Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 109

How Risk-Averse Entrepreneurs Succeed: Low-Cost Testing Using Reddit, PayPal, In-Person Pressure, and More

Entrepreneurs are risk-takers… or so the story goes.

In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth. Over the last 13 years in Silicon Valley, I’ve found that the homerun hitters are precisely the opposite: risk-averse. They mitigate downside whenever possible with low-cost and short-term testing. They’re often extremely ambitious and aggressive (e.g. Travis Kalanick of Uber or Elon Musk), but they aren’t remotely haphazard.

They’re methodical, and this is a learned trait.

The above video is a conversation between me, several first-time entrepreneurs, and Noah Kagan, CEO of AppSumo.com. In this video, Noah — who was an early employee at Facebook and Mint.com — covers his risk-minimizing methodologies:

In the first 20 minutes:

- His career path, including failures.

- How he has used low-cost testing in his own ventures.

- Why focusing on the small things (even trivial things) is a big thing.

- Common mistakes and coping mechanisms of first-time founders (e.g. seeking multiple co-founders).

In the second 40 minutes:

- Live critiques (in some cases, constructive tear-downs) of real companies and entrepreneurs.

- How entrepreneurs can make the jump from theory to revenue… in real-time.

- How you can immediately stop “playing business” without customer contact.

If you’re going to skip any part, skip the first 20 minutes. Though I enjoyed every minute, the last 40 minutes are especially must-see.

For more from Noah, be sure to check out his previous how-to posts on this blog, as well as his free upcoming course (9/26/13) on creativeLIVE: How to Overcome Fear and Get What You Want.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What tools or services have you found most valuable for low-cost business validation? Any other tricks?

How to Travel to Exotic, Expensive Cities on $50 a Day

(Photo: Marc P. Demoz)

OK, I’ve had a few short posts recently.

Now it’s time for my favorite: a post you will want to print out, refer to often, and take with you on adventures. In this case, we’ll explore budget travel that is luxury travel.

But what does that mean? It means that traveling inexpensively is a decision for creativity, not simply a decision against excessive spending. Throwing money at a trip means you are ordering from the normal, plain-vanilla menu (e.g. Marriott or Four Seasons hotels). This often means physically changing locations without changing your perspective or worldview at all.

In contrast, looking at how locals live — and find hidden gems — ensures you have amazing experiences that no guidebook can capture. This post is written by Matt Kepnes, better known as “Nomadic Matt.” He didn’t have his first overseas trip until age 23, and now he’s traveled to more than 70 countries.

His specialty is engineering first-class trips from economy-class budgets… Perhaps it’s time for that trip you’ve been putting off?

Enjoy, and please share your own tips in the comments! Matt will be responding to questions there as well.

Enter Nomadic Matt

When I ask people why they don’t travel as much as they would like, the most common answer is “because of money.”  This is also the saddest and most frustrating answer.

There is an illusion perpetrated by luxury resorts, travel magazines, and travel agencies, that the wonders of some of the greatest cities in the world are out of reach for ordinary folks.

When I started traveling the world in 2006, I made many rookie and costly mistakes. More than 70 countries later, I’ve developed a handful of strategies and tips that can be applied to any destination, no matter how expensive.

Thanks to this handful, I’ve relaxed in the fanciest hotels in the world and stayed in hundreds of hostels. I’ve flown first-class, flown economy class, and hitchhiked through Central America. I’ve eaten at luxury restaurants and street stalls. Seven years of traveling the world on a budget has shown me that you can enjoy the best the world has to offer without sitting in your room eating instant pasta. “Budget travel” doesn’t mean you can’t have some luxury.

Think about your dream destination.  For that matter, think of the three most expensive and sought after cities: Paris, New York or Hong Kong. Wouldn’t it be great to spend a week in any of these cities while only spending $50 a day?

I’m going to show you how to hack these cities from top to bottom: what to do, where to eat, and where you can stay. In reading this post, you’ll also learn flexible principles that can be applied to any city you choose.

The Basics

Before we get to the specifics on each city, here are a few tips that will make flight, hotel, and bank fees vanish.

If this stuff bores you, feel free to skip directly to “City #1: Hacking Paris.”

Flights and Airline Points - I normally fly about 40,000 to 50,000 miles per year, which earns me enough frequent flier miles for a free flight in economy almost anywhere but you don’t need to have to fly to get a free flight – you can use branded travel credit cards and their sign up bonuses to fly free.  I’ve accumulated close to a million miles by taking advantages of credit card bonuses.

If you really want to nerd out and get obsessed like I am, the links below will help turn you into a point hacker pro.

The Points Guy

Flyer Talk

Million Mile Secrets

Hack My Trip

Boarding Area

If you want to keep it simple, it’s best to just get one to two travel credit cards. Here’s what you do:

1. Sign up for a branded airline credit card: All U.S. airlines have a branded travel credit card that gives you 25,000-50,000 points when you sign up and meet their minimum spending requirements (which is sometimes just one purchase). Airline credit cards are the best way to jump-start your mileage balance.  You can gain a lot of points really quickly.  Personally, I use American Airlines Citi Card but for someone just starting out, I would consider getting two cards: one for your favorite airline—whatever it is–and a second card that has flexible points, i.e. points that can be used on any airline. Probably the best beginner card the second card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred because it’s easy to get, has a lower annual fee, and a larger sign up bonus.

2. Sign up for a non-airline credit card: Sign up for a non-airline credit card like a Chase or American Express card. You can use the points earned from these cards and transfer them to your preferred airline. Used in conjunction with step 1, you earn a lot of points very quickly. I recently got two Chase Ink cards and received 120,000 points, which I can transfer to a variety of different airlines.

3. Watch out for special promotions: I sign up for all the airline email lists on the airlines website. I always watch out for special 2-for-1 mile deals, or when they have special card offers to earn extra miles. American Airlines gave me 1,000 miles for watching a demo on their new shopping toolbar. I once got 5,000 miles for joining Netflix! Often times you get miles for filling out surveys or they will give you a 100% bonus on purchasing miles. Promotions help big time, and airlines seem to always be offering them. Utilizing promotions over the course of a few months can yield big results.

Words of caution: While it’s true that “churning and burning” (i.e. opening an closing a lot of credit cards at once) can hurt your credit, opening a few accounts over a year won’t kill your credit rating. I’ve been opening and closing accounts for years and I still have a credit score close to 800 and have never been denied a card. [Of course, be sure to pay off the balance/debt on the cards so you don’t pay fees, but I hope that goes without saying.] (A complete guide to the ins and outs of travel credit cards can be found here)

Accommodation:  Hotel points are just as good as airline miles. I usually sign up for one or two hotel cards to get points for a couple of free night stays in any destination I visit (Recommendation: Starwood American Express). Hotels are not my first accommodation option but in case I can’t find budget accommodation or just want to pamper myself, these points are a good back up.

Bank fees: Don’t give banks your hard earn money via needless fees. If you’re American, you can avoid all ATMs fees by getting a Charles Schwab ATM card (no fees and they reimburse you for other bank’s fees).  For non-Americans, join a bank in the Global ATM alliance. This is a group of banks that have come together to waive each other’s fees. Additionally, use one of these credit cards that don’t have any overseas transaction fees:

American Express Platinum

Chase Sapphire Preferred

United MileagePlus

Any Capital One card

Now, let’s get specific with our cities…

City #1: Hacking Paris

(Photo: Express Monorail)

The first time I stepped out of the metro and onto the Champs-Elysees, I feel in love with Paris. The lights, the ambience, the people. I was in love for life. Every subsequent trip has only deepened that love. All those movies about how wonderful Paris is aren’t lying to you. Paris exudes culture, sophistication, and style. Its museums and monuments are among some of the best in the world, especially if you love art. The food, the music, the wine, the women! (OK, for me, the French woman).

There is so much history in Paris, and the magic I see in movies like Midnight in Paris come alive every time I wander the streets, turn down cobblestone alleys and stumble upon a little café on a plaza where I can sit, drink some wine, and just enjoy the city’s magical energy.

