Tribe of Mentors Archives - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog. Tim is an author of 5 #1 NYT/WSJ bestsellers, investor (FB, Uber, Twitter, 50+ more), and host of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast (400M+ downloads) Fri, 26 Feb 2021 15:24:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/tim.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/cropped-site-icon-tim-ferriss-2.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Tribe of Mentors Archives - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss 32 32 164745976 Tribe of Mentors — Naval Ravikant, Susan Cain, and Yuval Noah Harari (#442) https://tim.blog/2020/06/22/tribe-of-mentors-audiobook/ https://tim.blog/2020/06/22/tribe-of-mentors-audiobook/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2020 00:10:49 +0000 https://tim.blog/?p=51652 Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show! It will feature some of my favorite advice and profiles from Tribe of Mentors. Thousands of you have asked for years for the audiobook versions of Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors, and they are now both finally available at audible.com/ferriss. Today’s episode will focus on my first chapter in Tribe of Mentors, as well …

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Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show! It will feature some of my favorite advice and profiles from Tribe of Mentors. Thousands of you have asked for years for the audiobook versions of Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors, and they are now both finally available at audible.com/ferriss.

Today’s episode will focus on my first chapter in Tribe of Mentors, as well as the profiles of Naval Ravikant, Susan Cain, and Yuval Noah Harari.

Just a few notes on the format before we dive in: I recorded the introduction and selected three fantastic, top-ranked narrators to handle the rest. 

The short bios, which you will hear at the beginning of each profile, are read by Kaleo Griffith. Ray Porter reads my words as well as those of the male guests. The words of the female guests are performed by Thérèse Plummer.

Tribe of Mentors is the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure book—a compilation of tools, tactics, and habits from more than 100 of the world’s top performers. From iconic entrepreneurs to elite athletes, from artists to billionaire investors, their short profiles can help you answer life’s most challenging questions, achieve extraordinary results, and transform your life.

I am really happy with how the book turned out, and the universe helped me pull off some miracles for Tribe of Mentors (e.g., Ben Stiller; Temple Grandin; Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Yuval Noah Harari, whom you will hear in this episode; Arianna Huffington; Marc Benioff; Terry Crews; Dan Gable; and many more). It includes many of the people I grew up viewing as idols or demi-gods. So thanks, universe! 

And if you only get one thing out of this book, let it be this: In a world where nobody really knows anything, you have the incredible freedom to continually reinvent yourself and forge new paths, no matter how strange. Embrace your weird self. There is no one right answer… only better questions.

I wish you luck as you forge your own path.

Please enjoy this episode, and if you’d like to listen to the other 100-plus profiles from Tribe of Mentors, please check out audible.com/ferriss.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

#441: Tribe of Mentors — Naval Ravikant, Susan Cain, and Yuval Noah Harari

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments. Scroll for show notes and links from the episode:

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Naval Ravikant:

Website | Twitter | AngelList

  • Connect with Susan Cain:

Quiet Revolution | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn  | Instagram

  • Connect with Yuval Noah Harari:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

SHOW NOTES

Introduction

  • To explain why I wrote this book, I really need to start with when — and share the one clarifying question I find helps answer many others. [02:42]
  • What happened when I pondered how assembling a tribe of mentors might help me find the answers I was seeking. [05:43]
  • How and why I asked the 11 questions posed to this tribe of mentors. [08:40]
  • “What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?” [14:30]
  • “What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)? My readers love specifics like brand and model, where you found it, etc.” [15:47]
  • “How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a ‘favorite failure’ of yours?” [16:38]
  • “If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it — metaphorically speaking, getting a message out to millions or billions — what would it say and why? It could be a few words or a paragraph. (If helpful, it can be someone else’s quote: Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?)” [17:20]
  • “What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)” [17:50]
  • “What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?” [19:00]
  • “In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?” [20:25]
  • “What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?” [20:45]
  • “What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?” [21:08]
  • “In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)? What new realizations and/or approaches helped? Any other tips?” [21:21]
  • “When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do? (If helpful: What questions do you ask yourself?)” [21:44]
  • Just as ancient wisdom tells you you’ll never step in the same river twice, be prepared to revisit this book for lessons you may have missed, overlooked, or just plain didn’t like the first time you dipped your toe in what it has to offer. Most of all: enjoy! [22:07]

Naval Ravikant

  • Who is Naval Ravikant? [24:54]
  • Naval’s book picks. [25:44]
  • Naval’s favorite failure. [26:29]
  • Naval’s billboard. [27:20]
  • Naval’s most worthwhile investment. [28:13]
  • Naval’s new belief, behavior, or habit. [28:52]
  • Naval’s advice to a college graduate. [29:36]
  • Bad recommendations Naval hears often. [30:54]
  • What earns a “no” from Naval. [31:16]
  • How Naval refocuses. [31:57]

Susan Cain

  • Who is Susan Cain? [32:18]
  • Susan’s favorite failure. [33:37]
  • Susan’s most worthwhile investment. [35:42]
  • Susan’s absurd thing. [36:43]
  • Susan’s advice to a college graduate. [37:54]
  • How Susan refocuses. [40:03]

Yuval Noah Harari

  • Who is Yuval Noah Harari? [40:33]
  • Yuval’s book picks. [42:13]
  • Yuval’s absurd thing. [45:36]
  • Yuval’s favorite failure. [45:47]
  • Yuval’s advice to a college graduate. [47:49]
  • What earns a “no” from Yuval. [52:17]
  • Yuval’s most worthwhile investment. [52:55]
  • How Yuval refocuses. [59:24]

