Timothy Ferriss
Success, however you define it, is achievable if you collect the right field-tested beliefs and habits. Someone else has done your version of “success” before, and often, many have done something similar. “But,” you might ask, “what about a first, like colonizing Mars?” There are still recipes. Look at empire building of other types, look at the biggest decisions in the life of Robert Moses (read The Power Broker), or simply find someone who stepped up to do great things that were deemed impossible at the time (e.g., Walt Disney). There is shared DNA you can borrow. The superheroes you have in your mind (idols, icons, titans, billionaires, etc.) are nearly all walking flaws who’ve maximized 1 or 2 strengths. Humans are imperfect creatures. You don’t “succeed” because you have no weaknesses; you succeed because you find your unique strengths and focus on developing habits around them. (Location 413)
Rolling your foot on top of a golf ball on the floor to increase “hamstring” flexibility. This is infinitely more helpful than a lacrosse ball. (Location 547)
When in doubt, work on the deficiencies you’re most embarrassed by. My biggest weaknesses are shoulder extension and bridging using the thoracic spine (versus lower-back arch). (Location 627)
To assess your biggest weaknesses, start by finding a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) near you. (Location 630)
3 Movements Everyone (Location 662)
Should Practice J-Curl (page 15) Shoulder Extension: Lift a dowel behind your back (standing), or sit on the floor and walk your hands backward behind your hips. Thoracic Bridge: Elevate your feet enough to feel the bulk of the stretch in the upper back and shoulders, not the lower back. The feet might be 3+ feet off the ground. Ensure you can concentrate on straightening your arms (and legs, if possible), holding the position, and breathing. (Location 663)
5 Blood Tests Peter GENERALLY Recommends (Location 1458)
“If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you’re in your 40s or beyond and you care about living longer, which immediately puts you in a selection bias category, there’s an 80% chance you’re going to die of [one of] those four diseases. So any strategy toward increasing longevity has to be geared toward reducing the risk of (Location 1515)
“[Studies] suggest to me that there’s something about highly refined carbohydrates and sugars—and potentially protein, though it might be for a different reason—that seems to raise insulin, which we know, by extension, raises insulin-like growth factor (IGF). And we know that IGF is driving not just aging but also certainly driving a lot of cancers, though not all of them.” (Location 1521)
He is a proponent of magnesium supplementation. Our ability to buffer magnesium with healthy kidneys is very high. He takes 600 to 800 mg per day, alternating between mag sulfate and mag oxide. He also takes calcium carbonate 2 times per week. Two of his favored brands are Jarrow Formulas and NOW Foods. (Location 1534)
So for example, magnesium glycinate has a preference for liver and muscle tissue; magnesium orotate tends to work more in the vascular system. Magnesium threonate is more of a GABA inducer, therefore it improves sleep. (Location 1677)
Another go-to recipe for sleep: glutamine and physician-prescribed probiotics (vary the brands) before bed. (Location 1680)
before bed, I take phosphatidylserine and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). For me, this also has a noticeable impact on lowering anxiety the following day. (Location 1688)
Bed of Needles: Technically, I bought a Nayoya Acupressure Mat. There is a competitor (same same but different) called Bed of Nails, both available on Amazon. This type of roll-out needle mat, which is covered with “needles” that look like cleat spikes, (Location 1769)
Cossack Squat When everything else failed, Cossack squats with a kettlebell (as shown below) roughly doubled my ankle mobility, which had a chain of positive effects. Keep your heels on the ground throughout, keep your knees in line with your toes, and keep your hips as low as possible when switching sides. I do 5 to 6 reps per side for 2 to 3 sets, often supersetting with Eric Cressey’s “walking Spiderman” warmup. (Location 1801)
3 High-Yield Exercises—Pavel’s “Simple & Sinister” Kettlebell Program One-arm swing Turkish get-up (TGU) Goblet squat Do these three exercises in some form every day, and you are guaranteed to get a great return on your investment. The TGU is also excellent for diagnosing deficiencies. (Location 1836)
The Campfire Squat Test “If you can’t squat all the way down to the ground with your feet and knees together, then you are missing full hip and ankle range of motion. This is the mechanism causing your hip impingement, plantar fasciitis, torn Achilles, pulled calf, etc. (Location 2446)
The Top Mobilizations to Do Every Day (Location 2464)
Overcoming Jet Lag (Location 2527)
The prize: a bottle of 25-year-old Suntory Hibiki whisky, which you have to fly to Japan to track down. (Location 2614)
His recommendation in our conversation was Whistle Pig rye. (Location 2625)
“Visual overwriting” is what I do right before bed to crowd out anything replaying or looping in my mind that will inhibit sleep (e.g., email, to-do lists, an argument, “I should have said . . .”). Here are two specific tools that I’ve found effective: 10 minutes of Tetris before bed: This recommendation is from Jane McGonigal, PhD (page 132). The free version works fine. OR Short and uplifting episodic television: (Location 2695)