However, Paris is not one of the cheaper cities in the world and a visit here can be expensive if you don’t plan right. It’s what turns most people off from visiting. They search on Expedia or Hotels.com and see $1,000 USD flights and $250 a night hotel rooms and think “no way”! But Paris has its secrets and as always there’s myriad of ways to reduce your expenses.

ACCOMMODATION:

Lodging is the biggest barrier to doing Paris on a budget. The single best decision you can make is to avoid Paris in July and August when rates are there highest. (Also, Paris is crazy crowded and hot then too! Go in the spring or fall to get better rates)

No matter when you go, there are five ways to avoid breaking the bank on accommodation:

Use Eurocheapo.com – This is the most comprehensive budget accommodation website for Europe and lists tons of properties not usually found on websites like Hotels.com or Expedia. When I’m looking for budget hotels, this is where I go. You’ll find small, family owned guesthouses they personally review not found anywhere else. Double rooms can start at $50 a night (i.e. only $25 per person).
Rent an apartment – In Paris, hotels are the most expensive place to stay. Enterprising Parisians have used this to rent out expensive space in their apartments to help pay their high rent. You can find a lot of guest rooms and apartments on sites like Airbnb, Wimdu, and Roomorama. Private double rooms begin at $40 USD per night ($20 per person). Single rooms or shared rooms start at around $30. Book at least a month in advance as these bargains book up fast and last minute spots are closer to $100.
Hostels – Hostels aren’t just for young kids – people of all ages stay in them. My favorite is St. Christopher’s Inn. Hostels in Paris are the cheapest option for single travelers with dorm rooms starting at $20 per night. You can book hostels on either Hostelworld or Hostelbookers.
Couchsurfing – Couchsurfing is a site that allows people to stay with locals for free. It’s a wonderful site – you not only get free accommodation but also get a local guide to give you the inside track on a destination. Through the site, I’ve learned about Aussie politics, Danish culture, and saw a German rock shows in Munich.  Tim has a comprehensive guide to Couchsurfing here.

Accommodation is going to take up a large portion of your budget no matter but the more you save using these tips, the more you can splurge on food and activities.

FOOD:

The city of lights has some of the best and most expensive food in the world. Moving from market stall to market stall, sampling rich French food, and buying picnic supplies for lunch in front of the Eiffel Tower is an ideal morning for me. If you really want to try some truly amazing (and affordable) French food, skip any place listed in a guidebook, and do what the locals do, and visit the small cafes and markets.

Delicious market food meals can cost as little as $5. In my opinion the best markets in Paris: (This page lists all the markets in Paris:)

Rue Cler – Located near the Eiffel Tower, this street is filled with good Parisian eateries. You’ll find cheese, meat, bread, vegetables, and chocolate stores to explore. It’s one of my favorite streets in the city. Due to its location, it’s one of the more touristy markets, with slightly higher prices than others. Stick to the breads, meats, and cheeses here.
Rue Montorgueil – Half market, half foodie-paradise-shopping street, the pedestrianized Rue Montorgueil is filled with flower vendors, rotisseries, tempting bakers and fragrant cheese shops. Here your delicious and cheap options include hot chocolate at Charles Chocolatier, a pastry at Stohrer (the oldest pastry shop in Paris), and fruit and vegetables from the stalls. You can walk away from here with a large meal for 2-3 people for around $13 USD.
Monge – In Place Monge, not far from the Jardin des Plantes, the Arènes de Lutèce and the Panthéon, this little open-air market is one of the most well known markets in the city center. This market is open from Wednesday and Friday from 7.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and Sunday between 7.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. It’s a popular market with locals and prices here tend to be the cheapest. Visit early to get the best selections. By the time lunch has rolled around, the freshest food is already gone.

Markets are going to be the most economical way to eat – and the most delicious. Markets survive and thrive in Paris because Parisians don’t have large kitchens and do their shopping every few days which means markets are always a hive of activity and deals.

Beyond just the markets, Paris offers many affordable meals. Just south of Notre Dame, Rue Dauphine has some worthwhile eateries. The place gets crowded with folks relaxing for drinks after dinner. Pull up a chair, grab a glass of wine, and people watch.

Two of my favorite restaurants are Jeanne A and Le Patio Provencal. Both offer delicious, rich, and inexpensive French food. Both are very off the beaten path but the staff does speak enough English where you can order without knowing French.

Jeanne A is also located near one of my favorite drinking spots, Josephine, in the Ménilmontant area, an area that is filled with affordable bars serving well priced drinks and often with live bands. While in Paris, avoid going clubbing. They are incredibly overpriced and often have a cover charge.

SIGHTSEEING TIPS:

The first thing any visitor needs to do is to get a Paris Museum Pass. This is a pre-paid pass that gets you access to over 60 museums and monuments around Paris. A 2-day PASS is only $51 USD, a 4-day pass is only $70 USD, and a 6-day pass is only $90 USD. And while this takes a big bit out of your daily budget, this pass will more than pay for itself. Without this pass, admission to the Louvre and Versailles alone  are $40 USD!. Admission to those establishments plus the top museums in Paris would run something like $150 USD.  Since most people visit lots of museums in the city, this pass is a great way to keep yourself to your $50 a day budget.

Crowds swarm the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral, creating long queues that wrap around each structure and can last for hours. Head there early in the morning or very late in the afternoon to avoid the rush. Lines start to form about an hour after opening.

The Latin Quarter is one of my favorite areas in Paris, and is less crowded than the touristy areas around the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. It is a calm and beautiful place to wander around. Head deep into the heart of it for tiny winding streets and cheap cafes that look out into little plazas. Be aware that the cafes get crowded with Parisians during lunch time. Come around noon (Parisians eat late) and you’ll find plenty of space.

The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world with thousands of square feet of space and millions of exhibits. Most people don’t know that the Louvre has discounted admission after 6pm on Fridays and free on Sundays. During the low season, it is also closed on Tuesdays.  If you buy the Paris Museum Pass, you get free admission.

Be prepared to spend hours here and not even see it all. To see it all, you’ll need at least two full days.  But for those without the desire or time to see it all, the best way to optimize your time is to go early, see the Mona Lisa first before the crowds, and then wander around seeing everything else in relative quiet as crowds overtake the Mona Lisa. When I visit the Louvre, I head straight there (also the Marriage of Cana right behind it is also pretty spectacular), and then wander around the museum. The crowds go right for the main course so while they jockey for space at the world’s most overrated painting, you get to stroll through the museum before the crowds disperse.

Additionally, to skip the long lines, use one of two entrances that most people have no idea exist. Enter via the side entrance in the Richelieu Wing, just across from where you exit the Louvre-Palais Royale metro.

For this entrance, you’ll need a ticket already. You can use your Paris Museum Pass will work or you can buy a ticket at one of the Paris tourist centers that dot the city. Additionally, you can also find short lines at the Porte des Lions entrance in the south western wing.

The Louvre and the impressionist museums (Musee D’Orsay and Musee D’Orangie) might get most of the attention but there are plenty of other great museums in the city – the amazing Rodin museum see a surprising dearth of visitors, the Holocaust museum is one of the best I’ve seen around the world, and the Paris Sewer museum gives you particularly interesting insight into one of the oldest and largest sewer systems in the world. All national museums are free admission on the first Sunday of every month. If you happen visit this day, be aware of potentially large crowds and long lines.

If you want a good view of the city but don’t want to wait to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, head to Montmartre.  I like coming up here, sitting near the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur for the view, and eating all the good food I found at one of the markets. 

A visit to the Palace of Versailles (free with your Paris pass) requires a whole day. It gets very crowded, especially when all the tour groups arrive. To avoid the crowds, I trying to see the actual palace at the end of the day. People tend to move from the palace to the gardens so I work in the opposite direction. I start at Marie Antoinette’s home and then the gardens and then the palace. By mid-afternoon, there are fewer crowds and your pass gets you into everything all day. Otherwise, you can also get to the palace when it opens to avoid the long lines and stream of people.

