Choose Yourself is a book by James Altucher. This is the book that he speaks the most about on his podcast and his other platforms. The reason he discusses it so much is because it highlights his most popular beliefs.

10 Best Insights & Advice From Choose Yourself

I read this book before quitting my job. I read it because I was hoping it would provide some insights into quitting. I ended up quitting my job before I finished reading it.

This book doesn’t have numbered chapters which seemed a little bit weird to me, but it isn’t a big deal. However, by the time you get to the end of the book, some of the information gets repetitive. I think this is because of James’ writing style. I think he mainly writes down ideas, and then tries to form then into content. One of the reason’s I think this is because he recommends that to his readers. With that being said, I think he wrote down as many ideas as possible and just compiled them into this book. He has some central themes throughout this book though.

The main theme of this book is to Choose Yourself. It might seem like a weird concept because it seems obvious. In reality, most people don’t choose themselves. They choose a life that other people have. We want to go to good colleges, get a good job, buy a house, etc. This is all a construct of society.

Instead, James suggests that you focus on what is good for you. You need to focus on your health and this is where he begins to suggest a daily practice. The daily practice is a practice of improving your spiritual health, physical health, emotional health and mental health. Once you get your daily practice in order, you can then begin changing the way you live by working for yourself. By working for yourself, you eliminate the amount of people that can destroy your life with one decision.

He believes that corporate america is fading. This reduces americans abilities to find success in a job. Most corporations are looking to reduce expenses. This means that they will lay you off or outsource you at a moment’s notice. I agree with this concept as well.

The main reason I left my job is because it wasn’t fulfilling. I worked in corporate America for over 10 years. I achieved success, but I always wanted to do more. I wanted to contribute more. Instead I had to kiss up to my boss. Eventually I reached a wall of pay raises and bonuses even though I contributed more each year. This is why I quit. I want my work to be able to contribute to society while also increasing my pay. I want my work effort to be refelcted in what I earn.

James Altucher reflects the same thing in his writing. He says it is hard to achieve wealth and peace in a job. You are always subject to the whims of your boss and company. You might be good one day but who knows what will happen the next day. Another thing that he mentions that I really liked was that corporations are getting robbed by startups. Corporations just focus on their product they already established. Startups are constantly thinking of new ways to come up with new products. George Gilder also speaks about this in Life after google. This is another reason your corproate job isn’t so safe.

James wrote this book almost 10 years ago. It is even more relevant during the coronavirus. Corporatism is worse than it was during the financial crisis. Corporations are laying more people off than ever and they are also taking advantage of the stimulus package. They don’t care about the common american. They are just looking out for the executives and large shareholders.

Another key concept in this book is the 10 idea a day concept. He wants people to come up with 10 ideas a day so that you can increase your creativity. I think this is a really unique concept. I try to implement this as much as possible to increase my own creativity. It doesn’t matter what the ideas are – just come up with 10 a day.

James also wants people to start their own business. Use the 10 idea a day concept to come up with ideas for your business. Maybe you already have a business, and you could improve it with some of your 10 ideas. People can start any number of businesses from youtube channels, self publishing etc. Just find a way to make an income for yourself that doesn’t rely on your job. He recommends starting as soon as possible. Don’t use perfectionism as a reason to delay action. Many people do this. You should also try to stay consistent. He offers great advice in this area as well. You don’t have to kill yourself. Just stay consistent. Work hard for at least 3-5 hours a day. Woody Allen is able to write screen plays in a couple of months by just working 3-5 hours a day. Many people, including myself, overwork themselves and then give up because they don’t see accomplishments in a quick time period.

He provides some really good examples of business ideas and ways to get and keep your customers. I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about working for themselves or quitting their jobs. This book is really long. I don’t think you need to use all of his advice, but you can pick and choose what you want. My notes from each chapter of the book are below. They are my chick scratch notes, but hopefully they can help you understand what the book contains.

