Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 82

The Magic and Power of Placebo

Photo credit: Sarah Rice

“Your brain has expectations, and it doesn’t want to be wrong. So when it’s wrong, it just makes up the difference.”

– Erik Vance

Erik Vance (@erikvance) is an award-winning science writer based in California and Mexico City. After working as a scientist on research projects dealing with dolphin intelligence and coastal ecology, he became an educator and then an environmental consultant. In 2005, he attended UC Santa Cruz’s famed Science Communication Program and discovered a passion for journalism. Since then, he has built his career around science-based profiles of inspiring or controversial figures. His work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The Utne Reader, Scientific American, and National Geographic. He is also a contributing editor at Discover Magazine.

His latest book is Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal. This riveting narrative explores the world of placebos, hypnosis, false memories, and neurology to reveal the groundbreaking science of our suggestible minds. Could the secrets to personal health lie within our own brains?  Erik’s firsthand dispatches will change the way you think — and feel.

In this episode, we cover many topics — with equal amounts of the profound, actionable, and hilarious:

The power of placebo, and how you can increase the odds of it working for you (if you choose).
Which conditions respond well to placebo, and which do not.
How the mind, religion, bedside manner, and peer pressure can influence medical outcomes.
Finding and studying a pig shit sommelier.
Why he got electrocuted for half an hour at the NIH laboratories in Bethesda, Maryland.
The story of why he chose to be cursed by a witch doctor in Mexico City.

If you only have 5 minutes, listen to Erik’s story on catching porcupines in South Africa. This alone will make you laugh out loud and is worth the episode.

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 an episode about brain optimization? — Listen to this interview with Adam Gazzaley, M.D, Ph.D. In this episode, we discuss neuroplasticity, how to enhance cognitive abilities, the best smart drugs, and much, much more (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is 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.

This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs.

I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body, and I’ve also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you’re happy with or your money back. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run.

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 Erik Vance:

Twitter | Erik’s Website | Suggestible You Website

Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal by Erik Vance
The Foreign Science Correspondent: Erik Vance on Living and Working in Mexico City by Robin Mejia, The Science Writers’ Handbook
Zoobooks Magazine — one of Erik’s childhood inspirations
The Power of One
Cry the Beloved Porcupine by Erik Vance
UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program
Narrative X-Rays: Looking at Stories’ Structural Skeletons by Julia Rosen, The Open Notebook
Erik Vance: “Scientists Are Quirky Everywhere”, Nieman Storyboard
The Chronicle of Higher Education wouldn’t let Erik title one of his first stories “Stinky Ladybug Taint.” (It opted for this, instead.)
Profile: What is That Smell? by Erik Vance, Nature
What is Christian Science?
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Power of the Placebo by Erik Vance, Discover
The Serpent and the Rainbow: book by Wade Davis, movie by Wes Craven
Mercado de Sonora
Post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this)
The Kennedy Curse, True Conspiracy
Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by John E. Sarno
The Power of the Placebo, Susan Perry, Brainfacts.org
Placebo Surgery: More Effective Than You Think? by David H. Newman, M.D., The Huffington Post
Is the Placebo Effect in Some People’s Genes? by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters
Multitasking Gene May Help Drone Operators Control Robotic Swarms by Jeremy Hsu, Scientific American
Evolution Could Explain the Placebo Effect by Colin Barras, New Scientist

Show Notes

How did Erik Vance wind up living in Mexico City? [06:53]
How did Erik get interested in field biology? [07:42]
What was the turning point that transformed Erik from pure scientist to science journalist? [10:10]
Erik talks about his adventures with a porcupine, a recovering junkie, and a reformed devil worshiper in South Africa. [12:17]
Why nature documentaries usually require unnatural preparation. [18:04]
Erik talks about striking the balance between scientific precision and entertaining storytelling. [22:37]
We talk about story structure, the processes involved with writing a book, and tools for writers. [23:46]
Erik talks about one of his first, less-than-glamorous assignments as a new science writer (it involved swine manure and something called ladybug taint). [28:00]
Erik talks about growing up as a Christian Scientist — and not going to a doctor until he turned 18. [40:05]
Erik’s interest in the placebo effect comes from surviving a serious childhood disease. [44:50]
Erik talks about visiting NIH (National Institutes of Health) facilities so he could get repeatedly electrocuted — for science! [45:45]
The placebo effect isn’t always in your head — you may legitimately be experiencing measurable biochemical reactions. [49:06]
The power of nocebos: we talk about zombies, witches, and curses. [50:12]
Erik talks about getting cursed. [1:03:00]
Is there evidence to suggest that “real” drugs can fail to treat an ailment if the patient believes they’re being given a placebo? [1:10:03]
Parkinson’s disease seems to respond well to placebo, whereas Alzheimer’s disease does not. Why? [1:14:37]
How do we avoid feeling deceptive when we try to help loved ones with the use of placebos? [1:19:16]
Sham surgeries are a real thing. [1:20:39]
How does a rational scientist approach belief in placebo treatments? [1:23:35]
There is growing evidence that placebo-responding expectations can become permanent. [1:26:20]
Are some people more genetically susceptible to the placebo effect than others? [1:27:35]
What other conditions seem to respond well to placebo? [1:30:40]
How might someone maximize the effectiveness of a placebo pill? [1:31:25]
How does Erik now use what he learned about placebo during the course of writing Suggestible You? [1:33:49]
Different colors and sizes of placebo pills work better to treat certain ailments. [1:36:34]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Yogi Berra
John McPhee
Burkhard Bilger
Mickey Mantle
Jacek Koziel
Luana Colloca
George F. Cahill, Jr.
Christopher Sommer
Richard Feynman
Peter Attia

My Life Extension Pilgrimage to Easter Island

“Most good science comes only after a massive amount of failure.”

– David M. Sabatini

This episode was a blast.

It was a tropical exploration of biology, life extension, and all good things. This included a lot of Carménère wine and good old-fashioned ball busting.

I was joined by:

Peter Attia, MD (@peterattiamd), who rejoins the show (catch his last appearance here). He is a former ultra-endurance athlete (e.g., swimming 25-mile races), compulsive self-experimenter, and one of the most fascinating human beings I know. He is one of my go-to doctors for anything performance- or longevity-related. Peter earned his MD from Stanford University and holds a BSc in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He did his residency in general surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and conducted research at the National Cancer Institute under Dr. Steven Rosenberg, where Peter focused on the role of regulatory T cells in cancer regression and other immune-based therapies for cancer.

