Becoming aware can help you become honest with yourself. About yourself.
May 30, 2019
[WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE](
[Altucher Confidential]
âBecoming aware can help you become honest with yourself. About yourself.â
[Sam Harris and James Altucher]
[Now Playing: Sam Harris](
James Altucher: May 31st Could Spell Huge Gains for Pot Investors
[Cash and marijuana]( In just a couple weeks, an event just outside of D.C. will take place that could stand to unleash a 22-billion-dollar windfall in the legal pot market.
This is huge news⦠and easily your next shot at becoming a marijuana millionaire!
See, thereâs a tiny Canadian pot stock at the center of it all that I predict could surge from a small starting stake to 60 DOLLARS.
Thatâs not an exaggeration. They have revolutionary tech in the hottest market of all time⦠And the event on May 31st could trigger one of the biggest stock runs of all time.
[Click here now for details.](
[James Altucher]Dear Altucher Confidential Reader,
Iâm a liar.
I lie to myself. About myself.
We all do.
Example:
When I feel anxious, I ask the same question. âWhy do I feel this way?â
Then I answer.
But whatever I come up with is deceptive.
Itâs been proven.
Brains come up with stories. Thatâs what they do.
They say, âYouâre not making enough money.â
Or, âYouâre nervous. Because youâre going on stage tonight.â
LIAR!
âWe know from a vast number of psychological experiments that the story you tell yourself often bears no relationship to the way you [actually] came to feel,â Sam Harris said on my podcast.
Heâs a neuroscientist, philosopher, and meditation advocate. He has a PhD. But he took an alternate route.
He left college for 10 years.
And lived in India.
Now he hosts the Making Sense podcast. And heâs written multiple New York Times bestsellers: The End of Faith, Waking Up, The Moral Landscape and more.
AND he has a meditation app called Waking Up.
I had Sam come back on my podcast. I wanted him to teach me how to stop bullsh*ting myself.
Hereâs what he told meâ¦
BIG Money Quietly Betting on "Game-Changingâ Revolution...
[James Altucher]( âBig Moneyâ moguls are betting on a surging new sport that will soon rival professional football, basketball, baseball and soccer.
And thereâs a play that could make you rich this year...
[Click]([here]( to see where itâs coming from...
1. DEVELOP AWARENESS
The night before our podcast, Sam did a live podcast with Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow.
âHeâs arguably the most influential psychologist alive at the moment,â Sam said.
And he won the Nobel Prize in economics.
So I had an advantage. I could ask Sam questions. And I could travel through Samâs memory to ask Daniel Kahneman questions.
I had two minds in front of me.
I got lucky.
I wanted to know what percentage of human behavior is actually rational.
âDid that come up in the conversation?â
âYeah. But not framed in that way,â he said. âI donât know if anyone could give you a clear answer to that question. I mean certainly, most of what we do and think and feel is not the result of a rational, top-down executive appraisal of whatâs going on.â
Translation: Basically nothing we do is rational.
Iâve tested this.
When I first started doing comedy, I thought I was funny. Because I was biased.
I gave talks at conferences. And everybody always laughed. But being funny at a boring business conference is a lot easier than being funny at a comedy club.
Itâs a different audience, a different mindset. And a different skill.
I needed to practice.
And I needed a feedback loop.
So I started taping myself on stage.
It was bad. In a good way.
âThese are humbling insights,â Sam said. âAnd the goal isnât to become more depressed and cynical about what a mediocre person you are. The goal is actually to become more of the person you want to be.â
And to close the gap on who you are vs. who you think you are.
âWhen that distance is wide, youâre a hypocrite. But if you narrow it, thatâs the effort of an examined life. Itâs how you increase your honesty. And self-awareness. And ethical code.â
I kept going on stage. And watching the tapes.
It helped me see where I really was skillswise.
It helped me narrow the gap.
So I could improve.
