James Altucher
jamesaltucher.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2010
James Altucher, entrepreneur and author, writes personal essays on money, failure, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
What HN saysCommenters call him fascinating, insightful, and weird, though one suggests he may be a closet sociopath; they cite his essays on work and opinions.
191HN people shared it
92linked it in comments
560stories submitted
2.6Kstory points
4 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Was Greece just Nuked?12 people · 12 points · first shared 2011 · 3 comments on HN
- 2How to be THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE PLANET in 4 Easy Steps9 people · 19 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 3The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur7 people · 26 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 4How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $2mm (and lost $100mm in the process)6 people · 233 points · first shared 2011 · 70 comments on HN
- 5How To Become An Idea Machine5 people · 8 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 6The ultimate guide for becoming an idea machine5 people · first shared 2019
- 7Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again4 people · 68 points · first shared 2011 · 97 comments on HN
- 8The easiest way to succeed as an entrepreneur4 people · 26 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 9How to Deal With Crappy People4 people · 12 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 108 Alternatives to College - I wish I had done these4 people · 11 points · first shared 2011 · 2 comments on HN
- 11My name is James A. and I'm an Alcoholic4 people · 6 points · first shared 2011 · 2 comments on HN
- 12The ultimate negotiator cheat sheet4 people · 6 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 13The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Starting and Running Your Own Business4 people · 4 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 1410 Reasons Parents Should DEFINITELY Not send their kids to College4 people · 3 points · first shared 2011 · 4 comments on HN
- 15The Ultimate Guide for Becoming an Idea Machine Altucher Confidential4 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
billmalarky · 2013-12-01
James Altucher may be a closet sociopath, but the man is fascinating and his blog is full of great insights.
http://www.jamesaltucher.com
imrehg · 2012-05-21
James Altucher's: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/
He's awesome, insightful, and weird in an interesting way. A cross between "I messed up, so you don't have to", and "there are other ways to do things better than what most people think". Not saying that I agree with everything he says, nevertheless he keeps surprising me.
ignoramous · 2019-12-23
You would love this essay by James Altucher: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/work-prison/
Key point: Other entities may capture up to 80% of the value you create.
1. Your boss, their boss, and their boss.
2. Shareholders.
3. Vendors.
4. Other employees in the company.
5. Taxes.
Better off working for your own self.
hawktheslayer · 2018-04-12
To try and escape both pitfalls I attempt to follow Altucher's advice to have less opinions.
https://jamesaltucher.com/2012/12/ten-reasons-i-dont-have-opinions/
Red_Tarsius · 2018-02-07
Don't forget the suicide epidemic among indigenous tribes, especially the Brazillian Guaraní. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/opinion/sunday/suicides-spread-thro… Filmmaker Jon Alpert and his crew are further investigating the issue. They found out that the Guaranì natives are being murdered (disguised as suicide) by the local farmers for land grabbing. He mentions it in this podcast https://jamesaltucher.com/2017/12/jon-alpert/ at 00:21 min. The documentary is still a work in progress.
> Mining conflicts accounted for 36 killings, several of them linked to booming global demand for construction materials.
If you want to grasp the real human cost of mining, I highly recommend the essay The Missing Ethics of Mining. https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2013/the-missing-ethics-…
davemel37 · 2017-06-08
James Altucher talks about a similar strategy in numerous places... here is one http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/11/ultimate-cheat-sheet-love/
JSeymourATL · 2016-08-31
> The problem is I don't know where to start.
Can you write a page a day? On this James Altucher is brilliant > http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2014/09/can-you-do-one-page-a-day/
PhantomGremlin · 2016-08-15
Needs 2013 in the title.
I encourage people to read some of Altucher's blog. He has a way of making people "think different". http://www.jamesaltucher.com/
SmallBets · 2016-06-13
This author did an excellent podcast with James Altucher. Really crystalized a lot of the principles in his book and made it actionable.
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/04/anders-ericsonn-peak/
pgrote · 2016-05-23
5 years ago Altucher advocated not buying stock as lead into buying his system:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/10-reasons-you-should-never-own-s…
Last year he started selling a system for buying stocks:
http://www.timothysykes.com/2015/09/the-best-new-stock-market-tool-wit…
http://www.thealtucherreport.com/one-percent.html
rabidonrails · 2015-12-16
There are good lessons to be learned from Shark Tank. I highly recommend checking out James Altucher's article about it: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/02/ten-lessons-i-learned-from-shark-…
elliotec · 2015-11-05
This reminds me a lot of the idea strategies that James Altucher promotes and uses. They are mostly related to business ideas rather than OSS, but the concept remains similar.
You can see some of his posts on it here:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2014/05/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-a…
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/04/how-to-have-great-ideas/
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2015/07/the-magic-of-idea-math/
auctiontheory · 2013-12-24
Read James Altucher's blog, and his books. Among other things, he recommends a daily exercise of coming up with ten ideas on some topic.[1]
Do it. Every day. And see what happens.
(Yes, I do it. Every day.)