The book is about choosing yourself over a job
Chapter 1 – The Economic History Of The Choose Yourself Era – This is his personal story. He says that corporatism is declining. you should take advantage. Unemployment is going up. Try to build your own platform.
Chapter 2 – Permanently Temporary – talks about empty buildings in new york and how they will never be full again?
outsourcing – growth occurred during a flat economy
startups are pulling money away from corporate monoliths
become a temp staffer or become an artist entrepreneur
Chapter 3 – And Then They All Laughed
gets rejected by a girl
speaks about oxytocin
don’t dwell on the past, just keep moving forward
Chapter 4 – Does One Person Have Control Over Your Life
speaks about his failed HBO show 3 am. where he interviews people around nyc at 3 am.
he also tried to sell a company at the same time.
Both things failed at the same time. Don’t allow yourself to be at the whim of one person like a boss or an investor.
Chapter 5 – How To Choose Yourself
this is where he starts making lists of things you can do and ideas
only do things you enjoy – focus on what you enjoy and avoid things you don’t like meetings.
create a daily practice of things you enjoy – fitness, spiritual, emotional, mental. diet exercise and sleep.
Chapter 6 – The Simple Daily Practice
A lot of people want to die and a lot of people are stuck. Those are the 2 most searched phrases on his website.
No tv, no junk food, sleep 8 hours, no gossip, express thanks to a friend, write down your schedule and cross out an item you don’t want to do anymore, tell someone every day that you love them
Chapter 7 – What If I’m In A Crisis
call someone and tell them you are grateful for them, exercise etc. The best things you can do to improve your thinking.
Chapter 8 – Choose Yourself To Live
Recommends Kamal Ravikant’s book and practice of loving yourself like your life depends on it
he also recommends writing your own book like kamal ravikant by uploading to amazon or createspace
Chapter 9 – Finding Your Purpose In Life
He doesn’t know his purpose in life. He says that you don’t either.
many people didn’t find success until later in their life. It’s ok if you don’t either. Just invest in yourself.
.
Tells story of Henry Ford starting late. Failure with his first car the Model T
Charles darwin was weird with his origin of species
Harlan Sanders with chicken didn’t do that until he was old. Tony Robbins also mentions this story in his book. Colonel Sanders did not succeed with his chicken recipe until later in life. He was also rejected a ton of times.
Chapter 10 – How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found 
James says that if you don’t like your life, then just become someone else and disappear forever.
Find a birth certificate of someone that died when you were young
Change your looks – hair color and weight
Get temp or construction jobs to get employment history
People want to change their lives because they don’t like their identity anymore
People like mad men because don draper lives a different life with a second identity
You don’t have to go off the grid but you can make money off the grid.
You don’t have to have a house car or college degree.
His friend created a database of all the houses in the US that were rent to own. 300,000 from it
technologically we already have all the tools to make a living anywhere we want
Chapter 11 – Just Do It
james altucher wanted to:
make his own hours
help people
deal with clients that he likes
make a lot of money
deal with only with colleagues he likes
come up with ideas
not be at the whim of one decision maker
be around like minded people
be an expert
he recommends keeping in mind the following items
middle class is dead
you’ve been replaced – outsourcing, technology, etc
money is not happiness
corporations don’t like you – corporations want cheap labor, they dont want to deal with healthare, payroll etc.
how many people can make a decision that will ruin your life
is your job satisfying your needs
your retirement plan is for shit —  i don’t agree with this. he believes that retirement plan will only keep up with inflation
dont use excuses – im too old, im not creative . tells a story of a woman who walked up to him and said how are you. she was hot. she used to work with him and was fired. Then she turned her life around because she improved herself after losing her job. She wasn’t making excuses anymore.
it’s ok to take baby steps – make a list of every dream. I want to be a bestselling author. I want to reduce material needs. I want to have freedom from many of that worries that I have succumbed to in my life. these are not goals. they are themes.
abundance will never come from your job –
Chapter 12 – Lets Get Specific: What Should I Do
speaks about the guy that created braintree. the guy never believed in earning a fixed wage.
how to build your own business
1 – take out the middleman
2 – pick a boring business
3 – get a customer
4 – build trust while you sleep
5 – blogging is not about money
6 – say yes –
7 – customer service
write a book on amazon –
build a business to make parking tickets go away
student loans – trillions of dollars of student loans out there. figure out a way to make money on them
credit repair
rent to own – gives laptop example
stay in the present when you do all this brainstorming
Chapter 13 – It Doesn’t Cost A Lot To Make A Billion
corporate america doesn’t solve problems. They spit out the same product year over year.
Gives the example of spanx – sara blakely
her process according to james
