What Will the New Normal Look Like?

You can't THINK your way out of uncertainty. We are basic animals first. And animals ACT. They don't waste time thinking. March 31, 2020 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( | [WEBSITE]( [Altucher Confidential] “You can't THINK your way out of uncertainty. We are basic animals first. And animals ACT. They don't waste time thinking.” [Enable Images To See More] What Will the New Normal Look Like? By James Altucher [INCOMING MESSAGE FROM JAMES ALTUCHER<]( [Please Enable Images](Did you know Coronavirus isn’t what’s driving your stocks up and down like crazy?  A while ago I discovered the REAL CAUSE that seems to be driving the markets wildly up and down.  [I explain everything in my video—you can click the image below to play it…](  [(Watch my short video now, before it’s taken down TOMORROW MORNING)]( I have never seen so much uncertainty in my life. There's uncertainty about: Health: How bad will this virus get worldwide? I've addressed this in my posts, and in my Instagram Lives every day at 2 p.m., by looking at all the data and talking to the experts. My own view is that the pandemic takes 3–4 months from beginning (100+ cases in a country) to end. And in the middle of that, it “peaks.” Which means the number of new cases starts to stabilize and go down. We've seen this pattern in China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, etc., even though they all used different strategies for fighting the virus. They all had about a 3–4-month time span, with a peak right in the middle. It's hard to tell, but it looks to me like the peak has already been reached in Italy and Spain. The key number to look at is “number of new daily deaths.” If this theory continues to hold up, we should see a peak in the U.S. around April 15, give or take a week. And basically an end to the virus in early June. Financial: What's happening to my job? What's happening to my money? Etc. Societal: What will the "new normal" look like? That's a lot of uncertainty! And it's scary. Some brief advice: You can't THINK your way out of uncertainty. You can't suddenly decide, "I feel good about myself now so I will DECIDE to be less uncertain." It doesn't work like that. Every self-help book might disagree with me, but there it is. We are basic animals first. And animals ACT. They don't waste time thinking. The way to have more confidence, for instance, is to do things that already display confidence. I can't think my way into being a confident baseball player. I would have to work hard, practice, learn, play a lot to become a better baseball player and then a confident baseball player. Once I am confident in my skills at some activity I love, then I will be a more confident person. It's the same thing with uncertainty. If you want certainty, then start to get better at things you love that you are certain about. Be a better person: Call people you love and encourage them in these hard times. Become a better writer and start that blog. Start a podcast and get good at it. Do things and I guarantee, as you get the rush of improving at a skill you love, you will become more certain at that skill and that certainty will bleed into all of the other parts of your life. We've all suffered through dark periods of uncertainty in our lifetimes. And I hate it. I really am sick of it. 9/11: I lived right next to the World Trade Center. I was in the WTC (at the Dean & Deluca on the first floor) a few minutes before. And I watched the first plane come in and then physically crash into the building while I had the second to think, "Is that the president's plane?" Financial Crisis of 2008: I actually LIVED on Wall Street then. And I was on CNBC or other business channels almost every day talking about the crisis. It was scary and uncertain and I felt like I couldn't escape it because my entire life and work revolved around it. I was very literally at the center of both crises and I didn't really deal with uncertainty very well in either situation. And now N.Y.C. is being called the "capital of the world” for the coronavirus. I'm kind of tired of being at the epicenter of each crisis. But it has given me a chance to exercise my uncertainty muscle, for better or worse. One thing I know always gets me going is writing down my "10 ideas a day" list. I have a waiter's pad and I sit down and write 10 ideas. The idea muscle atrophies if you don't use it. Once I started doing this every day, after about 2–3 months, I felt like an idea machine. I first described this exercise in a post in 2011 and I've had many people start doing the exercise as well and then write to tell me the results. Today, my idea list: What will the new normal look like? I just wanted to bullet 10 items. I'm not supposed to write an entire novel about these ideas. Just bullet points. Something to force my brain to think. And then for a future list (tomorrow?) I might pick out an item from this list and try to think of "10 ideas for XYZ industry in the new normal." In any case… The Mysterious Retirement Benefits Book That’s Changing Lives… [Enable_Images_Please](Inside [THIS MYSTERIOUS BOOK,]( you’ll find 100 life-changing ways to maximize your retirement benefits… These folks have already read it and shared their stories online: $50,000 in Benefits… Just Like That! “Told us exactly how to get over $50,000 more in the first 4 years of my wife receiving her benefits. And 32% more every year thereafter.” — Don T. My Wife and I Got $17,000 Right Off the Bat! “Excellent book! Making my wife and I almost $17,000 right off the bat and increasing our retirement income by well over a third. Purchase of this book was my biggest and best investment ever!” — Rick M. 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One small investment of mine, Teachable, an online learning site, just sold for $250 million right in the middle of this crisis. C) Telemedicine & teletherapy I see my therapist via Zoom now. D) Drones For delivery. E) Robotics For medicine (a robot treating a patient can't get coronavirus) and for disinfecting surfaces. F) Delivery Every delivery company is going to surge. Postmates just became the latest new sponsor of my podcast because they know to strike now. G) Less spending This month I only spent money on food for my family. Nothing else. I haven't even changed my clothes in three days. Which is probably why I'm the only one in the living room right now as I type this. Less spending will continue for a while even though people will have extra money from the stimulus bill. Expect luxury items to come down. H) Content is KING More people creating podcasts, writing books, making TikTok videos. And more people spending on content. Less spending on going to movies or big events or (sadly) comedy clubs. I'm thinking about new business models for curating content across many platforms. I) Virtual meetups Have you been invited to a Zoom cocktail party yet? This is like an introvert's dream. I can go to a party and also be by myself without feeling like a weirdo. BOOM! Possible business model: allowing people to list live virtual events and invite the public. An aggregation/curation tool for Zoom events. J) Airlines, hotels, Airbnb, cars, tourism, travel in general, real estate in urban areas… not so good Three weeks ago I was in the Netherlands, performing all over the country. Today, I am glad I'm home. Sincerely, [James Altucher] James Altucher P.S. While the coronavirus pandemic is certainly scary, it has allowed me time to focus on new opportunities. For instance, a while back, I accidentally discovered something that allows me to protect my money, and even profit, in choppy markets — much like the one we’re in today. [Click here to learn more about it.]( Even if You Don’t Read Dirty Magazines… Here’s one time you should’ve… [please enable images](In 1981, a dirty magazine published an article that had the potential to make its readers filthy rich. They interviewed the author of Microcosm in 1990, Life After Television in 1994, and Telecosm in 2002. Each one of these books issued predictions of new tech that took the world by storm and would gotten you ahead of the millions of people investing in them. Today this same author has a new book and wrote: “The next paradigm could impact over $16.8 trillion in the world economy. And you could get very rich as it does.” [Click here to learn how to get a copy of this book showing you the companies that could make you fortunes.]( Subsribe To My Podcast [The James Altucher Show]( Add james@jamesaltucher.com to your address book: [Whitelist Us]( [The James Altucher Website]( [Subscribe Via Text]( [Subscribe With YouTube]( [Subscribe On Messenger]( [Subscribe With iTunes]( [Connected on LinkedIn]( Join the conversation! Follow me on social media: [Facebook Group]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Instagram]( Altucher Confidential is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to Choose Yourself Media delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Altucher Confidential e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Altucher Confidential, feel free to [click here](. Please read our [Privacy Statement](. 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