
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
Key Takeaways
- 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
Books Mentioned
- Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex
- Sapiens:A Brief History of Humankind
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
Intro
- 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
Avoid The Word “Problem”
- 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
The Warren Buffet 5/25 Rule
- 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
- “Here’s the interesting thing – never ever, ever, ever look at the things on the right list again” – James
Spend Time With Family/Friends
- “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
The Advice Hack
- 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
- When Franklin was a young politician, and a senior politician didn’t like him, Franklin asked if he could borrow a book from him
Leave The Smartphone At Home
- 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
- James recently tried not carrying a smartphone around 24/7 for about a month
A Hack from Aubrey Marcus & Arianna Huffington
- 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.
- “Having a cell phone next to your bed, even if it’s off, worsens your ability to sleep” – James
The Because Hack
- 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”
- Using the word “because” increases your chances of getting something that you’re asking for
- 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