James Altucher’s advice for your idea muscle

Word for word, here’s what he says:

“Every day I write down ideas. I write down so many ideas that it hurts my head to come up with one more. Then I try to write down five more.

“The other day I tried to write 100 alternatives kids can do other than go to college. I wrote down eight. . . I couldn’t come up with anymore. Then the next day I came up with another 40. It definitely stretched my head.

“No ideas today? Memorize all the legal 2 letter words for Scrabble. Translate the Tao Te Ching into Spanish. Need ideas for lists of ideas? Come up with 30 separate chapters for an ‘autobiography’. Try to think of 10 businesses you can start from home (and be realistic how you can execute them)? Give me 10 ideas of directions this blog can go in.  Think of 20 ways Obama can improve the country. List every productive thing you did yesterday (this improves memory also and gives you ideas for today).

“The ‘idea muscle’ atrophies within days if you don’t use it. Just like walking. If you don’t use your legs for a week, they atrophy. You need to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6 months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me on this.”

Now I’m going to move on from the lazy, copy/paste post and create something original. I hope you do the same.