Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 80
December 20, 2016
Becoming the Best Version of You
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“Plato would have made a lousy investor.”
– Adam Robinson
This is a special episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. The audio is from a live conversation with not one, not two, but three guests: Josh Waitzkin, Ramit Sethi, and Adam Robinson.
Josh Waitzkin is an endlessly fascinating person who gets mentioned a lot on this show for good reason. For the uninitiated, Josh was the basis for the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. He’s perfected the techniques that made him into a chess prodigy and a jiu-jitsu black belt, and he shared them in his book The Art of Learning.
Ramit Sethi (@ramit) is a personal finance guru who has built a huge company from his blog. He’s the best-selling author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich.
Adam Robinson is the trusted outside global macro advisor to the heads of some of the world’s largest hedge funds and family offices. He’s written a best-seller on test preparation, developed artificial intelligence text analysis, been recognized as a chess master, and he’s hilarious.
I hope you enjoy this special edition of the podcast.
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with Josh Waitzkin? — In this episode, we discuss The Art of Learning, what separates elite performers, and strategies for peak productivity (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.
People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.
This podcast is also brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have two to recommend:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is go to Audible.com/Tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose any of the endless options they offer. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It’s that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim and get started today. Enjoy.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Josh:
Website | The Art of Learning Project
Connect with Ramit:
Connect with Adam:
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin
I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
What Smart Students Know: Maximum Grades. Optimum Learning. Minimum Time. by Adam Robinson
The Mask
Josh uses Evernote to help him slice through complexity.
Adam’s method of meditation is heart rate variability training.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition by Jalal al-Din Rumi, Coleman Barks, and John Moyne
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger by Charles T. Munger
Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M. Schwartz
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu
The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture by Vimalakirti
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries
Show Notes
Introductions. [07:06]
Why Josh has a snaggletooth. [10:35]
Adam gives us three things he’s learned this year that he considers the keys to success. [11:42]
Ramit explains the importance of relationships. [14:40]
What would Ramit like to improve upon in the new year? [16:32]
What makes a good leader? [17:09]
Josh has surprisingly close calls with death more often than most, which makes him especially grateful for life as the new year approaches. [19:28]
Focusing on “the most important question.” [21:29]
Josh shares his process for overnight digestion of a problem he’s working on and slicing through its complexity. [23:14]
Adam talks about daily routines. [27:05]
What makes Adam good at a seemingly unrelated number of skill sets? [32:50]
How does Adam avoid falling into constructs? [39:57]
The best question ever. [41:12]
Decisions Ramit wishes he had made earlier. [43:20]
Why Ramit loves interacting with haters and belligerent people on the Internet — and how he recommends dealing with them. [47:54]
Josh on dealing with haters in person. [53:43]
Why Josh generally eschews publicity. [58:05]
On influential thinkers and books gifted most often. [1:02:23]
Ramit on how it’s easy to mistake good advice for bad when it’s received at the wrong time. [1:14:02]
Adam talks about flying matadors and character development. [1:17:41]
Josh on making the transition from competitive fighter to receptive nurturer. [1:19:58]
We talk bad (but common) advice. [1:22:14]
How much of the self is discovery vs. creation? [1:24:01]
Ramit talks about the good advice he recently received that “blew up” his whole life. [1:26:06]
Adam on finding what’s undiscovered among the common. [1:28:00]
People Mentioned
Bobby Fischer
Marcelo Garcia
Astro Teller
Reid Hoffman
Ernest Hemingway
Donald Trump
Sam Zell
Plato
John Katzman
Joe Bloggs
Janet Yellen
Robert Rodriguez
Chris Sacca
Robert Cialdini
Fred Waitzkin
Rumi
Gavin de Becker
Charlie Munger
Lao Tzu
Jack Kerouac
Robert Pirsig
Robert A. E. Thurman
Gia-Fu Feng
Jane English
Sebastian Junger
Juan Belmonte
Heston Blumenthal
Chris Young
Nick Gray
December 16, 2016
The Random Show Threesome — Tim Ferriss, Kevin Rose, and Matt Mullenweg
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“Goal setting isn’t enough.”
My first live podcast in New York City was recorded at the 92nd Street Y to a sold-out crowd of about 900 people.
This episode comes from The Random Show segment of the evening when I took the stage with Kevin Rose and Matt Mullenweg.
Kevin Rose (@KevinRose) has been my partner in crime for many things. He’s one of the best stock pickers in the startup world, the co-founder of Digg and Milk, a general partner at Google Ventures, and CEO of Hodinkee.
Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) is most associated with a tool that powers more than 25% of the entire Web: WordPress. He’s also the CEO of Automattic, which is a multi-billion dollar, fully distributed startup.
We talk about lots of things — including setting goals and New Year’s resolutions. I hope you enjoy!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another episode of The Random Show? — Listen to this earlier conversation with Kevin Rose. In this episode, we discuss saunas and cold treatment, as well as dating and fitness apps (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by Rhone Apparel. Dozens — maybe even hundreds of you — have asked me: “What shirts are you wearing in your recent YouTube videos?” They’re a very specific set of shirts from Rhone. I’m packing for a trip for seven to ten days, and I would say half of what I’m going to pack is from Rhone. These are the most comfortable shirts (and Rhone stocks way more than shirts) that I have ever worn — at least for active wear. But you can even sneak them into a business casual event or dinner if you’re a Long Island kid like me.
Rhone has minimal branding, so you don’t feel like you’re walking around with some sort of billboard on your chest. They come with pure, melted-down silver in the fabric — anti-odor technology so you don’t smell like a musk ox halfway through the day. I love Rhone’s shirts, pants, and shorts, and I’ve been wearing them pretty much every day for the past few weeks. Luckily, there’s no risk in trying them out: free shipping and a 100-day return policy should help you decide if they’re worth it. Plus, listeners get an exclusive 15% off for using the code TIM at checkout and a special holiday bonus. Find ’em at rhone.com/tim.
This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.
Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they’ll show you for free exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Kevin Rose:
Connect with Matt Mullenweg:
Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Spotify
92nd Street Y — “Where the most celebrated writers and discerning readers have gathered since 1939.”
Drinking Casa Dragones from Dixie cups is fancy.
Dr. Peter Attia on Life-Extension, Drinking Jet Fuel, Ultra-Endurance, Human Foie Gras, and More
Why Was Michael Jackson Sleeping in a Hyperbaric Chamber Such a Big Deal?
Dom D’Agostino on Disease Prevention, Cancer, and Living Longer
Precision Xtra NFR Blood Glucose Monitoring System
What is Wim Hof breathing?
“The Iceman,” Wim Hof
Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too
Koya Bound — Eight Days on the Kumano Kodo with Craig Mod and Dan Rubin
What is Glamping?
Kevin Rose really is an Eagle Scout
How to Plan for the Laugavegur Trek in Iceland by Lindsay, Frugal Frolicker
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Headspace and Calm are two meditation apps Kevin recommends.
Rebirth: A Fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart by Kamal Ravikant
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett
On Being with Krista Tippett
Show Notes
What’s our favorite sipping tequila? [9:00]
Kevin talks about fasting, and what he’s doing to cope with the aging process. [10:41]
Matt’s end-of-year goals and looking toward the future. [18:55]
“Do you ever Wim Hof in public?” [22:05]
Why you might reconsider the urge to get a personal cryotherapy chamber. [26:43]
My 2017 resolution for Matt. [29:26]
Matt’s 2017 resolution for Kevin. [30:21]
Kevin’s resolution for me. [33:14]
What is most frustrating and inspiring about the women in our lives? [35:46]
Matt talks about coping with the stages of grief. [42:34]
Kevin talks about the women in his life. [44:36]
Goal setting isn’t enough. I talk about fear setting. [47:33]
Kevin gives us some movie and meditation recommendations. [50:10]
Matt gives me a 2017 resolution and offers a few book recommendations. [52:17]
People Mentioned
Peter Attia
Valter Longo
Rhonda Patrick
Michael Jackson
Dominic D’Agostino
Wim Hof
Darya Rose
Vincent van Gogh
Chris Ashenden
Dan Rubin
Craig Mod
Kamal Ravikant
Krista Tippett
December 14, 2016
How to Develop Mental Toughness: Lessons From 8 Titans
Amelia Boone, the world’s most decorated obstacle racer, after jumping through fire.
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
― Archilochus
Mental toughness can take many forms: resilience against attack, calmness in the face of uncertainty, persistence through pain, or focus amidst chaos.
Below are eight lessons from eight of the toughest human beings I know.
All are taken from the hundreds of tips and tactics in Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers.
#1 – IF YOU WANT TO BE TOUGHER, BE TOUGHER.
(Jocko Willink, former Navy SEAL Commander)
“If you want to be tougher mentally, it is simple: Be tougher. Don’t meditate on it.”
TIM: These words of Jocko’s helped one listener—a drug addict—get sober after many failed attempts. The simple logic struck a chord: “Being tougher” was, more than anything, a decision to be tougher. It’s possible to immediately “be tougher,” starting with your next decision. Have trouble saying “no” to dessert? Be tougher. Make that your starting decision. Feeling winded? Take the stairs anyway. Ditto. It doesn’t matter how small or big you start. If you want to be tougher, be tougher.
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#2. I WASN’T THERE TO COMPETE. I WAS THERE TO WIN.
(Arnold Schwarzenegger)
TIM: In my interview with Arnold, I brought up a photo of him at age 19, just before he won his first big competition, Junior Mr. Europe. I asked, “Your face was so confident compared to every other competitor. Where did that confidence come from?” He replied:
“My confidence came from my vision. . . . I am a big believer that if you have a very clear vision of where you want to go, then the rest of it is much easier. Because you always know why you are training 5 hours a day, you always know why you are pushing and going through the pain barrier, and why you have to eat more, and why you have to struggle more, and why you have to be more disciplined… I felt that I could win it, and that was what I was there for. I wasn’t there to compete. I was there to win.”
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#3 – PUSH BEYOND, SHARE PRIVATION, TACKLE FEAR.
(4-Star General Stanley McChrystal)
TIM: The following from Gen. McChyrstal was in response to “What are three tests or practices from the military that civilians could use to help develop mental toughness?”:
“The first is to push yourself harder than you believe you’re capable of. You’ll find new depth inside yourself. The second is to put yourself in groups who share difficulties, discomfort. We used to call it ‘shared privation.’ [Definition of privation: a state in which things essential for human well-being such as food and warmth are scarce or lacking.] You’ll find that when you have been through that kind of difficult environment, you feel more strongly about that which you’re committed to. And finally, create some fear and make individuals overcome it.”
#4 – PUT FEAR IN LINE.
(Caroline Paul, luger, firefighter, and more)
TIM: In the 1990s, Caroline illegally climbed the Golden Gate Bridge, rising to ~760 feet on thin cables. She’d mentioned “putting fear in line” to me, and I asked her to dig into the specifics.
“I am not against fear. I think fear is definitely important. It’s there to keep us safe. But I do feel like some people give it too much priority. It’s one of the many things that we use to assess a situation. I am pro-bravery. That’s my paradigm.
Fear is just one of many things that are going on. For instance, when we climbed the bridge, which was five of us deciding we wanted to walk up that cable in the middle of the night. Please don’t do that, but we did. Talk about fear—you’re walking on a cable where you have to put one foot in front of the other until you’re basically as high as a 70-story building with nothing below you and . . . two thin wires on either side.
It’s just a walk, technically. Really, nothing’s going to happen unless some earthquake or catastrophic gust of wind hits. You’re going to be fine as long as you keep your mental state intact. In those situations, I look at all the emotions I’m feeling, which are anticipation, exhilaration, focus, confidence, fun, and fear. Then I take fear and say, ‘Well, how much priority am I going to give this? I really want to do this.’ I put it where it belongs. It’s like brick laying or making a stone wall. You fit the pieces together.”
#5 – IS THAT A DREAM OR A GOAL?
(Paul Levesque/Triple H, WWE superstar and executive)
“[Evander Holyfield] said that his coach at one point told him, something like his very first day, ‘You could be the next Muhammad Ali. Do you wanna do that?’ Evander said he had to ask his mom. He went home, he came back and said, ‘I wanna do that.’ The coach said, ‘Okay. Is that a dream or a goal? Because there’s a difference.’ “I’d never heard it said that way, but it stuck with me. So much so that I’ve said it to my kid now: ‘Is that a dream, or a goal? Because a dream is something you fantasize about that will probably never happen. A goal is something you set a plan for, work toward, and achieve. I always looked at my stuff that way. The people who were successful models to me were people who had structured goals and then put a plan in place to get to those things. I think that’s what impressed me about Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. It’s what impressed me about my father-in-law [Vince McMahon].”
#6 – PAIN TOLERANCE CAN BE THE FORCE MULTIPLIER
(Amelia Boone, 3x World’s Toughest Mudder champion)
“I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering.”
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#7 – WHO DO YOU SURROUND YOURSELF WITH WHEN YOUR EGO FEELS THREATENED?
(Josh Waitzkin, chess prodigy, push hands world champion, first black belt under BJJ phenom Marcelo Garcia)
Back in the world of combat sports and Brazilian jiu-jitsu:
“It’s very interesting to observe who the top competitors pick out when they’re five rounds into the sparring sessions and they’re completely gassed. The ones who are on the steepest growth curve look for the hardest guy there—the one who might beat them up—while others look for someone they can take a break on.”
#8 – THE MAGIC OF THE SINGLE DECISION
(Christopher Sommer, former men’s gymnastics national team coach)
TIM: We all get frustrated. I am particularly prone to frustration when I see little or no progress after several weeks of practicing something new. Despite Coach Sommer’s regular reminders about connective-tissue adaptations taking 200 to 210 days, after a few weeks of flailing with “straddle L extensions,” I was at my wits’ end. Even after the third workout, I had renamed them “frog spaz” in my workout journal because that’s what I resembled while doing them: a frog being electrocuted.
Each week, I sent Coach Sommer videos of my workouts via Dropbox. In my accompanying notes at one point, I expressed how discouraging it was to make zero tangible progress with this exercise. Below is his email response, which I immediately saved to Evernote to review often.
It’s all great, but I’ve bolded my favorite part.
“Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it. In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations time-wise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge.
Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No emotion. No drama. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.
If the commitment is to a long-term goal and not to a series of smaller intermediate goals, then only one decision needs to be made and adhered to. Clear, simple, straightforward. Much easier to maintain than having to make small decision after small decision to stay the course when dealing with each step along the way. This provides far too many opportunities to inadvertently drift from your chosen goal. The single decision is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.”
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The above is a small sample of hundreds of tips in Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. Check it out!
Tools of Titans is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-A-Million, iBooks, Indiebound, Indigo, and more.
December 13, 2016
Ezra Klein — From College Blogger to Political Powerhouse
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“The things that I wanted and didn’t get are extreme blessings.”
– Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) is founder and editor-in-chief of Vox, an explanatory news organization that now reaches more than 100 million people each month through articles, videos, newsletters, and podcasts. Previously, he was a columnist and editor at The Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg. He was named one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington by GQ.
He’s written for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and his primary podcast, The Ezra Klein Show, is a long-form interview show where he talks to the smartest people he can find, including past guests like Bill Gates, Rachel Maddow, Andrew Sullivan, Atul Gawande, Slack founder Stewart Butterfield, The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah, and more. He also co-hosts The Weeds, a weekly policy podcast with his colleagues Matt Yglesias, and Sarah Kliff.
In this episode, we discuss:
Influencing the rules of the game by which this country is run (overall politics — not partisan)
How Ezra lost 60 pounds
Ezra’s ascension into the ranks of the most respected media companies in the world
And much, much more
Please enjoy my conversation with Ezra Klein!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear a podcast with another media mogul involved in politics? — Listen to my conversation with Glenn Beck. In this episode, we discuss hitting rock bottom, Orson Welles, and finding common ground during debates (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the #1 cloud bookkeeping software, which is used by a ton of the start-ups I advise and many of the contractors I work with. It is the easiest way to send invoices, get paid, track your time, and track your clients.
FreshBooks tells you when your clients have viewed your invoices, helps you customize your invoices, track your hours, automatically organize your receipts, have late payment reminders sent automatically and much more.
