The James Altucher Show

Episode Description:A good outcome does not necessarily mean you made a good decision.And a bad outcome does not necessarily mean you made a bad one.That distinction is at the heart of James’s conversation with Annie Duke, former professional poker player and author of Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts.Poker gave Annie an unusually intense laboratory for studying uncertainty. You can make exactly the right decision and lose money. You can make a terrible decision and win. If you judge yourself only by the result, you may reinforce bad habits, discard good strategies, and learn the wrong lesson entirely.James connects this immediately to business, investing, comedy, relationships, and his own experience selling a company during the dot-com boom. When things work out, people naturally want to take credit. When things go badly, they naturally want to blame luck.Both reactions interfere with learning.Annie argues that one of the most valuable skills is learning to separa