David M. Sabatini, M.D., Ph.D. (@DMSabatini) of MIT’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. David is on a short list for the Nobel Prize for his work in elucidating the role of rapamycin and mTOR.

Navdeep S. Chandel, Ph.D., the David W. Cugell Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. Nav established his lab there to further the understanding of how mitochondria work as signaling organelles to regulate physiology and pathology. He is also the author of Navigating Metabolism.

Perhaps you’ve heard of people in Silicon Valley taking metformin, rapamycin, and supplements for longevity. In this conversation, we dig into the real science, what current evidence supports (or doesn’t), and other important matters like how to staple properly, which fonts reasonable people use, and why Borat is a genius. 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 with Peter Attia? — Listen to his first appearance on the podcast. In this episode, we discuss optimizing blood testing, training for ultra-endurance sports, consuming synthetic ketones, using metabolic chambers, extending longevity by avoiding certain types of exercise, and much more (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs.

I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body, and I’ve also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you’re happy with or your money back. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run.

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 Peter Attia: Twitter | The Eating Academy
Connect with David M. Sabatini: Twitter | Sabatini Lab
Connect with Navdeep S. Chandel: Chandel Lab


Dr. Peter Attia on Life-Extension, Drinking Jet Fuel, Ultra-Endurance, Human Foie Gras, and More (Peter’s last appearance on this show)
The 1994 discovery of mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) — at the time called RAFT1
An MIT Interview with David Sabatini
Easter Island, National Geographic
A Rogue Doctor Saved a Potential Miracle Drug by Storing Samples in His Home After Being Told to Throw Them Away by Kevin Loria, Business Insider
Navigating Metabolism by Navdeep Chandel
I Am Birdman, Hear Me Roar by Bucky McMahon, Men’s Journal
Rapalogs and mTOR Inhibitors as Anti-aging Therapeutics
Rapamycin Intervention Trial in Pet Dogs
The Dueling Banjos scene from Deliverance
Novartis Working on ‘Fountain of Youth’ Drug by Jim Algar, Tech Times
Regulation of mTORC1 by Amino Acids
2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy
mTOR Signaling in Growth Control and Disease in Cell
Metformin: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects
Effect of Metformin on Breast Cancer Metabolism
Antioxidants: Beyond the Hype, Harvard School of Public Health
Miami Freestyle: 13 Best Acts of All Time by Jacob Katel, Miami New Times
Narcos
All About The Human Genome Project
“Correlation does not imply causation.”
LaTeX – A document preparation system
Fonts mentioned: Times New Roman, Myriad Pro Condensed, Helvetica, Verdana, and Comic Sans
The Helvetica documentary
Five Vision Myths, American Academy of Ophthalmology
Basis by Elysium
Easter Island: Secret Caves And Tunnels by Brien Foerster
Borat – Horse is Like a Man
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Lincoln: A Novel (The American Chronicle Series) by Gore Vidal
Burr: A Novel by Gore Vidal
The Satanic Verses: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
Wathan Funeral Home’s Text and Drive billboard
The Monkey Puzzle Tree
Understanding Altruism, Psychology Today
George Costanza Does the Opposite
EQ vs. IQ
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
A picture of the plaque commemorating the discovery of rapamycin

Show Notes

Nav introduces David and explains why we’re on Easter Island. [08:47]
David introduces Nav and his work in the study of mitochondria. [10:48]
Peter talks about how he’s connected to Nav and David and elaborates more on how our trip to Easter Island came about. [12:30]
The connection between Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui) and rapamycin — and how one of the most important discoveries of medical science was almost lost. [14:37]
David details his connection with rapamycin and what research was like with early, limited samples. [19:27]
Why metabolism research is the key to treating a long list of diseases. [22:58]
mTOR’s role in metabolism. [28:56]
Potential applications of rapamycin. [31:58]
Why rapamycin longevity studies in mice may be inaccurate — and how new dog trials may give us better data. [33:04]
Lifespan vs. healthspan. [36:40]
What is the logic behind intermittent dosing of rapamycin? [42:43]
Does intermittent dosing of rapamycin mimic fasting? [47:55]
Are there downsides to going from a fasted state back to a fed state? [49:19]
What is the difference between rapamycin and metformin? [50:23]
Do any of the guests use metformin — why or why not? [1:03:52]
Would having an expected lifespan of more than a hundred years make Nav less effective? [1:06:29]
Why Nav does not take metformin, and why David does not take rapamycin. [1:08:44]
Thoughts on supplementing with antioxidants. [1:13:11]
Where did Nav grow up, and what prompted his pursuit of science? [1:18:57]
Parenting advice from scientists: views on confidence and conflict. [1:28:19]
Most good science comes only after a massive amount of failure. [1:38:41]
Atypical advice given to students, and what it takes to be a bad scientist. [1:40:16]
Peter’s thoughts on the importance of the right fonts, and why he’s obsessive about what might seem like nonsense to most. [1:43:27]
What are the right fonts and why? [1:47:38]
Even though David’s vision has gotten worse in the past few years, why doesn’t he wear glasses? [1:51:27]
Thoughts about Basis by Elysium. [1:52:59]
Peter explains asymmetric risk and an aversion to spelunking from trees. [1:56:44]
How might David live to be 600 if he won’t take rapamycin? [2:00:13]
Peter channels Borat. [2:04:25]
Book Nav has gifted most. [2:08:33]
Books David has gifted most. [2:10:27]
What would Nav and David’s billboards say? [2:12:38]
On a subject outside of his everyday area of expertise, what TED Talk would Nav give? [2:16:03]
Why are Nav and Dave such close friends? [2:24:21]
Have I stumbled into Dumb & Dumber meets Limitless? [2:27:30]
Peter extolls the virtues of having nuanced scientific discussions in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. [2:29:22]
The benefit of “non-potato” relationships. [2:30:36]
What advice would David give to his 30-year-old self? [2:33:45]
What advice would Nav give to his 22-year-old self? [2:37:35]
Best investment in money, time, or energy that Nav has made. [2:40:18]
As an efficient person, what are the most common mistakes Nav sees inefficient people make? [2:44:19]
How does Nav instill the importance of efficiency to his daughter? [2:46:40]
Best investment in money, time, or energy that David has made. [2:47:50]
Why Nav considers being rejected by medical school three times in 22 years a good thing. [2:51:43]
Peter tells a story about rapamycin pioneer Suren Sehgal. [2:53:08]
Closing asks, requests, suggestions, and recommendations for the listeners. [3:00:42]

People Mentioned

Julie McCoy
Suren Sehgal
Ajai Sehgal
Solomon Snyder
Homer Simpson
Matt Kaeberlein
Pablo Escobar
Borat
Antonio Banderas
Sacha Baron Cohen
Josh Waitzkin
Naval Ravikant
Gore Vidal
Abraham Lincoln
Aaron Burr
Salman Rushdie
George Costanza
Amelia Boone

O.J. Simpson

My Evening Routine for Optimal Relaxation and Sleep

This soaking tub is an essential part of my evening routine.

I’m often asked about my morning routine, which I detailed at length in a previous podcast.

For me, a reliable nighttime routine is just as important.

The short video below explains the exact protocol I use to wind down in the last 60 minutes of my day. Some of these tactics have been honed over many years, while others have been borrowed from guests on The Tim Ferriss Show. (Note: I’ve collected all of my favorite habits and routines from podcast guests — including some you haven’t met — in Tools of Titans.)

In my experience, these evening steps practically guarantee less stress and a better night’s sleep.

Do you have any favorite nighttime rituals? Please share in the comments below! Enjoy…

The Return of Drunk Dialing

Photo credit: Instagram

“The people I view as heroes in my life have forced me to have uncomfortable conversations and do uncomfortable things.”

Thanks to the gin I had tonight, this is a special episode. It is a drunk-dialing Q&A with you guys — like we did around this time last year to celebrate the 100th episode. In preparation, I solicited phone numbers from listeners who wanted to receive a call from me.

In this episode, I cover topics such as:

parenting advice from friends and guests
how to get started in podcasting
how to make a good sales pitch
long-distance moves
what I consider good advice
and much, much more!

Without further ado, please enjoy this alcohol-fueled Q&A!

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 when I’m drunk? — Listen to my 100th podcast. In this episode, we discuss tantric sex, how I view and organize my various income streams, marketing yourself in job interviews, and much, much more (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. Find ’em at rhone.com/tim.

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

Josh Waitzkin, The Prodigy Returns
2015 Podcast of the Year — Jamie Foxx on Workout Routines, Success Habits, and Untold Hollywood Stories
Jocko Willink on Discipline, Leadership, and Overcoming Doubt
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Searching for Bobby Fischer: book and movie
Picking Warren Buffett’s Brain: Notes from a Novice
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie Training
Neil Gaiman – Inspirational Commencement Speech at the University of the Arts 2012
Books by John McPhee
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
New York Comic Con
Hit Filmmaker Jon Favreau’s Techniques and Routines
The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) by Joseph Campbell and Phil Cousineau
Shep Gordon — The King Maker on His Best PR Stunts, Hugest Failures, and Practical Philosophies
The Merry Pranksters
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Tackling University Challenges in Remote Sensing by Hannah Miller
Tall Poppy Syndrome by Amy in Oz
Refrigerator magnet: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
SXSW is where you can have awkward encounters, too.
Signs That You Lack Emotional Intelligence by Muriel Maignan Wilkins, Harvard Business Review (in relation to people who have high IQ, low EQ.)
A $36,000 Birthday Gift (about my charity: water birthday challenge)
charity: water
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Career Advice by Scott Adams, Dilbert Blog
Dissecting the Success of Malcolm Gladwell
Barron’s Magazine
The Exponential Wisdom podcast with Dan Sullivan and Peter Diamandis
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
Katamari Technique in SEO by David of PHP Link Directory
Cal Fussman — The Master Storyteller Returns
DHH: “This Opportunity Was Just Perfect” by John Dagys, Sportscar 365
Edward Norton on Mastery, Must-Read Books, and The Future of Crowdfunding
Gin & Juice by Snoop Doggy Dogg
Software that helps me with podcasting: Skype, Zencastr, ecamm call recorder, and Evernote
My podcasting mic of choice is the Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR (for the price, I think its quality compares favorably with the Heil PR-40).
Apple earbuds
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Optimizely X: The Experimentation Platform
Digital Telepathy
Ideal Lifestyle Costing (lifestyle income/cost calculators and worksheets)
Scott Adams: The Man Behind Dilbert
The Nasty Icon of Retail, Sophia Amoruso
Exogenous ketones

Show Notes

Josh (a father of four) asks: What would my toolkit look like for teenagers? [05:15]
Kids don’t always listen to parents; sometimes parents have to take the indirect “Jedi mind trick” approach. [12:07]
How I define a “hero,” who some of my heroes are, and why. [19:06]
Awkward and memorable interactions with random strangers. [32:56]
Examples of the wrong way to pitch a busy person. [34:07]
The right way to pitch a busy person. [36:03]
A challenge for fellow listeners. [37:54]
What I look for in an ideal teacher. [40:03]
What majors (or extracurricular skillsets) I would pursue as a new college student — not just for work prospects, but to be a well-rounded human being. [46:30]
How to start a podcast from scratch and recruit good guests. [1:00:23]
How do I come up with the questions I ask during an interview? [1:08:13]
Podcasting hardware/software I recommend, and why I prefer remote interviews to in person. [1:14:20]
How to better streamline your business and stop “reinventing the wheel” for every project. [1:17:07]
How to put the brakes on the rat race and find a more comfortable work/life pace without going broke in the process. [1:32:12]

People Mentioned

Josh Waitzkin
Jamie Foxx
Jocko Willink
Warren Buffett
Dale Carnegie
Neil Gaiman
John McPhee
Andre Agassi
J.R. Moehringer
Matt Langdon
Joe De Sena
Jon Favreau
Shep Gordon
Richard Feynman
Benjamin Franklin
John Buxton
Richard Greenleaf
Eric Weinstein
Peter Thiel
Jenn Miller
Eleanor Roosevelt
Peter Diamandis
Scott Adams
Marc Andreessen
Malcolm Gladwell
Mark Zuckerberg
Matt Cutts
Cal Fussman
David Heinemeier Hansson
Edward Norton
Vin Thomas
Sophia Amoruso
Seneca
Marcus Aurelius
Joe Rogan

The Art and Science of Learning Anything Faster

“If effectiveness is doing the right things, efficiency is doing things right.”