PEOPLE MENTIONED

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]]> https://tim.blog/2020/06/22/tribe-of-mentors-audiobook/feed/ 13 51652 11 Questions with the Most Curious Man in Hollywood https://tim.blog/2019/09/09/brian-grazer-11-questions/ https://tim.blog/2019/09/09/brian-grazer-11-questions/#comments Mon, 09 Sep 2019 23:34:33 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=46672 The following is a guest post from Brian Grazer (@briangrazer), an Oscar-winning movie and television producer and New York Times bestselling author. His work has been nominated for 43 Academy Awards and 195 Emmys, including A Beautiful Mind, 24, Apollo 13, Splash, Arrested Development, Empire, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, American Gangster, Frost/Nixon, Genius, and many …

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The following is a guest post from Brian Grazer (@briangrazer), an Oscar-winning movie and television producer and New York Times bestselling author. His work has been nominated for 43 Academy Awards and 195 Emmys, including A Beautiful Mind, 24, Apollo 13, Splash, Arrested Development, Empire, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, American Gangster, Frost/Nixon, Genius, and many others.

He is the author of Face to Face: The Art of Human Connection (coming out September 17th) and the New York Times bestseller A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. Grazer was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and is the co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, along with his partner, Ron Howard. They are known as having one of the longest-running partnerships ever in Hollywood. According to the New York Times, “…one thing becomes clear when you speak to Mr. Grazer: His desire to win — to remain Hollywood royalty — is undiminished.”

In his guest post, Brian answers many of the questions I asked 130+ of the world’s top performers for my most recent book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World. And to get the full Brain Grazer experience, which I highly recommend, click here to listen to our first conversation.

Please enjoy!

Enter Brian…

What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The book that I gift most to people, because it has had a lasting impact on my psyche, is The Warrior Within: The Philosophies of Bruce Lee. I admire Bruce Lee for his physicality, of course, but more so for his deep philosophy, known as “Jeet Kune Do” or “the way of the intercepting fist.”  The key element of Jeet Kune Do is its “formless form.” Bruce Lee rejected the rigid rules and structures of Kung Fu and other traditional fighting styles. Instead, he borrowed from several styles to create his own fluid, rapidly efficient technique that was all his. In The Warrior Within, John Little explains how Bruce Lee’s philosophy helped him overcome tremendous challenges and pain to become a man whose originality, intense belief, and commitment I’ve long admired. One of his principles that has become infinitely useful to me is: no action is action. When I’m in disagreement with someone or deciding what action to take during a dilemma, sometimes I will consciously use Bruce’s technique of letting energy go through you, versus refuting a point or getting mad or trying to make my case. Sometimes by not making your case, that’s the strongest case. And sometimes no action is action. Here’s one story that comes to mind.

Many years ago, Seagram’s, led by CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr., bought Universal Studios. Edgar reached out to a few very big producers who had deals with Universal, like Steven Spielberg and Ivan Reitman. I had a deal with Universal as well, but he didn’t reach out to me. In one minute, I impulsively thought of at least 10 actions I could take. I was about to call his office to try to arrange a meeting. But then I paused for a second and thought, “I’m going to do absolutely nothing and let the gravitational forces of the cosmos take over.” Guess what? Just two months later, I was invited to the White House to screen the movie I had just produced, Apollo 13, for President Clinton, the First Lady, and esteemed cabinet members. I arrived at the White House with Tom Hanks and my partner Ron Howard, who was the director. We greeted everyone, and I saw that Edgar Bronfman was there as well. When the movie ended, I was flooded with compliments. Edgar witnessed it all. That became our meeting and birthed one of my strongest relationships ever with a studio. No action became the best action I could’ve taken.

I love this quote from Bruce Lee:

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)? My readers love specifics like brand and model, where you found it, etc.

One of my favorite tools that I use daily and that has been life changing for me is the Pocket app. It costs five bucks per month, but I’d easily pay 100x that given how valuable it is to me. Throughout my day, when I come across articles or videos, I store them in Pocket so I’m not distracted by feeling I have to read something that moment or I’ll lose it or forget about it. It takes a millisecond to store in the app, and there’s also an extension for the browser on your computer. When I’m ready to digest them, Pocket converts the articles to audio. It’s incredibly easy to use, and the audio quality is excellent. You don’t even need an internet connection, so it’s awesome for flights.

For me, the value of Pocket goes way beyond the benefit of convenience or organization. Ever since I could pick up a book as a young kid, I’ve had a very hard time with reading. I now realize I had acute dyslexia, before it was even labeled as such, so teachers assumed I was just dumb. I would get Ds and Fs because I couldn’t keep up with the other kids. It was pretty debilitating, and I carried a lot of shame because of it. But what I was proud of was my curiosity. I asked tons of questions. And my grandma Sonia told me to never stop asking questions, saying, “You’re going all the way, Brian!” — despite not having any empirical evidence. She inspired me to work harder to learn. Instead of goofing around in class, I started to pay close attention to my teachers as they lectured. I would also go see them before and after class to talk about the lesson and ask about anything I didn’t understand. My grades went up, and I ended up getting a scholarship to USC. More and more in my life, I would look to people in order to learn.