Potential visitors often think Paris is expensive and that all those museums are just going to add up. Not necessarily. If you get the museum pass, the four-day pass only costs $17.5 USD. To maximize your time seeing the city, here is a five day itinerary for sightseeing Paris .

Paris is a huge and expensive city but like all places, there are ways to make it affordable. Once you skip the big hotels and don’t eat near the tourist attractions, you’ve pretty much lowered your big costs, allowing you to enjoy Paris more and worry less about money. The markets are cheap, drinks in Ménilmontant affordable, and the Paris pass saves hundreds.

You may not want to visit on only $50 a day, but there’s no reason need to spend hundreds here.

City #2: Hacking Hong Kong

(Photo: Trodel)

Hong Kong is the like the New York City of the East–big, dense, hectic, multi-cultural, and open all hours.

But imagine New York City tucked into rolling green hills with towering crème and brown and pink skyscrapers that blend into one. When looking out at the city from the water, it looks as though someone photoshopped it into the mountains; this teeming metropolis set against a nature park.

Hong Kong: I can’t get enough of it.

I can eat at tiny dumpling shops while drinking dollar beers next to a seven-star hotel. How many cities can you do that in? And when you head out at night, you meet people from around the world. Hong Kong fascinated me before I visited – and then I went there and, ate there, and wandered its streets – and my fascination turned into love.

People think Hong Kong is expensive due to the massive high rises, banking industry, and expensive hotels. But the city located in Asia, a region of the world where those on the tiniest of budgets can make due thanks to guesthouses and an inexpensive street food culture that refuses to go away.

ACCOMMODATION:

In Hong Kong there are a few keys ways to not have accommodation eat your budget.

First, stay in Chungking Mansion. This dilapidated but interesting 17 story building on Kowloon island is home to cheap food stalls, markets (with goods that fall off the back of a truck), and plenty of cheap guesthouses where beds start at $15 USD a night. There’s nothing cheaper in the city.

Secondly, avoid staying on Hong Kong Island. Accommodation – from cheap guesthouses to expensive hotels – is much more expensive on this island (just like the island of Manhattan as we’ll see later). The other islands have much cheaper accommodation.

Your other options are slim but available. Airbnb and hostels all start around $20 a night for a dorm bed and go up to $40 for a private. You can Couchsurf but Hong Kong is a city where those free hotel points should be redeemed. All the major hotel chains are represented here and if you aren’t in the mood to share a room, redeem the points here.

FOOD:

While accommodation will eat a good chunk your budget, luckily food doesn’t have too. And it will be some of the best food in your life. Asia has a very pronounced street culture and all the major cities in the region have delicious meals (eaten by the locals en masse) served from street stalls. Hong Kong is no different.

To eat cheaply:

First, visit the local markets. Most locals shop at markets as they offer the cheapest and freshest foods, at times up to 50% cheaper than grocery stores. The Chun Yeung Street market in North Point, Hong Kong Island is one of the best. Many of the outdoor shopping markets also have small food vendors near them for quick, cheap and delicious eats. Meals will start at around a dollar.

Skip the fancy restaurants and instead go for the tiny little shops without the glitzy lights. You’ll find the best food there.  In fact, Hong Kong boosts a dumpling shop called Tim Ho Wan that has a Michelin star. Get there when they open or the line is usually about two hours long. Some of my other favorite cheap eats include Mr. Wong’s (located right next to Tim Ho Wan), which has all you can eat and drink for only $8 USD. Mr. Wong is a character. He’ll joke around and keep serving you food until you can’t burst. Additional, the string of restaurants on Jardin’s Bazaar road at Causeway Bay has tons of tiny little vendors.

For cheap drinks, experience the nightlife at Lan Kwai Fong. LKF is the main nightlife and party area in Hong Kong and is filled with tons of bars, clubs, shisha bars, and cheap drinks. It’s where all the young folks go to party, so the drinks are pretty cheap.

TRANSPORTATION:

Hong Kong, except for the outlying areas, is pretty walkable.  You can even walk up Victoria Peak if you don’t want to shell out for the tram. The city’s many walkways and skyways make for fascinating sightseeing in and of themselves, with steep stairs and glass-enclosed paths a city within a city. Additionally, take the Star Ferry between Kowloon and Hong Kong island. It’s only .30 USD cents and the cheapest way to get between the islands (plus the view of the skyline is great!).  I especially enjoy taking it at night when the city high rises are all light up.

Taxis in Hong Kong are very expensive and should be general avoided by anyone on a budget. The train in Hong Kong can add up quickly as fares are based on distance. If you’re traveling fair in Hong Kong, getting a day pass for the train will be much more economical.

SIGHTSEEING TIPS:

Hong Kong has many cheap and free sights that will fill your days without emptying your wallet.

The Hong Kong Tourism office offers free cultural tours. Advance sign up is required but if you are interested in learning more about the local culture, this program is the best. Recently, a private company also started to do free walking tours of Hong Kong. This National Geographic article has a list of many free activities.

There are a large number of traditional temples and heritage sites throughout the city. You can visit the Miu Fat Buddhist Monastery, Lo Pan Temple, Sha Tin Che Kung Temple or the Yuen Yuen Institute. All are free.

Head out into the new territories – want to get off the beaten track? Visit the New Territories where you can avoid the crowds that is central Hong Kong, find inexpensive food, tiny villages, and more open space. Do the Ping Shan Heritage Trail, which is a small village walk that passes through historic museums and buildings.  The walk isn’t that long, taking only about an hour.

The Peak Tram – This tram takes you to the top of the Peak, Hong Kong Island’s largest mountain, standing at 522 meters.  This is an absolutely spectacular way to view the skyscape of Victoria Harbor and Kowloon and marvel upon the encompassing beauty of the surrounding hills. The tram costs $10 round trip but as I said above, you can walk this route if you don’t want to take the tram, looping up on narrow roads to the top of the Peak.

Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront - Stroll along the Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront and take in the breathtaking skyline view of Hong Kong island. While you’re here, make sure to visit the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong’s answer to the Hollywood “Walk of Fame”. At 8 p.m., there is a fireworks and light show over the harbor and the waterfront is the best place to see it.

360 Ngong Ping – This is a cable car runs a little over 3.5 miles long, spanning from Tung Chung, across the bay, to Airport Island. The view gives you a panoramic view of the whole area and goes through the mountains. The ride lasts about 25 minutes long. It’s an expensive $20 USD gondola ride but on a clear day, the pictures you get are worth the money.

Hong Kong is thoughts to be a hard city to do a very tight budget. But between all the cheap food stalls, tiny local restaurants, and free temples and monuments, it’s definitely not impossible.

Not only can you visit this beautiful city without breaking the bank, it’s also worth every penny you spend.

City #3: Hacking New York City

(Photo: CCHO)

NYC is one of the most amazing places in the world and certainly within America (it eventually got me as a full-time resident). Sometimes though, it feels like you can’t step out onto the street without spending $50.

I never thought I would enjoy living in such a metropolis but–as a traveler–NYC is the closest I can get to being everywhere in the world at once. On any given day, I’ll here a dozen languages and be able to eat Bhutanese for breakfast, Chinese for lunch, and Jamaican for lunch. If I want to see a movie at 2 am, I can do that too.

The prices of New York City are intimidating, but once you look past, through and around them, you realize that New York is a city filled with a plethora of ethnic enclaves, cheap meals, and free attractions.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

The hardest part about coming to New York City is finding cheap accommodation. Hotels have been pushing out hostels and trying to get the city to crack down on apartment rental services for a number of years now and they are succeeding – to our loss. Luckily, New Yorkers are creative and there are a number of ways you can still stay for cheap or free:

Choose Your Own Price – Hotwire and Priceline feature amazing deals for those willing to be given a random hotel. Using their blind booking feature, I have found hotels in Times Square for $80.  And that’s Times Square, one of the most famous locations in the world. You can find rates cheaper than $50 if you expand your search outside Manhattan.
Jazz Hostels   – One of the best hostels in Manhattan features some of the cheapest rates.  Dorms start at $30 USD.
Couchsurfing – NYC features millions of hosts who are happy to show guests their city. Since hosts get inundated with tons of requests, ask early for the highest chance of success.
Airbnb – Despite the news, Airbnb is still alive and well in the city.  Rooms start at $30 a night. Places outside Manhattan’s downtown area will be the cheapest.
Stay out of Manhattan – Like Hong Kong, Manhattan has the most expensive accommodation in the city, but boroughs such as Brooklyn and Queens have much cheaper food and lodging and are just a quick subway ride into the city.

The reason why people say, “New York is so expensive” is because they most look at hotel prices in Manhattan. But the NYC subway system is extensive and runs 24 hours a day. Lower your accommodation costs by staying outside Manhattan. It’s what most of the residents do, that’s for sure.

FOOD:

I get it. You want to come to NYC and eat well. The city has some of the best restaurants in the world but they take a huge bite out of your wallet. Save them for when you can afford them. For now, do what the rest of us do, and eat this way:

Eat at the food carts - You’ll find a million food cars in the city offers lots od different types of delicious and very inexpensive filling food. Check http://newyorkstreetfood.com/ to search by type of food to find locations.
Hot Dogs – Hot dog carts are everywhere, and a typical dog usually costs $2. For gourmet dogs, try Bark or Asia Dog. They cost around $5.00.
Pizza – Pizza is a staple food here in New York  – there are more pizza shops than Starbucks. A single-topping slice is usually $2.50-$3.50 (historically, slices stay commensurate with the cost of a subway ride), but many offer plain cheese slices for only a buck. Look for shops clustered together as they get into price wars and offer the cheapest slices.
Chinatown Street food – Food carts on Canal Street (between Broadway and the Bowery) sell steamed, grilled, and fried Chinese food for $1-$2. Neighborhood dumpling stands offer 5 dumplings for a dollar. Prosperity Dumplings is my favorite.  For the more intense Chinatown (what locals call the “Real Chinatown”, take the 7 train from Grand Central to the end of the line, Main Street in Flushing. Right next to the subway stop are dozens of stalls selling delicious eats for a dollar, roast duck and pork belly carts and basement food stalls with more cheap eats than you will know what to do with.
Falafel Stands – Tons of food trucks and stands sell quick and cheap falafel. For something a bit more established, visit Mamoun’s, which offers Baba Ganoush, falafel and kebabs for under $6. It’s located near Washington Square Park. There’s usually a line.
Great cheap tacos – Fabulous tacos around town, and more are opening every day. For authentic recipes in a great setting, try LES Taqueria on Orchard. Another great option is La Esquina on Kenmare, right in the middle of shopping districts. Don’t miss their elote either.

Some of my favorite places to eat are:

Chelsea Market (food stalls, local eats, farm-to-table)

Sao Mai, or Pho Bang (all Vietnamese)

Wondee Siam, Nahm (both Thai)

Bareburger, Corner Bistro, Siggy’s (each with delicious burgers)

Num Pang (Vietnamese sandwiches)

[NOTE FROM TIM: For a ton of my favorite spots in NYC, check this out -- The New York City Food Marathon: 26.2 Iconic Dishes in One 24-Hour Walking Tour.]

SIGHTSEEING TIPS:

One of the virtues of NYC is that you can sightsee some of its greatest attractions without spending anything.

To see the statue of liberty, take the Staten Island Ferry - That two-hour long line to see the Statue of Liberty not appealing? Well, walk a few blocks to the Staten Island ferry. The free ferry will take you across the harbor and give you a good view of both the Statue of Liberty and the city skyline. The ride takes about 20 minutes. In other words, you can see it for free and with no line!

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge – Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to experience an interesting view of the New York skyline and harbor. It’s a long walk but good food and drinks (like the brewery) await you on the other side. Again—free.

Museum hop for free - NYC is littered with some of the best museums in the world, from the Met to the MoMa to the Guggenheim. Many museums offer free entry certain days of the week. The Whitney Museum of American Art is free on Fridays after 6 p.m., the Solomon R. Guggenheim has “suggested” donations after 5 p.m. on Saturdays, the Museum of American Folk Art is free, the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design is free on Tuesday evenings free, the American Museum of Natural History is free, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) is also free (suggested donation is $20). The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)– free admission Friday nights, 4 – 8pm (be warned, it’s a mob scene on Fridays).

Get Discounted Theater Tickets - You can’t come to NYC and not see a Broadway show. Tickets though can run hundreds of dollars, especially for the new and popular shows. Luckily, there’s a way to get discount tickets. The TKTS stand in Times Square offers 40-50% off select shows. You need to arrive at the counter the same day to see what they have but it’s usually a widespread and good selection. Be prepared to wait in line for about an hour. TKTS also have offices at the South Street Seaport and in Brooklyn.

Many shows offer cheap “rush” tickets (i.e. first come, first served tickets) on the day of the show.  These are for tickets that often don’t sell well, like partially obstructed views or the last row of the balcony.  So you get cheap tickets ($25-40) but not great seats. However, for sold-out hit shows, these are sometimes the only tickets to be found. The best resource for rush ticket information is Studentrush.org.

Top of the Rock – Right in Rockefeller center, you can head to the top of the building to see panoramic views of the city. This is better than going up to the Empire State building because with the top of the rock, you can get the Empire State building in your photos. While there are only slightly fewer tourists at the Top of the Rock, it’s a vastly less clichéd experience with a much shorter line.

Take a free tour – New York is a great place to walk around. However, only seeing New York from the outside is half the story. Take some of the free tours to see learn about the history of the city.  The best tours:

The Central Park Conservancy offers several park tours each day based around certain themes: history, design, ecology, and horticulture.
The Grand Central Partnership gives tours of the famous terminal every Fridays at 12:30pm.
The Village Alliance leads walking tours of Greenwich Village, June – October.
The Lower East Side BID offers walking tours every Sunday at 11am, April – November. The tours last three hours.
Free Tours By Foot offers walking, food, and bike tours of NYC’s neighborhoods for free (though you should tip the guide!). There are multiple tours throughout the day making them easy to schedule.
Big Apple Greeter provides free walking tours, lead by locals, as part of a city tourism initiative. You’ll need to make reservations about a month in advance.

Federal Hall  – Right next to Wall Street is an often-missed museum. Federal Hall is where George Washington, first president of the United States, was inaugurated in 1789. The hall, which is free and open to the public, showcases life in the city at that time as well as some information about the early founding of our government.

New York City may be famous as one of the most expensive cities in the world but sightseeing, eating, and drinking can all be done on a budget if you know where to look and how to navigate the system.***

If you can take three of the most expensive cities in the world and turn them into an affordable destinations, you can turn any dream destination into a reality. Just a few universal travel principles make travel to anywhere possible. Budget travel isn’t about being cheap; it’s about not being wasteful.

The tactics we’ve covered–using hotel and flight points, searching out alternatives to hotels, eating at tinier stalls, morning markets and less glitzy places, and using attraction passes – can work in any city. Traveling the world on $50 is more than just traveling by a simple number, it’s about being a smarter traveler. It’s about training yourself to look for deals in unknown places, to travel like locals live.

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Matthew Kepnes runs the award winning budget travel site, Nomadic Matt . He got the travel bug after a trip to Costa Rica in 2004, and decided to quit his job, finish his MBA and travel the world. His book, How to Travel the World on $50 a Day –a guide for traveling cheaper, better, and longer–is now available.

Why (and How) Creative People Need to Say “No”

The following is a guest post by Kevin Ashton, the co-founder of the MIT Auto-ID Center, which created a global standard system for RFID and other sensors.

He also created the Internet of Things.

Enter Kevin

A Hungarian psychology professor once wrote to famous creators asking them to be interviewed for a book he was writing. One of the most interesting things about his project was how many people said “no.”

