3907: The One Habit That Keeps 99% Of People From Getting Rich by James Altucher on Wealth Barriers

Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3907: James Altucher explores the hidden costs of saying "yes" out of ego, obligation, or fear of disappointing others, often at the expense of time, personal growth, and freedom. Through candid stories and a practical three-step framework, he reveals how mastering the art of saying "no" is essential to building wealth, protecting your energy, and living a more intentional life. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/one-habit-keeps-99-percent-from-getting-rich/ Quotes to ponder: "You are saying 'YES' to yourself. 'YES' to the sacredness of a single day on this earth we are lucky enough to live on." "If it’s not a ‘Hell, Yeah!’… it’s a NO!" "The best new connections are your old connections." Episode references: The Power of Now: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily, the one habit that keeps 99% of people
0:06.8	from getting rich by James Altricure of James Altiture.com, and I'm your narrator, Justin Mollick,
0:12.8	reading you articles every day of the year. So with that, let's get right to it as we optimize
0:17.8	your life.
0:27.8	The one habit that keeps 99% of people from getting rich by James Altiture of James Altiture.com
0:29.2	I said yes to speak at a conference a few months ago, and then I ghosted them.
0:36.5	I didn't show up. I didn't tell them I wasn't going to show up. I thought I wanted to go. And then I ghosted them. I didn't show up. I didn't tell them I wasn't going to show up.
0:40.6	I thought I wanted to go, but what I really wanted was to be asked. I wrote to them at first,
0:46.2	how come you aren't asking me this year? I'll speak about whatever you want. So the main guy wrote
0:50.9	back, great, we thought you didn't want to come. Be the keynote speaker, speak about whatever you want. And I wrote back, yes, thank you. As it got closer, I regretted saying yes, but I was afraid to tell them. I didn't know what to do. They kept writing me and I didn't write back. Tomorrow, I kept telling myself. Tomorrow I'll figure it out. And then? I just didn't show up.
1:13.1	I have no idea what they did when their keynote speaker without any notice didn't show up.
1:17.3	I was afraid to say no, to disappoint. I'm the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller,
1:22.4	The Power of No, buy it for all your friends. I'm a horrible human being. I was a freshman in college and going into my
1:29.3	dorm when some guy I didn't know yelled out his window. I just had... I thought he was a jerk.
1:35.5	Because he was a jerk, but also because I was jealous of him. I had yet to kiss a girl and I was
1:40.3	18 and in college. It was wintry and snowy and cold and I was only angry at everyone.
1:46.2	I was lonely. I had few friends, no girlfriend, and I missed my family. I wanted to go home and I was
1:52.6	practically failing all my classes. Years later, I was a computer science major at my first job.
1:58.5	I even had to take remedial courses in computer science, although I had been
2:01.6	an all-A student at CS and even went to graduate school for it, because college had taught me no real-world
2:07.3	skills. I wish I had said no to college. I said no to speak at a conference the other day. N-O.
2:14.2	This is a big deal for me, because I wanted to be asked to speak at the conference.
	...

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