Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

by Timothy Ferriss

More than 80% of the interviewees have some form of daily mindfulness or meditation practice

“You’re not responsible for the hand of cards you were dealt. You’re responsible for maxing out what you were given.”

Jefferson Curl (J-Curl) Think of this as a controlled, slowly rounded, stiff-legged deadlift. From Sommer: “Progress slowly and patiently. Do not rush. For this type of loaded mobility work, never allow yourself to strain, grind out reps, or force range of motion. Smooth, controlled movement is the order of the day.” The ultimate goal is body weight on a bar, but start with 15 pounds. I currently use only 50 to 60 pounds. This can perform miracles for thoracic, or mid-back, mobility, all while helping the hamstrings in the pike position.

Why Consider Fasting? Dom has discussed the idea of a therapeutic “purge fast” with his colleague Dr. Thomas Seyfried of Boston College. Per Dom: “If you don’t have cancer and you do a therapeutic fast 1 to 3 times per year, you could purge any precancerous cells that may be living in your body.”

“Let go of what’s not working and really assess what is working and ‘what can I be excited about?’ It’s not that bad things don’t happen to me. I don’t label a lot of things good/bad. [Instead, I ask] can I evolve from this? What do I want now? Where is my center now?”

What would you put on a billboard? “Play! Play more. I feel like people are so serious, and it doesn’t take much for people to drop back into the wisdom of a childlike playfulness. If I had to prescribe two things to improve health and happiness in the world, it’d be movement and play. Because you can’t really play without moving, so they’re intertwined.

LDL Particle Number via NMR

They cheer each other on, and it’s wonderful. Assholes don’t last long.

Jim’s book (The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide) offers comprehensive guidelines for this role, but in simple terms: “A good sitter is someone you trust. A great sitter is someone who loves you and you trust. A superlative sitter is someone who doesn’t have any agenda of their own. They don’t want you to see a certain thing. They don’t want you to be a certain way. They don’t want you to discover a certain thing.” With or without psychedelics, sounds like good criteria for close friends, too.

treat ayahuasca as if you are planning to have a brain tumor removed by a brain surgeon. Spiritually, this is effectively what you’re attempting.

“DMT is found in ayahuasca, whereas the 5-MeO-DMT is naturally found in certain plants and in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad (also known as the Colorado River toad), which lives in northern Mexico and southern Arizona. Its venom is thought to have been used ceremonially for hundreds, if not thousands, of years by Mexican indigenous cultures to induce states of mystical consciousness. “What we like about this medicine, and what is particularly useful for drug addiction, is that it reliably occasions mystical experiences. In our patients, about 75% report experiencing an intense and profound sense of awe, divine presence, peace, joy, and bliss that transcends time and space. People often describe their 5-MeO experience as one of the peak transformational and spiritual moments of their entire lives.

5-MeO-DMT was not classified as a Schedule 1 substance in the U.S. until 2011, and its use is legal in Mexico. DAN: “It’s extraordinarily strong in its flavor and acts as a rocket ship back to God. . . . It does take you back to source consciousness.”

“If you can’t breathe, you don’t know thy position.” In other words, if you can’t breathe in a given position, you haven’t mastered it.

Go “Zero Drop” for Your Kids Get your kids (and yourself) flat “zero drop” shoes, where the toes and heel are an equal distance from the ground. I wear Vans for this reason, my favorite model being Vans Classic Slip-On skate shoe (unisex, gum sole) in black. These can be used for hiking in a pinch, or worn to a business meeting when traveling light. Kelly elaborates on the rationale of zero drop: “Don’t systematically shorten your kids’ heel cords (Achilles) with bad shoes. It results in crappy ankle range of motion in the future. Get your kids Vans, Chuck Taylors, or similar shoes. Have them in flat shoes or barefoot as much as possible.”

“Kids don’t do what you say. They do what they see. How you live your life is their example.”

Overcoming Jet Lag During his peak travel period, Paul traveled 260+ days per year, performing in a different city each night. Here is one of his rules: “When I landed, I would check into the hotel. The second we checked in, I’d ask them: ‘Is the gym open? Can I go train?’ Even if it was to get on a bike and ride for 15 minutes to reset things. I learned early that it seemed any time I did that, I didn’t get jet lag.” TF: This absolutely seems to work, even if done at 1 a.m. and for 3 to 5 minutes. I don’t know the physiological mechanism, but I use it.

The Lynx Portable Back Stretcher or Teeter P3 Back Stretcher:

‘Discipline equals freedom.’”

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.

“The Commodore would say: ‘Jocko, what do you need?’ and I would say, ‘We’re good, sir.’ The implication is obvious: If I have problems, I’m going to handle them. I’m going to take care of them, and I’m not going to complain. I took extreme ownership of my world. The way that worked was twofold. When I did need something, it was something significant, it was something real. And when I told the Commodore, ‘Hey, boss, we need this right here,’ I would get it almost instantaneously because he knew that I really, truly needed it. “You can’t blame your boss for not giving you the support you need. Plenty of people will say, ‘It’s my boss’s fault.’ No, it’s actually your fault because you haven’t educated him, you haven’t influenced him, you haven’t explained to him in a manner he understands why you need this support that you need. That’s extreme ownership. Own it all.”

Sam wrote: “If she [my daughter] does not try a psychedelic like psilocybin or LSD at least once in her adult life, I will worry that she may have missed one of the most important rites of passage a human being can experience . . . a life without drugs is neither foreseeable nor, I think, desirable.”

Encouraging Girls On common parenting differences when raising sons and daughters: “With boys, there is an active encouragement—despite the possibility that they could get hurt—and guiding the son to do it, often on his own. When a daughter decides to do something that might have some risk involved, after cautioning her, the parents are much more likely to assist her in doing it. What is this telling girls? They’re fragile and they need our help. That is acculturated so early. So of course, by the time we’re women and in the workplace or relationships, that’s going to be a predominant paradigm for us: fear.”

My trauma therapist said every time you meet someone, just in your head say, ‘I love you’ before you have a conversation with them, and that conversation is going to go a lot better.

“When you raise your kids, you’re the bow, they’re the arrow, and you just try to aim them in the best direction that you can, and hopefully your aim isn’t too off. That’s what [my grandmother] did for me.”