February 10, 2019

The James Altucher Show – 6 MORE of The Best One Minute Life Hacks

Check out The James Altucher Show Episode Page & Show Notes

A good exercise:
- List the top 25 things you love to do and then make two columns – On the left put your top 5 and on the right put the other 20
- “Here’s the interesting thing – never ever, ever, ever look at the things on the right list again”
You’ll never regret spending time with your family
When you’re in a situation with someone more experienced than you (like a negotiation), here’s a good thing to say – “If you were to give someone like me advice on what to say now, what advice would you give?
The average American spends 4 hours and 40 minutes every day on their smartphone and touches their phone 2,000 + times daily
Improving 1% every day compounds and adds up to a 3780% improvement by the end of the year

In this episode, James (@jaltucher) and his producer, Steve Cohen, talk about some little tweaks that they’ve personally implemented to optimize their lives
Just 1% improvement a day compounds and adds up to 3780% improvement by the end of a year

Steve doesn’t use the phrase – “No problem” – why throw in the word “problem” if there is none?
- James does the same
- “We have to be careful about the words we use” -Cohen

List the top 25 things you love to do and then make two columns – On the left, put your top 5. On the right, put the other 20.
- “Here’s the interesting thing – never ever, ever, ever look at the things on the right list again” – James
- This helps us answer the question – “What’s really worthy of our time and effort, and what do we really want to accomplish?”
- “If you’re the average of the 25 things you spent most of your time on, you end up being nothing” – James
- Make sure to spend time on your top five and always be working to improve those skills

“You’ll never regret spending time with your children or your parents or family or relatives” – Steve
It’s cliche, but on your deathbed, you’ll cherish every second you spent with family

When you’re in a situation with someone more experienced than you (like negotiation), here’s a good thing to ask – “If you were to give someone like me advice on what to say now, what advice would you give?” (James)
- “When you say that, they really want to give you good advice”
- “You’re flattering that person, you’re showing humility so there are a lot of reasons that person wants to help you” – Steve
- James recalls a time he was in a business negotiation with a group of Chinese businessmen. The meeting wasn’t going very well until one of his business partners asked the other side -“What advice could you give us so we can take this to the next step and this meeting can go forward?”
  - “This hack basically saved a major high-stakes situation”
James says this tip is similar to the “Benjamin Franklin hack”:
- When Franklin was a young politician, and a senior politician didn’t like him, Franklin asked if he could borrow a book from him
  - Sometimes asking for a favor can help create a bond or friendship

This hack comes from Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and several other great books
- James says Yuval is one of the smartest people he’s had on the podcast
- Yuval doesn’t carry a smartphone with him
“Smartphones are not productivity enhancers, they are productivity wasters” – James
- James recently tried not carrying a smartphone around 24/7 for about a month
  - In that time, he got a lot more reading and writing done
- “Sometimes we confuse activity with accomplishment” – Steve
- The average American spends 4 hours and 40 minutes everyday on their smartphone and touches their phone 2,000 + times daily

Aubrey Marcus is the CEO of Onnit
- He is the author of Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex
- Check out the Podcast Notes from his appearance on James’ podcast
- From Aubrey, James learned to drink a full glass of water, take a cold shower, and do 25 push-ups every morning
James also picked up a few tips for improving his sleep from Arianna Huffington
- “Having a cell phone next to your bed, even if it’s off, worsens your ability to sleep” – James
  - “You’ll actually live longer if you sleep more deeply”
- Put your phone in another room so you aren’t tempted to check social media or browse the web right before bed
- Another tip – Remove apps from your phone
  - James only checks Twitter on his computer, not his phone.

This hack comes from Robert Cialdini, author of
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (check out the Podcast Notes from his appearance on James’ podcast)
- Using the word “because” increases your chances of getting something that you’re asking for
  - Even if the “because” reason isn’t strong, it still improves your argument
  - Example – “I need to skip the line because I’m late for meeting a friend”
Another tip from Robert Cialdini – In a negotiation, make sure to list the objections before the other side can do the same
- The other side is already thinking about the objections, so if you can list them before they can, you come across as more sincere and honest
- “And then there is nothing they can say to argue with you” -James
- “You’re disarming their attack against you” – Steve

These notes were edited by RoRoPa Editing Services