Right now you can get a free month of complete and unrestricted use. You do not need a credit card for the trial. To claim your free month and see how the brand new Freshbooks can change your business, go to FreshBooks.com/Tim and enter “Tim” in the “how did you hear about us” section.
This podcast is also brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.
People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Ezra Klein:
Twitter | Vox | The Ezra Klein Show | The Weeds | Facebook
Why It Gets Better (Ezra’s video about bullying)
The Thiel Fellowship
University of California, Santa Cruz
Breaking Benjamin
City on a Hill Press
A Reality-Based Weblog (Matthew Yglesias’s old Typepad blog)
Tomorrow’s Media Conspiracy Today (Ezra’s old Typepad blog)
The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
Big with Tom Hanks
In addition to this show (thanks, Ezra!), Ezra enjoys listening to: You Made It Weird, Longform, Reply All, Recode Decode, The Axe Files, Off Message, Conversations with Tyler, Death, Sex & Money, Switched on Pop, Exponent
Bruce Friedrich on How Technology Will Reduce Animal Suffering, The Ezra Klein Show
One Step for Animals
OSU Scientist Questions the Moral Basis of a Vegan Diet, Oregon State University
Santa Cruz has a Banana Slug mascot
The American Prospect
Reckless, Dumb and Scared: Coming of Age After 9/11 by Ezra Klein, Bloomberg View
What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer
Remembering — and Honoring — Richard Ben Cramer by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post
What is New Journalism?
Al-Qaeda and ISIS are two examples of non-state actors
The Washington Monthly
New Republic
The Daily Beast
The Health of Nations by Ezra Klein, The American Prospect
Lessons from War, Tribal Societies, and a Non-Fiction Life (Sebastian Junger)
Five Minutes on Friday, Six Minutes on Saturday: Listen to Music, Save Japan; Email a Company, Save 200,000 Sharks
Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate by Frances E. Lee
The Unpersuaded: Who Listens to a President? by Ezra Klein, The New Yorker
The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election by John Sides and Lynn Vavreck
Books by George C. Edwards
Smash Fear, Learn Anything
Show Notes
Setting the tone. [07:24]
Ezra tells us about being bullied as a kid, and the way context decides people’s lives. [07:56]
Advice Ezra would give to his younger self during this time. [11:26]
How Ezra went from being a below average student in high school to excelling in college. [12:42]
Ezra counts himself lucky for having a second chance with education. [16:45]
Ezra talks about being rejected as a writer for City on a Hill Press, and why this rejection turned out to be a blessing. [19:22]
On absorbing information and coming up with ideas. [23:47]
What prompted Ezra to lose 60 pounds — and how he did it — as a sophomore in high school? [25:05]
Why Ezra learns best when it’s a secondary activity. [28:34]
What podcasts has Ezra listened to most in the last year? [31:02]
In Ezra’s opinion, what makes economist Tyler Cowen’s mind “different?” [32:00]
As someone who listens to a lot of podcasts, how does Ezra keep from being overwhelmed with input? [33:46]
What would Ezra cover if he had to give a TED Talk on something non-political? [34:26]
We talk about the ethics of vegetarianism, veganism, food production and consumption. [35:41]
Making a conscious diet change is easier (and more effective) in increments. [41:02]
Decisions and lucky incidents that helped Ezra go from an audience of 35 daily blog readers to where he is today. [44:41]
What makes politics so interesting to Ezra? [48:37]
Was there a piece Ezra wrote that he considers his big break? [52:17]
What is New Journalism? [53:42]
What is a non-state actor? [56:20]
Why Ezra loves working with politics but hates working on campaigns. [59:58]
Ezra talks about the time between his big break and the creation of Vox. [1:01:05]
On merging the techniques, ideas, and ideologies of blogging with the processes, skills, and tools of journalism. [1:07:07]
How Ezra poised himself as an expert in global health care policies by the time “Obamacare” became a national discussion. [1:11:41]
What approach would Ezra recommend to someone who’s been daunted by the complexity of politics but wants to understand it better? [1:17:52]
Is it better to write half-informed comments about politics on Facebook than not write at all? [1:21:17]
You have to choose your battles carefully in the political arena even when you’re in power. [1:23:21]
People overinvest in polarizing headline issues. Ezra wants to get them interested in the bigger picture. [1:26:43]
People underestimate and underinvest in city and state politics — but it’s an ideal place to start for anyone who wants to create change. [1:31:35]
What message would Ezra share on his billboard, and where would he put it? [1:34:14]
People Mentioned
Bill Gates
Rachel Maddow
Andrew Sullivan
Atul Gawande
Stewart Butterfield
Trevor Noah
Matt Yglesias
Sarah Kliff
Jocko Willink
Peter Thiel
Kevin Kelly
Joan Didion
Ed Catmull
Pete Holmes
Kara Swisher
David Axelrod
Glenn Thrush
Tyler Cowen
Eric Weinstein
Charlie Harding
Nate Sloan
Bruce Friedrich
Matt Ball
Kevin Drum
Gideon Kracov
Paul Wellstone
George H.W. Bush
William J. Clinton
George W. Bush
Gary Hart
Richard Ben Cramer
Tom Wolfe
Norman Mailer
George F. Will
Paul Krugman
Warren Rudman
Joe Trippi
Howard Dean
Paul Glastris
Nicholas Confessore
Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Michael Tomasky
Sebastian Junger
Tom Daschle
Ross Douthat
Rebecca Traister
Annie Lowrey
December 10, 2016
The Unusual Books That Shaped 50+ Billionaires, Mega-Bestselling Authors, and Other Prodigies
You are the average of the five people you associate with most. Choose your books and authors wisely.
One of the questions I ask the most successful people I interview or meet is:
“What book have you gifted most to others, and why?”
Below is a mega-list of the most-gifted and favorite books of 50-60 people like billionaire investor Peter Thiel, Tony Robbins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, elite athlete Amelia Boone, Malcolm Gladwell, legendary Navy SEAL Commander Jocko Willink, Dr. Brené Brown, music producer Rick Rubin, chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, Glenn Beck, Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, and many more.
Several books appear more than once, which might be where you start your own collection.
Important notes on the list:
Bolded books are “most-gifted book” answers.
Unbolded books were recommended or mentioned by the guest, but not specifically “most-gifted.”
Many of these answers were updated or added by guests AFTER their interviews, or the “guests” haven’t been on my podcast, so they are only found in Tools of Titans .
For the answers from 120+ world-class performers, and much more, please check this out.
Enjoy!
