James Altucher interviews the world's leading peak performers in every area of life. But instead of giving you the typical success story, James digs deeper to find the "Choose Yourself" story - these are the moments we relate to... when someone rises up from personal struggle to reinvent themselves. The James Altucher Show brings you into the lives of peak-performers: billionaires, best-selling authors, rappers, astronauts, athletes, comedians, actors, and the world champions in every field, all who forged their own paths, found financial freedom and harnessed the power to create more meaningful and fulfilling lives.
Episode Description:
To launch our “From the Archive” series, James revisits his candid talk with Sara Blakely about turning fear into fuel, reframing failure, and selling a simple product with language and grit. You’ll hear the bathroom demo that won Neiman Marcus, the three-part courage engine she still uses, and how to protect the thinking time that sparks real ideas.
What You’ll Learn:
- A usable framework for courage: how gratitude, mortality, and mission help you act when you’re anxious.
- Cold-call tactics that open doors: lead with humanity, humor, and a clear benefit; remove “doubt language.”
- Naming and language as strategy: why one word, cadence, or sound (“K”) can change response and recall.
- Prototype → proof → order: how to create momentum before the back office exists—and survive it.
- Idea hygiene: protect thinking time, keep an “idea log,” and test small, real-world demos fast.
Timestamped Chapters:
- [02:13] “What did you fail at this week?” — redefining failure at the dinner table.
- [03:13] Why this conversation outranked a big news assignment.
- [04:25] Mission beyond profit — Belly Art Project and maternal health.
- [06:17] Empowering women: the through-line from day one.
- [08:00] Gratitude and anxiety — learning courage in real time.
- [10:12] Mortality as perspective; the loss that changed her trajectory.
- [12:19] Purpose larger than self—doing the scary thing anyway.
- [14:50] The Warren Buffett premiere pep talk: “Get over yourself.”
- [17:08] Stand-up as training for product storytelling.
- [19:00] Seven years of cold calling: rejection as reps.
- [21:33] Wayne Dyer and “how to think” vs. “what to think.”
- [26:16] The “fake commute”: protecting thinking time.
- [30:00] “Are you my idea?” — from cut-off pantyhose to a canvas under clothes.
- [33:00] The value of a word: comedy, cadence, and copy.
- [34:03] Why she bet on a name with a hard “K.”
- [42:52] The Neiman Marcus call, the in-person pitch, and the bathroom demo.
- [49:31] “We don’t have crotches” — surviving ops chaos on the first big order.
- [52:00] Tears in Office Depot and learning the bill of lading.
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