The James Altucher Show

Jay Jay French, guitarist, manager, and producer is most famous for his role as the founding member and one of the guitarists of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister  Long: Jay Jay French explains Twisted Sisters long-term success like it's an iceberg. What you see on the surface is only 10% of what's really there. They've continually reinvested in themselves. Whenever they'd make a little money, instead of just spending it, they'd roll the dice and plow it right back into the group. As Jay has written, "Whether you are an artist or an entrepreneur, your story usually begins with passion, a moment that goes something like this: 'The first time I either witnessed, touched, smelled, felt, heard [this object of passion], I just knew that I would do anything, risk anything to be a part of this life...'" That Big Bang moment truly defines you. Most people can tell you the exact date and time that this tsunami of inspiration and passion washed over their brain cells, rendering them helpless to the immutable forces t

15 years young, Fark.com is still alive and growing.   With 45 million monthly downloads and 3 million unique visitors per month, it has an extremely loyal fan base.   Drew Curtis, the founder of Fark, has chosen a different path from most web startups. He shuns most advertising and is not interested in selling Fark and cashing out.   He just loves his lifestyle.   Journalists have gotten lazy with the advent of social media. ""Hey look what so and so said on Twitter' has got to be the laziest form of journalism ever," he says.   BuzzFeed, UpWorthy, Daily Beast, and Slate    and sites like them have news-jacked the media, Fark is different. They like to put a comedic spin on the headlines.   Here are a couple of Fark headlines vying for headline of the year:   •300 gallons of orange juice leaks into swamp after truck accident. Yeah, that's one screwed driver   •Obama launches air strike on Iraq, cementing his record as Nobel Peace Prize winner with the most confirmed kills   •Fight between family members

15 years young, Fark.com is still alive and growing.   With 45 million monthly downloads and 3 million unique visitors per month, it has an extremely loyal fan base.   Drew Curtis, the founder of Fark, has chosen a different path from most web startups. He shuns most advertising and is not interested in selling Fark and cashing out.   He just loves his lifestyle.   Journalists have gotten lazy with the advent of social media. ""Hey look what so and so said on Twitter' has got to be the laziest form of journalism ever," he says.   BuzzFeed, UpWorthy, Daily Beast, and Slate    and sites like them have news-jacked the media, Fark is different. They like to put a comedic spin on the headlines.   Here are a couple of Fark headlines vying for headline of the year:   •300 gallons of orange juice leaks into swamp after truck accident. Yeah, that's one screwed driver   •Obama launches air strike on Iraq, cementing his record as Nobel Peace Prize winner with the most confirmed kills   •Fight between family members

Adam Grant, the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's youngest tenured professor, and author of one of the best books of 2013 – Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success – joins The James Altucher Show today.   Helpfulness is Adam's message.   James asks Adam how he got into a topic that resonates so much with people. He says it all started in his early life when he was a diver. He started giving pointers to his competitors, and eventually one of those he helped ended up beating him in the state finals.   This got him thinking...   Is giving a zero-sum game? If he wants to win, do other people have to lose?   Do you have a hard time asking people to help you? Adam talks about the huge difference between taking and receiving.     Some interviews James does make you think hard about yourself. This one takes that to the extreme ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to ou

Adam Grant, the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's youngest tenured professor, and author of one of the best books of 2013 – Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success – joins The James Altucher Show today.   Helpfulness is Adam's message.   James asks Adam how he got into a topic that resonates so much with people. He says it all started in his early life when he was a diver. He started giving pointers to his competitors, and eventually one of those he helped ended up beating him in the state finals.   This got him thinking...   Is giving a zero-sum game? If he wants to win, do other people have to lose?   Do you have a hard time asking people to help you? Adam talks about the huge difference between taking and receiving.     Some interviews James does make you think hard about yourself. This one takes that to the extreme ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to ou

Daniel O'Brien's love of presidents started early. As he recounts the story in his hilarious book, How To Fight Presidents, it all started when his American Government professor said on his very first day of class, "Not one of you is ever going to grow up to be president of the United States."   He never wanted to be president but when that professor told him he couldn't even if he wanted to, something triggered inside him and he thought...    "Oh, yeah? I'll show you. I'm going to be president. I'm going to be president all over this country and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."   On today's James Altucher Show, James and Daniel talk about our "badass" presidents and which ones Daniel thinks he could beat up.   In 2007, while still in college, Daniel wrote an article that he thought might work on Cracked.com. They bought it and a bunch more. He's now Head Writer and Creative Director of Video having written more than 200 articles to date and his article "The 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time"

Daniel O'Brien's love of presidents started early. As he recounts the story in his hilarious book, How To Fight Presidents, it all started when his American Government professor said on his very first day of class, "Not one of you is ever going to grow up to be president of the United States."   He never wanted to be president but when that professor told him he couldn't even if he wanted to, something triggered inside him and he thought...    "Oh, yeah? I'll show you. I'm going to be president. I'm going to be president all over this country and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."   On today's James Altucher Show, James and Daniel talk about our "badass" presidents and which ones Daniel thinks he could beat up.   In 2007, while still in college, Daniel wrote an article that he thought might work on Cracked.com. They bought it and a bunch more. He's now Head Writer and Creative Director of Video having written more than 200 articles to date and his article "The 5 Most Badass Presidents of All-Time"