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Adams, Scott: Influence (Robert B. Cialdini)
Altucher, James: Jesus’ Son: Stories (Denis Johnson), The Kite Runner; A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini), Antifragile; The Black Swan; Fooled by Randomness (Nassim Nicholas Taleb), Brain Rules (John Medina), Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell), Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)
Andreessen, Marc: High Output Management; Only the Paranoid Survive (Andrew S. Grove), Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (Peter Thiel with Blake Masters), Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Neal Gabler), Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (David Michaelis), The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World (Randall E. Stross), Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life (Steve Martin), The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz)
Attia, Peter: Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts (Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson), Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Richard P. Feynman), 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works — A True Story (Dan Harris)
Beck, Glenn: The Book of Virtues (William J. Bennett), Winners Never Cheat (Jon Huntsman)
Bell, Mark: COAN: The Man, The Myth, The Method: The Life, Times & Training of the Greatest Powerlifter of All-Time (Marty Gallagher)
Belsky, Scott: Life’s Little Instruction Book (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)
Betts, Richard: A Fan’s Notes (Frederick Exley), The Crossroads of Should and Must (Elle Luna)
Birbiglia, Mike: The Promise of Sleep (William C. Dement)
Boone, Amelia: House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)
Boreta, Justin: Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Oliver Sacks), Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (Sam Harris), This Is Your Brain on Music (Daniel J. Levitin), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
Brown, Brené: The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
Callen, Bryan: Excellent Sheep (William Deresiewicz), Atlas Shrugged; The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand), The Power of Myth; The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell), The Genealogy of Morals (Friedrich Nietzsche), The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin), The 4-Hour Body; The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss), Bad Science, Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients (Ben Goldacre), Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 (Thomas Ricks), The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11; Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (Lawrence Wright), Symposium (Plato)
Chin, Jimmy: Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era (Eiji Yoshikawa and Charles Terry), A Guide to the I Ching (Carol K. Anthony), Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (Jon Krakauer)
Cho, Margaret: How to Be a Movie Star (William J. Mann)
Cummings, Whitney: Super Sad True Love Story (Gary Shteyngart), The Drama of the Gifted Child (Alice Miller), The Fantasy Bond (Robert W. Firestone), The Continuum Concept (Jean Liedloff)
D’Agostino, Dominic: Personal Power (Tony Robbins), Tripping Over the Truth (Travis Christofferson), The Language of God (Francis Collins), The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis), Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer (Thomas Seyfried), Ketogenic Diabetes Diet: Type 2 Diabetes (Ellen Davis, MS and Keith Runyan, MD), Fight Cancer with a Ketogenic Diet (Ellen Davis, MS)
de Botton, Alain: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), The Complete Essays (Michel de Montaigne), In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
De Sena, Joe: A Message to Garcia (Elbert Hubbard), Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), Shōgun (James Clavell), The One Minute Manager (Kenneth H. Blanchard)
Dubner, Stephen: For adults: Levels of the Game (John McPhee); for kids: The Empty Pot (Demi)
Eisen, Jonathan: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer)
Fadiman, James: Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story; Tihkal: The Continuation (Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin)
Favreau, Jon: The Writer’s Journey (Christopher Vogler and Michele Montez), It Would Be So Nice If You Weren’t Here (Charles Grodin), The 4-Hour Body (Tim Ferriss), The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien), Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain)
Foxx, Jamie: Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America (James Allen)
Fussman, Cal: One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez), Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates), Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers (James C. Humes), A Feast of Snakes; Car (Harry Crews)
Ganju, Nick: Don’t Make Me Think (Steve Krug), How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business (Douglas W. Hubbard), How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking (Jordan Ellenberg), Getting to Yes (Roger Fisher and William Ury)
Gazzaley, Adam: Foundation (Isaac Asimov), The Reality Dysfunction (The Night’s Dawn Trilogy) (Peter F. Hamilton), Mountain Light (Galen Rowell)
Gladwell, Malcolm: Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious (Timothy D. Wilson), Merchant Princes: An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores (Leon A. Harris), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Little Drummer’s Girl; The Russia House; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carré), The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (Michael Lewis), The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande), all of Lee Child’s books
Hamilton, Laird: The Bible, Natural Born Heroes (Christopher McDougall), Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), Deep Survival (Laurence Gonzales), Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Richard Bach and Russell Munson), Dune (Frank Herbert)
Hoffman, Reid: Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values (Fred Kofman), Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)
Holiday, Ryan: Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), The War of Art (Steven Pressfield), What Makes Sammy Run? (Budd Schulberg), Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (Ron Chernow), How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer (Sarah Bakewell), The Fish that Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King; Tough Jews (Rich Cohen), Edison: A Biography (Matthew Josephson), Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity (Brooks Simpson), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
Junger, Sebastian: At Play in the Fields of the Lord (Peter Matthiessen), Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)
Kamkar, Samy: Influence (Robert Cialdini)
Kaskade: Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath (Ted Koppel)
Koppelman, Brian: What Makes Sammy Run? (Budd Schulberg), The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal (Julia Cameron), The War of Art (Steven Pressfield)
McChrystal, Stanley: Once an Eagle (Anton Myrer), The Road to Character (David Brooks)
Miller, BJ: Any picture book of Mark Rothko art.
Neistat, Casey: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be (Paul Arden), The Second World War (John Keegan), The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X and Alex Haley)
Nemer, Jason: The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran), Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu)
Norton, Edward: Wind, Sand and Stars (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry), Buddhism Without Beliefs (Stephen Batchelor), Shōgun (James Clavell), The Search for Modern China; The Death of Woman Wang (Jonathan Spence), “The Catastrophe of Success” (essay by Tennessee Williams), The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)
Ohanian, Alexis: Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days (Jessica Livingston), Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture (David Kushner)
Popova, Maria: Still Writing (Dani Shapiro), On the Shortness of Life (Seneca), The Republic (Plato), On the Move: A Life (Oliver Sacks), The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837–1861 (Henry David Thoreau), A Rap on Race (Margaret Mead and James Baldwin), On Science, Necessity and the Love of God: Essays (Simone Weil), Stumbling on Happiness (Daniel Gilbert), Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (Edward Abbey), Gathering Moss (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
Randall, Lisa: I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
Reece, Gabby: Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
Richman, Jessica: The Complete Short Stories (Ernest Hemingway)
Robbins, Tony: As a Man Thinketh (James Allen), Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl), The Fourth Turning; Generations (William Strauss), Slow Sex (Nicole Daedone), Mindset (Carol Dweck)
Rodriguez, Robert: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Simon Sinek)
Rose, Kevin: The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (Thich Nhat Hanh), The Wisdom of Crowds (James Surowiecki)
Rubin, Rick: Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu, translation by Stephen Mitchell), Wherever You Go, There You Are (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Schwarzenegger, Arnold: The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History (Boris Johnson), Free to Choose (Milton Friedman), California (Kevin Starr)
Sethi, Ramit: Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion (Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson), The Social Animal (Elliot Aronson), Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got (Jay Abraham), Mindless Eating (Brian Wansink), The Robert Collier Letter Book (Robert Collier), Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time (Keith Ferrazzi), What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School (Mark H. McCormack), Iacocca: An Autobiography (Lee Iacocca), The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande)
Silva, Jason: TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Erik Davis), The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance (Steven Kotler), The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss)
Skenes, Joshua: Cocktail Techniques (Kazuo Uyeda)
Sommer, Christopher: The Obstacle Is the Way (Ryan Holiday), the works of Robert Heinlein
Tan, Chade-Meng: What the Buddha Taught (Walpola Rahula), In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (Bhikkhu Bodhi)
Thiel, Peter: Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (René Girard)
von Ahn, Luis: Zero to One (Peter Thiel), The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz)
Waitzkin, Josh: On the Road; The Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac), Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig), Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts), For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Old Man and the Sea; The Green Hills of Africa (Ernest Hemingway), Ernest Hemingway on Writing (Larry W. Phillips), Mindset (Carol Dweck), Dreaming Yourself Awake: Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga for Insight and Transformation (B. Alan Wallace and Brian Hodel), The Drama of the Gifted Child (Alice Miller), Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (Sebastian Junger), Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Angela Duckworth), Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool)
Willink, Jocko: About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior (Colonel David H. Hackworth), Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (Cormac McCarthy)
###
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
For more answers, tactics, habits, and routines from 120+ world-class performers, please check out my labor of love Tools of Titans.
Tools of Titans is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-A-Million, iBooks, Indiebound, Indigo, and others. If you found the above interesting, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the whole thing.
Thanks for reading!
Tools of Titans: Brené Brown Distilled and Other Goodies
“He or she who is willing to be the most uncomfortable is not only the bravest but rises the fastest.”
– Brené Brown
Dr. Brené Brown (@BreneBrown) is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Brené’s 2010 TEDx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, has been viewed more than 31 million times and is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world.
She has spent the past 13 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Brené is the author of three #1 New York Times bestsellers: Daring Greatly, The Gifts of Imperfection, and Rising Strong.
This episode turned into a therapy session of sorts for me because I felt like I needed a lot of help related to topics she explored. I thought I would give you a sample of some of the highlights — the things I applied to my own life and have revisited many times since. It’s really a sample of my new book Tools of Titans.
Please enjoy this distilled collection of highlights from Dr. Brené Brown. Be sure to stay tuned for a surprise at the end!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with Brené Brown? — Listen to her first appearance on my show. In this episode, we discuss vulnerability, schools of philosophy, and creating a home run TED Talk (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have two to recommend:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is go to Audible.com/Tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose any of the endless options they offer. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It’s that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim and get started today. Enjoy.
This podcast is also brought to you by MeUndies. Have you ever wanted to be as powerful as a mullet-wearing ninja from the ’80s, or as sleek as a black panther in the Amazon? Of course you have, and that is where MeUndies comes in. I’ve spent the last six months wearing underwear from these guys 24/7, and they are the most comfortable and colorful underwear I’ve ever owned. Their materials are 2x softer than cotton, as evaluated using the Kawabata method. Check out MeUndies.com/Tim to see my current faves (some are awesomely ridiculous, like the camo).