What started as a survival mechanism in grade school became a habit that would help me thrive. In fact, talking to people is essentially what led me to finding a career that I love and a life that I never thought would be possible for a kid who could barely read. Here’s how it happened…

After college, I created a discipline of meeting people who were experts in, or passionate about, anything. First, I focused on meeting people in Hollywood and then once I learned the industry, I only wanted to meet people who were experts in anything other than what I do (Hollywood). For the past 35 years, I’ve met with people across all disciplines including Jonas Salk, Margaret Thatcher, Andy Warhol, Eminem, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Princess Di, Bill Gates, many Nobel laureates, scientists, spies, neighborhood skateboarders, assistant DAs, Uber drivers, and more coffee baristas than I can count.

How does this come back to the Pocket app? It helps me discover people I would love to meet! When I read about, or listen to, someone interesting, I immediately reach out to them to see if they’d like to have a curiosity conversation with me.

It also helps me prepare. In order to have conversations with people outside my field, I need to do my homework. Being prepared helps me better connect with whomever I’m with. I ask better questions and listen with more understanding. Pocket can’t create the empathy or that trust that only happens when we’re face-to-face with someone, but it does help with the preparation and information-seeking side of that equation. It allows me to digest any topic, including long-form pieces that I would have glossed over in the past because of my difficulty with reading.

Just recently I listened to an article in the New Yorker about a hip-hop manager in Atlanta named Kevin “Coach K” Lee. Coach K has mentored some of today’s most influential rappers, such as Gucci Mane and Migos. I met with Coach K, which led me to meet with Cardi B at my house a few weeks ago. She’s the biggest female rapper in the world and the first ever female to win a Grammy for best rap album. I didn’t go into it cold; I was ready after learning more about her music and her story.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?  Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?

At the start of my career, in my early twenties, I had early success as a television producer — two shows in particular: a miniseries based on the Ten Commandments and a made-for-TV movie called Zuma Beach, both of which were very successful — but I wanted to be a movie producer.  I wrote a script called Splash, which was based on my own personal, fruitless search for true love in LA. I realized all of my romantic relationships had been superficial — I was a young producer and could go out with beautiful girls, but there was never any truth or substance to it. I just couldn’t find true love! Meanwhile, I was just starting to write up stories, though I had no formal training. I decided to write a movie called Splash, which is the story of a young man who was on the path to succeeding at many things, except for love. He falls in love with a woman named Madison, who is everything he ever wished for; however, we the audience learn she’s a mermaid, which he later learns as well. As I developed the characters, I kept defining and redefining what would be the perfect girl for me. I decided to make the story even more romantic and mythical by making her a mermaid, which naturally made her more unattainable.

I started to pitch the movie, studio by studio. And everyone, and I mean everyone, said no. Not only did they reject my script, but they felt they had to further humiliate me, saying things like, “This is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” I must have been rejected hundreds of times on Splash. I felt ashamed, yet something in me wouldn’t give up.

Seven years into it, I realized I needed to shift gears on my approach. When I was first pitching Splash, I was painting it as a “mermaid movie.” Well, of course, the studios — all of which are risk-averse in nature — were going to say no to that. It’s a pretty crazy idea. But one day a friend asked me what the story was really about. I said I wrote Splash because I was looking for true love. That was really the theme of the movie. So then it hit me — this isn’t a movie about a mermaid; this is a story about the value and meaning of true love! So I went back to the studios and started pitching it as a love story. The executives started to listen. Because who doesn’t root for love? When I finally sold Splash to Disney in 1983, I realized the importance of universal, human themes in connecting with any person or audience. Whether you’re in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, on Wall Street — it is crucial to find the heartbeat of why what you’re selling matters and why it should exist. To this day, I still start every pitch by first describing the underlying, universal theme. Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, and American Gangster are all about self-actualization. At first glance, you might think American Gangster is a “gangster movie,” but it’s not. It’s about talent, resourcefulness, and gaining respect — that’s why we root for Frank Lucas even though he’s a cut-throat killer.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it — metaphorically speaking, getting a message out to millions or billions — what would it say and why? It could be a few words or a paragraph. (If helpful, it can be someone else’s quote: Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?)

This is what my billboard would say:

COULD CURIOSITY + HUMAN CONNECTION BE THE ANTIDOTE TO OUR TIMES?

OPEN THE CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE TODAY, FACE-TO-FACE!

People are more connected digitally yet feel more alone than ever before. We are living in a more polarized world. We are getting further and further away from understanding a fundamental human thing: feelings. We can’t get empathy from our screens. This would be my message because when we are face-to-face with someone, able to look each other in the eye, we are relating to them, we are understanding them, creating a pathway to empathy — to peace, not war.

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)

The tent in the backyard I built to marry my wife Veronica in, in front of my family and closest friends. At the end of the day, the investments that matter the most to me always come back to the most important people in my life.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I love food. I post food videos on Instagram because it allows me to be self-effacing, fun, and free. And it makes my kids laugh! 

One day, I was walking down Abbot Kinney in Venice and stumbled upon this matcha shop called Shuhari Matcha Café. I was so curious about it and asked a bunch questions when I walked inside: “What exactly is matcha?” “Why do you choose to work at a matcha shop?” “Why is it so good for me?” “What’s the proper ritual?” I talked to the girl behind the counter and then took a video of myself trying matcha for the first time in their backyard Zen Garden. I posted it and saw that people really like to learn. Food is universal; it’s a unifier.