This is a special episode because it doesn’t focus on the lessons of one particular person. Instead, I explore the tips, tricks, and framework I’ve used to learn just about any skill.

This is the meta-skill of meta-learning, or learning how to learn.

I’m going to share techniques that can help you — even if you’re sub-par or a rote beginner — take the smartest first steps and use 80/20 analysis to accelerate your progress.

This is adapted from The 4-Hour Chef, which is the cookbook that’s not a cookbook — it’s a book on accelerated learning.

Without further ado, please enjoy this episode on meta-learning.

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 about accelerated learning? — Listen to my interview with Luis Von Ahn, the co-founder of Duolingo. In this episode, we discuss what 2-3 books and resources he’d recommend to entrepreneurs, language learning tips, early mentors and key lessons learned, and how to recruit and vet technical talent (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life.

Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you’re trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business.

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

The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss
Smart Design
Burton Snowboards
Starbucks
OXO Good Grips kitchenware
The Objectified documentary
The Holy Grail in Speed Training by Barry Ross, Dragon Door
Efficient-Market Hypothesis (EMH)
The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville by Warren E. Buffett, Columbia Business School
Michael Phelps Freestyle Multi Angle Camera
The Most Graceful Freestyle Swimming by Shinji Takeuchi
Nautilus
Kokkari
Nootropics: An Ethical Discussion by Lilly Pham, Princeton Journal of Bioethics
Raiding the Medicine Cabinet to Become Superhuman by Peter Rubin, Wired (about my use of desmopressin and other nootropics)
Chinese Primer: Character Text by Ta-tuan Ch’en, Perry Link, Yih-jian Tai, and Hai-tao Tang
Seikei Gakuen
The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
The Jouyou Kanji
The Asahi Shimbun
Acquisition of Japanese Kanji: Conventional Practice and Mnemonic Supplementation (my sexy Princeton senior thesis)
Berlitz language learning
Better Basketball videos by Rick Torbett

Show Notes

Meta-learning allows us to mimic the world’s fastest learners to become world class — in just about anything — in six months or less. [06:05]
When Dan Formosa created Smart Design, the extremes informed the mean, but not vice versa. [06:28]
Sometimes it pays to model the outliers, not flatten them into averages. [08:06]
WWWBS? (What would Warren Buffett say) about outliers and averages? [09:31]
Just about everything you need to know about meta-learning can be understood — or at least observed — by watching these two videos. (Michael Phelps vs. Shinji Takeuchi) [12:06]
The top one percent often succeed in spite of how they train, not because of it. [13:21]
Shifting from frequent nootropics use to understanding the blueprints behind high-performance. [15:33]
On using judo textbooks for transferring the principles of Japanese. [21:10]
The missing piece: is the method efficient? [22:30]
The catalyst for finding the method (which involved me dropping out of college in the middle of my senior year). [23:11]
Using the DiSSS (deconstruction, selection, sequencing, and stakes) process to drastically shorten the time it took to learn languages. [25:04]
Deconstruction: What are the minimal learnable units with which you should start? [27:50]
Sequencing: In what order should you learn the blocks? [28:14]
Stakes: How do you set up stakes to create real consequences and guarantee you follow the program? [28:19]
The secondary principles of CaFE (compression, frequency, encoding). [28:32]
Compression: Can you encapsulate the most important 20 percent into an easily graspable one-pager? [28:51]
Frequency: How frequently should you practice? What is the minimum effective dose (MED) for volume? [29:00]
Encoding: How do you anchor the new material to what you already know for rapid recall?  [29:13]
How I began interviewing people as a way to deconstruct and learn any skill. [29:36]
My general interviewing process. [31:36]
Learning from the process: applying the answers to your own experiences. [34:40]

People Mentioned

Dan Formosa
Bill Gates
Chris Rock
Barry Ross
Mark Bell
Allyson Felix
Warren Buffett
Benjamin Graham
David Dodd
Michael Phelps
Shinji Takeuchi
Arthur Jones
Erik Cosselmon
Daniel Burka
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bernie Feria
Babak Nivi
Kevin Rose
Darya Rose
Rick Torbett
Scott Jurek

Matt Mullenweg: Characteristics and Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs

Photo credit: Aminul Islam Sajib

“If someone has those four things — work ethic, taste, integrity, and curiosity — I believe that you can learn anything in the world.” – Matt Mullenweg

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. Matt loves tea, tequila, and Chicken McNuggets.

His first time on the show went over so well that you’ve all been asking for a round two. So in this episode, he answers your most popular questions.

If you only have 5 minutes, you’ll want to hear Matt’s thoughts on the factors (other than hard work) most likely to lead to a successful career.

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 interview with Matt Mullenweg? — Listen to his first appearance on the podcast. In this episode, we discuss polyphasic sleep, tequila, and building billion-dollar companies (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life.

Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you’re trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business.

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 exactly the 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 Matt:

Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Spotify

Matt Mullenweg on Polyphasic Sleep, Tequila, and Building Billion-Dollar Companies (Matt’s first appearance on this show)
(A few of) Matt’s companies and services: WordPress, Jetpack, and Automattic
Zoom video conferencing
Slack team communication
How P2 Changed Automattic by Matt Mullenweg
Google Apps
Automattic Grand Meetup 2016 – Whistler, Canada by Clicky Steve
US citizens who travel frequently should see if they qualify for TSA Precheck and Global Entry.
Matt uses Google Fi for his Internet connection on the go.
What’s in Matt’s Bag 2016 edition
WordPress.com Parent Automattic Raises $160 Million, Valued at $1.16 Billion by Liz Gannes, Recode
Calm meditation app
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett
Communication platforms Matt mentions: Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and bbPress
Commerce platforms Matt mentions: Shopify, BigCommerce, Ecwid, and WooCommerce
QWERTY vs. Dvorak as Fast as Possible by Techquickie
Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) by Chade-Meng Tan, Daniel Goleman, and Jon Kabat-Zinn
Facebook Poke Is Dead…and So Is Facebook Camera by Ellis Hamburger, The Verge
Fire Phone One Year Later: Why Amazon’s Smartphone Flamed Out by Ben Fox Rubin, CNET
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
Alpha Omega Winery
Foie gras
Chateau d’Yquem Winery
“Artificial intelligence” Web developer/designer tools mentioned: The Grid and Wix ADI
Even Early Focus Groups Hated Clippy by Robinson Meyer
Bots Won’t Replace Apps. Better Apps Will Replace Apps. by Dan Grover
What is deep learning?
Publications Matt reads to gauge hype cycles: The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Economist, Wired, and Fast Company
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
Matt Mullenweg places on the 40 under 40 list, Fortune
Matt Mullenweg receives the Heinz Award in the Technology, the Economy, and Employment category
The Pomodoro Technique
Anatomy of a Critical Security Bug presentation by Andrew Nacin, Loop Conf
Matt uses Coach.me as part of his morning routine.
Elysium Health
Nootrobox KADO-3 krill and fish oil
Sun salutations (yoga)

