THM Show 003 – James Altucher, Ashtanga Yoga, Negativity Diet, Improving Your Idea Muscle

Summary:

Welcome to The Hacked Mind show! This week I interview James Altucher, who is one of my personal heroes. He is a serial entrepreneur, hedge fund manager, and author. He is also an avid blogger with an out-of-the-box philosophy and honesty that few people have.

James has also just published a new book entitled “Choose Yourself”. It is one of his best works yet (and I’ve read the previous three). Even better, James has decided to pay you the money back after you read the book. It’s evident he just wants to spread his message and it is a great (free) opportunity for you! Keep in mind that I receive nothing by mentioning his book – it’s just really good.

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In this episode we will cover:

1. Ashtanga yoga as a physical practice
2. Mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of Ashtanga yoga
3. Going to India to train
4. James’ “Negativity diet”
5. Exercising your “idea muscle”
6. Benefits of daily writing on creativity

By the way, you can enter your best email address in the panel on the side or below and get a FREE ebook Brain Hacking 101: 12 Tangible Ways to Correct Your Neurotransmitter and Hormonal Balance Now.

Discussion Topics

[2:45] Physical benefits of Ashtanga yoga or any physical practice. Breathing improvement
[4:45] Mental and emotional benefits of Ashtanga yoga
[7:30] James’ theory about oxygen reaching important parts of your body
[8:39] Ashtanga as the most intense physical yoga practice. Muscle building exercises and length
[9:52] Going to India to train with Ashtanga yoga. Most intense instruction
[11:34] Humiliation of yoga that improved James’ perspective
[13:25] Spirituality in India
[14:29] The “Negativity diet” – getting negative people out of your life intuitively
[18:40] Internal reflection – is someone really being negative?
[20:45] “Idea muscle” is a brain muscle, which can atrophy like any other. Connections in the brain are slower etc.
[22:19] 12-year old practice of writing out ideas or writing blog posts – pushing himself
[22:56] “Brain dumping” daily with his blog
[24:33] Giving birth to ideas and pushing them out of the nest
[26:29] Key for producing cool ideas – what comes next?
[27:00] Knowing which ideas to pursue and which to not pursue

External Mentions

Yoga Sutras
James’ Blog
James’ Blog – I’m Completely Humiliated by Yoga
James’ Blog – How I Deal with Crappy People
James’ Blog – The Daily Practice
Claudia’s Blog
The Street.com
Stephen King – On Writing

Thank You

Thank you for listening and supporting The Hacked Mind show! Please consider leaving a review on iTunes if you liked what you heard. Also, you can get my free ebook just by entering your email address on the right of your screen or below this post. Once again, thanks for listening and see you next week!