[1] http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/10/how-to-become-an-idea-machine/
workhorse · 2013-10-21
This is an extremely dangerous response. The fact that it is at the top is disheartening, especially for this site.
The real problem is treating startup ideas differently than ideas. Ideas are like experiences. They build off of each other and the sum is greater than the parts. Not always in a literal sense either.
The fact of the matter is, the way we arrive at things isn't truly understood. But there are people who propose methodologies that may or may not work for the OP.
A good start would be James Altucher's idea machine: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/10/how-to-become-an-idea-machine/
elaineo · 2013-10-10
How to Be the Best Public Speaker on the Planet: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/10/how-to-be-the-best-public-speaker…
kevando · 2013-09-06
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/10-reasons-you-should-never-own-s…
I know, right. James Altucher has a great post on this, especially like his #3
henningb · 2013-08-02
What works best for me: Work closely with super-motivated people who inspire you. Procrastination goes down to zero. Interestingly, the effect lasts even after your project with these people is finished.
Also, read http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/04/5-great-things-about-procrastinat…
daphneokeefe · 2013-05-24
You may find real inspiration reading this guy's blog, Altucher Confidential. He is so realistic, and he will get you back on your feet, laughing.
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/
waqasaday · 2012-12-29
guylhem · 2012-12-02
I think you're missing the article point. If some social interactions bring you nothing, then you should remove them from your life !
Quoting Nassim Taleb : "If someone is a drag on me, I cut them out. If someone lifts me up, I bring them closer. Nobody is sacred here. When the plane is going down, put the oxygen mask on your face first. Family, friends, people I love – I always try to be there for them and help. But I don’t get close to anyone bringing me down. This rule can’t be broken. Energy leaks out of you if someone is draining you. And I never owe anyone an explanation. Explaining is draining."
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the…
stevencorona · 2012-12-01
I'm a big fan of James Altucher. His concept of building your "idea muscle" by writing down a page of random ideas everyday has dramatically improved my life.
Two of my favorite posts by him
How I screwed Yasser Arafat out of 2 million dollars and lost 100 million in the process
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/how-i-screwed-yasser-arafat-out-o…
How to be the luckiest guy on the planet in 4 easy steps
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the…
hfazel · 2012-09-17
There's no short and simple answer... but you can read this article by James Altucher and follow his ideas on how to build your idea muscle and hopefully in 6 months time you'll be brimming with ideas :)
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/04/how-to-have-great-ideas/
winestock · 2012-09-02
Re-frame your situation. Don't think of it as controlling or fighting your urges. Think of it as a sign that you should be doing something else. St. Augustine of Hippo said that we, being physical creatures, need some amount of pleasure in order to be healthy. If we don't get legitimate pleasure, then we'll go for the kind of pleasure that taxes us.
Are you getting enough exercise? Enough sleep? Eating right? We've had a bunch of threads on Hacker News on the importance of meditation. From your user-name, you probably know about the NoFap group on Reddit. They will have plenty of advice: http://www.reddit.com/r/nofap
James Altucher's posts aren't directly related to your question, but his Daily Practice will help you. http://www.jamesaltucher.com
pitt1980 · 2012-08-19
I don't know what to tell you,
He has a blog that I actually find pretty entertaining
though if you hated this piece, maybe his writing isn't your thing
recommend: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the…
mtgentry · 2011-12-24
Altuchur was just using Uri to make a larger point.."An abililty to see the future makes Uri Geller famous but does not make a successful entrepreneur..."
James is a good writer. He has more nuggets of wisdom on his blog: http://jamesaltucher.com
AbolishLunacy · 2011-12-16
I doubt that a technological solution is the best answer to SOPA-like legislative nightmares. A true, lasting solution would likely involve deep, structural government reform. (Very hard to accomplish, but likely to be effective.)
Here's one idea:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/07/july-4th-is-a-scam/
Probably not the best solution, but a decent candidate, a good initial stab at the problem.
philthy · 2011-06-13
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/ The authors bio page, he's probably in the freelance article shopping game and TC happened to pick this up. He seems to be all over the place, syndicated blogger or something, seems he's guest writer anyone see differently. The article feels like it could be written for any tech, business, entrepreneur, stuffy get rich quick tv booklet. TC save yourself the trouble and get a full time journalist staff or don't publish as much content just to get ads up.
rjrodger · 2011-06-05
Second album syndrome eh? :)
Read everything James Altucher has written: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/
He's been around the block a few times, but wears his heart on his sleeve.
DanielStraight · 2011-05-13
Trying to pick things not yet mentioned.
Cooking blogs (I read a bunch more, but these are the best):
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/
http://smittenkitchen.com/
http://globaltableadventure.com/
A blog ostensibly about learning Japanese but really about learning anything:
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/
Humor:
http://www.qwantz.com/index.php
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
Programming:
http://prog21.dadgum.com/
Inspiration / business:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/
http://unicornfree.com/
A little of everything:
http://jsomers.net/blog/
sayemm · 2011-03-05
Cool read, it reminds me of this post by James Altucher on "How to Live Forever", some great tips in there - http://jamesaltucher.com/2010/11/how-to-live-forever/