2. KNOW THEREâS A LIMIT
Iâve never met an âenlightenedâ person. Even the Dalai Lama doesnât call himself the E-word.
Weâre all subject to cognitive biases. Itâs human nature.
So I asked Sam, âCan you overcome them?â
Translation: How rational can I actually get?
âWell, it was interesting to talk to Dani last night because heâs very pessimistic about how much you can improve your rationality,â Sam said.
âWhy?â
âBecause bias is a reliable form of error. Weâre talking about correlated error. Weâre talking about biases we all share⦠where weâre all going to be reliably wrong in one direction or another.â
Translation: Bias is in all of us. No one is immune. And we feel validated in bias. Because our friends believe the same false truths.
Sam called this âour collective mentality.â
And you can practice trying to anticipate âthose situations where your intuition is wrong.â
Translation: You can begin to predict your own behavior.
He gave me an example:
Wishful thinking.
Itâs the devil.
We do this all the time. âI wish she loved me.â
âI wish my daughter didnât go to college.â
âI wish I had more money.â
âThese [are the] micro-disappointments,â Sam said. âMost of us live with this ambient level of anxiety. But you can become a connoisseur of your own neuroses. And meditation is really the tool whereby you would do that.â
He says the point is to try to âbe aware of your changes of state, moment to momentâ¦â
Translation: Becoming aware can help you become honest with yourself. About yourself.
Which leads to fewer misunderstandings. Less hurt. Less anger.
More improvement. More self-satisfaction.
Hereâs my plan. Iâm going to:
A) Expect the brain to make up stories. And fake-rationalize reality.
B) Reject the story (nicely â I donât want to be mean to myself).
C) Meditate. Iâve gone in and out of this habit. Sam has a new app called Waking Up. And Iâll tell you why I like it.
He doesnât just teach how to meditate. He tells you the point.
And youâll need it after you listen to this podcast.
Because I started the interview like thisâ¦
I said, âSo, Sam, I want to talk about your book. But I also want to talk to you about all the ways the world can end.â
So we did.
Itâs my new favorite porn.
Is that wrong?
Sure.
But at least I know it.
[Now Playing: Sam Harris](
Sincerely,
[James Altucher]
James Altucher
P.S. I donât actually know if the world is ending anytime soon⦠or during my lifetime. It might⦠but to be on the safe side, I want to be prepared for a long life. I want my children to be safe and secure. Any maybe even their children.
Thatâs why I have [May 31 marked on my calendar.](
This day is about the change the pot market forever⦠and make smart investors windfall profits!
[Click here to learn all about what Iâm calling âGreen Fridayâ... while you still can.](
New Book from the #1 Penny-Stock Trader on the Planet [Yes, the whole planet!]
[The Complete Penny Stock Course]( Forget everything you know about penny stocks...
This strategy is completely different than anything you've seen before!
Tim Sykes went from about $12,000 to $4.8 million before turning 37 by using it...
And even a rare few of his thousands of students have become millionaires.
Now he is offering NOT ONLY this book... but a year of instant access to his wisdoms for just $20.
If you only have a little money saved-up... this could be your best way to build a retirement fast.
[Click here now to see this dirt cheap offer](
Subsribe To My Podcast
[The James Altucher Show](
Add james@jamesaltucher.com to your address book:
[Whitelist Us](
[The James Altucher Website](
[Subscribe Via Text](
[Subscribe With YouTube](
[Subscribe On Messenger](
[Subscribe With iTunes](
[Connected on LinkedIn](
Join the conversation! Follow me on social media:
[Facebook Group]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Instagram](
Altucher Confidential is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to Choose Yourself Media delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Altucher Confidential e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Altucher Confidential, feel free to [click here](.
Please read our [Privacy Statement](. For any further comments or concerns please [contact us here.]( If you are you having trouble receiving your Altucher Confidential subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox [by whitelisting Altucher Confidential](.
© 2019 Choose Yourself Media, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized financial advice.
We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security they personally recommend to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.