Tribe Of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World

by Timothy Ferriss

I change my physiology. If I am near waves, I go surf them. If not, a short, intense kettlebell workout, a bike ride, a swim, a cold shower or ice plunge, Wim Hof or heart rate variability breathing [see Adam Robinson, for a description]. It’s remarkable how the

lost. Today my obsession for the very best pens (Muji 0.38mm gel pens and Pilot Juice Up 0.4 mm gel pens) and notebooks (Leuchtturm1917 Medium Hardcover) is an echo of those hot summer days I

This is super important. Everybody’s impatient at a macro, and just so patient at a micro, wasting your days worrying about years. I’m not worried about my years, because I’m squeezing the fuck out of my seconds, let alone my days. It’s going to work out.

I have to start with The Meaning of Culture by John Cowper Powys, because

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life? When I roll out of bed, I do the plank for two minutes right off, followed by downward dog for the same, then a series of stretches. It gets my metabolism going, and makes me much more likely to start with a more vigorous bout of exercise. I used to start the day by getting on my computer, getting sucked in, then looking up and realizing it was too late to get out before the day started in earnest.

“daimon.” Lao Tzu said of the wise man that “He has his no, and he has his yes.” It is this ability to wait quietly for the right moment, rather than rushing about aimlessly, that can lead even an ambitious success-hunter to capture the biggest game.

Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Frank Partnoy’s Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, Linda Kaplan-Thaler’s The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness and The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference, and Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy.

Superstars: Inside the Twenty-five Best Independent Stores in America (Favorite line: “Be the best, it’s the only market that’s not crowded.”),

Oh, and two other things: First, become a superstar, all-pro listener. How? Work on it. It does not come naturally. Read up on it. Practice it. Have a mentor grade you on it. Second: Read. Read. Read. Read. In short, the best student wins, whether at age 21 or 51 or 101.

five minutes or nothing at all. It’s the quality of your next five-minute conversation. It’s the quality of, yes, your next email. Forget the long term. Make the next five minutes rock!

“Courage over comfort.” Just a simple reminder that there’s nothing comfortable about being courageous. Everyone wants to be brave, but no one wants to be vulnerable.

Easy. My ten-foot iPhone charger from Native Union and my Fierce lip balm from Tata Harper.

identification. I’ve found that getting clear about what’s wrong and why it’s a problem is the best investment you can make at home or work.

Key learning: Magical thinking is incredibly dangerous and will cost you more time, money, and energy than digging in ever will.

I got a Manduka PRO black yoga mat for about $100 (on sale). It is such a heavy, luxurious mat that it encourages me to practice at home, which is frankly a miracle.

The book I started with is Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, which is a classic. But I think the best book for beginners is What Is Zen?: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind by Norman Fischer. It’s a wonderful intro and answers most of the questions I had when I started.

The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease by Marc Lewis. Addiction is short-term desire. Purpose is long-term desire.

Always take jobs for which you are not qualified; that way you will inevitably learn something. And do not drop out of college unless you truly have a better alternative. Some notable individuals have succeeded in spite of doing so, but it’s a serious obstacle to overcome for most people.

“Posting about it isn’t doing anything. It’s just like talk . . . it’s cheap!”

Propaganda by Edward Bernays, along with the documentary The Century of the Self.

This means there is no need to bring food to villages, but it is now simply possible to wire the money raised directly into people’s phones. This has been ready for almost ten years but no NGO nor the UN will talk about it, as it scares them. Because if the humanitarian space suddenly gets disrupted like every other industry, it will bring massive change into those NGOs and for all the people that work in them.

A Deuserband Original has been an amazing discovery for me. Especially when I spend long sessions in a chair, it feels great to stretch my arms and back, and it improves your posture.

Traveling to Bhutan in December 2016 and discovering Buddhism, which is more than a religion. It’s rather a way of life that is so rewarding.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack, by Charles T. Munger. I’ve been enjoying Charlie Munger’s speeches online for years; this is the ultimate collection of the best of them. Watching Becoming Warren Buffett on a recent flight reminded me how much of a legend Charlie is.

Figure out what success means to you. Don’t accept others’ views or conventional wisdom. Write down what your successful personal and professional life looks like in 20 years. Then roll the clock back to today. Make sure your choices are in service of those goals.

