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

by Timothy Ferriss

“Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed-of things—the people on the edge see them first.” —Kurt Vonnegut

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” —Pierre-Marc-Gaston

“If you have a 10-year plan of how to get [somewhere], you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 months?”

“failure is not durable”

“I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering.”

“No one owes you anything.”

Once you reach 0.5 mmol—millimolars, a concentration—you can consider yourself lightly “in ketosis.” I tend to feel increased mental clarity at 1 mmol or higher.

“All the problems I have in the daily world subside when I do [cold exposure]. Exposing myself to the worthy cold . . . it is a great cleaning purifying force.”

Travel isn’t just for changing what’s outside, it’s for reinventing what’s inside.

Vagabonding involves taking an extended time-out from your normal life—6 weeks, 4 months, 2 years—to travel the world on your own terms.

Vagabonding is about looking for adventure in normal life, and normal life within adventure.

Thus, given an unlimited amount of choices, we make none. Settling into our lives, we get so obsessed with holding on to our domestic certainties that we forget why we desired them in the first place.

Write about a time when you realized you were mistaken. Write about a lesson you learned the hard way. Write about a time you were inappropriately dressed for the occasion. Write about something you lost that you’ll never get back. Write about a time when you knew you’d done the right thing. Write about something you don’t remember. Write about your darkest teacher. Write about a memory of a physical injury. Write about when you knew it was over. Write about being loved. Write about what you were really thinking. Write about how you found your way back. Write about the kindness of strangers. Write about why you could not do it. Write about why you did.

“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing—fear—but it’s what you do with it that matters.”

Give vulnerability a shot. Give discomfort its due. Because I think he or she who is willing to be the most uncomfortable is not only the bravest, but rises the fastest.”

“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”

So when you ask yourself, ‘Did I dare greatly today?’ The big question I ask is, ‘When I had the opportunity, did I choose courage over comfort?’”

“We are simultaneously gods and worms.”—Abraham Maslow