Here are 27 things I learned from James Altucher last year

I reckon I spent 1,320 minutes with James Altucher last year.

Between his pods, books, and blogs. Many, many hours consuming his content.

If you don't know Altucher, the New York Times describes him as "a self-empowerment blogger and author of 16 books, including bestseller Choose Yourself. Over the last half-decade, this former tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and financial pundit has reinvented himself as a gimlet-eyed self-help guru, preaching survival in an era when the American Dream — the gold-embossed college diploma, the corner office, the three-bedroom home — seems like a sham."

At one point he threw out almost everything he owned and began living out of a single bag.

A single bag he took to random Airbnbs around NYC. 

He didn't even keep any physical books as he moved all his books to a Kindle.

Such experiential content development is powerful.

Content that resonates with me.

Rarely overproduced, often self-published, rough and raw, transferable, and mobile, his material succeeds because of the quality - not because of proper design, a team of handlers, buzzworthy features, or having the most fashionable look and feel.

Fundamentally his content is all about his journey and is shared in a style that is accessible and pure - also it easily produced and scalable since it doesn't require much the infrastructure. 

The content succeeds because it succeeds, not because of chicanery or tomfoolery.

Here's the list:

1. Every day, be creative. Creativity is a muscle.

2. Reinvent yourself. The world is changing quickly. A few years ago we didn't have smartphones - now a billion+ people have them.

3. Action is the fundamental key to all success.

4. You can have a job, a career, or a calling - pick wisely.

5. The average multimillionaire has supposedly seven sources of income - they always have a backup plan.

6. You can either watch it happen, or you can be part of it.

7. Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and enjoying it.

8. Any career take one to three years to do the studying required. About two years before you are making any money in your new career. Three to four years before you are making a living from it and five to six years before you are killing it. So that is eleven to fifteen years of work - work that is done each day and persistently.

9. Everyone needs to make time to play Hamburg = see the Beatles

10. "If it's not hard, it's soft" -- Ice Cube

11. Find your community or your following.

12. OPM = other people's mistakes - learn from other people's mistakes

13. Always manage risk.

14. Always be testing.

15. No matter what you are doing, get as much press as possible.

16. Engage the customer.

17. If you ask lousy questions, you will get lousy answers.

18. Get out of the prediction business and get into the possibility business.

19. All you need is 1,000 true fans.

20. To be a real entrepreneur you always have to be looking forward.

21. "A day without laughter is a day wasted." -- Charlie Chaplin

22. Reinvention never stops.

23. Don't expect to come up with a good idea every day, but come up with ideas every day.

24. No emotional anchor = no art. 

25. People don't remember what they don't like.

26. It's the discipline that makes the content.

27. "I don't fear the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks. I fear that man that practiced one kick 10,000 times." -- Bruce Lee

-Marc A. Ross

Marc A. Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in thought leader communications and global public affairs for executives working at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics.