Books by Anthony Pompliano.

How to Live an Extraordinary Life

How to Live an Extraordinary Life is Anthony Pompliano’s first book and a best seller. It is a collection of 65 letters to his children, and each one teaches a single life lesson. The letters follow the same pattern: the lesson, the story of how he learned it (a mistake he made, advice someone gave him, or something he lived through), and practical steps for putting it into practice.

The lessons cover how to approach work and business, how to build relationships, how to handle money and investing, and how to stay healthy and happy. Ideas include “luck is not real,” “live your life as a documentary,” “spend less than you make,” and “your intuition is your algorithm.” The book is not about finance or bitcoin. It is about self-improvement, lifelong learning and building the life you want.

Book details

Chapters (table of contents)

The book has 65 letters, starting with the Introduction.

1. Introduction
2. How you do anything is how you do everything
3. Today is practice for tomorrow
4. Carve your ethics in stone, write your opinions in sand
5. Excellence doesn’t have a watch
6. Do it right, do it light
7. Build things
8. Have a bias for action
9. Finish what you start
10. Luck is not real
11. Chinese farmer
12. Two crappy pages per day
13. Don’t compare yourself to the bottom of the bucket
14. Tie your identity to your own name
15. Two years of experience five times
16. Life is full of power laws
17. Take work off your boss’s desk
18. Bad news doesn’t get better with time
19. Maker’s schedule, manager’s schedule
20. Clear thinking can’t happen in a messy room
21. Management makes the rules, management changes the rules
22. It’s just business
23. Never ask someone to do something you are not willing to do
24. Magnets attract opportunities
25. What can I do to help you?
26. Call your friends for no reason
27. Make people talk about themselves
28. Genuinely caring is a life hack
29. Get on the plane
30. Spend time with your peers
31. Host dinner for interesting people
32. Surround yourself with compounders
33. No one is thinking about you
34. Fire boring friends
35. Respect other people’s time
36. You don’t get if you don’t ask
37. Compete, don’t complain
38. Puzzles, not problems
39. Most people would dream of having your problems
40. Every play is drawn up to be a touchdown
41. Childhood is not a crutch
42. Simplicity signals mastery
43. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
44. Never argue with a fool
45. Change your mind when the facts change
46. You can’t be rational with an irrational person
47. You don’t have to win every argument
48. How to be unhappy
49. Optimize your content diet
50. Information is a currency
51. Document good ideas
52. Spend less than you make
53. Rich people sell too early
54. Buy great assets and hold them forever
55. Pictures are memories frozen in time
56. Weird things can change the world
57. You can’t live an extraordinary life sitting on your couch
58. Live your life as a documentary
59. We are all going to die
60. Walk outside daily
61. No stress can withstand a proper workout
62. Attack the day
63. Sleep is nature’s doctor
64. Your intuition is your algorithm
65. Write letters

How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two

How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two is the best-selling follow-up to Anthony Pompliano’s first book. It keeps the same format: letters to his children, each built around one idea. This volume has 50 new letters with ideas that, in his words, “had a significant impact on my personal, professional, and financial life.” The publisher groups the lessons under four outcomes:

• Wiser: shrinking the distance between deciding and doing, building real understanding instead of “chauffeur knowledge,” taking personal responsibility, and learning to endure uncertainty.
• Wealthier: the difference between being self-employed and owning a business, why you are not really making money until you make money when you’re not working, and new ways to think about ownership and opportunity.
• Healthier: why “the devil doesn’t tempt you with spinach,” producing more than you consume, and building discipline that shows when no one is watching.
• Happier: being “the 60% spouse,” spending time with people who share your future, and building a life you are excited about.

How it differs from the first book: Volume One has 65 lessons. Volume Two has 50 new letters, organized around four outcomes: becoming wiser, wealthier, healthier and happier.

Book details

Chapters (table of contents)

The book has 50 letters, starting with the Introduction.

1. Introduction
2. Farmhand sleeps through a storm
3. Chauffeur knowledge
4. Two types of morning men
5. The devil doesn’t tempt you with spinach
6. Even a pawn can take down a king
7. It is better to be busy than bored
8. Shrink the distance between deciding and doing
9. More people die on the way down from Mount Everest
10. Be the 60% spouse
11. The Production Principle
12. A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others
13. You can’t fake good kids
14. What you do in private always shows in public
15. It ran in the family until it ran into me
16. Anger kills wisdom
17. The world will treat you how you treat yourself
18. The mission, the men, and me
19. It is you vs you... and one of you has to die
20. Be a good tipper
21. F*ck you focus
22. Results are the best résumé
23. Don’t get outworked by a crackhead
24. It’s not the pain that breaks men, it’s the belief that it will never end
25. Build your first fortune in your mind
26. You are not making money until you make money when you’re not working
27. Planes that land safely never make the news
28. It is loud when a tree falls, but silent when a tree grows
29. Time is invisible
30. Amateurs built Noah’s Ark, professionals built the Titanic
31. Don’t eat with people you wouldn’t starve with
32. Be 100% hardcore you
33. Be proud to be an American
34. Success requires you to endure uncertainty
35. Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything
36. The reward for good work is more work
37. Everything you think about, you will bring about
38. Hang out with people who have a common future rather than a common past
39. The Ego Tax
40. I would rather be tired from the work than broke from laziness
41. Play life by Monopoly rules
42. ‘No’ is the most powerful productivity tool
43. There are graveyards full of people who thought they had more time
44. Procrastination is an arrogant assumption
45. Success is being excited to go to work and being excited to come home
46. Committees are where good ideas go to die
47. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary
48. You find the truth when dissent is outlawed
49. Never underestimate the man who overestimates himself
50. Your father wants you to be better than him

What others have said

“Filled with wisdom all of us need… A must-read for every parent to give their child.”

— Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad

“Fifty ideas that can change your life, written by one of the sharpest minds in finance and one of the best fathers I know.”

— Anthony Scaramucci

Why Anthony wrote these books

In his own words, from the Volume One launch letter: “I never had an intention to write a book, but as I started writing these letters in private it struck me that many other people could benefit from these insights.” He added that “each letter is the product of a mistake I made, a piece of advice someone gave to me, or an experience I lived through over the years.” Read the launch letter.

Frequently asked questions

What books has Anthony Pompliano written?

Anthony Pompliano has written two best-selling books: How to Live an Extraordinary Life (2024) and How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two (2026). Harriman House published both.

What is How to Live an Extraordinary Life about?

It is a best-selling collection of 65 letters from Anthony Pompliano to his children. Each letter teaches one life lesson about work, relationships, money, health or happiness. It explains how he learned the lesson and gives practical steps for applying it.

What is How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two about, and how is it different from the first book?

Volume Two is the best-selling follow-up: a new collection of 50 letters to his children, published October 6, 2026. The letters are new, not repeats from the first book, and they are organized around four goals: becoming wiser, wealthier, healthier and happier. Topics include “chauffeur knowledge,” “be the 60% spouse,” and making money when you’re not working.

Do I need to read the first book before Volume Two?

No. Each book is a collection of individual letters, and each letter covers one lesson, so readers can start with either volume.

When was each book published?

How to Live an Extraordinary Life was published on September 24, 2024. How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two was published on October 6, 2026. Harriman House published both.

Where can I buy Anthony Pompliano’s books?

Both books are sold on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. How to Live an Extraordinary Life: Amazon or Barnes & Noble. How to Live an Extraordinary Life Volume Two: Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Paperback, ebook and audiobook editions are also available from other booksellers.