Management writer Peter Drucker: “One of the secrets of productivity (in which I believe whereas I do not believe in creativity) is to have a VERY BIG waste paper basket to take care of ALL invitations such as yours–productivity in my experience consists of NOT doing anything that helps the work of other people but to spend all one’s time on the work the Good Lord has fitted one to do, and to do well.”

Secretary to novelist Saul Bellow: “Mr. Bellow informed me that he remains creative in the second half of life, at least in part, because he does not allow himself to be a part of other people’s ‘studies.’”

Photographer Richard Avedon: “Sorry–too little time left.”

Secretary to composer György Ligeti: “He is creative and, because of this, totally overworked. Therefore, the very reason you wish to study his creative process is also the reason why he (unfortunately) does not have time to help you in this study. He would also like to add that he cannot answer your letter personally because he is trying desperately to finish a Violin Concerto which will be premiered in the Fall…”

The professor contacted 275 creative people. A third of them said “no.” Their reason was lack of time. A third said nothing. We can assume their reason for not even saying “no” was also lack of time and possibly lack of a secretary.

Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating. Creating consumes. It is all day, every day. It knows neither weekends nor vacations. It is not when we feel like it. It is habit, compulsion, obsession, vocation. The common thread that links creators is how they spend their time. No matter what you read, no matter what they claim, nearly all creators spend nearly all their time on the work of creation. There are few overnight successes and many up-all-night successes.

Saying “no” has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined. No guards time, the thread from which we weave our creations. The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know. We are not taught to say “no.” We are taught not to say “no.” “No” is rude. “No” is a rebuff, a rebuttal, a minor act of verbal violence. “No” is for drugs and strangers with candy.

Creators do not ask how much time something takes but how much creation it costs. This interview, this letter, this trip to the movies, this dinner with friends, this party, this last day of summer. How much less will I create unless I say “no?” A sketch? A stanza? A paragraph? An experiment? Twenty lines of code? The answer is always the same: “yes” makes less. We do not have enough time as it is. There are groceries to buy, gas tanks to fill, families to love and day jobs to do.

People who create know this. They know the world is all strangers with candy. They know how to say “no” and they know how to suffer the consequences. Charles Dickens, rejecting an invitation from a friend:

“‘It is only half an hour’–’It is only an afternoon’–’It is only an evening,’ people say to me over and over again; but they don’t know that it is impossible to command one’s self sometimes to any stipulated and set disposal of five minutes–or that the mere consciousness of an engagement will sometime worry a whole day… Who ever is devoted to an art must be content to deliver himself wholly up to it, and to find his recompense in it. I am grieved if you suspect me of not wanting to see you, but I can’t help it; I must go in my way whether or no.”

“No” makes us aloof, boring, impolite, unfriendly, selfish, anti-social, uncaring, lonely and an arsenal of other insults. But “no” is the button that keeps us on.

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This post originally appeared on Medium.

Ketosis and Athletic Performance: More Than Fat Loss

The above video is a presentation by Peter Attia, M.D.

His talk is somewhat technical, but I always write blog posts hoping 20,000 people will *love* them, not that 1,000,000 will *like* them.

In this presentation, you will learn (in my words, not Pete’s):

- More about nutrition than most MDs learn in med school.

- How ketosis-adapted performance can aid fat loss and high-altitude resilience.

- Why the calorie estimates on treadmills and stationary bikes are complete BS.

- The three primary systems of energy production and basic organic chemistry, both of which aid understanding of all athletics.

Even if you struggle a little with vocabulary, the first 30 minutes are well worth watching a few times.

This talk made me immediately want to jump back on the Cyclical (or “Cyclic”) Ketogenic Diet (CKD), which was conceptually introduced to me in 1996-1998 by the writing of Lyle McDonald, Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale, and the late Dan Duchaine. It’s incredible for simultaneous fat loss and lean muscle gain, though perhaps needlessly complicated for non-athletes.

I usually limited the carb-reloading period to 12-18 hours after a glycogen depletion workout on Saturdays, though I experimented with moderate Wed night carb-ups (think DH Kiefer’s carb back-loading, though his version is much more methodical and effective) while training for sports like kickboxing.

If you’ve experimented with ketosis, what was your approach and experience? Pros and cons?

For additional reading, I suggest the following posts by Dr. Attia:

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/ketosis-advantaged-or-misunderstood-state-part-i

http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/ketosis-advantaged-or-misunderstood-state-part-ii

A $36,000 Birthday Gift (Plus: Free Roundtrip Anywhere in the World)

I’m turning 36 years young! Here in a village in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.

My 36th birthday is here!

It’s going to be a great natal year–I can already feel it. Perhaps it will be good luck for you, too. In this post, I’m giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world.

But back to that strange birthday gift…

Much to the chagrin of my momma-san, I’ve become quite difficult to buy presents for. Some friends even think I’m impossible to find presents for. Not so. I love handwritten letters, homemade brownies, girlfriends in next-to-nothing, and–most of all–when people do something nice.

You, my dear readers, have an awesome track record of doing nice things.

For my b-day in 2010, you all raised more than $100,000 for high-need public school classrooms in the US.  In 2011, you helped build libraries overseas (Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam), and last year, you helped poor youth in developing nations finish school.

In lieu of gifts this year, my birthday wish is to provide clean water to the people who need it most. I’m doing it on this page. There are fun prizes involved, so keep reading.

I recently traveled to the Tigray Region in Ethiopia with the incredible Charity: Water team. I witnessed, first-hand, what life is like for people living without clean, safe water.

Nearly 1 billion people worldwide fall into this group. For me, it’s not just a health issue. That’s not the most interesting part. If you want to offer a hand up (education, work) and not a hand out, water is highly leveraged for breaking the cycle of poverty.

In fact, every $1 invested in improved water access and sanitation can yield an average of $12 in economic returns.

Here’s how:

In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year (e.g. the entire annual workforce of France!) walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking for miles to the nearest source. The solution? Installing simple water wells for clean water in strategically close locations.

Children can then spend more time in classrooms learning, and women can contribute to their communities with their minds instead of carrying jerry cans most of the day.

A jerry can, 40 pounds when full.

Clean water creates more capable problem solvers in places with persistent problems. If you want to empower people instead of doling out aid indefinitely, this is a powerful starting point.

Here’s what I’d love to ask, and where the free roundtrip ticket comes in:

1. Join my 36th birthday challenge by clicking here. It’s worth clicking through just to check out the site. Donations are tax-deductible.

2. To get your engines started, I’ve put in $3,600 of my own money.

3. If the spirit moves you, please make a $36 donation (or whatever you can: $1, $36, $1,000, etc.) to providing clean water to those who need it most. Even a $1 can make a big difference!

4. Charity: Water sends 100% of every donation directly to fund projects in the field. No “administrative fees” or anything–every penny of every dollar goes to the field. Cool, right? And because I was just in Ethiopia, they’ll be sending it there. The best part: Charity: Water will report back in 18 months with GPS coordinates, photos and information about the communities we’ve impacted.

- If you all help raise $36,000, I will personally add another $5,000.

- If you all help raise $100,000 (100% doable), I’ll add on a total of $10,000.

- The deadline is 5pm PST on Friday, August 2nd, 2013.

Sweetening the Pot…

- I’m giving away a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the world that Star Alliance flies, which is just about everywhere. There is no expiration date on the trip, so no rush on deciding where or when to go. If you like, I’ll fly you to San Francisco to have dinner with me, but other places might be more interesting

Here’s how to get it:

- Spread the word however you can. Send people to this post or to my Charity: Water birthday page. Here’s the URL for copying and pasting: http://my.charitywater.org/timferriss

- Leave a comment below telling me what you did (Facebook, Twitter, blog post, e-mail blast, e-mail signature, encouraged employees/friends to do the same, company donation matching, etc.). Measurement of any type gets huge bonus points. This comment must be put up no later than 5pm PST on Friday, August 2nd, 2013.