Show Notes

Matt talks about what happened with WordPress and Automattic since his last tequila-fueled appearance on the show. [05:50]
What’s the hardest part about running a company with a distributed workforce? [06:43]
Matt’s seasoned tips for frequent travelers. [11:43]
Professional and personal advice Matt would give his younger self. [14:28]
What’s the most important skillset for an entrepreneur to develop? [18:12]
What non-technical characteristics does Matt look for when recruiting new employees? [20:24]
If WordPress is the platform of writing, and Shopify is the platform of commerce, what other platforms are worth developing? [22:39]
Matt talks about the toughest thing he deals with day-to-day. [26:36]
Once-important default settings (values or behaviors) Matt has since questioned and removed. [28:03]
What factors — aside from hard work — does Matt believe contribute significantly to success? [32:54]
Matt talks about failure and how even the big names don’t always get it right. [33:50]
What final food and drink is appropriate for greeting the apocalypse? [35:42]
Matt’s thoughts on so-called “artificial intelligence” web developer/designer tools — and if WordPress might utilize something like these in future. [39:40]
Matt on machine learning and deep learning. [45:25]
What would the next six months of Matt’s life look like if he’d been less successful thus far and had to start with nothing? [46:31]
How would Matt gauge hype cycles for what’s in demand if he were trying to start a new business today? [49:40]
Where does Matt see the future of the Internet in terms of user behavior? [52:05]
Is the demand for Web development still high, or is it stagnating? [56:18]
How does Matt motivate himself? [59:18]
How has Matt solved his biggest technical problems? [1:02:19]
What is Matt’s evening routine (if he has one)? [1:05:55]
Matt’s morning routine? [1:07:45]

People Mentioned

Brené Brown
Krista Tippett
Julia Hartz
Elon Musk
Steve Jobs
Jony Ive
Chade-Meng Tan
Andrew Nacin

Shay Carl on Wealth, Parenting, and the Future of Video

“Money was never the goal; it was freedom. I just wanted to be able to not go to work.” – Shay Carl

This is another special in-betweenisode. It’s a little shorter than the normal long-form episodes, and it features a Q&A with Shay Carl (@shaycarl).

If you missed our first interview, Shay’s story is incredible. He was a manual laborer for ages and uploaded his first YouTube video while on break from his job.

Flash forward to today:

His SHAYTARDS channel now has roughly 2.3 BILLION views. Celebs like Steven Spielberg have appeared alongside Shay and his family.
He co-founded Maker Studios, which sold to Disney for nearly $1 billion.
He has been married 13 years and has five kids.
He has lost more than 100 pounds since his overweight peak.

This time around, he answers listener questions in the way only he can, such as:

How to grow a YouTube following from scratch.
The future of ad revenue and sponsorship.
How he balances capturing the moment vs. experiencing the moment.
His greatest obstacles in life.
Lessons learned as a father.
And much, much more.

If you only have 5 minutes, learn how having more money changed Shay’s life.

I also wanted to announce my new book, Tools of Titans (Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon). It’s the culmination of the last two years of this podcast. It’s made up of my favorite takeaways, the lessons I’ve learned, and the tools I’ve applied to my own life from all of the guests on this show, including some new guests you’ve not yet met.

Consider it the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure guide to optimizing your life — it’s got everything from finance to physical performance!

Please enjoy this round two with Shay Carl.

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 interview with Shay Carl? — Listen to his first appearance on the podcast. In this episode, we discuss the most important decisions in his life, stories he’s never shared before, and his favorite tips for creating on YouTube (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is 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 exactly the 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.

This podcast is also brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life.

Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you’re trying to optimize, such as a newsletter or a sales page. Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business.

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 Shay Carl:

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Shay Carl: From Manual Laborer to 2.3 Billion YouTube Views (Shay’s first appearance on this show)
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss (coming in December — pre-order now!)
Mr. Safety
DudeLikeHELLA (Cory Williams’ channel about life in Alaska)
A NEW CHAPTER by BFvsGF (an example of how daily vlogging can take its toll on a relationship)
The Philip DeFranco Show
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Jay really likes Jordan shoes.
Disney Buys Maker Studios, Video Supplier for YouTube by Brooks Barnes, The New York Times
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The Shawshank Redemption (film)

Show Notes

If Shay had to start from scratch today, does he think it would still be possible to create a business on YouTube? [08:05]
Is the daily vlogger space now oversaturated? [09:45]
Has Shay ever experienced detrimental effects in his personal life because of the time and commitment it takes to put out a daily vlog? [13:53]
What is the sustainable future of monetization for online content creators? [17:04]
What is the very best form of advertising? [20:37]
How did Shay feel telling the truth about alcoholism during his last appearance on this show? [24:12]
Shay’s safe and painless writing exercise for dealing with difficult truths. [26:33]
If Shay had two weeks to teach people how to tell better stories on YouTube, what would that course look like? [27:30]
Other than having better shoes, how has money changed Shay (if at all)? [30:40]
Shay talks about how he got out of debt and saved money — even when he was still broke. [35:25]
What does Shay do to overcome doubt? [37:30]

People Mentioned

Steven Spielberg
Cory Williams
Colette Butler
Philip DeFranco
Malcolm Gladwell
Dave Ramsey
Andy Dufresne

Dom D’Agostino on Disease Prevention, Cancer, and Living Longer

“The pursuit of size and strength really contradicts what we want to go after for longevity.” – Dominic D’Agostino

Dr. Dominic “Dom” D’Agostino (@DominicDAgosti2) is one of my most popular guests, and I’m happy to have him rejoin the show for the third time. (You can listen to Dom’s first appearance here, and his second appearance here).

Dom is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) — which is mentioned in the current issue of Outside Magazine (on which there’s a clown who looks a lot like me).