My latest obsession to capture on IG is a sandwich inspired by David Chang’s BLT. But I add one hormone-free fried egg and my favorite condiment of all time, Chile Crunch — a crunchy, smoky, crazy-delicious blend of garlic, onion, chiles, and spices, made in Denver, Colorado (you can order it on Amazon or at Williams-Sonoma). I put it on everything!

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

Over the last few years, I’ve turned my curiosity onto my spirituality. I grew up with a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, so I have been straddling two faiths since childhood. I’ve always believed in God but never felt at home within a specific place of worship. A few years ago, I met a local pastor named Monsignor Torgerson, who presides over St. Monica Catholic Church, a few minutes from where we live. When I met him, he looked at me without judgment, which I had never felt from a religious figure before. This started a friendship that has led to a very personal spiritual journey that continues in my life today.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?

When I was 23 years old, I worked as a summer law clerk at Warner Bros. that I turned into something that would change the whole course of my life. My job was to deliver legal documents to celebrities and executives around town. I was on the path to becoming a lawyer, and I knew I didn’t want to do it. I quickly became more curious to learn about this industry I knew nothing about. So I spontaneously stretched the truth a little on the job. When I would deliver documents, I would tell the front office or assistants that the papers were “absolutely invalid” unless I personally handed them to the signers themselves. My system worked, and I was able to meet with the biggest stars at the time, like Warren Beatty, as well as the biggest directors and agents. This was long before the internet, when it wasn’t unusual that they would invite me in and have a conversation. One day, I got the opportunity to meet Lew Wasserman, the most powerful person in Hollywood at the time. But as soon as I got off the elevator, before I could even say a word, he picked up a yellow legal pad and a #2 pencil and said, “Put the pen to the pad — they have greater value together than as separate parts. Now get out of here, kid!”

What Lew was saying to me was that I had to create my own IP (intellectual property) and that the next time I walked in the door, I’d better have something to offer. I had no money — I couldn’t buy a script — so what he was saying was that I had to create something of my own. His advice is what inspired me to write Splash, and then after that, I wrote Night Shift, which starred Michael Keaton.

So my advice is, no matter who you are meeting with or what job you are in or interviewing for, always bring something of value. Research the person or the industry you’re in or the product you’re working on, and develop an original point of view and/or a fresh idea. No matter how afraid you might be, you will stand out if you have something to say. Whether they like your idea or comment or not, you’ll stand out. The bigger risk is to not make any impression at all. Preparing ideas will give you something to say, which also will help you feel more confident in whatever environment you’re in. Start there and you will be way ahead of most of your peers. People will remember you for it.

The advice I would ignore is when people try to talk you out of an idea you believe in. After being repeatedly rejected on Splash, I learned that no one really knows what will work and what won’t. The fact of the matter is, Splash was a huge success, and everyone said no to it for seven years. That taught me that “no” is really only a temporary point of view. You should never compromise or give up on the things you believe in most.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)? What new realizations and/or approaches helped? Any other tips?

I’ve been in Hollywood for 40 years, which means a lot of parties, events and award ceremonies. I’m not jaded, but I am now much more thoughtful about where I want to spend my energy. Just this past year, where I would have attended eight or nine functions over Oscars weekend, I went to one lunch and then got dressed for the Oscars. At the last minute, we decided to order takeout and watch it from home. Other than the year I won an Oscar, it was my best Oscars yet.

Here’s a very simple thing I do before committing to an event or responding to an invite:  I ask myself, does it fill me up or does it drain me? The answer leads me to the right decision every time.

I also ask myself: Why am I doing this? What’s my intention? Am I going because I think it will be fun? Am I just curious what it will be like? Is it because showing up for this person is really important? (If I won’t like the event but it’s important to someone I care about, then it makes the cut.) If my intention for going stems from love (love of the event or the person), then I say yes. If it’s an intention based on fear (of missing out or of not being part of the group or of not seeing someone for business), then I say no. That’s not the right intention for me. And I get so filled up by simply staying with my family that there has to be a compelling reason for me to give that up.

I’ll tell you how I transformed something that I felt was a distraction into something I look forward to. For over a year, I dreaded using a sleep apnea machine and would only last a few days at a time before calling it quits. I felt like it was a burden. My doctor kept telling me I needed to use it, but nothing worked until two things happened. First, my wife Veronica started calling it the “tube of life” instead of a sleep machine, which reminded me of the bigger picture. If I use this thing, I may live longer and not have a stroke. OK, pretty important. Second, I discovered an app that connects to the machine and scores my sleep every night. Now I can’t wait to check it first thing in the morning to see how I’ve done. Sometimes reframing or gamifying something mundane can make all the difference.

Lastly, starting my day early and alone helps me say no to distractions later because I am able to ground myself in what I want to achieve for the day. I wake up at 5 a.m. and create an environment which includes a dozen or so small candles, bottles of still and sparkling water, sliced apples, and Four Sigmatic mushroom coffee (thank you, Tim, for the recommendation). I listen to articles and videos and write a lot of notes and ideas — I’m old school, I like to write them out on several note cards, or “buck slips,” as they’re called in Hollywood. Then, throughout the day, I convert them into a more systemized form in Notes on my iPhone so I can follow up on each and every one.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do? (If helpful: What questions do you ask yourself?)