- Lastly, answer one question at the very top of your comment: “What does education mean to you?” Begin your answer with “To me, education means…”

Based on comments, I’ll pick the top five promoters. Then, you’ll all vote on the winner of the round-trip.

But the best reason of all to participate…

Beyond the bribes, you’ll feel awesome about yourself for doing real good for people who have so little. People who, without water, might not have much of a future at all.

Trust me. It feels great.

Will you pause for a moment and step up, even if for $1? It would mean the world to me. I’ll share updates as I get them.

Again, here is where to go to donate $1, $36, $360, or whatever you can.

Thank you for reading this post. You are all rock stars, and I continue to write on this blog purely because of you.

Pura vida!

Tim

Spearhead Capital: Looking for *ONE* Fast-Growing Start-Up to Take Mainstream

(Photo: Andrew Atkinson)

I am looking for one great company to put my name, brand, and entire network behind.

Usually, I do this through advising, and my start-ups include Uber, Evernote, Automattic (WordPress.com), and Shopify, among others. I’ve been with some of them from pre-seed money to $1-billion valuations.

Here’s my full bio and credentials, and below is a testimonial from one of my start-ups:

“Tim has played a huge part in putting Shopify on the map. He has been an advisor to Shopify since 2009, and he’s been invaluable in the growth of our business.

Back when no one knew about us, we were brainstorming with him. He challenged us to prove that building an online business was in fact as easy as we claimed. In order to accomplish that, and under Tim’s guidance and leadership, we created the Shopify Build-a-Business competition. Now, it’s one of the most important things that we do.

In the most recent Build-a-Business contest alone, more than 12,000 brand-new shops sold more than $55 million in products. It’s become the most popular ‘online retail’ competition in the world.

This helped Shopify ‘cross the chasm’ in terms of pushing Shopify’s brand to a mainstream audience.

It was risky, but Tim knew it would succeed – it was entirely consistent with his track record for PR and Marketing. Simply put, Tim is our secret weapon!”

- Harley Finkelstein, CPO

Shopify – The world’s most popular ecommerce platform for small businesses, currently powering more than 60,000 online stores that sell more than $1B in products annually. Shopify also powers stores for brands like Gatorade, Forbes, Budweiser, The Chive, and more.

Back to Spearhead Capital…

This time, I’m doing things differently: I’m raising an entire round of financing for one company… with unusual perks. I’ve been planning this for a long time, and it’s only possible now.

Here’s what it looks like…

CRITERIA

You should want (or be willing) to raise $500,000-$1,000,000, and here are the benefits of doing it with me:



- I won’t take a board seat, so you retain all control.

- Massive national PR/exposure. This is going to get a LOT of attention, and I’m famous for maximizing impact (e.g. Forbes’ “The Tim Ferriss Effect” and AdAge awards for product launches).

- VCs usually want a minimum of 20% ownership. You can sell as little (or much) % as you want here.

- Once VCs see you succeed, you are in a massive position of strength and will probably receive unsolicited term sheets. This flips the tables. If you want optimal leverage for a larger round (say $5-10M total), raising a small amount with me makes sense.

- Minimal disclosure. You don’t have to pitch to investors and potential competitors.

What I’m looking for:



- Consumer-facing product/service (e.g. Evernote, StumbleUpon, Uber, etc.), or small-business focused product/service (e.g. Shopify), not enterprise software.

- 100K active users OR serial founder(s) with past exits OR 10K paying customers.

- 10% month-on-month activity growth.

- Clean cap table, minimal previous financing (or none), no bridge rounds.

- If you’re in “stealth” mode, you’d have to come out of stealth when I start fundraising, which would only last a few weeks.

- US-based companies, or companies willing to create US-based investable entities (which is easy). Shopify started in Canada, for instance.

Interested? I’m psyched. Please fill out this form. Deadline is July 25, 2013 at 5pm EST, and I’ll be in touch!

VERY big things ahead.

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Please note: I’m only recruiting the start-up at this point in time. I’m not talking publicly about the mechanisms or process, so thanks for understanding if I can’t answer many questions in the comments.

How to Travel: 21 Contrarian Rules

(Photo credit: Moyan Brenn)

This is a tactical post on travel from Ryan Holiday, who’s written on this blog before about the pragmatism of Stoicism and lessons learned as Director of Marketing for American Apparel.

To his 21 rules, I’ve added a few of my own tricks. Please share your own rules and tips in the comments!

Enter Ryan Holiday

Why are you traveling?

Because, you know, you don’t magically get a prize at the end of your life for having been to the most places. There is nothing inherently valuable in travel, no matter how hard the true believers try to convince us.

Seneca, the stoic philosopher, has a great line about the restlessness of those who seem compelled to travel. They go from resort to resort and climate to climate, he says, and continues:

“They make one journey after another and change spectacle for spectacle. As Lucretius says ’Thus each man flees himself.’ But to what end if he does not escape himself? He pursues and dogs himself as his own most tedious companion. And so we must realize that our difficulty is not the fault of the places but of ourselves.”

It’s hard for me see anything to envy in most people who travel. Because deep down that is what they are doing. Fleeing themselves and the lives they’ve created. Or worse, they’re telling themselves that they’re after self-discovery, exploration or new perspectives when really they are running towards distraction and self-indulgence.

Is that why you’re packing up your things and hitting the road?

Not that I don’t travel myself–I did my fair share this year alone. Both coasts of Australia. I was in Amsterdam for a speaking gig (and I found myself at a tulip farm with Tim where he caught a chicken with his bare hands). I researched for my next book in Rome. I went down to Brazil. I went to Copenhagen. I spent enough time in New York that it felt like I lived there. I road tripped across the United States more times than I can count–New Orleans to New York; New York to Miami; Miami to Austin… The list goes on. If there was a chance to go somewhere I’d never been, I tried to take it, especially if it was historic.

But are you, as Emerson once put it, ”bringing ruins to the ruins?”…

The purpose of travel, like all important experiences, is to improve yourself and your life. It’s just as likely–in some cases more likely–that you will do that closer to home and not further.

So what I think about when I travel is that “why.” (Some example “whys” for me: research, to unplug, a job or a paying gig, to show something that’s important to me to someone who is important to me, etc.) I don’t take it as self-evident that going to a given famous place is an accomplishment in and of itself. There are just as many fools living in Rome as there are at home.

And when you make this distinction, most of the other travel advice falls away. The penny pinching and the optimization, the trying to squeeze as many landmarks into a single day, all that becomes pointless and you focus on what matters.

I am saying that saving your money, plotting your time off work or school, diligently tracking your frequent flyer miles and taking a hostel tour of Europe or Asia on budget may be the wrong way to think about it.

In the vein of my somewhat controversial advice for young people, I thought I’d give some of my thoughts not just on traveling but on how to do it right.

My 21 Travel Rules and Criteria

1. Don’t check luggage. If you’re bringing that much stuff with you, you’re doing something wrong.

[TIM: I second this and encourage you to take things to extremes. Here's exactly how I travel the world with 10 pounds or less.]

2. Instead of doing a TON of stuff. Pick one or two things, read all about those things and then actually spend time doing them. Research shows that you’ll enjoy an experience more if you’ve put effort and time into bringing it about. So I’d rather visit two or three sights that I’ve done my reading on and truly comprehend than I would seeing a ton of stuff that goes right in and out of my brain. (Oh, and never feel “obligated” to see the things everyone says you have to)

[TIM: Need some inspiration? Here are my highlight lists for Tokyo and Buenos Aires.]

3. Take long walks.

4. Stop living to relive. What are you taking all these pictures for? Oh, for the memories? Then just look at it and remember it. Experience the present moment. (Not that you can’t take photos but try to counteract the impulse to look at the world through your iPhone screen)

5. Read books, lots of books. You’re finally in a place where no one can interrupt you or call you into meetings and since half the television stations will be in another language…use it as a chance to do a lot of reading.