Much of Dom’s work is related to metabolic therapies and nutritional strategies for peak performance and resilience in extreme environments. Dom’s research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Defense (DoD), and other private organizations and foundations.

In this episode, Dom focuses on disease prevention, cancer, and more mastery of the ketogenic diet. Please enjoy this tutorial and masterclass with Dominic D’Agostino.

Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

Want to hear my first interview with Dom D’Agostino? — Listen to our in-depth conversation here. In this episode, we discuss fasting, heavy deadlifts, and the end of cancer (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by Vimeo Business. Vimeo Business has all of the prior benefits of Vimeo Pro, including VIP support. Whether you make videos for a living, run your own company, or simply want to amp up your video marketing, Vimeo Business is here to help. It has more than 280 million creators and viewers worldwide and makes it easier to share your videos with a global audience and connect with professional video makers to bring your stories to life.

Vimeo Business allows you to upload up to five terabytes and store your videos in one secure place, add up to 10 team members to your account for easy collaboration, and gather feedback with seamless review tools. You can even add clickable calls to action and capture email addresses directly in the player, which can help you generate leads and drive conversion for whatever you’re trying to optimize — such as a newsletter or a sales page.  Check out vimeo.com/tim10 to save 10 percent on Vimeo Business.

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 — exactly the 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 Dom D’Agostino:

KetoNutrition.org | Facebook | Twitter | University of South Florida

Dom D’Agostino on Fasting, Ketosis, and the End of Cancer (his first appearance on this show)
Dom D’Agostino — The Power of the Ketogenic Diet (his second appearance on this show)
How the Ketogenic Diet Weakens Cancer Cells by Dr. David Jockers, The Truth About Cancer
Fighting Cancer with Fats: Barrow Researcher Explores Innovative Cancer Treatment, Barrow Neurological Institute
Neurological Disorders & the Ketogenic Diet — Dr. Jong Rho, The Keto Advocate (video)
The Ketogenic Diet Is an Effective Adjuvant to Radiation Therapy for the Treatment of Malignant Glioma, PLOS
The Glucose Ketone Index Calculator by Joshua J Meidenbauer, Purna Mukherjee, and Thomas N. Seyfried, Nutrition & Metabolism
Dominic D’Agostino, Ph.D. on Modified Atkins Diet, Keto-Adaptation, Ketosis & More interview with Dr. Rhonda Patrick at FoundMyFitness
Exogenous ketones
Dom’s favorite BCAA (branched chain amino acid) product: Xtend
The Anabolic Trigger! Learn More About Leucine by Layne Norton, Ph.D, Bodybuilding.com
5-HTP (supplements to support appetite suppression)
Quest Nutrition MCT (Medium Chain Triglyceride) Powder Oil
The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair (PDF)
Barrow Neurological Institute’s Scheck Laboratory (there’s a Donate button in the top-right corner if you’re so inclined)
The Warburg effect
Benign tumors
Targeting Insulin Inhibition as a Metabolic Therapy in Advanced Cancer by Eugene J. Fine M.D., Richard D. Feinman Ph.D, et al.
Lower-Carb Diet Slows Growth of Aggressive Brain Tumor in Mouse Models by Doug Bennet, UFHealth
The Ketogenic Diet: Uses in Epilepsy and Other Neurologic Illnesses by Kristin W. Barañano, MD, PhD and Adam L. Hartman, MD
Effects of a Ketogenic Diet on the Quality of Life in 16 Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Pilot Trial by Melanie Schmidt, et al.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Mayo Clinic
Targeting Cancer Metabolism with Ketosis and Hyperbaric Oxygen by Angela M. Poff, University of South Florida
Ben Greenfield on the Best Nutrition Supplements, Mahler’s Aggressive Strength Podcast Episode 55
KetoSports Keto8 caprylic acid (C8)
APOE (Apolipoprotein E) and the E4 variant that signifies a genetic risk factor for late-onset sporadic Alzheimer’s disease
Study of the Ketogenic Agent AC-1202 in Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial by Samuel T. Henderson, et al.
Dale Bredesen Discusses the Metabolic Factors Underlying Alzheimer’s Disease, IHMC STEM-Talk Episode 12
Berberine
Metformin
Trials related to Metformin
Andrew Scarborough N=1 Experiment: Using Ketosis to Fight a Brain Tumor, The Quantified Body Episode 44
Are Cheat Meals or Cheat Days Allowed on Keto?, Keto subreddit
Ketogenic Low-Carbohydrate Diets Have No Metabolic Advantage over Nonketogenic Low-Carbohydrate Diets by Carol S. Johnston, et al.
Methylene blue
Metformin in Longevity Study (MILES), Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Metformin to Augment Strength Training Effective Response in Seniors (MASTERS Trial), University of Alabama
The Anaerobic Glycolytic System (fast glycolysis)
Dom recommends creatine monohydrate as a supplement to glycolytic training.
Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)
beta-Hydroxybutyric acid
Kegenix
KetoSports KetoCaNa
Forever Green Ketopia
Could This Ketosis-Based Elixir Hold the Key to Weight Loss, World Record Performances, Brain Healing and More?, Ben Greenfield Fitness
Use of 1,3-butanediol acetoacetate in parenteral oral nutrition (Dr. Brunengraber’s ester)

Show Notes

Does the ketogenic diet “beat” chemotherapy for cancer? [06:45]
Dom elaborates on the detoxifying effects of ketosis on precancerous cells in healthy individuals. [15:07]
How does one jump start a daily ketogenic cycle without supplements? [16:25]
How can lean muscle mass be maintained when fasting? [17:56]
What types of cancers are most affected by ketosis? [21:34]
What process is most effective for targeting cancer? [23:25]
The ketogenic diet as a do no harm therapy. [26:14]
Nutritional ketosis and hyperbaric oxygen therapy: how, why, and when? [27:51]
How long would an amateur endurance athlete need to be in ketosis to get the full benefit of being fat adapted for a marathon, and what supplement stack would Dom recommend? [33:47]
Should an APOE4 (Apolipoprotein E) carrier — someone at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease — be careful with a ketogenic diet? [36:35]
Are there any downsides to shifting out of ketosis for an occasional cheat meal? [41:06]
What does Dom have to say about the study that found ketogenic diets have no metabolic advantage? [46:19]
If your body doesn’t do well with dairy or nuts, what would be good fat source alternatives on a modified ketogenic diet? [48:58]
Dom talks about Metformin, methylene blue, and other non-food substances meant to increase longevity. [50:24]
Can the ketogenic diet be used while glycolytic training? [58:06]
What is it like for Dom to be an academic who makes serious weight training a big part of his life, and how do these two pursuits complement (or complicate) each other? [1:01:06]
Dom’s thoughts on John Kiefer’s carb backloading. [1:07:26]
Are ketone salt products on the market safe — specifically the DL beta-Hydroxybutyric salts? [1:12:27]

