“‘You can’t just do that!’
You can’t just step into a new tribe and become the alpha!
But maybe you can.
I’ve been forced to switch jobs, careers, interests, purpose, and skills so many times I’ve made it a personal mission to get good at getting good as fast as possible.
I didn’t want to wait 10,000 hours. But I didn’t want to take shortcuts either. There’s no way to cheat the system. But there are methods for skipping the line, for achieving what you need to achieve using the techniques that I’ve painfully had to go through again and again.
Every time there’s a crisis, either societal or personal, people start talking about the ‘new normal.’
As if everything that was normal before is now going to completely change. What will that new normal look like? What will happen?
The key to skipping the line is to constantly live in the world of ‘not knowing.’ To constantly be curious but not threatened by what’s next. To live in the world where everyone else is scared but you are so comfortable with the land of not knowing that you can still navigate the rough waters.
Not only do you navigate these waters, but you become a beacon. It’s foggy outside. Many people—some old friends, some new friends—are trying to find their way to shore on this foggy and windy and rainy night. You are the beacon and the lights are on. You help them to shore.
This is not the end of the line. This is the beginning.”
~ James Altucher from Skip the Line
James Altucher is an entrepreneur, active angel investor, writer, podcaster, stand-up comedian, and chess master.
It’s that last part—chess master—that gave us an immediate thing to talk about when I joined him as a guest on his podcast. As you know if you’ve been following along, my 11-year-old Emerson, is REALLY into chess. In the opening chapters of my book, Areté, I talk about his ambition to be a Grandmaster and how we’re applying these ideas to his Heroic quest.
So.... James and I immediately hit it off and got to work on how to apply all these ideas to EVERY aspect of our lives. Our chat was one of my all-time favorites. Check it out here.
Now... I had read Choose Yourself First (which is also awesome!) forever ago but, for whatever reason, didn’t create a Note on it.
So... While I was still buzzing after our podcast chat, I went to Amazon to find James’s latest book—this one. It’s FANTASTIC—perfectly capturing James’s eccentric, iconoclastic style while challenging A LOT of the cultural norms we think are fixed in stone which, in fact, ARE NOT.
As per the sub-title, “Skip the Line” is all about “The 10,000 Experiments Rule and Other Surprising Advice for Reaching Your Goals.” If you like this Note, I think you’ll love the book. (Get a copy here).
As you’d expect, it’s PACKED with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m fired up to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
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