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Brené Brown:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Courage Works
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
Brené Brown on Vulnerability and Home Run TED Talks (her first appearance on this show)
Watch Brené Brown’s TED Talks: The Power of Vulnerability and Listening to Shame
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Rising Strong by Brené Brown
I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t) by Brené Brown
Women & Shame by Brené Brown
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day
Laird Hamilton, The King of Big Wave Surfing (Plus: Gabrielle Reece and Brian MacKenzie)
Luxembourg Garden
Searching for Bobby Fischer: book by Fred Waitzkin, movie with Joe Mantegna
The Matrix
The Sixth Sense
The Usual Suspects
What is a red team?
General Stan McChrystal on Anti-War Americans, Pushing Your Limits, and The Three Military Tests You Should Take
Tara Brach on Meditation and Overcoming FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
Maria Popova on Being Interesting, Creating More Time in a Day, And How to Start A Successful Blog
Smile Guided Meditation by Tara Brach
Laird Hamilton, The King of Big Wave Surfing (Plus: Gabrielle Reece and Brian MacKenzie)
The ChiliPAD
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger by Charles T. Munger
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert B. Cialdini
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
The Wizard of Hollywood, Robert Rodriguez
Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)
The Tim Ferriss Show, Episode 20: Dan Carlin — Hardcore History, Building Podcasts, Creativity, and More (Hardcore History is my favorite podcast)
Place Louis Aragon: sit a spell by No Worries Paris
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The Person I Call Most for Startup Advice
Show Notes
Afraid and brave can coexist. [05:09]
Give discomfort its due. [06:32]
When I had the opportunity, did I choose courage over comfort? [08:21]
One of Brené’s rules for public speaking: house lights. [10:51]
Shame versus guilt. [12:05]
To be trusted, be vulnerable. [12:48]
Who does Brené think of when she hears the word “successful?” [13:50]
What advice would Brené give to her 30-year-old self? [14:39]
Suprise goodies. [16:00]
People Mentioned
Cus D’Amato
Mike Tyson
Dean Martin
Theodore Roosevelt
Gabby Reece
Neil Strauss
Kurt Vonnegut
W.H. Auden
Victor Hugo
Gertrude Stein
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ernest Hemingway
Josh Waitzkin
Pierre-Marc-Gaston
Peter Thiel
General Stan McChrystal
Marc Andreessen
Tara Brach
Maria Popova
Laird Hamilton
Robert Rodriguez
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dan Carlin
Shay Carl
Robert Moses
Walt Disney
Ben Franklin
Naval Ravikant
December 7, 2016
Testing The “Impossible”: 17 Questions That Changed My Life
My life has been a series of questions and odd experiments. Here, horseback archery in Japan. (Photo: David West)
The following is a sample chapter from my new book, Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. Any page numbers are from the print edition.
Enjoy!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
—-“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” — Mark Twain
Reality is largely negotiable.
If you stress-test the boundaries and experiment with the “impossibles,” you’ll quickly discover that most limitations are a fragile collection of socially reinforced rules you can choose to break at any time.
What follows are 17 questions that have dramatically changed my life. Each one is time-stamped, as they entered the picture at precise moments.
#1 — What if I did the opposite for 48 hours?
In 2000, I was selling mass data storage to CEOs and CTOs in my first job out of college. When I wasn’t driving my mom’s hand-me-down minivan to and from the office in San Jose, California, I was cold calling and cold emailing. “Smiling and dialing” was brutal. For the first few months, I flailed and failed (it didn’t help that my desk was wedged in a fire exit). Then, one day, I realized something: All of the sales guys made their sales calls between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Obvious, right? But that’s part one. Part two: I realized that all of the gatekeepers who kept me from the decision makers—CEOs and CTOs—also worked from 9 to 5. What if I did the opposite of all the other sales guys, just for 48 hours? I decided to take a Thursday and Friday and make sales calls only from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m. For the rest of the day, I focused on cold emails. It worked like gangbusters. The big boss often picked up the phone directly, and I began doing more experiments with “What if I did the opposite?”: What if I only asked questions instead of pitching? What if I studied technical material, so I sounded like an engineer instead of a sales guy? What if I ended my emails with “I totally understand if you’re too busy to reply, and thank you for reading this far,” instead of the usual “I look forward to your reply and speaking soon” presumptive BS? The experiments paid off. My last quarter in that job, I outsold the entire L.A. office of our biggest competitor, EMC.
#2 — What do I spend a silly amount of money on? How might I scratch my own itch?
In late 2000 and early 2001, I saw the writing on the wall: The startup I worked for was going to implode. Rounds of layoffs started and weren’t going to end. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I’d been bitten by the startup bug and intoxicated by Silicon Valley. To explore business opportunities, I didn’t do in-depth market research. I started with my credit card statement and asked myself, “What do I spend a silly amount of money on?” Where did I spend a disproportionate amount of my income? Where was I price insensitive? The answer was sports supplements. At the time, I was making less than $40K a year and spending $500 or more per month on supplements. It was insane, but dozens of my male friends were equally overboard. I already knew which ads got me to buy, which stores and websites I used to purchase goods, which bulletin boards I frequented, and all the rest. Could I create a product that would scratch my own itch? What was I currently cobbling together (I had enough science background to be dangerous) that I couldn’t conveniently find at retail? The result was a cognitive enhancer called BrainQUICKEN. Before everyone got fired, I begged my coworkers to each prepay for a bottle, which gave me enough money to hire chemists, a regulatory consultant, and do a tiny manufacturing run. I was off to the races.
#3 — What would I do/have/be if I had $10 million? What’s my real TMI?
In 2004, I was doing better than ever financially, and BrainQUICKEN was distributed in perhaps a dozen countries. The problem? I was running on caffeine, working 15-hour days, and constantly on the verge of meltdown. My girlfriend, who I expected to marry, left me due to the workaholism. Over the next 6 months of treading water and feeling trapped, I realized I had to restructure the business or shut it down—it was literally killing me. This is when I began journaling on a few questions, including “What would I want to do, have, and be if I had $10 million in the bank?” and “What’s my real target monthly income (TMI)?” For the latter, in other words: How much does my dream life—the stuff I’m deferring for “retirement”—really cost if I pay on a monthly basis? (See fourhourworkweek.com/tmi) After running the numbers, most of my fantasies were far more affordable than I’d expected. Perhaps I didn’t need to keep grinding and building? Perhaps I needed more time and mobility, not more income? This made me think that maybe, just maybe, I could afford to be happy and not just “successful.” I decided to take a long overseas trip.
#4 — What are the worst things that could happen? Could I get back here?
These questions, also from 2004, are perhaps the most important of all, so they get their own chapter. (See “fear-setting” on page 463 in Tools of Titans.)
#5 — If I could only work 2 hours per week on my business, what would I do?
After removing anxieties about the trip with fear-setting, the next practical step was removing myself as the bottleneck in my business. Alas, “how can I not be a bottleneck in my own business?” isn’t a good question. After reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, I decided that extreme questions were the forcing function I needed. The question I found most helpful was, “If I could only work 2 hours per week on my business, what would I do?” Honestly speaking, it was more like, “Yes, I know it’s impossible, but if you had a gun to your head or contracted some horrible disease, and you had to limit work to 2 hours per week, what would you do to keep things afloat?” The 80/20 principle, also known as Pareto’s law, is the primary tool in this case. It dictates that 80% (or more) of your desired outcomes are the result of 20% (or less) of your activities and inputs. Here are two related questions I personally used: “What 20% of customers/products/regions are producing 80% of the profit? What factors or shared characteristics might account for this?” Many such questions later, I began making changes: “firing” my highest-maintenance customers; putting more than 90% of my retail customers on autopilot with simple terms and standardized order processes; and deepening relationships (and increasing order sizes) with my 3 to 5 highest-profit, lowest-headache customers. That all led to . . .
#6 — What if I let them make decisions up to $100? $500? $1,000?