What is so great about the “childlike” mind? Once again, I highly recommend Alison Gopnik’s Scientist in the Crib to any geek about to have a child. Here is one of her key conclusions: “Babies are just plain smarter than we are, at least if being smart means being able to learn something new. . . . They think, draw conclusions, make predictions, look for explanations and even do experiments. . . . In fact, scientists are successful precisely because they emulate what children do naturally.” Much of the human brain’s

We have partnered with some big companies (McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, Mattel, etc.) to do collaborations and licensing deals. Each time, I had to fight for final approvals over creative direction, advertising, and products. Sometimes it stalled the release of the product or campaign, but it was ultimately worth the trouble in order to maintain the integrity of my brands. My advice is to remain steadfast in your values and product direction, especially when working with other companies.

The Passion Trap: How to Right an Unbalanced Relationship by relationship therapist and psychologist Dean C. Delis.

Physical tells are far less consistent and reliable than we’re taught to believe, and to truly excel at the game it’s far more important to have a solid understanding of the mathematical theory behind the game.

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)? The Five-Minute Journal gives focus to each day. I got it at Urban Outfitters. And maybe the Spiralizer, too. It makes salad so much more fun and interesting to eat.

Lower intensity long endurance. Most CF workouts are high intensity, but we tend to forget hitting some of the other energy systems needed to build endurance and speed up recovery.

Sling

Shot,

The name of the game in what I do is lifting the most weight. However, the way to get the strongest is to lift what is optimal and not what is maximal. In general, lifters and coaches tend to lift too heavy, too often. I think it’s human nature in some ways to try to take on more than we can handle. But to make progress, you need to lift and do things that are more realistic.

When you’re not looking at what’s in front of you, you could have a very tragic misstep. That’s why racehorses have blinders on. If they look to the left or right, not only will they end up hurt, but everyone else will, too.

I’ll ask kids an old question that every old guy asks: “Where do you want to be in five years? Where do you see yourself?” If I apply that question to lifting, a lot of people don’t get it. They’re only thinking, “What am I going to do within six months?” They don’t realize that if you make the whole body strong in every aspect that you possibly can over a period of just three years, you’ve created an impenetrable machine that won’t get hurt, that won’t break down, that you can have for the rest of your life because you followed what you’re supposed to at the beginning.

Are there any particular exercises that you think are neglected or that more people should incorporate? Usually it’s the hard ones like sets of pause [at the bottom] squats. Guys can’t use as much weight, it’s harder, and a lot of the time, they don’t do them. The only way to get out of the bottom once you stop is for your whole body to push and sync at the right time. You can’t have bad technique or you fall forward right away. I don’t pause to a box . . . I taught myself how to stay tight with the barbell.

Layne Norton has suffered hip and back injuries over the last four years, and he came back. He has a tutorial of hip exercises on his Instagram account (@biolayne) that really helped him. I tried them, and they work phenomenally well.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love? Enjoying reflecting on my painful mistakes. I do this by writing down my reflections. I’ve also developed an iPad app to help people reflect on the pain they experience that I call the Pain Button.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? Love looking at what you don’t know, your mistakes, and your weaknesses, because understanding them is essential for making the most of your life.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I read it as a 22-year-old, and it made me think deeply about how society doesn’t “see” so many of its members. I’m still reminded to pay attention, to recognize people as I pass them, to say hello. It sounds so simple. It changes everything.

So I always tell writers to follow their curiosity, obsessions, and fascinations.

Martin Luther King Jr. did well in school, but his worst grades were in public speaking. Yes. Two Cs, in back-to-back terms. The list goes on, and I loved writing about them all in the book. The most impactful kind of failures are “near wins” because of the propulsion we get from coming just shy of reaching a goal.

Privacy when I’m at a peak point of creative work. I tend to go off of social media during those times and not take many meetings at all. This is only unusual in today’s climate, but it’s crucial.

“If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, you must go together.” That could very well emerge as the mantra of the Third Wave.

Crazy Is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags.

The reality, best captured in The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley and The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker,

And it turns out there are some pretty simple buttons you can press to give yourself a great day. Start by waking up from a good sleep, eating good food, leaving your phone/newspaper/computer behind, and simply writing down your plan for what will make the day great. Several hours of physical activity, some hard work, a chance to laugh with and help out other people—and you’re pretty much there.

Thinking Body, Dancing Mind by Chungliang Al Huang.