Totul a inceput cand am salvat personal intreaga economie globala in martie 2009. Locuiam pe Wall Street. Direct peste drum, de la Bursa din New York.

De fiecare data cand ieseam din cladirea mea, vedeam enormul drapel al Bursei de Valori din New York, apoi vedeam sute de turisti facand poze, apoi as vedea Federal Hall, unde George Washington a fost jurat ca primul presedinte al tarii. M-am simtit faimos pentru ca traiam intr-un astfel de colt celebru.

(NYSE din cladirea mea)

Inainte de asta, exact ca in anii 90, locuiam in hotelul Chelsea. M-am mutat acolo dupa ce m-am separat de fosta mea sotie. Dar m-am intalnit cu o fata care a cerut sa vada unde am locuit. A vazut-o si apoi a plecat.

Cateva zile mai tarziu, mi-a spus ca trebuie sa discute cu terapeutul ei despre ce a vazut acolo. Ea, ea insasi, era terapeuta, dar cred ca terapeutii trebuie sa vada terapeuti. Altfel cum si-ar putea trai viata?

Ea a spus: „Terapeutul meu spune ca ai probleme de angajament pentru ca locuiesti intr-un hotel.”

– Cu toate acestea, nu ma cunoaste.

„Este lucrul la hotel. Ce fel de om traieste in hoteluri? ” S-a uitat la mine si apoi mi-a raspuns la intrebarea: „Cineva care nu poate sta la pamant si sa-si faca o casa”.

„Dar cu mine este exact opusul. De fapt m-am mutat INAPOI acasa cand m-am mutat aici. Aici am trait inainte sa ma marit.

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Acum este locul unde traiesc DUPA. De fapt, m-am dus intr-un singur loc unde ma facusem acasa in oras. Am locuit aici trei ani inainte sa ma casatoresc. Locul acesta este radacinile mele.

– In plus, spuse ea, este dezgustator acolo.

Asa ca a trebuit sa ma misc.

Dar imi place sa traiesc in locuri mari. Nu este mare in ceea ce priveste spatiozitatea, desi este dragut daca o puteti obtine. Dar BIG in termeni de „Eu traiesc AICI!” Hotelul Chelsea s-a simtit special asa. Iar aceasta cladire de pe Wall Street (de fapt, 15 Broad Street, dar chiar la colt) ma suna. Am auzit despre locul de la o prietena (multumesc Marissa C!) Si atunci a fost singurul loc in care am vrut sa traiesc.

I-am spus fetei ca ma intalnesc unde urma sa ma mut. Ea a spus: „Nu va asteptati sa merg acolo tot timpul. Lucrez la Upper East Side. ” Nici o problema. Ea a spus: „Si daca cumparati mobila de la Ikea, ne despartim.” Nu am detinut mobilier pentru ca locuiam intr-un hotel.

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Nu stiam ce vrea sa spuna. M-am uitat la unele locuri de pe web care aveau paturi dragute la care m-a aratat. Paturile erau de 20.000 USD sau mai mult. Am vazut paturi perfect fine la magazinele de mobila pentru aproximativ 1000 de dolari. „Care este diferenta?” Am intrebat. „Nu stiu, dar ai incredere in mine, exista o diferenta mare.”

Ne-am despartit.

M-am mutat.

Mi-a placut. Uneori trebuia sa merg pe CNBC si ma duceam doar la parter, dincolo de strada si ma duceam in studioul CNBC din interiorul Bursei. In fiecare dimineata, la acea vreme, faceam videoclipuri pentru thestreet.com.

Tipul video avea sa ma intalneasca chiar in afara cladirii mele, am face un videoclip timp de cinci minute si apoi m-as intoarce la etaj. Am fost concediat o luna mai tarziu. Dar totusi, a fost minunat pentru luna respectiva.

O singura data la inceputul lunii martie 2009 am decis sa ma distrez.

M-am saturat ca piata a coborat, asa ca am decis sa o opresc.

Piata era la un punct scazut. S&P a lovit chiar numarul satanic de 666. Toti care mergeau pe blocul meu erau deprimati. Traiam un centru mort in mijlocul unui atac de cord global.

Oamenii literalmente isi strangeau inimile cand intrau la Bursa din New York dimineata. Asa ca am cumparat o gramada de pungi de ciocolata si am intrat in fata intrarii din NYSE si am inmanat bomboane de ciocolata tuturor care intra inauntru. si mai predispus la asumarea riscurilor.

Oamenii ar privi din pamant, grijile, stresurile, temerile si se vor lumina chiar si la vederea ciocolatei. Toata lumea a luat o ciocolata de la mine si a intrat. Unii chiar au ras.

(Puteti vedea data exacta in care m-am mutat in Wall Street)

From that day on the stock market rose. I single-handedly saved the entire global stock markets. I’m not being arrogant about it.

It’s not bragging if it’s completely true.  I take full credit. No need to send a check to me. I did it for selfish reasons.

A few months later Claudia moved in. Here’s the comic book version of how I met her. By this time, all of my “jobs” had fully fired me once everyone simultaneously agreed they didn’t like me. Thestreet.com, the Financial Times, etc. I had nothing to do. I had wound down my fund.

I tried to start up a few businesses including an online dating site and a “twitter services agency” and ultimately shut both down. I still had to get healthy.

One day I was on phone with my business partner, Dan. I was complaining about some deal we were working on. Claudia said to me, “I’m going out.” I nodded my head while still yelling about someone with Dan.