This question allowed me to take my customer service workload from 40 to 60 hours per week to less than 2 hours per week. Until mid-2004, I was the sole decision maker. For instance, if a professional athlete overseas needed our product overnighted with special customs forms, I would get an email or phone call from one of my fulfillment centers: “How should we handle this? What would you like to charge?” These unusual “edge cases” might seem like rare exceptions, but they were a daily occurrence. Dozens per week hit me, on top of everything else. The fix: I sent an email to all of my direct reports along the lines of “From this point forward, please don’t contact for me with questions about A, B, or C. I trust you. If it involves less than $100, please made the decision yourself and take a note (the situation, how you handled it, what it cost) in one document, so we can review and adjust each week. Just focus on making our customers happy.” I expected the worst, and guess what? Everything worked, minus a few expected hiccups here and there. I later increased the threshold to $500, then $1,000, and the “reviews” of decisions went from weekly, to monthly, to quarterly, to—once people were polished—effectively never. This experience underscored two things for me: 1) To get huge, good things done, you need to be okay with letting the small, bad things happen. 2) People’s IQs seem to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.
#7 — What’s the least crowded channel?
Fast-forward to December 26, 2006. I’ve finished writing The 4-Hour Workweek, and I sit down after a lovely Christmas to think about the upcoming April launch. What to do? I had no idea, so I tracked down roughly a dozen best-selling authors. I asked each questions like, “What were the biggest wastes of time and money for your last book launch? What would you never do again? What would you do more of? If you had to choose one place to focus $10,000, where would you focus?”
I heard one word repeatedly: blogs. They were apparently both very powerful and under-appreciated. My first question was, “What the hell is a blog?” My next questions were “How are people currently trying to reach bloggers?” and “What’s the least crowded channel?” The people pitching bloggers were generally using email first and phone second. Even though those were my strengths, I decided to experiment with in-person meetings at conferences. Why? Because I felt my odds would be better as one out of five people in a lounge, rather than one email out of 500 emails in an overflowing inbox. I packed my bags and headed to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show in January, which had more than 150,000 attendees in 2005. It’s like the Super Bowl of technology releases, where all the geeks get to play with new toys. I never even walked in the front door. I parked myself at the offsite Seagate-sponsored BlogHaus lounge, where bloggers were invited to relax, recharge their laptops, and drink free booze. I sipped alcohol, asked a lot of dumb questions, and never overtly pitched. I only mentioned the book if someone asked me why I was there (answer: “I just finished my first book, and I’m really nervous about the launch. I’m here to learn more about blogs and technology”). Famous tech blogger Robert Scoble later described my intricate marketing plan as “get drunk with bloggers.” It worked surprisingly well.
#8 — What if I couldn’t pitch my product directly?
During the 2007 book launch, I quickly found that most media rightly don’t give a rat’s ass about book launches. They care about stories, not announcements, so I asked myself, “What if I couldn’t pitch my product directly? What if I had to sell around the product?” Well, I could showcase people from the book who’ve completely redesigned their lives (human interest); I could write about unrelated crazy experiments, but drive people to my book-focused website (Google “Geek to Freak” to see the result. It was my first-ever viral blog post); I could popularize a new term and aim for pop culture (see “lifestyle design” on page 278 in Tools of Titans); I could go meta and make the launch itself a news item (I also did this with my video “book trailer” for The 4-Hour Body, as well as the BitTorrent partnership for The 4-Hour Chef). People don’t like being sold products, but we all like being told stories. Work on the latter.
#9 — What if I created my own real-world MBA?
This kicked off in 2007 to 2008. See page 250 in Tools of Titans for full details.
#10 — Do I need to make it back the way I lost it?
In 2008, I owned a home in San Jose, California, and its value cratered. More accurately, the bank owned the home and I had an ill-conceived adjustable-rate mortgage. On top of that, I was on the cusp of moving to San Francisco. To sell would have meant a $150,000 loss. Ultimately, I picked up and moved to San Francisco, regardless, leaving my San Jose home empty.
For months, friends pressured me to rent it, emphasizing how I was flushing money down the toilet otherwise. I eventually buckled and followed their advice. Even with a property management company, regular headaches and paperwork ensued. Regret followed. One introspective night, I had some wine and asked myself: “Do I really need to make money back the same way I’m losing it?” If you lose $1,000 at the blackjack table, should you try and recoup it there? Probably not. If I’m “losing” money via the mortgage payments on an empty house, do I really need to cover it by renting the house itself? No, I decided. I could much more easily create income elsewhere (e.g., speaking gigs, consulting, etc.) to put me in the black. Humans are very vulnerable to a cognitive bias called “anchoring,” whether in real estate, stocks, or otherwise. I am no exception. I made a study of this (a lot of good investors like Think Twice by Michael Mauboussin), and shortly thereafter sold my San Jose house at a large loss. Once my attention and mind space was freed up, I quickly made it back elsewhere.
#11 — What if I could only subtract to solve problems?
From 2008 to 2009, I began to ask myself, “What if I could only subtract to solve problems?” when advising startups. Instead of answering, “What should we do?” I tried first to hone in on answering, “What should we simplify?” For instance, I always wanted to tighten the conversion fishing net (the percentage of visitors who sign up or buy) before driving a ton of traffic to one of my portfolio companies. One of the first dozen startups I worked with was named Gyminee. It was rebranded Daily Burn, and at the time, they didn’t have enough manpower to do a complete redesign of the site. Adding new elements would’ve been time-consuming, but removing them wasn’t. As a test, we eliminated roughly 70% of the “above the fold” clickable elements on their homepage, focusing on the single most valuable click. Conversions immediately improved 21.1%. That quick-and-dirty test informed later decisions for much more expensive development. The founders, Andy Smith and Stephen Blankenship, made a lot of great decisions, and the company was acquired by IAC in 2010. I’ve since applied this “What if I could only subtract . . . ?” to my life in many areas, and I sometimes rephrase it as “What should I put on my not-to-do list?”
#12 — What might I put in place to allow me to go off the grid for 4 to 8 weeks, with no phone or email?
Though wordy, I have asked variations of this question many times since 2004. It used to end with, “. . . allow me to go on vacation for 4 to 8 weeks,” but that’s no longer enough. Given the spread of broadband, it’s extremely easy to take a “vacation” to Brazil or Japan and still work nonstop on your business via laptop. This kind of subtle self-deception is a time bomb.
For the last 5 years, I’ve asked myself, in effect, “What can I put in place so that I can go completely off the grid for 4 to 8 weeks?” To entrepreneurs who are feeling burned out, this is also the question I pose most often. Two weeks isn’t enough, as you can let fires erupt and then attempt to repair things when you return. Four to eight weeks (or more) doesn’t allow you to be a firefighter. It forces you to put systems and policies in place, ditch ad-hoc email-based triage, empower other people with rules and tools, separate the critical few from the trivial many, and otherwise create a machine that doesn’t require you behind the driver’s wheel 24/7.
Here’s the most important point: The systems far outlive the vacation, and when you come home, you’ll realize that you’ve taken your business (and life) to the next level. This is only possible if you work on your business instead of in your business, as Michael Gerber might say.
#13 — Am I hunting antelope or field mice?
I lifted this question around 2012 from former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. I read about it in Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room, written by James Carville and Paul Begala, the political strategists behind Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign “war room.” Here’s the excerpt that stuck with me:
Newt Gingrich is one of the most successful political leaders of our time. Yes, we disagreed with virtually everything he did, but this is a book about strategy, not ideology. And we’ve got to give Newt his due. His strategic ability—his relentless focus on capturing the House of Representatives for the Republicans—led to one of the biggest political landslides in American history.
Now that he’s in the private sector, Newt uses a brilliant illustration to explain the need to focus on the big things and let the little stuff slide: the analogy of the field mice and the antelope. A lion is fully capable of capturing, killing, and eating a field mouse. But it turns out that the energy required to do so exceeds the caloric content of the mouse itself. So a lion that spent its day hunting and eating field mice would slowly starve to death. A lion can’t live on field mice. A lion needs antelope. Antelope are big animals. They take more speed and strength to capture and kill, and once killed, they provide a feast for the lion and her pride. A lion can live a long and happy life on a diet of antelope. The distinction is important. Are you spending all your time and exhausting all your energy catching field mice? In the short term it might give you a nice, rewarding feeling. But in the long run you’re going to die. So ask yourself at the end of the day, “Did I spend today chasing mice or hunting antelope?”
