Why The James Altucher School of Choosing Yourself Is A Daily Practice Towards Happiness

I first heard of James Altucher when he was interviewed by John Assaraf in 2014. James looked as young as a college student as he talked about his new book ‘Choose Yourself’, and shared how the so called ‘failures’ in his life and business drove him to find a solution to his pain, which ultimately led to his success. He developed a daily practice to maintain his health physically, mentally, financially and spiritually. The practice included reading, writing, writing down 10 ideas a day, conducting business, exercising and spending free time with people who were respectful and loving.

James Altucher Talks to John Assaraf

James said said you must choose yourself first in life. He talked openly about areas of life that we all struggle with but are too afraid to talk about. He was bucking the norms in many areas. We have all been taught to comply and follow along with what the rest of our society is doing, and James was saying you need to take the lead, and stop depending on everyone else for your happiness and seek your own approval first.

The Energy From Daily Practice

The essence of the daily practice is the ENERGY that you get from it. This energy helps you be with people who love and respect you, which is crucial to your own health and happiness, wealth and love.

James helped me see some blockages in my own life, and I wondered if the energy from his daily practice was what I needed to have to unblock them. He had strong energy and belief in the concept he was describing, and he was practicing it himself, so I decided to give it a try.

Choose Yourself Group

I joined The Choose Yourself Facebook Group that day. It only had a few hundred members, but it was the best Facebook group I had ever seen. The ideas were stimulating and helpful, and engaging with others who were finding alternative solutions to the old ways of thinking was refreshing. We were taught to go to college, get a job, buy a single family house, save your money and settle down in your soul draining cubicle and hope you can retire some day. But the world was rapidly changing and this old blueprint was no longer working.

The group members were starting businesses, starting podcasts, creating websites and social media channels, writing books, selling art, and investing in commodities like stocks and cryptocurrency, I thrived on the input and ideas from people who were challenging themselves, challenging the outdated norms and encouraging others to do the same. The group was a network of like-minded people in a platform of mutual respect and positivity, whom I hadn‘t met in person (yet). I was surprised how difficult it was to come up with 10 ideas every day, and some days I would stall out at 5.

Here is the Youtube video that introduced me to James Altucher:

The Selfish Light Is The Brightest Light

The core of James’ theme of choosing yourself is that being selfish is the best way to save the lives of those whom you love. “You have to become the beacon for the ships in the night, clean your own windows first, so they can see your light and get home safely” he said. Choosing yourself creates “a ripple effect” like John’s law of resonance he said. Without the power, the ripple doesn’t hit every shore.

The Choose Yourself Facebook Group now has over 8,000 followers. One day members were asked how they financed their businesses. I wrote how a few years earlier as a busy mom of three growing boys I dreamed of starting a blog, so each time I got a 5 dollar bill in my change, I put it in a pickle jar in my closet that had a piece of paper taped to the front that said “blog” on it. I had put other people’s needs ahead of my own for years, and when I was feeling tired and stressed mentally physically, financially and spiritually, I would go to my closet and hug the pickle jar, and visualize writing a blog. Soon, I counted the bills, and I had enough to host a website called Annhoy.com.

I was surprised to find an email from a lady in the group one day whol told me that the story of financing my blog had been published in ‘The Altucher Report’. I couldn’t believe my story had been published. She said I inspired her to start a blog and asked me for some advice, which I was happy to share. That moment, I was a beacon, like James had described.

Writing A Book

I read a post by James one day about how to self publish a book. I had written half a novel six years earlier and never finished it, so after reading how he published his book, I followed the steps he took, and started writing my own book about my journey to loving myself.

While writing the book I listened to a great podcast James had done with Derek Sivers. Derek wrote a great book called "Anything You Want", and he said to email him if you like and he will answer your questions. I was stalling on enthusiasm about writing my book, so I emailed Derek Sivers to see if he had any insight into my topic. Derek had started CD Baby from scratch and had sold it for millions of dollars. To my surprise, Derek wrote me back and gave me some useful info, but the best sentence he wrote me was unsolicited advice from him: “I. LIKE. YOUR. BLOG”. Woah!!! I was so empowered to keep writing my book after that email!

Last November I published my book on Amazon, “Pump Your Own Tires”. Once I hit publish, my self-respect flooded in, and that changed my life. It changed the way I saw things. I had gone from someone with potential to someone with belief. I felt the energy from the daily practice coursing through my veins.

Choose Yourself Meet-Up

By 2017 I had made many friends in the Choose Yourself group. One was Michele The Trainer who was travelling to Vancouver and we arranged to meet. We spouted Choose Yourself dogma over tea and coffee and talked and laughed for hours, then dined in a vegan restaurant. We met a few days later and had a guitar playing session. Then she visited a few months later and we toured Granville Island Market and had lunch and coffee and chatted for hours like old buds. We also exchanged books. Here is michele's site: http://michelethetrainer.com/

A month ago, a CY post asked which of James’ posts had changed your life. The prize was an infographic poster of James words designed by his partner Pamela Sisson. I wrote that his post ‘How to self publish a bestseller’ had changed my life. Here is a link to this post:

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/07/how-to-self-publish-bestseller/

Tangible Results of The Giving Mentality

I was so stoked when the poster was waiting for me at my door yesterday. It is a tangible result of my journey.

Opening the glossy black and beautiful paper that Pamela had mailed from New York City, made me feel like I won a jackpot at the gum ball machine, the bright colors pouring out of it vibrantly. I love the simple messages too, and it is perfect timing as I prepare to market to my email list. These points will offer me the tools and encouragement I need.

I positioned the poster sideways on the wall beside my bed so I would read through it as soon as I wake up every morning. The daily practice starts early and must be done everyday so you keep your light shining bright!

Photos Ann Hoy, video from Youtube, Infographic from @infographx on Twitter