1222: [Part 2] How to Be Persistent and Get Success by James Altucher on Business Challenges & Overcoming Adversity

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[00:01:23] This is Optimal Work Daily Episode 1222, How to Be Persistent and Get Success, Part 2, by JamesAltature of JamesAltature.com.

[00:01:34] And I'm Dan, I'm your host, and I'm here with you every single day of the week, including weekends, like today and holidays, and the post that I've got for you today's head.

[00:01:43] How to Be Persistent and Get Success Part 2 by James Altucher of JamesAltucher.com

[00:02:10] For every attempt, you will become more and more efficient with your time.

[00:02:14] You will hire better, bad employees or the worst wastes of time, and you will learn how to pre-qualify customers better.

[00:02:21] I can't tell you how many times I've gotten on a plane, traveled a thousand miles, made my impassioned pitch, everyone loved it,

[00:02:28] and then I returned home with nothing, nothing, nothing. It feels so bad.

[00:02:34] Didn't they like me? Didn't they like my idea?

[00:02:37] Didn't they think it was important that I flew a thousand miles to see them on their home turf? Didn't they?

[00:02:43] I think it takes about 20 failures to really get time management down to a science.

[00:02:48] See, idea execution.

[00:02:51] Most of the time we have good ideas, but have no idea how to execute it.

[00:02:56] We waste time thinking we need a lawyer to execute something.

[00:02:59] They will execute your idea, that's for sure.

[00:03:02] Or an accountant, or a partner, or a programmer, or a salesperson, or a venture capitalist,

[00:03:07] or we need to be living in Paris if we want to paint a good painting,

[00:03:11] or we need to be isolated for six months if we want to write a good novel or book,

[00:03:16] or we need to meditate to be enlightened, or we need to be educated to get a job.

[00:03:21] None of these things are true.

[00:03:23] They're just excuses.

[00:03:26] I was at a dinner once to hear a pitch. It was with a fund I didn't like, so I should

[00:03:43] have known better. They said, "Just listen to this guy." He had a great pitch. He had

[00:03:48] a technology which would take steam coming out of factories that he would then recycle

[00:03:52] back into the factory so they would save energy and costs. He would charge only on what he

[00:03:58] saved the factory. Then he had another pitch, strips that he would place on the highway

[00:04:02] that would absorb the energy of the cars driving over it and feed it right into the electric

[00:04:06] grid. He said, "One day on the Long Island Expressway and I could power New York State

[00:04:13] for a month." He had more pitches, on and on. Finally, I was thinking to myself, "He's

[00:04:20] going to pitch me a time machine." The next slide? A time machine? I left the dinner.

[00:04:26] My business partner was laughing. Did he just pitch us a time machine? Eventually you get

[00:04:31] BS detection so you don't even take those dinners. Much better to sleep. E, persistence

[00:04:37] gives you luck. A lot of times I'm playing chess online and I'll win and someone will

[00:04:42] say, "You got really lucky, as if I couldn't win without luck." And then we'll play again

[00:04:48] and I'll win again and usually whoever said that will log off quickly without saying

[00:04:53] goodbye. There's a saying, "Only the good players are lucky. How do you get lucky? I'm

[00:04:58] not the best player in the world, but I've put in thousands of hours studying and playing

[00:05:03] and losing." Persistence is an intimate dance with loss and through that dance, you find

[00:05:09] Failure, Mated with Passion, Produces Luck.

[00:05:12] F. Calmness If every house you live in burns down, you begin

[00:05:18] to learn how to be calm in a fire. The more calm you are, the more lives are saved, the

[00:05:22] more possessions restored. Persistence gives you calm. Whispers what you should do in emergencies.

[00:05:29] Without persistence, you won't know to stay low and let the smoke rise over you so you

[00:05:33] can breathe. With persistence, you learn that life is filled with change, and that the more

[00:05:38] accepting you are of the change, decay, and hardship that life is filled with, the more

[00:05:42] you will navigate them to find the treasure and wisdom that awaits that acceptance.

[00:05:48] G. Giving Up You also learn when you should give up on an idea. Sometimes you don't need

[00:05:54] to persist on one idea. Sometimes an idea is just bad. But through constant trial and

[00:05:59] error, you will learn when to give up and move on to the next one. You will learn how

[00:06:03] to keep your expectations low. Low expectations improve your ability to make quick decisions

[00:06:08] that don't rely on false myths, shame, and excuses. When you expect nothing, then suddenly

[00:06:15] you will get everything. H. Strength The world is divided into two types of

[00:06:21] people, the ones who blame and the ones who take responsibility. It's the latter that

[00:06:27] ignite that inner fire, that seek internal improvement in all four bodies, physical,

[00:06:32] emotional, mental, and spiritual. Every single day, grow the fire. Jerry Seinfeld used to

[00:06:39] say when he would write down a new comedy sketch, he'd put an X down on the calendar.

[00:06:43] Finally, he would have a line of X's. He liked looking at the X's. He didn't want

[00:06:48] a blank. Don't make a blank. Every day improves.

[00:06:52] You will never be left lacking. You will never be left wondering, "What if?" You will know the exact moment you need to step out of the way so abundance can force its way in like a tornado. You will trust deep down that it will happen. That's the key to persistence. Improve the internal purpose of the way you want to do it.

[00:07:16] You will trust deep down that it will happen. That's the key to persistence. Improve the internal fire every day. Do the daily practice to ignite it and expect absolutely nothing so you will enjoy when you inevitably get everything.

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[00:09:27] And I shared a little bit about James after yesterday's episode, but to tell you a little

[00:09:30] bit more about him, he has founded or co-founded over 20 companies and published 20 books.

[00:09:36] He's also a contributor to The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and The

[00:09:41] Huffington Post.

[00:09:42] He's an entrepreneur, writer, investor, trader, and podcaster.

[00:09:46] And if you check out his podcast, you'll hear him interview a bunch of talented people.

[00:09:50] The show is called The James Altucher Show, and you can always find it in the top charts

[00:09:55] of the business category of Apple Podcasts.

[00:09:58] And again, James' website is jamesaltucher.com.

[00:10:01] That's A-L-T-U-C-H-E-R.

[00:10:05] But that's going to do it for today.

[00:10:06] I appreciate you listening every single day.

[00:10:08] Of course, that is how we can keep this show going.

[00:10:10] So have a great rest of your day, and I will be back again with you tomorrow for The Monday

[00:10:15] Show, where your optimal life awaits.