Tools for Titans #14 : You may not have a single purpose in your life.

James Altucher is hedge-fund manager who founded more than 20 companies. He is a polymath as over a decade ago, I remember reading a book on Algorithmic trading on Visual Basic written by him. These days his books tend to be more like self help books.

a) What am I embarrassed with ? What am I doing about it ?

This might be secret formula to be a top blogger. 

Think about what embarrasses you or what you are struggling with right now and then proceed to write articles on your struggle and what you are trying to do about it. 

I believe that this formula works because people can relate to the personal struggles of others. Sharing your approach to dealing with it also helps readers solve problems of their own.

b) Easier to generate 20 ideas than 10.

The second idea basically says that its easier to generate 20 ideas than 10 ideas because we tend to be a harsh judge to ourselves. There is an overarching theme to this book that creative ideas are generated when you are less judgemental about it and one recommendation is to generate daily lists of ten items as a ritual.

I have another tip on creative idea generation. Do it alone - and if you can't help doing it in a team, do not generate ideas in the presence of smart people. Some smart folks like those I met in Law School can't help but use their critical thinking skills to kill off ideas before they can be fully formed. You need to protect your crazier ideas and allow them to be developed before you send them into the firing squad. 

c) You may not have a single purpose in your life

I struggle with this statement because I do not come from a culture that make it so important to have a purpose in life. While I consider myself quite driven, I have always met with people with no real purpose to their life or existence.

Based on my personal observation, the downside to not having a purpose in life is that you end up having a dull existence which is moderated by computer games and material consumption. Another side-effect is that I notice that people in general respect folks who lack a life purpose less.

But it's a liveable life and no big deal. 

There are worse people out there in society today.