[TIM: I strongly suggest that non-fiction bigots (which I was for 15+ years) read or listen to some fiction to turn off their problem-solving minds. Try The Graveyard Book audiobook or Zorba the Greek.

6. Eat healthy. Enjoy the cuisine for sure, but you’ll enjoy the place less if you feel like a slob the whole time. (To put it another way, why are you eating pretzels on the airplane?)

[TIM: If you want to follow The Slow-Carb Diet, my default cuisine choices in airports are Thai and Mexican food. Also, keep a *small* bag of almonds in your bag to avoid digressions in emergencies.]

7. Try to avoid guidebooks, which are superficial at best and completely wrong at worst. I’ve had a lot more luck pulling up Wikipedia, and looking at the list of National (or World) Historical Register list for that city and swinging by a few of them. Better yet, I’ve found a lot cooler stuff in non-fiction books and literature that mentioned the cool stuff in passing. Then you Google it and find out where it is.

[TIM: I like to spend an afternoon visiting hostels, even if I'm staying in an apartment or hotel. The hostel staff will know which free and low-cost activities get the best reviews from the non-museum-going crowd.]

8. I like to go and stand on hallowed ground. It’s humbling and makes you a better person. Try it. (My personal favorite is battlefields–nothing is more eery or quiet or peaceful)

9. Come up with a schedule that works for you and get settled into it as soon as possible. You’re going to benefit less from your experiences if you’re scrambled, exhausted and inefficient. Me, I get up in the morning early and run. Then I work for a few hours. Then I roll lunch and activities into a 3-4 hour block where I am away from work and exploring the city I’m staying it. Then I come back, work, get caught up, relax and then eventually head out for a late dinner. In almost every time zone I’ve been in, this seems to be the ideal schedule to a) enjoy my life b) Not actually count as “taking time off.” No one feels that I am missing. And it lets me extend trips without feeling stressed or needing to rush home.

10. When you’re traveling to a new city, the first thing you should do when you get to the hotel is change into your work out clothes and go for a long run. You get to see the sights, get a sense of the layout and then you won’t waste an hour of your life in a lame hotel gym either.

11. Never recline your seat on an airplane. Yes, it gives you more room–but ultimately at the expense of someone else. In economics, they call this an externality. It’s bad. Don’t do it.

12. Stay in weird-ass hotels. Sometimes they can suck but the story is usually worth it. A few favorites: A hotel that was actually a early 20th-century luxury train car, a castle in Germany, the room where Gram Parsons died in Palm Desert, a hotel in Arizona where John Dillinger was arrested, and a hotel built by Wild Bill Hickok.

13. Read the historical markers–*actually* read them, don’t skim. They tend to tell you interesting stuff.

14. Add some work component to your travel if you can. Then you can write it all off on your taxes (or better, be paid for the whole thing).

[TIM: Here's how an entire family moved to a tropical paradise in Indonesia and continued to earn income.]

15. Don’t waste time and space packing things you MIGHT need but could conceivably buy there. Remember, it costs money (time, energy, patience) to carry pointless things around. (Also, most hotels will give you razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries.)

16. Go see weird shit. It makes you think, shake your head, or at least, laugh. (For instance, did you know that there is a camel buried in the soldier’s cemetery at Vicksburg?)

[TIM: If you go to Japan, don't miss the incredible Ghibli Museum, made by animator Hayao Miyazaki and located in Inokashira Park.]

17. Ignore the temptation to a) talk and tell everyone about your upcoming trip b) spend months and months planning. Just go. Get comfortable with travel being an ordinary experience in your life and you’ll do it more. Make it some enormous event, and you’re liable to confuse getting on a plane with an accomplishment by itself.

18. Regarding museums, I like Tyler Cowen’s trick about pretending you’re a thief who is casing the joint. It changes how you perceive and remember the art. Try it.

19. Don’t upgrade your phone plan to international when you leave the country. Not because it saves money but because it’s a really good excuse to not use your cellphone for a while. (And if you need to call someone, try Google Voice. It’s free)

20. Explore cool places inside the United States. The South is beautiful and chances are you haven’t seen most of it. There’s all sorts of weird history and wonderful things that your teachers never told you about. Check it out, a lot of it is within a drive of a day or two.

[TIM: Here are 12+ gems of the Pacific Northwest, encountered on a road trip from San Francisco to Whistler, Canada.]

[TIM: 21. OK, this one's from me, just because it's so much fun. Take pictures of yourself jumping in different places! It can turn a boring "adult" afternoon into a giddy kid-like experience. The below is from Burning Man 2010.]

(Photo: Mike Hedge)

In other words…

Travel should not be an escape. It should be part of your life, no better or no worse than the rest of your life. If you are so dissatisfied with what you do or where you live that you spend weeks and months figuring out how to get a few days away from either, that should be a wake-up call. There’s a big difference between *wanting* a change in scenery and *needing* to run away from a prison of your own making.

To me, there is more to admire in someone who challenges their perspectives and lifestyle choices at home than in some Instagram addict who conflates meaning with checking off boxes on a bucket list.

[TIM: I'm a fan of bucket lists, but different strokes for different folks...]

So ask: Do you deserve this trip? Ask yourself that honestly. Am I actually in a place to get something out of this?

Over the years, I feel like I have mastered the art of something I wouldn’t call “travel.” I’d call it living my life in interesting places.

These rules and tricks have helped make that possible, and maybe they’ll work for you, too.

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What rules and tools have worked for you? Please share in the comments!

(A much shorter version of this piece, without my comments, first appeared in Thought Catalog.)

The Fantastic Mr. Feynman

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

- Richard P. Feynman

This is my favorite documentary of one of my favorite people, Richard Feynman.

His lectures and books — such as Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) — have greatly inspired many of my best decisions in life. He also inspired me to teach.

I hope you enjoy the film as much as I did. Whether you like bongo drums, safe cracking, go-go dancers, or physics, there’s something for everyone.

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Question of the day: If you had to pick your favorite documentary, which would it be and why? Let me know in the comments!

4HWW Readers’ Libraries in Nepal, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka Open Their Doors!

The Vang Lam preschool we built in Vietnam. So cute a lumberjack would cry! Now we have three more locations.



You all should be *very* proud.

I’m thrilled to share completion reports for the three libraries you supported and made possible. The funds were raised for my birthday campaign in 2011.

They’re finally done!

This post include photos of the dedication plaques for each library, as well as information about the impact that each library has had on the local community.

In a nutshell:

- The K-to-6 library in Cambodia will help 500 students per year become literate. 500 per year = 2,500 over the next 5 years.

- The Grades 1-5 library in Sri Lanka will help 2,000 students per year become literate. 2,000 per year = 10,000 over the next 5 years.

- The K-10 library in Nepal will help 550 students per year become literate. 550 per year = 2,750 over the next 5 years.

In the next 5 years, you all will have helped change the lives of more than 15,000 students. Not only that, but you will have helped add critical thinkers to the world who can perpetuate a virtuous cycle of solving problems. Cool, right?

Here are the dedication plaques for each school. Click to enlarge:

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Now, the completion reports (and pics) for those interested…

Sri Lanka – LK-CRR-12-0015 – Tim Ferriss – CR

Nepal – NP-CRR-12-0035 – Tim Ferriss – CR

Cambodia – KH-CRR-12-0008 – Tim Ferriss – CR

In the next 12 months, I hope to plan trips to visit all of these libraries. And… bigger and bolder plans to come in the next six months or so.

In the meantime, remember: you guys rock. You can leave a positive dent in this world. This post is visible proof.

Long live karmic capitalism.

Going from Obese to Bikini Body — Briana Case Study (Plus: New Tools, 4-Hour Body Group)

All tactics, no excuses.

This post will explain exactly how Briana, a mother of three and reader of this blog, lost 100 pounds. It’s a lot simpler than you might think.

For additional real-world examples and the fundamentals, I suggest reading “How to Lose 100 Pounds on The Slow-Carb Diet.” There are several men and women profiled.