When that happens, I immediately have to do something to change up my energy and my environment. A quick bike ride to the rim overlooking the ocean always clears my head. Or sometimes I’ll go in my studio and start painting. I’m not particularly good at painting, but it doesn’t matter. Just the act of getting out of my own head ends up clearing my head. When the tide is right, one of my favorite ways to get clarity is to surf. I’m so focused on every facet of my body and technique that I’m actually not even thinking. I’m in another dimension.

If I’m overwhelmed and facing a decision, I ask, “Am I at my very best to make this decision? Do I need to do a palate-cleansing exercise like meditation, a bike ride, or listening to music outside? I ask myself: does this really need to be decided now? Otherwise, I do the Taoist approach: do nothing until it feels right. Which is also Bruce Lee.

What are you most excited about these days?

My new book! Face To Face: The Art of Human Connection comes out September 17th. I wrote this book because I realized that everything I’ve succeeded at in life and that has mattered to me happened because of two things: curiosity and human connection.

In the book, I share personal stories and take you “behind the scenes” on some of my movies and television shows, like A Beautiful Mind, Empire, Arrested Development, American Gangster and 8 Mile, to show just how much in-person encounters have revolutionized my life and how they have the power to change yours too.

I talk about what I’ve learned through interactions with people like Bill Gates, Taraji P. Henson, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Eminem, Prince, Spike Lee, and the Afghani rapper-activist Sonita — namely, the secret to a bigger life lies in personal connection. I’ve found that only when we are face-to-face, able to look each other in the eye, can we form the kinds of connections that expand our worldviews, deepen our self-awareness, and ultimately lead to our greatest achievements and most meaningful moments.

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]]> https://tim.blog/2019/09/09/brian-grazer-11-questions/feed/ 2 46672 Tribe of Mentors Podcast — Tim Urban https://tim.blog/2017/11/27/tim-urban-tribe-of-mentors/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/27/tim-urban-tribe-of-mentors/#comments Tue, 28 Nov 2017 04:06:04 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34331 This is the most recent episode of my brand-new Tribe of Mentors podcast! It features a live interview I did with writer Tim Urban at Union Square Barnes & Noble in NYC on the launch day of Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World.  Here we go… Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy, waitbutwhy.com) is …

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This is the most recent episode of my brand-new Tribe of Mentors podcast! It features a live interview I did with writer Tim Urban at Union Square Barnes & Noble in NYC on the launch day of Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World. 

Here we go…

Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy, waitbutwhy.com) is the author of the blog Wait But Why and has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers. Tim, according to Fast Company, has “captured a level of reader engagement that even the new-media giants would be envious of.” Today, Wait But Why receives more than 1.5 million unique visitors per month and has over 550,000 email subscribers. Tim has gained a number of prominent readers as well, like authors Sam Harris (page 365 in Tribe of Mentors) and Susan Cain (page 10), Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (page 401), TED curator Chris Anderson (page 407), and Brain Pickings’ Maria Popova. Tim’s series of posts after interviewing Elon Musk have been called by Vox’s David Roberts “the meatiest, most fascinating, most satisfying posts I’ve read in ages.” You can start with the first one, “Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man.” Tim’s TED Talk, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator,” has received more than 21 million views.

Wait But Why -- Tim Urban

Want to hear another conversation with a mentor from Tribe of Mentors? Listen to this episode with Debbie Millman, in which we discuss how favorite failures and why busy is a decision. Listen to it here (stream below or right-click to download):

Busy is a Decision - Debbie Millman

Get Tribe of Mentors at these fine retailers or at your local bookstore!  Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Books-A-Million | Indigo

Here’s a partial list of people included: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and roughly 100 more. Click here to see the full list, sample chapters, and more.

The post Tribe of Mentors Podcast — Tim Urban appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/27/tim-urban-tribe-of-mentors/feed/ 19 34331 10 Short Life Lessons From Steven Pressfield https://tim.blog/2017/11/25/steven-pressfield-2/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/25/steven-pressfield-2/#comments Sat, 25 Nov 2017 23:04:21 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34100 The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy! Steven Pressfield (@spressfield, stevenpressfield.com) has made a professional life in five different writing arenas — advertising, screenwriting, fiction, narrative nonfiction, and …

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]]> The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy!

Steven Pressfield (@spressfield, stevenpressfield.com) has made a professional life in five different writing arenas — advertising, screenwriting, fiction, narrative nonfiction, and self-help. He is the best-selling author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, The Afghan Campaign, and The Lion’s Gate, as well as the cult classics on creativity, The War of Art, Turning Pro, and Do the Work. His Wednesday column on stevenpressfield.com is one of the most popular series about writing on the web.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

This’ll sound crazy, but I have certain places that I go to, usually alone, that summon up for me earlier eras in my life. Time is a weird thing. Sometimes you can appreciate a moment that’s gone more in the present than you did when it was actually happening. The places that I go to are different all the time and they’re usually mundane, ridiculously mundane. A gas station. A bench on a street. Sometimes I’ll fly across the country just to go to one of these spots. Sometimes it’s on a vacation or a business trip when I’m with family or other people. I might not ever tell them. Or I might. Sometimes I’ll take somebody along, though it usually doesn’t work (how could it?).

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?