Escape to River Cottage, Season One. (Location 2700)
Use an app like Headspace or Calm. Headspace’s free (Location 2838)
This practice is, without a doubt, one of the most important meditation practices of all time. (Location 2936)
Chris mentioned several books when he appeared on my podcast, including I Seem to Be a Verb by Buckminster Fuller. 48 hours later, used copies were selling for $999 on Amazon. (Location 3041)
Your inbox is a to-do list to which anyone in the world can add an action item. (Location 3057)
“The number-one theme that companies have when they really struggle is they are not charging enough for their product. (Location 3129)
The “Nerds at Night” Test How does Marc look for new opportunities? He has dozens of tools, but one of his heuristics is simple: “We call our test ‘What do the nerds do on nights and weekends?’ (Location 3140)
“He says the key to success is, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’” (Location 3184)
Both Marc and Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, have read and recommend Neal Gabler’s biography of Walt Disney. (Location 3196)
“Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call ‘life’ was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” (Location 3198)
I am a big believer that if you have a very clear vision of where you want to go, then the rest of it is much easier. (Location 3253)
Treat Life as a Series of Experiments “My recommendation is to do little tests. Try a few months of living the life you think you want, but leave yourself an exit plan, being open to the big chance that you might not like it after actually trying it. . . . The best book about this subject is Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. (Location 3503)
Added roughly 20 pounds of muscle after learning the pain and joy of high-rep front squats (and topical DHEA) courtesy of Patrick Arnold (page 35). (Location 3611)
Write down the 3 to 5 things—and no more—that are making you the most anxious or uncomfortable. They’re often things that have been punted from one day’s to-do list to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on. Most important usually equals most uncomfortable, with some chance of rejection or conflict. (Location 3621)
For each item, ask yourself: “If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day?” “Will moving this forward make all the other to-dos unimportant or easier to knock off later?” (Location 3624)
Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions. (Location 3640)
We’re both big fans of Peter Drucker and his book The Effective Executive, as well as Alain de Botton’s (page 486) How Proust Can Change Your Life. (Location 3666)
‘Okay, if we do X today, what does that result in tomorrow, a year from now, ten years from now?’ (Location 3680)
On a hike in San Francisco, Matt recommended I read “The Tail End” by Tim Urban on the Wait But Why blog— (Location 3699)
* Most-gifted or recommended books? Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl The Fourth Turning by William Strauss (Also, Generations by William Strauss, which was gifted to Tony by Bill Clinton) Mindset by Carol Dweck (for parenting) As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (see Shay Carl, page 441) (Location 3918)
Favorite documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly by Werner Herzog is Casey’s favorite documentary, made in 1997. (Location 3940)
Philosophy and Daily Routine “You realize that you will never be the best-looking person in the room. You’ll never be the smartest person in the room. You’ll never be the most educated, the most well-versed. You can never compete on those levels. But what you can always compete on, the true egalitarian aspect to success, is hard work. You can always work harder than the next guy.” (Location 3971)
He likes listening to the Jonny Famous playlist on Spotify. (Location 3979)
“Once we get those muddy, maddening, confusing thoughts [nebulous worries, jitters, and preoccupations] on the page, we face our day with clearer eyes.” Please reread the above quote. (Location 4056)
It Doesn’t Always Have to Be Hard “I have come to learn that part of the business strategy is to solve the simplest, easiest, and most valuable problem. And actually, in fact, part of doing strategy is to solve the easiest problem, so part of the reason why you work on software and bits is that atoms [physical products] are actually very difficult.” (Location 4115)
TF: Peter will also sometimes ask potential hires, “What problem do you face every day that nobody has solved yet?” or “What is a great company no one has started?” I will sometimes pose a bastardized version of his “something few people agree with you on” question to podcast guests: “What do you believe that other people think is insane?” (Location 4231)
3 of 7 Questions There are 7 questions that Peter recommends all startup founders ask themselves. Grab Zero to One for all of them, but here are the 3 I revisit often: (Location 4234)
Be a Meaningful Specific Instead of a Wandering Generality On saying “no” and declining things: “The phone rings, and lots of people want a thing. If it doesn’t align with the thing that is your mission, and you say ‘yes,’ now [your mission is] their mission. There’s nothing wrong with being a wandering generality instead of a meaningful specific, but don’t expect to make the change you [hope] to make if that’s what you do.” (Location 4261)