Sidenote: Many of you have been asking for a free 4-Hour Body support group… so I created it here. It’s designed to improve success rates by 50% .  In a recent four-week test, 86% of people who finished lost an average of 8.6 pounds.  Many lost more than 20 pounds.  If you’re serious about progress, take a look.

Now, onto our post, which was written by Briana herself. I’ve avoided any major edits to preserve her voice.

Please add any questions or tips of your own to the comment. Both Briana and I will jump in to help…

Enter Briana

If you’re meeting me for the first time today, you’d never guess that a little over 1 year ago, I was 100 pounds heavier and the furthest thing from being proud in a bikini.

And if you’d met “the FAT me” a year ago, you probably never would have guessed that the over-weight mother of three was actually an accomplished personal trainer who’d lost 73 pounds years earlier… and gained it all back.

That is really where my introduction to the Slow-Carb Diet (SCD) began.



Five years ago, I was a stay-at-home mom.

I had a husband, two kids, a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, and a great dane. I was a young mom in my early 20’s, trying to balance everything and be everything to everyone BUT neglecting myself. I made my family the priority, which was great for them, but I lost myself somewhere along the way. Despite numerous failed attempts to lose weight and get in shape, the scale just kept creeping up.

Fat, depressed, and frustrated, I ended up surfing the internet one day for some new nutrition and training inspiration, when I stumbled across Tim’s blog and the post he wrote on How to Lose 20 lbs of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise. Four paragraphs in, I was HOOKED! I read it, I applied it day-in and day-out, and within 6 months I had not only lost the 73 POUNDS I had gained after having my first two kids, but I had completely transformed my body!

Needless to say, the experience was life-changing. After it, I felt compelled to pursue a career as a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist. I wanted to empower, educate, and inspire other women to transform their bodies and regain a renewed sense of self — just as I had.

Shortly after I became certified, I went through a devastating divorce. As a newly single-mom, I set out to “4-Hour Workweek” my life, started my own multi-faceted health and wellness company, and spent the last 5 years helping to transform the bodies and lives of hundreds of women around the world in ways they never thought were possible.

Along the way, Tim wrote and released The 4-Hour Body, and my story was featured on national television and throughout numerous editorials, spreads, and fitness publications — the biggest of which was an appearance with Tim on the Dr. Oz show.

And then? I got pregnant with baby #3.

Long story short: despite being a personal trainer and all my previous hard work to be a “weight-loss success story,” I ended up being one of those Mego-Prego women who really went for it! By “went for it” I mean – if my weight gain had been an accurate barometer of my son’s birth weight, I should have given birth to a kindergartner!

From the moment I first found out that I was pregnant I decided to use the “eating for two” excuse. I indulged my cravings, and I packed on the pounds by way of ice-cream, Mexican food, lasagna, and a total break from the adapted SCD nutrition principles I worked so hard to establish in my own life and subsequently teach others.

Needless to say, I exploded over nine months, and by the time I actually gave birth to my 8 lb. 6 oz. bundle of joy, I found myself weighing the heaviest of my life–100 pounds heavier than normal.

So my baby is born… and I find myself asking, “Now what, fatty?”

TRANSFORMATION: ROUND 2

Faced with the depressing reality that the new weight wasn’t “baby weight” and was really ALL ME, I made it my mission to swiftly re-apply the SCD principles to shed the post-partum pounds in record time.

It began with a commitment to change, and a real look in the mirror.

So many of us are miserable over the current condition of our bodies, we get motivated and inspired by reading stories such as mine, but that’s not enough. We need something lasting. Something that will motivate us to walk away from the bread basket, or in my case — back away from the sour cream twice-baked potato!

For me, that motivation came in the form of photos.

Before I began, I committed to document the entire process via a weekly pictorial where I would stand raw, real, and exposed in front of a camera wearing nothing but the same tiny black bikini. When I felt discouraged, or was having a internal struggle over something I shouldn’t eat, I would look at the photos of where indulging got me — FAT.

I took it one day and one meal at a time.

Beginning the day after I gave birth, I followed every slow-carb principle that is outlined — except for the cheat day.

The reason? I was breast-feeding, and through trial and error, it turned out that keeping my diet consistent by eating the same thing (more or less) everyday was much better for my baby (and my sanity), than trying to sooth a horrific colicky newborn 12-24 hours after binge eating on a “cheat day.”

The biggest SCD keys behind my latest post-pregnancy transformation were:

- Structuring every meal around a lean protein

- Meal frequency (eating every three hours)

- Totally avoiding refined, processed, starchy carbohydrates, and wheat (I came up with some wicked slow-carb recipe option substitutes)

- Eliminating dairy

- Completely cutting out fruit, which was my biggest craving during my pregnancy

- Drinking a gallon of water a day

- Upping my daily fish oil to 1 gram per 1% body fat — liquid form. Obviously, that’d otherwise be quite a few pills.

Just with the slow-carb diet ALONE and ZERO exercise (due to some postpartum recovery issues between week 1 and week 8), I lost 36 POUNDS.

(Click here for larger image)

And 12 months after giving birth, I hit my goal and lost 100 pounds (23 pounds of which were pre-pregnancy), and completely transformed my body.

Consistency is key. A typical day on the SCD might look like this:

Breakfast @ 7am

Egg white frittatas (made with veggies like mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion)

Snack @ 10

Veggies with hummus

Lunch @ 11:30

Usually dinner leftovers from the night before (i.e. Bison marinara sauce over zucchini spaghetti; Tuna stuffed avocados; etc.)

Snack @ 2

Small mixed green salad with chicken, cucumbers, green peppers, and tomatoes with a homemade lemon/garlic vinaigrette

Dinner @ 6

Tilapia fillet served over broiled garlic carrots, and coconut “rice” (cauliflower)

Biggest tip: If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail

As a mom, life can be hectic, and it rarely goes according to plan.

I always prepare ahead of time for those moments with some quick-grab protein snacks. Turkey wrap “roll-ups” with a little hummus and a sliver of bell pepper or cucumber inside is my fave! Or little snack-sized baggies of almonds sprinkled with cinnamon. Hard-boiled “hummus deviled eggs” is another.

Prepare or fail, the choice is yours.

Conclusion

Putting on a bikini 7 days after you give birth is uncomfortable. Some might argue it’s insane.

Standing in front of the bright lights of a professional photographer week-after-week (often times without seeing much change), especially when you’re a personal trainer who is 100 pounds over weight, is humiliating, humbling, and painful.

But transforming my body, documenting the journey, inspiring other mothers, and ultimately founding BikiniBodyMommy.com has been the most empowering 12-month process I’ve ever undergone.

The journey isn’t always easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

My name is Briana. I am a 31-year old mother of three, I’ve lost more than 100 pounds on the Slow-Carb Diet, and I work every day to be a success story.

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Odds and Ends: New 4-Hour Body Support Group

I always wanted to guarantee that people could achieve rapid fat loss, and now I have the data to prove it.

Last Fall, 3,500 people joined a four-week 4-Hour Body challenge and measured their progress on Lift (a goal tracking and support community that I invested in). The results: 86% of people who finished lost an average of 8.6 pounds.  Some people lost more than 20 pounds.

Today I’m launching a second, even bigger challenge on Lift. Think of it as one part training group and one part research experiment.

First, join The 4-Hour Body group on Lift. Joining the group will sign you up for five habits from of The 4-Hour Body:

- Slow-Carb Diet meals

- 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up

- Moderate exercise
- Cold showers
- Measuring your weight, bodyfat %, and total inches

Next, just follow the habits and ‘check in’ each time you have completed one.

Talk to other group members! When you set goals alongside other people, it keeps you accountable and leads to better results.  The 4-Hour Body community on Lift is there for this reason — use it!

Finally, track your results.  Lift gives you numbers and graphs that show your progress.  Add pictures along the way (don’t forget to take the “before” picture) so that you can really see the changes.

And as a final note, the last time I ran this challenge, Lift only had an iPhone version. But they just launched a web app that you can use from your computer or mobile phone.

Have fun