On The Nature of the Relativity of Time

James Altucher is on a roll in his current Q&A session, here's the start to his first question:

Question: potential client that has shown interest in my product no longer returns my calls, should I drive to him and see what’s going on?

Answer:

This is a law of the universe: time is relative. When you need money or  love, time moves faster for you. When you are giving money or love, time moves slower.

When I was raising money for a hedge fund I’d pitch someoneone on Thursday. It would be a great meeting. On Friday I’d be pacing back and forth, “is he really going to let this weekend go by without calling me about the money?” I’d think. Would someone actually be THAT RUDE?

Or one time I was going out with someone. I listed for her the reasons why I thought we were great together. I wanted her to come up with a similar list. “I’ll sit by the phone until you call me back with your list,” I said. The phone never rang all night. When I woke up I, of course, had to call her. “Oh,” she said, “you mean you wanted that list right away?”

RIGHT AWAY? IT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKING NIGHT THAT WENT BY.

When someone wanted me to put money in their business I said, “looks good, I’ll get back to you on it.” Three weeks later I got an impassioned hand-written note: “Did I do something wrong? I thought you were a good guy and then I didn’t hear from you for three weeks.” When I was single I would lose facebook friends if I didn’t call a girl back fast enough. Not only would she unfriend me but all of our mutual friends. 

Time is relative.

There's more Q&A from Altucher on How to Be a Millionaire, How To Be Ugly, How to Network, Back To School Reading List, and more. His answer about moving from (or to) the United States is very insightful. Also find out why he didn't sue his stockbroker after losing millions and what he thinks of hunting. It's all , all right here.