Another way I often approach this is to look at my to-do list and ask: “Which one of these, if done, would render all the rest either easier or completely irrelevant?”
#14 — Could it be that everything is fine and complete as is?
Since starting deep work with “plant medicines” in 2013 (see James Fadiman, page 100), I’ve doubled and tripled down on cultivating more daily appreciation and present-state awareness. The above is one of the questions I ask myself. It’s accompanied by complementary tools and rituals like the 5-Minute Journal (page 146), the Jar of Awesome (page 570), and thinking of “daily wins” before bed à la Peter Diamandis (page 373). To reiterate what I’ve said elsewhere in this book, type-A personalities have goal pursuit as default hardwiring. This is excellent for producing achievement, but also anxiety, as you’re constantly future-focused. I’ve personally decided that achievement is no more than a passing grade in life. It’s a C+ that gets you limping along to the next grade. For anything more, and certainly for anything approaching happiness, you have to want what you already have.
#15 — What would this look like if it were easy?
This question and the next both came about in 2015. These days, more than any other question, I’m asking “What would this look like if it were easy?” If I feel stressed, stretched thin, or overwhelmed, it’s usually because I’m overcomplicating something or failing to take the simple/easy path because I feel I should be trying “harder” (old habits die hard).
#16 — How can I throw money at this problem? How can I “waste” money to improve the quality of my life?
This is somewhat self-explanatory. Dan Sullivan is the founder and president of a company called Strategic Coach that has saved the sanity of many serial entrepreneurs I know. One of Dan’s sayings is: “If you’ve got enough money to solve the problem, you don’t have the problem.” In the beginning of your career, you spend time to earn money. Once you hit your stride in any capacity, you should spend money to earn time, as the latter is nonrenewable. It can be hard to make and maintain this gear shift, so the above question is in my regular journaling rotation.
#17 — No hurry, no pause.
This isn’t a question—it’s a fundamental reset. “No hurry, no pause” was introduced to me by Jenny Sauer-Klein (jennysauerklein.com), who, along with Jason Nemer (page 46), co-created AcroYoga. The expression is one of the “9 Principles of Harmony” from Breema, a form of bodywork she studied for many years. I routinely write “No hurry, no pause” at the top of my notebooks as a daily reminder. In effect, it’s shorthand for Derek Sivers’s story of the 45-minute versus 43-minute bike ride (page 190)—you don’t need to go through life huffing and puffing, straining and red-faced. You can get 95% of the results you want by calmly putting one foot in front of the other. One former Navy SEAL friend recently texted me a principle used in their training: “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
Perhaps I’m just getting old, but my definition of luxury has changed over time. Now, it’s not about owning a lot of stuff. Luxury, to me, is feeling unrushed. No hurry, no pause.
***
So, kids, those are my questions. May you find and create many of your own.
Be sure to look for simple solutions.
If the answer isn’t simple, it’s probably not the right answer.
###
Tools of Titans is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-A-Million, iBooks, Indiebound, Indigo, and more. If you enjoyed the above, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the whole thing. Thanks for reading!
December 5, 2016
Mark Bittman on Changing the Food Industry and Living Dangerously
“You’re not going to succeed at stuff you don’t want to do.”
– Mark Bittman
Mark Bittman (@bittman) is the author of 20 acclaimed books, including the How to Cook Everything series, Food Matters, and his latest, How to Bake Everything — which is on a coveted shelf in my own kitchen.
For more than two decades, Mark’s popular and compelling stories appeared in The New York Times, where he was ultimately the Lead Food Writer for the Sunday Magazine. He became the country’s first food-focused op-ed columnist for a major news publication.
He starred in four TV series, including the Emmy Award-winning Years of Living Dangerously. He’s been a distinguished fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and was recently appointed to the faculty of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Throughout his career, Mark has strived for the same goal: to make food and all of its aspects understandable — and he also extends that to a brand-new podcast called Get Bitt.
In this episode, we talk about:
My fasting regimen
Mark’s favorite failures and what he’s learned from them
Mark’s first piece that broke him into the world of journalism
And much, much more
Please enjoy this episode with Mark Bittman!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast with another entrepreneur that has built a career on a love of food? — Listen to my conversation with Andrew Zimmern. In this episode, we discuss his meditation practice, morning routines, and creative process (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Pro, which is the ideal video hosting platform for entrepreneurs. In fact, a bunch of my start-ups are already using Vimeo Pro. WealthFront uses it to explain how WealthFront works. TaskRabbit uses it to tell the company’s story. There are many other names who you would recognize among their customers (including Airbnb and Etsy). Why do they use it? Vimeo Pro provides enterprise level video hosting for a fraction of the usual cost. Features include:
Gorgeous high-quality playback with no ads
Up to 20 GB of video storage every week
Unlimited plays and views
A fully customizable video player, which can include your company logo, custom outro, and more
You get all this for just $199 per year (that’s only $17 per month). There are no complicated bandwidth calculations or hidden fees. Try it risk-free for 30 days. Just go to†Vimeo.com/business to check it out. If you like it, you can use the promo code “Tim” to get 25% off. This is a special discount just for you guys.
This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.
Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they’ll show you for free exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Mark Bittman:
Twitter | Website | Get Bitt Podcast
How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food,10th Anniversary Edition by Mark Bittman
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman
How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking by Mark Bittman
Years of Living Dangerously
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Books by Marcella Hazan
Books by Julie Sahni
iPhone headsets
Electric shavers
Dom’s favorite options for canned sardines: kingoscar.com and wildplanetfoods.com; Dom’s favorite canned oysters
Abbott Precision Xtra Glucose Monitor
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman
How to Cook Everything The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food by Mark Bittman
How to Cook Everything Fast: A Better Way to Cook Great Food by Mark Bittman
VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health…for Good by Mark Bittman
Serial
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazen
Show Notes
If Mark could give a TED Talk about something he’s passionate about but doesn’t rely on for his livelihood, what would he cover? [07:17]
Why does Mark run? [08:18]
What books (besides his own) has Mark gifted most? [10:23]
What purchase of $100 or less has significantly influenced Mark’s life? [11:32]
Why did Mark recently give up Amazon Prime? [12:20]
Some people talk tuna. We talk sardines. [14:21]
I ask Mark if he’s ever experimented with fasting, and I lay out some of its potential benefits. [16:51]
I explain to Mark how I fast without losing muscle tissue. [19:09]
What does Mark’s routine look like before a book deadline? [25:15]
Mark’s typical writing day. [27:16]
How has failure set Mark up for later success? [31:52]
Before he started writing professionally, Mark sold photo equipment. Did any of those sales skills translate to selling his own work? [37:04]
Mark explains his mantra. [38:27]
What advice does Mark wish he’d received when he was younger? [40:27]
Where would Mark be today if he’d followed the advice of others instead of following his own path? [42:48]
What advice does Mark think his 80-year-old self would give to him now? [45:39]
What does Mark mean when he says, “don’t write things off too quickly?” [46:51]
Mark tells us why he’s starting a podcast. [48:32]
Mark explains his interview style. [52:48]
What makes baking fun? [56:39]
Using the 704 pages of How to Bake Everything as a reference, where would Mark recommend a beginner start baking? [59:30]
Farewells and parting thoughts. [1:03:53]
People Mentioned
Haruki Murakami
Malcolm Gladwell
Dom D’Agostino
Thomas Seyfried
Ernest Hemingway
Chris Angermann
Dan Gable
Steve Jobs
Derek Sivers
Josh Tyson
Nick Nolte
Marcella Hazan
Julie Sahni
December 4, 2016
The Tim Ferriss 2016 Holiday Gift Guide
Getting festive with Chris Sacca, who suggests mullet wigs (long story) for every occasion.
I dislike shopping, but I love finding the perfect gift.
Finding that gift, though, gets harder with time. People seem to have everything they need.
Alternate versions of the shirts I got last year? No, thank you. More ring pops? I’ll pass. In the eternal quest to eliminate clutter, I now give Santa a not-to-buy list instead of a wish list.
After testing and vetting hundreds of products and gadgets this year, here are 17 that make the cut. I own all of these and have gifted them to friends.
