Stephen Tobolowsky: Write Your Own Story Because We’re All Living On Borrowed Time

If you’re reading this, you probably don’t know the name Stephen Tobolowsky.

But I’ll give you some hints.

Ned Ryerson. (From “Groundhog Day”)

Jack Barker. (From “Silicon Valley”)

Sound familiar? Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the main characters and actors in one of my favorite TV Shows, Silicon Valley. He also plays the MOST annoying character in Groundhog Day. He’s been in 200 movies and a thousand other things including Seinfeld, Thelma & Louise, Heroes and the list goes on.

But he did something weird.

He wrote a book.

And when I read it I thought, “who the hell is this guy?”

There are only two ways someone could write this book…” My Adventures with God”.

ONE: If they were incredibly broken as a human being somewhere in their lives and then they climbed back out of that hole by thinking all these intense and philosophical thoughts.

TWO: They were just born this way...

I still haven’t figured out which one.

I have to admit I didn’t understand parts of Stephen’s book. And not because it was bad, (I loved it), but because I had to stop and think. His thoughts are so valuable and I really wanted to know what they meant. I was pretty happy he was able to come on my podcast.

He taught me that we’re all writing and choosing our narratives to some extent...

“Well I think on a personal level, we all end up developing narratives,” Stephen said, “Either it's instinct or sometimes it’s choice. I think we live in the dark so much of the time that we need metaphors to find our way. And I believe having a philosophy is only useful if it helps you see in the dark.”

So I asked him how do we begin to take control of our own narratives?

Because we to some extent, I can’t just surrender to the narratives that has been given to me.

That takes away my freedom and ability to reinvent.

Stephen told me this, “We’re all living on borrowed time.”

This podcast shows you a window into a man’s desire to connect with the deeper meaning on time and what it means to be alive.

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James Altucher is the author of the bestselling book Choose Yourself, editor at The Altucher Report and host of the popular podcast, The James Altucher Show, which takes you beyond business and entrepreneurship by exploring what it means to be human and achieve well-being in a world that is increasingly complicated.