People Mentioned

Adrienne Scheck
Jong Rho
Thomas Seyfried
Rhonda Patrick
George F. Cahill, Jr.
Layne Norton
Eugene Fine
Richard Feinman
Brent Reynolds
Melanie Schmidt
Angela Poff
Ben Greenfield
Samuel Henderson
Dale Bredesen
Andrew Scarborough
David Ludwig
John Kiefer
Dave Asprey
Richard Veech
Henri Brunengraber

Peter Diamandis’s 9 Rules For Building A Successful Business

Dr. Peter Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis) has been named one of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” by Fortune magazine. In the field of innovation, Diamandis is Chairman and CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, best known for its $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for private spaceflight. Today the XPRIZE leads the world in designing and operating large-scale global competitions to solve market failures.

Peter has been a guest on the podcast twice (once with Tony Robbins, and again solo), and in this guest post, he shares information he’s never discussed before. Specifically, Diamandis looks back at his XPRIZE experience and the strategic decisions that allowed the foundation to become a success.

Peter knows how to think and play big, and he can show you how to do the same. Enjoy!

Enter Peter

The XPRIZE – which launched the private spaceflight industry – was an “overnight success” after 10 years of hard work.

During those 10 years, I recorded a number of “go-to” lessons that I learned and used over and over to help me succeed.

In all, I came up with a list of 28 of those lessons, and they became known as “Peter’s Laws.”

But 9 of them are my favorite, and in this post, I’ll outline them and detail the key takeaways. If you want to learn about all of the lessons, they are highlighted in the book, How To Make A Spaceship, written by Julian Guthrie, with a foreword by Richard Branson and an afterword by Steven Hawking.

One thing is clear from my XPRIZE story: attitude is the ball game. Mindset matters. It’s everything. It might be cliché, but whether you think you can or you can’t—well, you’re right.

Your mindset is more important than anything.  It’s even more important than technology or income. I hope that these will clarify your vision and be useful to you.

Rule #1: When given a choice…take both!

Society teaches us that when you’re given a choice, you have to choose one. Why? Why do you have to choose?

But you should be asking, “Why choose?”

All throughout graduate school, I was told, “Go to school or start a company.”

For me, the answer was both. In fact, I started three companies while in grad school. Steve Jobs did the same with Apple and Pixar. Elon Musk is running Tesla and SpaceX; he’s also chairman of SolarCity. And Branson — well, Branson’s Virgin Group has started over 300 Virgin companies and built eight different billion-dollar companies in eight different industries.

So, I challenge you: When someone says choose vanilla or chocolate, say, “I’ll have them both, please.”  Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.

Rule #2: “No” simply means begin again at one level higher.

When someone says “no” to your request, often it’s because that person isn’t empowered to say “yes,” and the only person who can say “yes” is the person at the top of the food chain.

This is one of the reasons it took me 10 years to get Zero Gravity Corporation, my commercial parabolic flight company, started. I had to battle an entire FAA bureaucracy that insisted it was not possible to operate large-scale zero gravity flight operations for the public, despite the fact that NASA had been doing it for 40 years.

Ultimately, because there was some risk, none of the mid-level bureaucrats had the power to say “yes.” At last, my request made it all the way up to the FAA Administrator, an amazing woman who told me, “Of course, you should be able to do this – let’s figure out how.”

Rule #3: Patience is a virtue, but persistence is a blessing.

If I had to name my superpower, it would be persistence – not giving up, even when everyone tells me it isn’t going to work.

My most important successes (companies like the Zero Gravity Corporation, XPRIZE, and Planetary Resources) have taken me 10 years or more to implement.

What good is patience without persistence?  Doing anything big and bold in life is hard work, and learning to persist is fundamental to your success.

Another name for this superpower is ‘grit.’ This is your will to keep pushing, iterating, and taking the next step in the face of hardship.

Remember that failure is only inevitable when you give up.

Rule #4: The squeaky wheel gets replaced.

In this age of abundance, where you can access whatever you need, whenever you need it… don’t settle. Demand the best.

It used to be that the supply of talent, technology or treasure (i.e. money) was scarce. That is no longer the case.

If someone or something in your organization is a squeaky wheel, rather than tolerating or greasing them, you’re probably better off finding someone who fits your team’s ethos, vision and mindset.

Would you rather spend your time with your best performers helping them grow and get even better, or spend time with your squeakiest wheels dealing with their issues?

Your time as a leader is limited – use it to build an incredible team.

Rule #5: The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.

The future is not written. It’s not preordained. It unfolds as a result of our actions… the choices we make and the risks we take.

This is actually the model for my life. I wanted to predict a future in which there would be private commercial spaceflight, so I launched the $10 million XPRIZE. Private spaceflight simply didn’t exist.

I’ve predicted a future in which we’ll have asteroid mining, so I cofounded Planetary Resources. I want to live a long and healthy life, so I cofounded Human Longevity, Inc.

Ultimately, isn’t this exactly what it means to be an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur clearly envisions the future and becomes so enamored with it that they turn their thoughts into reality and will the future they desire into existence.

Rule #6: An expert opinion is not the final word. 

When I announced the XPRIZE, many of the “experts” in the aerospace industry explained to me why I was naive and wouldn’t succeed.

In 1714, when the Longitude Board (composed of the world’s greatest Royal Astronomers) saw a working clock built by watchmaker John Harrison meet all of the requirements of the Longitude Prize, they refused to pay him the purse because they were absolutely sure it would be won by an astronomer.

In a rather perverse twist, an expert is massively disincentivized to promote someone else’s radical and disruptive solution. This is because new inventions that result in wholesale change cause a shift where “experts” can be transformed into “has-beens.”

Some experts are therefore inspired and committed to keeping things exactly the way they are. That’s why it’s important to always think in terms of what can be done.

Rule #7: Most breakthroughs begin as a crazy idea.

I first heard a variation of this concept from Burt Rutan, the man who designed and built SpaceShipOne, the brilliant launch vehicle that won the $10M Ansari XPRIZE.

