Choose Yourself
by
James Altucher

In order to choose yourself it is important to focus on 2 things:

1. Only Do Things You Enjoy

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What does this mean? Only read the books you enjoy, spend time with people you enjoy, go to events you enjoy, only work with people you enjoy and so on.So many of us do things that we hate because we think it will get us somewhere. Oftentimes the things that wedo (that we hate) don’t get us anywhere positive, but instead make us resentful, upset, and stressed.Altucher says,Every time you say yes to something you don’t want to do, this will happen: you will resent people, you will do a bad job, you will have less energy for the things you were doing a good job on, you will make less money, and yet another small percentage of your life will be used up.Doing things you want will fuel your inner fire and this is the only fire to cultivate. Everything else will burn out your fire.

2. The Daily Practice

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To be the best that you can be, you must take care of yourself. In order to do so, you need to think of your entire being. Your entire being consists of your Physical Body, Emotional Body, Mental Body and Spiritual Body.You need to look at your life holistically. The Physical Body can’t do well when the Emotional Body is suffering. They are all related and intertwined. You have to care for all 4 of these aspects in order to be healthy, positive, and be able to choose yourself.

How to care for the 4 aspects:

Caring for the Physical Body:

Get proper sleep (7-9 hours)

Avoid excess alcohol

Exercise

Avoid junk food

Caring for the Emotional Body:

Surround yourself with people who inspire you and are a positive influence on your life.

Too many of us spend time with people who make us feel bad about ourselves. Stop doing that.

Caring for your Mental Body:

Here the author suggests that our mind is always ‘on’; we are always thinking. This only leads to burnout, stress, and exhaustion.

Caring for the Spiritual Body:

The author does not preach religion by any stretch of imagination.

His focus is on living in the present moment. Many of us live in the past with regrets, or in the future with fears.

The past and the future are not here, and dwelling on them hurts the spiritual self.

Here are his suggestions (again start with doing just 1 per day):

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What sorts of things should you do to practice The Daily Practice?Altucher suggests starting out slowly with one thing per day and then build on it. Making big changes too fast can lead to a low success rate.The point of The Daily Practice is to always keep the 4 aspects of our life healthy. Caring for your holistic health is necessary for choosing yourself.Can you see how The Daily Practice and Only Doing Things You Enjoy are intertwined? All of these things care for our entire being.You must build a proper foundation to build upon. If your core is weak, you can’t succeed. The Daily Practice helps keep our entire being aligned.

1. Get 8 hours of sleep
2. Don’t watch TV
3. Don’t eat junk food
4. Don’t complain for the entire day
5. Don’t gossip for the entire day
6. Watch a funny movie or a stand-up comedy
7. Express thanks to a friend
8. Write down 10 ideas

9. Read a spiritual (or inspiring) text
10. Start a hobby
11. Do something to surprise someone
12. Take the stairs instead of the elevator
13. Think of 10 people you are grateful for
14. Tell someone that you love them
15. Read an autobiography of someone you admire
16. Practice deep breathing

Making our way in this new world will require some of the following:

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There are a few core messages throughout the book. First, we have the reality of the changing world. We can no longer rely on society or a job to take care of us. We must adapt and find success for ourselves. The rules of the world have changed and we need to make new rules.Second, is the idea behind caring for your entire self. We can’t be successful and happy when there is an area in our life that is not being cared for. Things only fall into place when we look at ourselves holistically.Finally, there is the message that we can do this. We can choose ourself. It will, however require us to do things differently.

Thinking outside the box.

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Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something. If you want something, figure out a way to get it your own way. You don’t need to go the traditional route. Be different. Make your own rules.

Be confident.

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You can’t think you are too young or too old. You can choose yourself at any age, you just have to know that you can do it.

Be an idea machine.

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Be creative and make your own success. Exercise your creative brain by thinking of new ideas every day. Think of new business ideas, new ways to make your job easier, anything.

Ask yourself:

Questions for the physical body

Am I getting enough sleep?

Am I eating healthy?

Am I exercising enough?

Questions for the emotional body

Am I surrounding myself with good people who care about me?

Am I refraining from gossip?

Questions for the mental body

Am I reading and learning everyday?

Am I flexing my mind by thinking of new ideas everyday?

Questions for the spiritual body

Am I reading something inspirational everyday?

Am I being grateful everyday?

Am I taking time to be calm in my mind?

Here are some other ideas

1.Practice yoga poses
2. Meditate for 5 minutes
3. Call a family member you haven’t talked to for a while
4. Run and play with a dog
5. Volunteer 1 hour to a cause you believe in
6. Say hello to at least 20 people