I’m probably hopelessly out of date but my advice is get real-world experience: Be a cowboy. Drive a truck. Join the Marine Corps. Get out of the hypercompetitive “life hack” frame of mind. I’m 74. Believe me, you’ve got all the time in the world. You’ve got ten lifetimes ahead of you. Don’t worry about your friends “beating” you or “getting somewhere” ahead of you. Get out into the real dirt world and start failing. Why do I say that? Because the goal is to connect with your own self, your own soul. Adversity. Everybody spends their life trying to avoid it. Me too. But the best things that ever happened to me came during the times when the shit hit the fan and I had nothing and nobody to help me. Who are you really? What do you really want? Get out there and fail and find out.

What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna want to read: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. This book is dense, difficult, long, full of blood and guts. It wasn’t written, as Thucydides himself attests at the start, to be easy or fun. But it is loaded with hardcore, timeless truths and the story it tells ought to be required reading for every citizen in a democracy.

Thucydides was an Athenian general who was beaten and disgraced in a battle early in the 27-year conflagration that came to be called the Peloponnesian War. He decided to drop out of the fighting and dedicate himself to recording, in all the detail he could manage, this conflict, which, he felt certain, would turn out to be the greatest and most significant war ever fought up to that time. He did just that.

Have you heard of Pericles’ Funeral Oration? Thucydides was there for it. He transcribed it.

He was there for the debates in the Athenian assembly over the treatment of the island of Melos, the famous Melian Dialogue. If he wasn’t there for the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse or the betrayal of Athens by Alcibiades, he knew people who were there and he went to extremes to record what they told him. Thucydides, like all the Greeks of his era, was unencumbered by Christian theology, or Marxist dogma, or Freudian psychology, or any of the other “isms” that attempt to convince us that man is basically good, or perhaps perfectible. He saw things as they were, in my opinion. It’s a dark vision but tremendously bracing and empowering because it’s true. On the island of Corcyra, a great naval power in its day, one faction of citizens trapped their neighbors and fellow Corcyreans in a temple. They slaughtered the prisoners’ children outside before their eyes and when the captives gave themselves up based on pledges of clemency and oaths sworn before the gods, the captors massacred them as well. This was not a war of nation versus nation, this was brother against brother in the most civilized cities on earth. To read Thucydides is to see our own world in microcosm. It’s the study of how democracies destroy themselves by breaking down into warring factions, the Few versus the Many. Hoi polloi in Greek means “the many.” Oligoi means “the few.”

I can’t recommend Thucydides for fun, but if you want to expose yourself to a towering intellect writing on the deepest stuff imaginable, give it a try.

 

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?

I just wrote a book called The Knowledge about my favorite failure and guess what? It failed too. In all truth, when my third novel (which, like the first two, never got published) crashed ignominiously, I was driving a cab in New York City. I’d been trying to get published for about 15 years at that point. I decided to give up and move to Hollywood, to see if I could find work writing for the movies. Don’t ask me what movies I wrote. I will never tell. And if you find out by other means, BE WARNED! Don’t see ’em. But working in “the industry” made me a pro and paved the way for whatever successes finally did come.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?

I would not have a billboard, and I would take down every billboard that everybody else has put up.

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?

I’ve never invested in the stock market or taken a risk on anything outside myself. I decided a long time ago that I would only bet on myself. I will risk two years on a book that’ll probably fall flat on its face. I don’t mind. I tried. It didn’t work. I believe in investing in your heart. That’s all I do, really. I’m a servant of the Muse. All my money is on her.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

I’ve always been a gym person and an early morning person. But a few years ago I got invited to train with T. R. Goodman at a place called Pro Camp. There’s a “system,” yeah, but basically what we do (and it’s definitely a group thing, with three or four of us training together) is just work hard. I hate it but it’s great. T. R. says, as we’re leaving after working out, “Nothing you face today will be harder than what you just did.”

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? What new realizations and/or approaches helped?

I got a chance a couple of years ago to visit a security firm, one of those places that guard celebrities and protect their privacy — in other words, a business whose total job was to say no. The person who was giving me the tour told me that the business screens every incoming letter, solicitation, email, etc., and decides which ones get through to the client. “How many get through?” I asked.

“Virtually none,” my friend said. I decided that I would look at incoming mail the same way that firm does. If I were the security professional tasked with protecting me from bogus, sociopathic, and clueless asks, which ones would I screen and dump into the trash? That has helped a lot.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I have a friend at the gym who knew Jack LaLanne (Google him if the name is unfamiliar). Jack used to say it’s okay to take a day off from working out. But on that day, you’re not allowed to eat. That’s the short way of saying you’re not really allowed to get unfocused. Take a vacation. Gather yourself. But know that the only reason you’re here on this planet is to follow your star and do what the Muse tells you. It’s amazing how a good day’s work will get you right back to feeling like yourself.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

Great, great question. In the world of writing, everyone wants to succeed immediately and without pain or effort. Really? Or they love to write books about how to write books, rather than actually writing . . . a book that might actually be about something. Bad advice is everywhere. Build a following. Establish a platform. Learn how to scam the system. In other words, do all the surface stuff and none of the real work it takes to actually produce something of value. The disease of our times is that we live on the surface. We’re like the Platte River, a mile wide and an inch deep. I always say, “If you want to become a billionaire, invent something that will allow people to indulge their own Resistance.” Somebody did invent it. It’s called the Internet. Social media. That wonderland where we can flit from one superficial, jerkoff distraction to another, always remaining on the surface, never going deeper than an inch. Real work and real satisfaction come from the opposite of what the web provides. They come from going deep into something — the book you’re writing, the album, the movie — and staying there for a long, long time.