Gifts Under $25
Butternut 2013 Chardonnay — $16
I’m a red wine guy. There are very few white wines that make me defect. The first I met was a 2004 Rombauer Chardonnay. The most recent is this delicious Butternut 2013. Every person at the table — all self-described red-wine people — loved it and remarked upon it. If those both sell out, try my current favorite sake, Hitori Musume.
I travel with one of these at all times. Many folks use the RAD for thoracic mobility work, but I prefer to focus on the feet and forearms (pressing down into a table and rolling). Tip… Think your hamstrings are tight? Try rolling out your feet, doing 30 calf raises, stretching your Achilles, then testing your hammies again. Both Amelia Boone and Coach Sommer would agree—a lot of “hamstring” inflexibility is related to lower-leg mobility.
I don’t know how I lived without these until now. I order almost everything I need on Amazon Prime, so I’m constantly opening and breaking down boxes. These puppies are so much better than knives or standard box cutters that there is no comparison. Perhaps I’m a weirdo (of course, I am), but these were a game changer. NOTE: These are ONLY for opening boxes. I stupidly used one to open a plastic package and almost cut my damn hand in half. Be careful!
This was given to me by Jeffrey Zurofsky (remember “JZ” from The 4-Hour Chef?) as a birthday present. It’s been a godsend. After testing every sleep mask imaginable, and tested black-out blinds, etc. over the years, this is—bar none—my favorite to sleep and travel with. It uses thin velcro instead of elastic, and satin wraps around your ears instead of over them. Remember the first time you saw luggage with wheels and thought, “Why didn’t someone come up with this earlier?” I felt the same when using the Sleep Master Mask for the first time. Simple, great design. One caveat: If you sleep in a very warm room, this mask may be too hot.
Jackery Mini Portable Charger — $13
This thing is a lifesaver when my phone is running low on battery. It was recommended to me by my friend Matt Mullenweg (CEO of Automattic), who I interviewed in this episode of my podcast.
OK, I’m clearly biased on this one, but I (and dozens of proofreaders) think it makes the perfect holiday gift. The book is split into three sections–Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise–and there is something for everyone.
Over the past 2 years, I’ve interviewed 200+ of the world’s best performers – everyone from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) to athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.), Special Ops commanders, and black-market biochemists. In this brand-new book, I painstakingly distilled the best tools and tactics you won’t find anywhere else, including at least 40% brand-new content and tips from experts. Even if you’ve heard every podcast episode, you’ll have 250-300 pages of new goodies.
Everything in this book has been applied to my own life. I’ve used many of the recommendations in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars, remade my body, and saved me years of wasted effort. I wrote Tools of Titans, my ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, for myself. It’s changed my life, and I hope the same for you.
Gifts Under $50
The Soma Bottle is the healthy way to stay hydrated everywhere. Made from high quality, shatter-resistant glass, with an easy grip protective sleeve, it’s perfectly designed to fit into your bag, your cup holder, and your life.
OK, this isn’t a sex toy, but it sure as hell looks like one. Kudos to Kelly Starrett, the supple (sexy?) leopard and PT to the stars, for thinking multi-purpose. I travel with the Gemini and use it often for my chest and paraspinals (muscles along the spine). To dumb, reckless people reading this: please do NOT stick this tool inside yourself.
A Zen-like Etch-a-Sketch. Use the included brush to paint designs onto the board with water. As the water evaporates, your image will fade within 30-60 seconds.. This is a great tool for learning to let go… or rekindling your artistic side. If you have 60 seconds a day, you have time for the Buddha Board.
I’ve needed Adidas slip-ons for years. No idea why it took me so long to get them. They’re perfect as indoor Japanese-style slippers, or for wearing outside when you don’t want flip-flops killing your toe webbing. I’m typing this, I’m wearing them with socks. #GermanStyle
The all-American Chemex is unique because of its thicker coffee filters, which are 20-35% thicker than the usual paper filters. This means they hold back more of the lipids and sediment that can result in bitter flavors, delivering an incredibly clean, sweet cup.
This was recommended to me by a Cirque du Soleil performer (Andrii Bondarenko) after I pulled my shoulder and lat. In the Ukraine, he used this type of mat daily after strenuous practice, particularly for back pain. I’ve found 6-10 minutes per session, 1-2 times per day, to have a near-miraculous effect on mid-back issues (and thoracic mobility, oddly). Could be placebo, of course. Start slow, my eager little friends. The “thorns” are sharp.
Gifts Under $100
Epsoak Epsom Salt — $58 (39.5 lbs.)
I take hot baths every night when at home in SF. Nearly always, I add epsom salt (typically 4-8 cups), which facilitates muscular relaxation and recovery. Rather than buy small boxes at CVS or Safeway, I buy in bulk and store it in rolling dog-food containers.
This was introduced to me by a Navy SEAL who enjoys sipping this nectar while disassembling and cleaning firearms (unloaded, obviously). It is VERY expensive, but I have no hangover or cognitive slowness the day after a big night, which makes it worth it. If looking for something less expensive but also easy on the brain, try “Hitori Musume” sake mentioned up above.
Use this manual hand grinder alongside the AeroPress and you can make an incredible cup of coffee on the go. I’ve used this grinder and the Porlex hand grinder. I like both but favor the Hario as A) it’s half the cost and B) it has a single-dose measurement on the plastic for eyeballing when you can stop grinding.
I originally got these as a gift from Huckberry, and they are now my go-to shorts for nearly everything. I swim in them (quick drying), I wear them while working at coffee shops, and you can even wear them to a nice dinner if you have decent shoes. Multi-purpose rocks.
Waterpik Ultra Water Flosser — $60
I’ll keep this one short. I have hated flossing my entire life. Each year, I got a lecture from the dentist, and each year, I’d attempt flossing for 2-3 days and throw in the towel. No longer. Using the WaterPik in combination with the free Coach.me app got me to floss consistently for the first time. Now, I look forward to it. Weird.
Happy holidays, all!
Much love to you and yours…
Tim
November 27, 2016
Tools of Titans: Josh Waitzkin Distilled
“I cultivate empty space as a way of life for the creative process.”
– Josh Waitzkin
Josh Waitzkin is an endlessly fascinating person who gets mentioned a lot on this show for good reason (and he’s been a guest not just once, but twice).
He was the basis for the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. Considered a chess prodigy, Josh has perfected learning strategies that can be applied to anything, including his other loves of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (he’s a black belt under phenom Marcelo Garcia) and Tai Chi push hands (he’s a world champion). These days, he spends his time coaching the world’s top athletes and investors, working to revolutionize education, and tackling his new passion for paddle surfing (and nearly killing me in the process).
I initially met Josh through his incredible book, The Art of Learning, which I loved so much that I helped produce the audiobook (download here on Audible).
This episode is a highlight reel of sorts — lessons I’ve learned from Josh and shared in my new book Tools of Titans. Please enjoy!
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another Tools of Titans preview? — Listen to this podcast with Derek Sivers. In this episode, I share my thoughts on Derek’s life philosophy, his marketing strategy, decision-making, and much, much more (stream below or right-click here to download):
This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.
People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.
This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.
Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you for free the exact portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Josh:
Website | The Art of Learning Project
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
Josh’s first and second appearances on this show.
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin
Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess by Fred Waitzkin
What is zugzwang?
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley plays NYC Trash Talker — The Tim Ferriss Experiment
Marcelo Garcia Academy, New York City
Show Notes
The importance of empty space: minimizing input to maximize output. [06:15]
Learning the macro from the micro — focusing on depth over breadth by studying in reverse. [07:07]
What I learned from Marcelo Garcia about sharing secrets with competitors. [09:33]
Why ending a training or work session on a good “rep” helps internalize quality overnight. [12:32]
To turn it on, learn to turn it off (and vice versa). [15:10]
The little things are the big things. [15:50]
Encountering an obstacle in unfamiliar territory? Take a principle from one thing and apply it to another to “just go around.” [16:30]
Learning to embrace your funk. [17:37]
What do you pick when your ego seems threatened? [18:18]
The importance of language on a rainy day. [18:39]
People Mentioned
Bobby Fischer
Marcelo Garcia
Rick Rubin
Bruce Pandolfini
Mike Tyson
Wayne Gretzky
Michael Jordan
Billy Kidd
Jason Nemer
Christopher Sommer
Ernest Hemingway
Graham Duncan
