Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2016, when Altucher is described as 48 years old.
What should every man know these days? This question first appeared in a Quora thread, and our good friend James Altucher took it upon himself to answer it masterfully. And although he aimed his answer at men, the truth is that the advice is very wise, useful and just as applicable to women. Equality.
I won’t introduce James Altucher all over again. Let’s just sum him up by saying that he is a 48-year-old who makes a million dollars as easily as he later goes broke, only to become a millionaire all over again.
(See: James Altucher’s advice for financial success)
These are the five things every man and every woman should know today to feel more fulfilled, to be more successful or to be happier.
1. Quit your job.
You can’t get rich from a job. Working for someone else is just one source of income that could disappear tomorrow. In fact, as we have explained before, a job is one of the riskiest investments we can make. Most people don’t understand what this means until their boss fires them and they find themselves out on the street with no idea what to do.
A job working for someone else is just one source of income, and we need to diversify that income.
We should start a business or build multiple income streams through a side business, either one that brings in recurring income while we keep our job, or one we intend to grow into our own full-time business. It’s worth trying. It’s worth doing, and it can save you a lot of headaches in the future.
2. Don’t let anyone else validate you or tell you what you can or can’t do.
Today it is easier than ever to pursue your dreams (read this article). You don’t have to ask anyone’s permission. Want to write a book? Write it. Publishers may reject your work, but you can self-publish your book.
Want to be a model? Just upload your photos to Instagram. If people like your photos, your legion of followers grows, and the brands and agencies themselves will come looking for you.
Want your own newspaper? Start one. If you’re good, you can eat the other newspapers for breakfast (especially given the dreadful journalism we’re seeing).
If you’re a good comedian, YouTube and Facebook are all you need to show how good you are. Every so often you hear about a new comedian who started out alone with no backing, and now everyone wants to back them.
Want to learn about investing, business or any other subject? Find an online course or devour a few books on it. I can tell you from experience that some books teach you things you will never learn at university.
You may not be able to become a dentist within a year, but you can own a dental clinic within a week.
Want to be a business shark? Find a company that wants to sell and another that is willing to buy it, and act as the intermediary in the deal. To do that, you don’t need to hand in your CV at Banco Santander.
3. Health.
The secret to better health lies in sleeping well, eating well and staying away from stress. And to help with all of that, especially to make stress go away, there is exercise.
If you don’t sleep, you can get ill. If you don’t eat well, you can get ill. If you are constantly stressed, you will certainly get ill.
As Warren Buffett is quoted as saying, you can’t do business from a hospital bed or from inside an oak box, so the main thing is to look after your health.
4. Don’t outsource your self-esteem.
Altucher says that he has sometimes met a woman and handed her all his self-esteem to look after. Then she gets tired of him, or bored with him, and leaves, taking his self-esteem with her, and he has a hard time until he gets it back.
Look after your own self-esteem. Don’t lend it out and don’t give it away. Never let it depend on someone else.
5. Creativity.
When you are creative, you become competent. Several studies have shown that creative people with an IQ of 110-115 could sweep the board in terms of success against people with an IQ of 130-140.
Being clever makes you clever, but creativity takes you everywhere. Try to do something creative, if not every day, at least every week.
An example I always use when talking about business is the explanation of why an entrepreneur who is given every possible financial resource for their business is more likely to fail than one who is given none. If we give them everything they need, we kill their creativity.
It may seem absurd, but a business that starts out with no money has looked for ways to grow without money, to make itself known without money, to sell without investing money… and so that business has firmer foundations than one we gave everything to. Above all, it is led by an entrepreneur we have forced to be more creative.
See also: A bet between two men in 1960 showed how constraints help you become more creative and tenacious
Featured image: Joanna Penn, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
