Gates wanted to buy it. But he didn't sell. I wanted to know why Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL said no to being a millionaire. "The simple answer is I really believed in the idea of the internet and believed in AOL and believed that it could change the world," he...

"Everyday is a new day." ...unless you have a routine. Then it's just "eat, sleep, shit, repeat," like they say in Billions. "Don't you want to create memories? Don't you want to build your life resume and get as much out of life as you can?" Jesse Itzler said on my podcast. He's the co-founder of Marquis Jets, owner of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, endurance athlete, former-rapper and now he's an auth...

You have no idea. None of us did. Until now. Everything I've done for the past two years is unfolding before me. I interviewed Dr. K Anders Ericsson. You know his work. He discovered the 10,000 hour rule. The rule that says if you do 10,000 hours of "dedicated practice" you can master a field. But what we've been lead to believe is false. And it's finally being corrected. Today.  Peak: Secrets fro...

Before writing this, I closed my eyes. I allowed myself to rest. I went from, "think, think, think" to nothing. And nothing felt good. Nothing worked. Nothing is my success. Today. I used to have another kind of success.  I was a hedge fund manager, web developer, producer, investor, corporate employee, CEO, writer. I still do some of these jobs. But not because "they" tell me to. I look back and...

He didn't have permission. But he did it anyway. And one day Elon Musk called him. "He was either going to make life really horrible on me or he was going to cooperate with the book" said Ashlee Vance, author of the New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal's "best books of the year," Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Ashlee did 200 interviews before Elon agre...

The most powerful currency in the world is not what you think. Not anymore. We're turning to a new economy with two powerful currencies. And you have an opportunity, right now, to build a more fulfilling and rewarding life. I'm going to tell you what these two currencies are and how to leverage them successfully. I'll tell you what works for me. But before I do, I want to introduce you to Derek Si...

If I didn't listen to my pain, I'd be dead.  I've interviewed hundreds of "successful" people. When they look back, they see two things: struggle and a story. These are hero stories -- choose yourself stories. Directed by pain, they found passion. Because they listened. I was alone, on the floor, broke, desperate, hopeless.  I ignored the pain. I wanted to die. And then something shifted. But you...

Fifteen percent of you won't like this interview. "I like that," he says, "I like being doubted." But I don't doubt Gary Vaynerchuk. And that's why I'm giving away 100 copies of his brand new book, #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness. The details are on my podcast. Gary will be the first to admit that he doesn't know everything. But he knows everyth...

I never thought about sex with Barbara Corcoran. I still don't. But she brought it up. We were talking about entrepreneurship. And she said how old she was when she lost her virginity. Twenty-three. I wanted to know how she turned a thousand dollars into a five billion dollar company. Then: $1,000. Now: $5,000,000,000. I wanted to know how she founded The Corcoran Group, the largest company in rea...

I'd rather be an alien. I'd rather be myself. Than be liked. It makes sense... why you'd want to be liked. Think about it. From an evolutionary standpoint, when you're liked, you're safe. You're in the tribe. People protect you. But now, I'd rather be an alien. I don't want stress. I don't want to worry, "Do I fit in?" There are consequences to being liked. You start compromising. You stop taking...

I don't want to be afraid. But I am. I'll explain why. But first, I want to introduce you to Adam Grant. He has the solution to my problem... And maybe your problem, too. Adam is the youngest tenured and highest-ranking professor at the famed business university The Wharton School, a writer for The New York Times, and the New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach...

Ask the world this question, and you'll drown in failure. You'll lose. Anything you take, anything you earn, will be foul. I bet you've asked this question before. Maybe everyday. Maybe all your life. "How can I get?" How can I get rich? How can I get happy? How can I get more? There's no return on getting. It leave you with nothing. Or worse than nothingness. Emptiness. But there's another way. I...