Choose Yourself
by James Altucher
Altucher's argument is that institutions no longer protect you, so you must build your own platform, health and ideas. The daily practice (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) and the habit of writing ten ideas a day are the practical core. The writing is raw and confessional about his own failures, which gives it a credibility most success books lack.
Read it if…
you are tired of waiting to be picked and want a scrappy, personal manual for self-reliance.
Skip it if…
you dislike oversharing; the author's bankruptcies and breakdowns are front and center.
Three things you will actually use
- Exercise the idea muscle daily; most ideas will be bad.
- Maintain the four daily practices or everything else wobbles.
- Say no to people and projects that drain you.
Do this first
Write ten ideas today about anything; do it again tomorrow.
Our verdict
Messy, honest and energizing; a wake-up call written by someone who overslept.
Compare with other Freedom books
The 4-Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss · Freedom
Overpromising title, genuinely useful middle; a provocation worth reading once.
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Company of One
Paul Jarvis · Freedom
Calm and useful; permission to stay small, with a method.
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