A few hours later she came back. She had gone 60 miles north to Cold Spring, NY. The town next to where my kids lived with their mom. She saw a house right on the river.

She wanted to be in nature instead of Wall Street. Wall Street  is depressing to live in. You can’t escape the aura of 200 years of people mugging each other’s bank accounts.

We went up to visit the house. By coincidence it was a house that 7 years earlier, when my family had first moved to that area, I had wanted to live in. I said, “YES!” instantly. I loved the place.

Am aflat abia mai tarziu ca in anii 1800 fusese un hotel, Hotel Alumbra. Imi place sa traiesc intr-un hotel. Raul este chiar alaturi, si peste rau este West Point, si munti, si un orizont frumos. Orasul in sine a fost plin cu o multime de scriitori si artisti. Si primarul isi face baghete pentru o viata. M-am simtit acasa.

(La 100 de metri de casa mea. Mollie este intervievata de ABC despre daca va merge sau nu la facultate, in ciuda dorintelor mele ca nu ar face asta).

Acum imi era imposibil sa intalnesc oameni din oras. Am spus „da” de fiecare data cand cineva solicita o intalnire sau daca CNBC imi cerea sa continui. Am fost o curva de intalnire. Niciun ban NICIODA nu se face intr-o intalnire. Uneori, retelele sunt bune, dar trebuie sa fie foarte directionate.

I would go to every meeting someone asked me to go to. And then at the end of the day I would feel stressed. “I’m going to all of these meetings but nothing magical is happening”. I wanted magic.

But after I moved, I started waking up earlier (4am) and walking by the river as the sun rose. Then I would go home and read. The emptiness of not living in the city, of everything in  my life slowing down, made me want to write. One guy, Tim Sykes, kept saying to me, “screw all of these other sites you write for. Just set up your blog.” And he always added, “and charge a lot for stock picks.”

I didn’t want to do that. And I was afraid that people wouldn’t go to my blog. People read me on the world-famous FINANCIAL TIMES, not on the non-famous jamesaltucher.com. “Screw that,” he said. “You’d be surprised.”

So then I returned an email I had gotten several years earlier.

In 2005, Jeff Burkey, who was buying domain names and liked one of my articles, had bought me a birthday present: jamesaltucher.com.

I never collected the present. I’m not good at accepting gifts. So 5 years later I wrote him and I said, “OK, I accept.” In any case, what a neat gift idea to give someone.

He wrote back, “Wow, James you just set a record for the longest delayed email response ever received!!! Where have you been for five years?” And he gave me the instructions to move over the domain name. He’s now working on an app game, “Numbers With Friends” to compete with “Words with Friends”.

And then I wrote my first post. And my second. One guy I had worked with, Andy Weissman, wrote on twitter, “I had no idea James Altucher could write.” So I felt good. Like I was pleasing people. So I wrote more. I became addicted to it.

In most professions, people are almost required to be perfect. A friend of mine asked me the other day, “Did it ever slow your opportunities that you were revealing so much about financial loss, sex, suicide, depression, and all of the other stuff?”

I said, “Look around at everyone in this restaurant. They all have had the exact same things happen to them. But they are pretending that those things didn’t happen because everyone thinks they need to be perfect all the time in order for people to like them. They are all eating their food through their plastic masks.”

People immediately asked me, “How are you making money from your blog.” I’m not, but I will tell you, because of this blog I’ve had more opportunities than ever before.

Instead of constantly worrying about wealth and loss and betrayal and everything scary in between I decided to just relax and let abundance happen in my life whether I liked it or not.

If thoughts of regret or loss ever rose up I’d catch them and start listing all the things I felt abundant about. If it were raining outside, I’d think of how abundant the water was. If there was traffic, I’d think about how abundant the cars were, and of course I felt abundant about the nature I now lived near.

I only let abundance in. Fear, anxiety, stress would still exist and bother me. Constantly. But then I’d invite abundance in, without suppressing or resisting the fears.

(chiar si ploaia are semintele abundentei)

Stiam ca de pe blogul meu creez valoare pentru oameni. Si oamenii mi-ar trimite e-mailuri si le-as returna emailurile cu sfaturi. Curand, oamenii m-au sunat cu oportunitati. Si oportunitatile ar deveni tot mai mari. A trebuit sa invat cui sa-i spun „nu” si cui sa-i spun „da”.

Majoritatea companiilor in care sunt acum pe consiliul de administratie (unde primesc o bucata din companie) m-au cunoscut prin intermediul blogului meu.

Si chiar mai important am intalnit niste prieteni foarte buni din cauza acestui blog. Si tot timpul schimbam idei, oportunitati si conexiuni. Din aceasta cauza, am actualizat „tribul” oamenilor cu care comunic zilnic cu peste 1000%.

In fiecare zi, tribul acela devine din ce in ce mai mare. Si ma gandesc zilnic cum ii pot ajuta pe acesti prieteni si ce pot continua sa invat de la ei. Si cum pot imbunatati viata cititorilor acestui blog. Asa se poate imbunatati viata mea.

Cand am inceput prima data blogging, oamenii ar fi tweet, „a privi James Altucher este ca si cum ai privi o epava a trenului pe cale sa se intample.” Dar aceiasi oameni mi-ar scrie in privat: „una din aceste zile peste bauturi, ar trebui sa-ti spun despre dependenta mea de crack si prostituate.” Un prieten de-al meu m-a dus la o cafea si mi-a spus : „Esti sigur ca nu ai de gand sa te omori? Asta a fost acum doi ani. Nu m-am ucis inca.

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