Yesterday I had to reread “Choose Yourself!” Not because it’s so great (who knows?) but because I had totally forgotten it.

I don’t normally re-read books I wrote. Some of my books I’m ashamed I wrote. Ugh, I wrote that!?

The best writing doesn’t come because you have all this great knowledge and now you need to impart it on someone else. That’s often the worst  writing.

Nobody is a guru. It’s hard enough to help yourself, let alone write self-help.

The best writing comes when YOU need to learn something. @jaltucher (Click to Tweet!)

When something  inside of you is, ugh, making you feel “UGH.” Weighing down your body  with UGH!
It’s a problem inside of you so you pull it out and  examine it and play with it and try to put the pieces back in different ways inside of you so it’s no longer a problem.

You then write  about how you played with a problem and the different ways you tried to solve it and what happened next. Like a mystery (or in my case, a  horror story.)

That’s why I wrote “Choose Yourself!” Not  because I’m so great at it.

But because every day it’s a daily practice to choose myself. To not be beholden to the opinions of others. To live the one life I want to live and let everyone else live their lives.

To be healthy. To be free and grateful for my freedom.

I read this one paragraph that struck me. I’m going to live it. Love it. Less it. Today. Tomorrow, I may have to re-read it.

“Less. I’m trying to have fewer things in my life right now. This doesn’t always mean fewer trinkets that shine on a shelf.

It also might mean fewer things that upset me.
Fewer people who bother me.
Fewer regrets about things that are long dead and buried.
Fewer anxieties about a future that may or may not exist.

I find that if I dig deep and THROW AWAY ONE THING a day (on my shelf,  in my head, an ugly memory in my heart, a small anxiety in my stomach, a  frown, a doubt, an insecurity, a person who drains), then I wake up the  next day a little more peaceful. A little more enthusiastic. A little  happier.

Happiness and enthusiasm compound into inner abundance. Inner abundance is the sun that lights up all the life around you.

I don’t need to have so many opinions. The fight will continue with or without me, long after everyone in this universe cares.”

If I can remember this today, then I might not even have to use my AK.

James Altucher has built and sold several companies, and failed at dozens more. He’s written ten books, and Choose Yourself is the book to RULE THEM ALL. He’s an investor in twenty different companies. He writes every day. He doesn’t have enough friends. Still interested in knowing him? Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Image courtesy of Sarah Horrigan.