The 20 habits of eventual millionaires by James Altucher on Nov 3, 2015, 11:02 AM Advertisement
 This is the wrong question. It's upside down. This is a tacky question. This is sort of a rude question. But this was a question on Quora. Actually, the question was a bit worse. It was "I'm in my 20s – can someone in their 40s tell me what I need to do to become a financial success?" Maybe don't look for shortcuts. Too many shortcuts is "death by a thousand cuts." Here's a question: I'm in my 40s, can someone in their 20s tell me how to restore that feeling of lightness, no obligations and the feeling that "Enough" is a Feast? Answer me that. Here's a question: I'm in my 20s, can someone tell me what success is? Here's another question: I'm lonely, can someone tell me how a ray of sunlight can remember that by itself it is nothing, but together it's the Sun? But ok. Another friend of mine wrote a good post on this topic. But I know him and how he made his millions and although his answer was good, it wasn't how he made his money. Money is not everything. It's a side effect. It's a byproduct. It's nuclear waste after all the energy has already powered the Earth. Focus just on the habits. Only the first half of the question. Everyone needs different habits. If someone has an arm amputated he needs a new arm. Another person might need a new eye. Another person needs to listen better. 20 Habits ... I'm sorry. I was about to answer. But I need to define "habit." When I was lying in the gutter at 3 in the morning, drunk, and cars swerving around me, I needed first to be pulled to the sidewalk. That was a habit. I couldn't just wake up and be sober. I needed to be pulled to the side first. I needed consequences first. I needed one day at a time first. I needed to surrender control of the outcome first. I needed to improve 1% a day and that never ends. I needed to remember I had two little girls to be a better person for. And so on. "And so on" is a habit. It's not a done thing. It's never done. 20 Habits: SEE ALSO: A self-made millionaire says a seemingly innocuous daily habit could be keeping you from getting rich  Every day, be around people who are kind to you and love you. This is a difficult habit. So don't sweat it. Just improve a little bit each day. A bonsai tree grows every day. But the bonsai master knows where to prune to create a work of art over years. Every day, avoid death. Which means: Avoid things you know are bad for you. Be a little healthier each day. You can't get rich from a hospital bed. Or a grave. People think metabolism changes as we get older. This is not really true. What changes is we sit more. So move more. Solve difficult gratitude problems. This is a practice. When angry, or stressed, find one thing to be grateful for. Where is the practice? Is this really so hard. The hard part is noticing that you are angry and stressed. It's the difference between being scared in a movie and saying, "wait, it's just a movie."
 Write down 10 ideas a day. I've written this a million times. Watch the movie "Limitless." Bradley Cooper takes a pill that turns him into a superman of brain power. Writing down 10 ideas a day is that pill. Try it for six months and you will see. Plant seeds. Many people have ONE GOAL in life. And they aim their lives for that one goal. Good luck with that. The real key is to plant many seeds. 1% of the seeds planted will turn into 50% of the flowers. That's Garden Math. What are some seeds? Send a thank you letter. Send an intro letter. Send ideas to people. Exercise. Eat well. Surprise your spouse. Make a website. Come up with an idea. Write an article. Read a book. Think of 100 more seeds. Every day plant some seeds. No excuses. Blaming is draining. Complaining is draining. Explaining is draining. People say, I don't have enough time. I get that. For instance, I don't have enough time to become a professional astronaut. But even that excuse, which two seconds ago I thought was a truism, is false. One day Virgin Galactic and SpaceX will send tourists into space for cheap. So one day I'll be an astronaut. I have enough time again. No excuses.
 Warren Buffett's 5/25 rule. Make a list of the 25 things you want to do in life. Now do the top 5. And NEVER THINK ABOUT THE OTHER 20 EVERY AGAIN. Else they will take time away from the 5 that are most important to you. Follow up. I'm really bad a this. Which is why I have to build a habit instead of "do this!" The other day I had dinner with a bunch of interesting people. I have a perfect idea how to follow up with them. But I haven't done it yet. I don't know why. It's hard for me to follow up. So it's a practice. But I'll do it. I want to get better at this habit. Following up might be a "nice to meet you" email. Or maybe it's buying them a first edition of their favorite book. Or maybe it's one of the 10,000 things in between that. Stand next to the smartest person in the room. Harold Ramis did it (Bill Murray). Steve Jobs did it (Steve Wozniak). Craig Silverstein did it. (who? Larry Page.) Kanye West did it (Jay-Z). I've done it repeatedly (Yoda). I have a motto: "I am the dumbest person in the room." Then it helps me to find the smartest person in each room. The smartest person in the room is going to do something. Watch what they do. Something special. Just follow them without asking questions.
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