Ramit Sethi: What Happens When You Make $50,000 In One Month?

I don’t believe 99% of the advice about entrepreneurship. Because that advice is what gets you out of your heart and into your head. It makes you lost. Because you try to sell out. You try to win. You try to get rich. And you stop giving.

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I try noticing when I’m having a hard time. And if I want to ask why.

If I ask, “Why do I feel like this?” my thoughts seep further into my brain. And I can’t find them. “Where are you going? And why do I feel like this?”

But “why” isn’t the answer.

“You are not your feelings.” I’ve heard this before. It’s helpful to have a degree of separation.

Negative pressures take away momentum. It makes me lazy. And hungry.

I don’t think I’m ever really hungry. I’m just looking for a human excuse to get away from responsibility.

But sometimes you have to admit where you really are.

I don’t have advice for you. I have something better.

I have Ramit Sethi, author of the New York Times bestseller, “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” and owner of iwillteachyoutoberich.com and growthlab.com. He’s been on my podcast before. Every time he’s on, people want to know this one thing:

“HOW can I live a rich life?”

I told Ramit, “The person listening to this doesn’t want to hear that it’s possible to get rich. Because that’s what everybody says. I want to hear specific tactics.”

And he’s giving them all away. (Get a sneak peak here…)
“There’s story after story after story of people who have taken your courses and made money…” I said.

“Not just made money. Yes. Of course, they made money. That’s the least interesting part. A guy gets a $50,000 raise. That happens every day using my stuff.”

“Tell me a story of someone who’s made $50,000 in one month.”

I don’t believe 99% of the advice about entrepreneurship. Because that advice is what gets you out of your heart and into your head. It makes you lost. Because you try to sell out. You try to win. You try to get rich. And you stop giving.

So Ramit and I talked about a rich life. What is it?

We came up with this: I can’t tell you what a rich life is to you. I can only say what a rich life is to me.

My “rich” life consists of four things.

You just need to find what you’re OK at. Because if you are OK at one thing and OK at another thing then you can be the best in the world at the intersection.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. And that’s how people fail. They focus on the wrong things, get lost, give up and never start again.

They’re at negative zero.

Everyone wants to be at 100. But that’s impossible. And wanting to be anywhere other than where you are right now is painful.

Start by acknowledging where you are. And know that’s the only true thing about this moment.

Then you’re out of the negative. And you have a starting place: you’re at zero.

Zero is the best place to be. It’s where Mark Cuban, Arianna Huffington, every millionaire, billionaire, writer, rapper, author, athlete, and astronaut starts.

It’s where you’ll start, too. And you can start right now. Just follow these two steps:

  1. Acknowledge where you are
  2. Trust that it’s the start

And then you can launch a rich life. Whatever that means to you.
Listen to my interview with Ramit Sethi to stop asking “why” and start asking “how?”

Listen here with this link. Thought Catalog Logo Mark


About the author

James Altucher

James Altucher is the author of the bestselling book Choose Yourself, editor at The Altucher Report and host of the popular podcast, The James Altucher Show, which takes you beyond business and entrepreneurship by exploring what it means to be human and achieve well-being in a world that is increasingly complicated.