Sam Harris, a brilliant and often controversial author and lecturer, joins James today to talk about science, religion, spirituality, and Ben Affleck.   Ted.com has said of him...   "Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life."   Sam is willing to take on the topics that most run from. Today he and James dive into all of them.   What is consciousness? How does something as simple as a thought take over you?   You have an angry thought and suddenly you're angry. How can a happy thought make you happy?   Is this controllable and should you want to control your thoughts?   Sam says yes...   The energy of anger can be very useful. There are times when you want to convey anger. Detaching yourself from passion can become a huge liability and often unhealthy.     This is an amazing interview. Open your mind and allow so

Sam Harris, a brilliant and often controversial author and lecturer, joins James today to talk about science, religion, spirituality, and Ben Affleck.   Ted.com has said of him...   "Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can — and should — be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life."   Sam is willing to take on the topics that most run from. Today he and James dive into all of them.   What is consciousness? How does something as simple as a thought take over you?   You have an angry thought and suddenly you're angry. How can a happy thought make you happy?   Is this controllable and should you want to control your thoughts?   Sam says yes...   The energy of anger can be very useful. There are times when you want to convey anger. Detaching yourself from passion can become a huge liability and often unhealthy.     This is an amazing interview. Open your mind and allow so

Dave Berg spent 18 years as Jay Leno's co-producer of The Tonight Show.    Everyone knows The Tonight Show; say the name and you immediately get an image to pop into your mind. But what was really going on behind the scenes?   Today, Dave gives us all some great insight...    You'll hear in his voice how much love and respect he has for Jay, who he called the hardest-working man in all of show business. The inside stories are fantastic, Dennis Rodman (the get), Bill Clinton (the get he never got), and the one person that took him six years to finally get on the show.   Who were Dave's favorite guests? I bet you'll never guess his first response. Dave talks about what makes for a great show and who were the greatest guests.   Click here to listen to Dave's stories.   And in his new book, Behind the Curtain: An Insider's View of Jay Leno's Tonight Show,  Dave reveals what it's like to produce a hit late-night entertainment show.   ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/lis

Dave Berg spent 18 years as Jay Leno's co-producer of The Tonight Show.    Everyone knows The Tonight Show; say the name and you immediately get an image to pop into your mind. But what was really going on behind the scenes?   Today, Dave gives us all some great insight...    You'll hear in his voice how much love and respect he has for Jay, who he called the hardest-working man in all of show business. The inside stories are fantastic, Dennis Rodman (the get), Bill Clinton (the get he never got), and the one person that took him six years to finally get on the show.   Who were Dave's favorite guests? I bet you'll never guess his first response. Dave talks about what makes for a great show and who were the greatest guests.   Click here to listen to Dave's stories.   And in his new book, Behind the Curtain: An Insider's View of Jay Leno's Tonight Show,  Dave reveals what it's like to produce a hit late-night entertainment show.   ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/lis

Podcasting's future is here and this time it's for real.   We've been podcasting for years now and we've grown a very successful business doing it, but we did it behind the scenes.   Alex Blumberg thought, why not invite the audience in and let them follow him build a podcasting company. He was never sure that idea would work and spent hours and hours editing the first few episodes before launch.   He took the leap of faith, the stars aligned, and Startup – Alex's first podcast – has become a huge success.    There's real value in running a podcast network. Alex raised $1.5 million to start Gimlet Media, his network of high-quality narrative podcasts, and just launched his second podcast, Reply All.   Alex and James talk today about the difference between running a for-profit vs. a non-profit company. What are you willing to give up for money; equity, lifestyle, family life? This is a tough question for every new entrepreneur to answer and Alex is still trying to figure it all out.   So far he's off to a grea

Podcasting's future is here and this time it's for real.   We've been podcasting for years now and we've grown a very successful business doing it, but we did it behind the scenes.   Alex Blumberg thought, why not invite the audience in and let them follow him build a podcasting company. He was never sure that idea would work and spent hours and hours editing the first few episodes before launch.   He took the leap of faith, the stars aligned, and Startup – Alex's first podcast – has become a huge success.    There's real value in running a podcast network. Alex raised $1.5 million to start Gimlet Media, his network of high-quality narrative podcasts, and just launched his second podcast, Reply All.   Alex and James talk today about the difference between running a for-profit vs. a non-profit company. What are you willing to give up for money; equity, lifestyle, family life? This is a tough question for every new entrepreneur to answer and Alex is still trying to figure it all out.   So far he's off to a grea