###

The above was taken from Tribe of Mentors, which shares short, tactical life advice from 130+ world-class performers from every imaginable field. Many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, and artists are part of the book.

Get Tribe of Mentors at these fine retailers or at your local bookstore!  Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Books-A-Million | Indigo

Here’s a partial list of people included: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and roughly 100 more. Click here to see the full list, sample chapters, and more.

The post 10 Short Life Lessons From Steven Pressfield appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/25/steven-pressfield-2/feed/ 13 34100 4 Short Life Lessons From Bozoma Saint John https://tim.blog/2017/11/24/bozoma-saint-john/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/24/bozoma-saint-john/#comments Fri, 24 Nov 2017 17:34:15 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34126 The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy! ### Bozoma Saint John (@badassboz) is the chief brand officer at Uber. Until June 2017, she was a marketing executive at …

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Photo credit: Tua Ulamac

The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy!

###

Bozoma Saint John (@badassboz) is the chief brand officer at Uber. Until June 2017, she was a marketing executive at Apple Music after joining the company through its acquisition of Beats Music, where she was the head of global marketing. In 2016, Billboard named her “Executive of the Year” and Fortune included her in their “40 under 40” list. Fast Company has included Bozoma on its list of “100 Most Creative People.” Bozoma was born in Ghana, and she left the country at 14 with her family to immigrate to Colorado Springs.

What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

I love Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Her writing style is incredibly poetic and complex. She doesn’t “allow” any laziness in reading her work; so beyond the incredible story, I learned to take my time to absorb the characters, and to reread passages when there was so much to unpack. It was also the book I asked my late husband to read when he dropped his pickup line to get to know me better. Our first date was a book review — and clearly he passed with flying colors. Two months later, he presented me with a painting of his interpretation of the book as a birthday gift. I knew then that I wanted to marry him. Anyone who could take his time to read, comprehend, and interpret Toni Morrison’s work, based on my recommendation, was someone I wanted to spend significant time with. That experience taught me that when people care, they’ll go beyond the extra mile to understand you. So Toni Morrison helped me set a high bar.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I love to people watch. I can literally do that all day long. It’s fascinating to watch people go by. There’s so much you can learn about a culture by just watching its people walk with each other. Great places to people watch are food courts in American malls, street-corner cafes in Paris, the market in Accra . . . fashion, etiquette, PDA . . . all of it can be learned and make the observer a more respectful participant in that culture.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I sleep. Or rather, I nap. There’s no conundrum that a 20-minute nap can’t help me unpack. It’s like a refresh button for my mind. I wake up clearer and more able to make the “gut” decision because I’ve stopped thinking. Whatever I’m feeling when I wake up is the feeling I go forward with.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why? Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?

Hands down, it would be “Be the change you want to see in the world.” We spend far too much time complaining about the way things are, and forget that we have the power to change anything and everything. I’d have a secondary quote too: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror” — Michael Jackson. Same message; different delivery.

###

The above was taken from Tribe of Mentors, which shares short, tactical life advice from 130+ world-class performers from every imaginable field. Many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, and artists are part of the book.

Get Tribe of Mentors at these fine retailers or at your local bookstore!  Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Books-A-Million | Indigo

Here’s a partial list of people included: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and roughly 100 more. Click here to see the full list, sample chapters, and more.

The post 4 Short Life Lessons From Bozoma Saint John appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/24/bozoma-saint-john/feed/ 12 34126 6 Short Life Lessons From Terry Crews https://tim.blog/2017/11/21/terry-crews/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/21/terry-crews/#comments Tue, 21 Nov 2017 12:39:51 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34114 The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy! ### Terry Crews (@terrycrews, terrycrews.com) is an actor and former NFL player (Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, …

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

The below profile is adapted from the new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which features practical and detailed advice from 130+ of the world’s top performers. Enjoy!

###

Terry Crews (@terrycrews, terrycrews.com) is an actor and former NFL player (Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, and Philadelphia Eagles). His wide-ranging credits include the original viral Old Spice commercials, television series such as The Newsroom, Arrested Development, and Everybody Hates Chris, and films including White Chicks, the Expendables franchise, Bridesmaids, and The Longest Yard. He now stars on the Golden Globe Award–winning Fox sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In 2014, Terry released his autobiography, Manhood: How to Be a Better Man — or Just Live with One.

What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel. I have read hundreds of personal development books, but this is the one that clearly showed me how to visualize, contemplate, and focus on what it was I truly wanted. It revealed to me that we only get what we desire most, and to apply myself with a laserlike focus upon a goal, task, or project. That in order to “have” you must “do,” and in order to “do” you must “be” — and this process is immediate. Although it takes time for these desires to manifest in our material world, you must see the thing you desire as completed, finished, and real, now. The better you can do this, the more you can accomplish. I have bought several copies of this book and distributed it to family and friends. I also reread it probably once a month to keep my vision clear.

Two more are Viktor E. Frankl’s incredible Man’s Search for Meaning and David McRaney’s You Are Not So Smart. Both books are absolutely essential to me in order to keep my perspectives correct in a changing world.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?