stay motivated – read self help – wayne dyer
she was good at sales –
she solved a huge problem for women – looking good in panty hose
prepare – know every product in the industry, know every patent, understand how the products are made, make a product that you would use every single day
she started with $5,000
Chapter 14 – Becoming A Master Salesman
gives a lot of personal stories in this chapter
1 – whats the lifetime value of a cusomter – he gives away books to interest the customer
2 – Ancillary benefits of having this customer – after he made miramax website for $1,000 he got other big companies for more
3 – Learn the entire history of your audience, your customer,
4 – give extra features – do the first product cheap.
5 – give away the kitchen sink
6 – recommend your competition – think of google
7 – idea machine – always put yourself in the shoes of your client
8 – show up – show up wherever your client wants you to?
9 – knowledge – he read 200 books on trading when he opened a trading business
10 – love it – only make money doing what you love. he only made money writing about what he loved instead of writing about things like finance articles
Chapter 15 – How To Become An Idea Machine
stephen king only took a couple weeks off from writing and it threw him off his game. You need to stay in shape with your idea muscle according to james altucher.
how do you know if an idea is too big. When you can’t think of the next step
  1. read skim chapters on 4 different books each day
  2. 10 ideas per day
  3. dont pressure yourself
  4. mix your ideas together
  5. change things up
  6. surf the internet – look at infographics
  7. search the following phrases on twitter – i wish i had, i just paid someone to, is the worst product, is a horrible company, has a terrible website, is my favorite website, does anyone know how
  8. groupon – struggling businesses are on groupon
  9. hyperfocus/freewrite
Chapter 16 – Ten Ideas To Start You Off
he gives 10 ideas to start you off
  1. klout as currency
  2. cryogenics for depressed people
  3. 3-d printing of humans for when you have to be somewhere you dont want to be
  4. use global warming to solve global warming
  5. advertising in houses
  6. happiness hotspots – shows where happy people are
  7. 40 percent unemployment
  8. brain dating
  9. like button in contact lenses
Chapter 17 – Don’t Have Opinions
opinions are a away of the past, don’t have them. don’t judge other people etc.
Chapter 18 – How To Release The God Hormone
this chapter is about how to release oxytocin more easily. It is beneficial and reduces stress and inflammation
  1. give away money
  2. hugging
  3. using facebook and liking posts
  4. laughter
  5. walking
  6. phone call
  7. being trusted
  8. listening to music
  9. food – eggs bananas and pepper all increase oxytocin
  10. breathing – deep breathing calms you down
Chapter 19 – The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Mediocre People
  1. procrastination – this is your body trying to tell you something. examine it.
  2. zero tasking – don’t multitask
  3. failure – don’t be afraid of failure
  4. not original
  5. poor networking – don’t network too much. it is a waste of time.
  6. do anything to get a yes
Chapter 20 – How To Be Less Stupid
don’t think about failure as much. don’t be afraid to try
dont let stuff weigh you down.
Chapter 21 – Honesty Makes You More Money
honesty compounds – word spreads that you are honest.
make others look good
be a source of information
give credit
don’t gossip  – word gets back to people and diminishes your reputation
Chapter 22 – You’re Not Too Young To Choose Yourself
speaks about a guy named alex day who chose himself. He put all his music on youtube and when he released an album he was higher than justin timberlake. The point of this chapter is that you can get started even if you are young.
pick one social media outlet and stick to it.
Chapter 23 – The Curious Case of the sexy Image
speaks about a sexy image he used on one of his blogs. most people liked it but some hated it. this is true for everything you do. some people will like it, some will hate it and some won’t care. just keep moving on.
Chapter 24 – What I Learned From Superman
think that you are superman and can do anything. we all have secret identities. make yours better
Chapter 25 – Gandhi Chose Himself To Free An Entire Country
lives by the quote – you must first be the change you want to see in the world. – from ghandi
Chapter 26 – Nine Things I Learned From Woody Allen
failure
prophet – predicted the rise of in house streaming
flexible
productivity – works 3-5 hours
avoid outside stimulus – don’t get distracted
imperfection – at some point he just puts out his content even if it isn’t perfect
confidence
showing up – 80% is just showing up. this bascially means don’t give up on yourself
the medium becomes the message – study the history of your art.
Chapter 27 – Competence And The Beatles’ Last Concert
not really sure what this chapter is about
Chapter 28 – What To Do When You Are Rejected
acknowledge the process that you will get rejected in life
keep trying
don’t give up when you come up against gatekeepers
Chapter 29 – Surviving Failure
kids don’t stop asking questions and pushing forward
be more like a kid
Chapter 30 – Take Over The World
draw a circle put yourself in it
keep drawing circles and put the people you impact. then the people they impact and you will see how you can have a huge impact on the world
Chapter 31 – Testimonials
chapter is just a list of testimonial emails from readers