To Create Something Great (Or Eventually Huge), Start Extremely Small “My suggestion is, whenever possible, ask yourself: What’s the smallest possible footprint I can get away with? What is the smallest possible project that is worth my time? (Location 4303)
think we need to teach kids two things: 1) how to lead, and 2) how to solve interesting problems. Because the fact is, there are plenty of countries on Earth where there are people who are willing to be obedient and work harder for less money than us. So we cannot out-obedience the competition. (Location 4339)
you suggest I start with?” SETH: “For me, if you are feeling stuck, it’s all about The War of Art and The Art of Possibility. If you are feeling stressed, it’s about Pema. If you need to see a path that is more colored than the one you’re already on, which is pretty Technicolor, then it’s Zig. And if you just want to cry a little, it’s Just Kids, and then Debt is the one that is closest to reading a book. I don’t think many (Location 4370)
stuff because that’s a little bit of a rip-off—you pour it over a pound of just plain old oatmeal, uncooked, and half a jar of honey. You let it sit in the fridge for 2 (Location 4398)
The World Doesn’t Need Your Explanation. On Saying “No”: “I don’t give explanations anymore, and I’ll catch myself when I start giving explanations like ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t make it. I have a doctor’s appointment that day. I’m really sick. I broke my leg over the weekend’ or something. I just say, ‘I can’t do it. I hope everything is well.’” (Location 4473)
Following the Rules Lesson #1: If you’ve formulated intelligent rules, follow your own f*cking rules. Below are a few that subsequently worked well for me. Note that I don’t need to satisfy all of them, but I do want to satisfy most of them: (Location 4548)
If each startup exits at 5 times its current Series A valuation, it should be able to cover two-thirds of your fund capital. (Location 4592)
Resources For the fellow tech nerds among you, here are a few resources for learning about angel investing, founding tech companies, or picking the right startup to work for: Venture Deals (Location 4640)
“The Day You Became a Better Writer” (Location 4663)
“Systems” Versus “Goals” Scott helped me refocus, to use his language, on “systems” instead of “goals.” This involves choosing projects and habits that, even if they result in “failures” in the eyes of the outside world, give you transferable skills or relationships. In other words, you choose options that allow you to inevitably “succeed” over time, as you build assets that carry over to subsequent projects. (Location 4684)
If you want an average, successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one specific thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. (Location 4799)
The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it. (Location 4805)
You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix. . . . At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That’s one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that’s the thing you’ll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%. If you have an aptitude for a third skill, perhaps business or public speaking, develop that too. (Location 4810)
What’s your self-talk just before dropping into an Olympic run? “I say, ‘At the end of the day, who cares? What’s the big deal? I’m here, I’m going to try my best, and I’m going to go home, and my family’s there. (Location 4832)
I constantly recommend that entrepreneurs read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, whether they are first-time founders or serial home-run hitters launching a new product. “The Law of the Category” is the chapter I revisit most often, (Location 4911)
Many other computer companies (and their entrepreneurial owners) became rich and famous by following a simple principle: If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in. (Location 4931)
When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competition?” but “First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in? (Location 4939)
This is counter to classic marketing thinking, which is brand oriented: How do I get people to prefer my brand? Forget the brand. Think categories. (Location 4941)
When you’re the first in a new category, promote the category. In essence, you have no competition. DEC told its prospects why they ought to buy a minicomputer, not a DEC minicomputer. (Location 4944)
“Good content is the best SEO,” as Robert Scoble originally told me. (Location 5005)
Amplify your strengths rather than fix your weaknesses. (Location 5015)
Show Your Work Both Chase and Derek Sivers (page 184) are big fans of the book Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. (Location 5032)
1,000 True Fans “[‘1,000 True Fans’ by Kevin Kelly] was one of the seminal articles that inspired me to really build amazing material, rather than just recycling what else was out there. I knew that if I had 1,000 true fans, then not only would I be able to live doing the things I wanted, but I would be able to turn that into 2,000, 5,000, 10,000—and that is exactly what happened. (Location 5120)
“I give away 98% of my material for free and, then, many of my flagship courses are extremely expensive. In fact, 10 to 100 times what my competitors charge.” TF: I have mirrored Ramit’s approach to pricing and selling. I rarely sell high-ticket items, but when I do, I charge 10 to 100 times what “competitors” might. In general, I split my content in a very binary fashion: free or ultra-premium. (Location 5130)