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Choose Yourself is a call to give up traditional career paths and take your life into your own hands by building good habits, creating your own career, and making a decision to choose yourself.
Choose Yourself is a call to give up traditional career paths and take your life into your own hands by building good habits, creating your own career, and making a decision to choose yourself.
Remember how 2 days ago you learned that women taking up careers post World War II lead to the rise of processed food?
It’s the same reason that lead to the creation of the American dream: the house with the white picket fence, 2 kids, 2 nice cars in the garage and a big vacation every year.
Both parents working meant more income, which made this lavish lifestyle affordable, which is when the idea that a perfect life is mostly based on consumption became the ideal standard that we started chasing.
The plan was clear: get a good education, get a safe job, work hard, hopefully be promoted and thus able to keep up your expensive lifestyle until you retire.
But in 2008 the American dream bubble abruptly burst. The world’s biggest financial crisis lead to companies ruthlessly cutting costs – mostly in the form of people.
Almost everything can now either be outsourced or done by technology, which is why thousands of college graduates now find themselves unemployed or underpaid – the end of jobs is here.
But what should you do if your fancy college degree now only gets you a job at McDonalds? Is it all bad? No. Here’s what to do.
I can’t believe I couldn’t remember where I read this, I wrote a whole article about this sentence, after all. I’m texting myself this very sentence every morning, for Pete’s sake 😀 But now I do. You have to make yourself the only person who controls your dreams. This one sentence contains everything you need to know about choosing yourself. If financial freedom is your dream, then you have to control your income, which means creating products, freelancing, making passive income from affiliate marketing, selling books, courses, teaching seminars – do any one, or even better, all of these. Want to make your own hours? Then you have to control your time (which leads to the same conclusion). Why aren’t you the only one who controls your dreams already? Because you’re afraid. That’s okay. We all are. Afraid of what our family will think if we leave our “stable job”. Afraid of what friends might say. Afraid of our customers rejecting us. Avoiding rejection is a powerful motivator. But it makes us miserable. As long as you choose to live with that fear, instead of acting in spite of it, you are giving others the power to make your choices for you. Remember this, and carry it with you as you…
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Get the complete summary in the appThe American dream the middle class keeps chasing is dead.
You have to make yourself the only person who controls your dreams.
You can choose yourself by beginning a daily practice of good habits in 4 areas.
"Choose Yourself" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around biography, business, career—especially themes like the american dream the middle class keeps chasing is dead; you have to make yourself the only person who controls your dreams. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
James Altucher is a successful entrepreneur, angel investor, chess master and prolific writer. He has started and run more than 20 companies and is currently invested in over 30. He is the author of 18 books, including WSJ best-sellers: 'The Power of No' and 'Choose Yourself'. His latest book, "Reinvent Yourself" was #1 in the Amazon store shortly after its release. His writing has appeared in major media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Observer, Techcrunch , The Finan…
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