Your ups and downs are caused by brain chemicals inherited from earlier mammals.   What's exciting about that is, you can enjoy more happy chemicals if you learn how to manage your mammal brain.   Loretta writes a fantastic blog on her website Inner Mammal Institute where she digs deep into human emotions and the chemistry behind them.   She and James talk today about some of our happy chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin.   "Reaching a goal triggers dopamine. That feels great, but the spurt soon ends. Then you become who you were before the spurt. If you're not comfortable with that, you can get caught up in endless efforts to stimulate more dopamine with more goal seeking."   "Unhappy chemicals evolved to alert you to survival threats. They feel bad because that gets your attention. Sometimes we can relieve unhappy chemicals by fixing the underlying problem, like eating when you're hungry or sleeping when you're tired. But some unhappy chemicals will always be there to remind you that lif

Your ups and downs are caused by brain chemicals inherited from earlier mammals.   What's exciting about that is, you can enjoy more happy chemicals if you learn how to manage your mammal brain.   Loretta writes a fantastic blog on her website Inner Mammal Institute where she digs deep into human emotions and the chemistry behind them.   She and James talk today about some of our happy chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin.   "Reaching a goal triggers dopamine. That feels great, but the spurt soon ends. Then you become who you were before the spurt. If you're not comfortable with that, you can get caught up in endless efforts to stimulate more dopamine with more goal seeking."   "Unhappy chemicals evolved to alert you to survival threats. They feel bad because that gets your attention. Sometimes we can relieve unhappy chemicals by fixing the underlying problem, like eating when you're hungry or sleeping when you're tired. But some unhappy chemicals will always be there to remind you that lif

Biohacking is the art and science of taking control of your own biology and Dave's revolutionary diet will make you question everything you thought you knew about raw, vegan, paleo, and every other diet out there. Dave, a Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur, has spent 15 years and over $300,000 to hack his own biology. Today you'll hear his story as he tells James why he has devoted his life learning to do those things that previously seemed impossible. The first weekend James drank Bulletproof Coffee, he wrote 170 pages for his new book. Consistently sick as a child, constantly losing his focus as an adult, Dave decided to see if he could rewire his mind and his body. His brand-new book, The Bulletproof Diet, is now available. Listen here to this podcast and tell us what you think. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting dir

Biohacking is the art and science of taking control of your own biology and Dave's revolutionary diet will make you question everything you thought you knew about raw, vegan, paleo, and every other diet out there. Dave, a Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur, has spent 15 years and over $300,000 to hack his own biology. Today you'll hear his story as he tells James why he has devoted his life learning to do those things that previously seemed impossible. The first weekend James drank Bulletproof Coffee, he wrote 170 pages for his new book. Consistently sick as a child, constantly losing his focus as an adult, Dave decided to see if he could rewire his mind and his body. His brand-new book, The Bulletproof Diet, is now available. Listen here to this podcast and tell us what you think. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting dir

Often many of the key people who help create great companies work behind the scenes, out of the publicity spotlight. Mitch Lowe is one of these people.  As fate often has it, Mitch was working to develop another idea. While displaying at a trade show, he met Marc Randolph who happened to stop by his booth. After a long talk about DVDs Marc started to walk away. Mitch grabbed him by the back of his backpack and said, "Wait a minute, we should talk some more."  That "grab" changed his life, and Netflix was born. James asks Mitch three things he's learned from building one of the most successful companies created in the last decade. Mitch gives huge credit for the growth of Netflix to another of the original founders, Reed Hastings.  #1) Focus. Find that one thing you know you can absolutely be the best at and force yourself to drop all the others. #2) Use analytics to make decisions. Use analytics directionally; don't worry about if they're 100% sure. Just use them to point you in a direction.  #3) Pour your mo

Often many of the key people who help create great companies work behind the scenes, out of the publicity spotlight. Mitch Lowe is one of these people.  As fate often has it, Mitch was working to develop another idea. While displaying at a trade show, he met Marc Randolph who happened to stop by his booth. After a long talk about DVDs Marc started to walk away. Mitch grabbed him by the back of his backpack and said, "Wait a minute, we should talk some more."  That "grab" changed his life, and Netflix was born. James asks Mitch three things he's learned from building one of the most successful companies created in the last decade. Mitch gives huge credit for the growth of Netflix to another of the original founders, Reed Hastings.  #1) Focus. Find that one thing you know you can absolutely be the best at and force yourself to drop all the others. #2) Use analytics to make decisions. Use analytics directionally; don't worry about if they're 100% sure. Just use them to point you in a direction.  #3) Pour your mo

Carols’ new book, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying offers great tips and tricks for getting ahead. Not everything in life is going to work in your favor but your attitude on how you deal with this can set you apart. Carol tells James, you can set you sights on – “This is The Thing”, but if you don’t get that all important “thing” you can stand often stand in your own way of success. They talk about creating a comedy-writing career. Pitching a concept is a job and you have to treat it serious and Jay Leno’s “Rule of Ten”. Do you the best you can and don’t have an attitude, as it can often get in your way.  ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit&nbs