As Rutan explained it to me – as described in How to Make a Spaceship – a small incremental improvement is not a breakthrough.

For example, a computer that is 50% faster than last year’s model is predictable and expected. But going from computers based on vacuum tubes to computation based on silicon wafers is a breakthrough.

So my question to you is: Where in your organization do you allow for crazy ideas to be tried and tested? How are you creating space for yourself to imagine and experiment with crazy ideas?

If you don’t try this — if you are risk adverse and stick with safe, proven steps — then you’re ultimately stuck with incremental progress, not breakthroughs.

One more thing: Burt Rutan also likes to say he finds breakthroughs where others see nonsense. It’s no surprise that he has six first-of-a-kind planes in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Rule #8. If it were easy, it would have been done already.

Doing anything big and bold is hard work.

Going after an easy, quick win either means you’re not trying to change the world or you’ve got a false grip on reality.

With five billion connected people with access to Google and Amazon Web Services, you can expect that the easy stuff has been tried and conquered.

If you’re working on something you truly care about solving, it’s hard to do and you don’t see anyone else trying, that’s a pretty good indication that you’re on a path to solve something significant and worth pursuing.

Don’t fear hard work. Celebrate it as a measure of the size of the dent you are making in the universe!

Rule #9: The world’s most precious resource is a passionate mind.

I’m often struck by the ability of a single individual to change the world.

Think Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Elon Musk, Larry Page, Richard Branson, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, to name a few. They each started with no money or technological advantage, just passion and perseverance.

Ultimately, three things make anything possible: People, technology, and money. If you have the right people and enough money, you can create the technology — that’s called innovation. If you have the right people and the right technology, you can attract the funding — that’s called venture capital.

But money and technology alone, without the persistent and passionate human mind driving you forward, will never change the world.

Doing something big and bold — taking risks that benefit you and can benefit society — means overcoming extraordinary hurdles.

It means attacking a challenge with all of your energy and focus, and many times remaining motivated for a decade or more.

Such passion and commitment can only come when you are emotionally committed with all of your heart and soul. And this level of commitment only materializes when your goal is powered by intense emotional energy.

There is nothing more powerful in your life than a cause you would willingly die for, whether it is your family or a belief you hold fundamental to your existence.

Following this passion is how you create a world worth living, a life that wakes you up in the morning and gets you excited.

I was lucky to find one of my abiding passions in childhood. I watched the landing of Apollo 11 in July 1969 and knew I had to get to space and get my friends there too. Listen to your heart, and don’t let those dreams die.

For more on these lessons and others, check out How To Make A Spaceship.

 

Jocko Willink on Discipline, Leadership, and Overcoming Doubt

“Don’t count on motivation; count on discipline.” – Jocko Willink

Jocko Willink (@jockowillink) is one of the scariest human beings imaginable. Jocko did his first interview with me (find it here), and it took the Internet by storm. Now he joins us for round two to answer the questions you’ve been asking.

Jocko is a lean 230 pounds. He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert who used to tap out 20 Navy SEALs per workout. He is a legend in the Special Operations world. His eyes look through you more than at you.

Jocko spent 20 years in the US Navy and commanded SEAL Team 3’s task unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated special operations unit in the Iraq War. Upon returning to the US, Jocko served as the officer in charge of training for all West Coast SEAL teams, designing and implementing some of the most challenging and realistic — and perhaps psychotic — combat training in the world (his words, not mine).

After retiring from the Navy, he co-founded Echelon Front, a leadership and management consulting company and authored the number one New York Times bestseller Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

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 episode with Jocko? — Listen to our first interview together. Jocko might be the scariest Navy SEAL alive, and this episode shares how he earned that reputation. Learn what he taught me (stream below or right-click here to download):

This podcast is brought to you by Headspace, the world’s most popular meditation app (with more than 4,000,000 users). It’s used in more than 150 countries, and many of my closest friends swear by it. Try Headspace’s free Take10 program — 10 minutes of guided meditation a day for 10 days. It’s like a warm bath for your mind. Meditation doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, and it’s had a huge impact on my life. Try Headspace for free for a few days and see what I mean.

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Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 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. 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 Jocko and his organizations on Twitter:

@Xtremeownership | @jockowillink | @echelonfront

Connect with Jocko and his organizations on Facebook:

Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink | Echelon Front

The Scariest Navy SEAL Imaginable…And What He Taught Me (Jocko’s first appearance on the show)
Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Learn more about Victory MMA and Fitness, Jocko Willink’s gym in San Diego
Seeking solutions in business or leadership? Check out Echelon Front
About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Colonel David H. Hackworth and Julie Sherman
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Dick Winters and Cole C. Kingseed
I Remember The Last War by Bob Hoffman
Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam by Col. David H. Hackworth
Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat by James R. McDonough
The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War by Frederick Downs, Jr.
charity: water helps people in developing parts of the world get access to the potable water Jocko talks about.
United States Armed Forces oath of enlistment
The Joe Rogan Experience #729 with Jocko Willink
Nuremberg trials
Extreme Ownership Muster Event
The Second Battle of Ramadi
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Indirect approach

Show Notes

How does Jocko shut down internal doubt and negative chatter during critical moments? [06:54]
How Jocko’s love of literature influence his leadership skills — and his most recommended books. [12:05]
Jocko’s advice to young men and women who are no longer in the military but are still looking to contribute. [18:41]
Thoughts on “being a pawn of the industrial military complex to serve the economic interests of US corporations?” [22:36]
On the United States’ use of resources. [28:52]
The hardest thing Jocko has ever endured. [33:59]
What advice would Jocko give an active duty member of the military after election day (presumably if their candidate of choice is not elected)? [35:23]
The most effective way to get leaders to stop supporting ineffective practices. [38:05]
How would Jocko’s life of extreme discipline translate to those involved in creative pursuits? [42:13]
After working with and training so many companies, are there any repeating patterns or common weaknesses that business owners seem to need to work on?  [46:46]
What is Jocko’s approach for overcoming personal challenges? [51:37]
How can you stay motivated when every day is a struggle? [55:05]
How does Jocko feel about killing (sometimes innocent) people at war? How does he feel about war in general? [1:00:40]
The biggest lessons from jiu-jitsu that transcend fighting and can be applied to leadership. [1:10:23]

People Mentioned

Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump
Barack Obama
Richard M. Nixon
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan
Joe Rogan
Leif Babin