1986. It was my senior year in high school at Flint Academy in Flint, Michigan. I was the starting center for our class C basketball team. We had a great team that year, and we were expected to go very far, if not all the way, in the state playoffs. We faced Burton Atherton in the district final, and we were expected to trounce them, but they tried something we’d never seen before. They didn’t play. They would bring the ball down the court and just pass it back and forth at the top of the key. There was no shot clock, so they did this forever. The only time we scored was when we managed to steal the ball. But our coach, for some reason, decided we were going to let them do it. I remember standing there, with my hands raised in zone defense, watching them hold the ball without even attempting to shoot. I was frustrated, and every attempt I made to step out of the zone was rebuffed by our coach. This method was working for them, because with only five seconds left on the game clock, they were up 47-45.

One of their players made a mistake and tried a long pass cross court and I stole the ball. I desperately dribbled the entire length of the court . . . 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . . for our only chance to win. I missed. Their fans go crazy, as it was the biggest upset of the year, and I collapse in a heap, thinking my life is over. The coach afterward told the whole team that I had no business taking that shot and I should have passed it to our star player. It was in the paper the next day that I failed, and I was ridiculed by students and teachers alike. I was beyond crushed. A dark cloud covered me everywhere I went as I internalized the loss.

A few days later, as the fog of failure began to lift, I remember having a rare time alone in my room (I usually shared it with my brother). As I sat in the silence, another thought pierced through my sadness. “I took the shot.” It was invigorating, even exciting. “Hey, when all the chips were on the line, you didn’t leave your future up to others, YOU TOOK YOUR SHOT.” Instantly I felt free and in control. I knew from then on that I could have the courage to fail on my own terms. From that moment, I decided that if I was going to succeed or fail, it was going to be up to me. I was changed forever.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?

“God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this quote because it is all about defeating fear. Every great and extraordinary accomplishment in this world was done through courage. Hell, you don’t even get to be born unless your mother has the courage to have you. I repeat this phrase when I’m anxious or nervous about something. I ask myself, what’s the worst that can happen. Usually, the answer is, “You can die.” Then I answer back, “I’d rather die doing something I feel is great and amazing rather than be safe and comfortable living a life I hate.” I talk to myself a lot, and this quote helps me sort out my fears and deal with them. The more you run from your fears, the bigger they get, but the more you go into them, the more they tend to vanish like a mirage.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?

There is a big difference between intelligence and wisdom. Many are fooled into thinking they are the same thing, but they are not. I have seen intelligent serial killers, but I’ve never seen a wise one. Intelligent human beings have been given this trumped-up position in society where, just because they’re intelligent, they are to be listened to, and I have found this is extremely dangerous. I was in a Christian cult along with other very intelligent people but, looking back, if I had heeded wisdom, I would have seen we were all on the wrong path. Intelligence is like following a GPS route right into a body of water until you drown. Wisdom looks at the route but, when it takes a turn into the ocean, decides not to follow it, then finds a new, better way. Wisdom reigns supreme.

Ignore any advice that tells you you are going to miss something. Every mistake I have ever made in business, marriage, and personal conduct was because I thought if I didn’t do or get this now, it was never going to happen. It’s like most clubs in LA. The trick is to keep the line long at the door, while the club itself is empty. The “aura of exclusivity” is really code for “bad atmosphere.” To do what you desire to do, you have all you need.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

“Work hard to beat the competition.” The truth is that competition is the opposite of creativity. If I am working hard to beat the competition, it actually prevents me from thinking creatively to make all concepts of competition obsolete. As a football player, I was told to work hard to compete against the other team, some perceived future threat (new draftees, age, or injury), and even my current teammates. As an actor, you are told to look a certain way or do things you don’t agree with in order to “compete.” This competitive mindset destroys people. It’s the scorched-earth way of thinking, and everyone is burned.

The truth is that you need the success of everyone in your field in order to achieve your own success. Creativity operates differently. You work hard because you’re inspired to, not because you have to. Work becomes fun, and you have energy for days because this life is not a “young man’s game.” It is an “inspired person’s game.” The keys belong to whoever is inspired, and no specific age, sex, gender, or cultural background has a monopoly on inspiration. When you’re creative, you render competition obsolete, because there is only one you, and no one can do things exactly the way you do. Never worry about the competition. When you’re creative, you can, in fact, cheer others on with the full knowledge that their success will undoubtedly be your own.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? What new realizations and/or approaches helped?

I realized that I had to let people leave my life, never to return. Every relationship I have in my life, from family and friends to business partners, must be a voluntary relationship. My wife can leave at any time. Family members can call me or not. Business partners can decide to move on, and it’s all okay. But the same is true on my end. If I say I’m ready to move on and someone doesn’t accept that, now we have a problem. I remember trying to move on from a very close friend because he was displaying behaviors I wasn’t comfortable with. Soon after, I received a letter by certified mail, threatening me with a lawsuit for over a million dollars because of the demise of our “friendship.” It was ridiculous and it still is, so I actually framed the letter as a reminder of the necessity of letting people go and moving on. One approach I use is imaginary great-grandchildren. I talk to them all the time. I ask them about decisions and relationships and whether or not to continue them. They tend to speak loud and clear. “Grandpa, you shouldn’t do this, or you need to leave these people alone because we will be affected negatively, or worse, we won’t exist.” Those moments show me that this whole thing is bigger than me. It’s the realization that there is a “will to pleasure,” a “will to power” and, in the words of Viktor Frankl, a “will to meaning.” You won’t take a bullet for pleasure or power, but you will for meaning. So you sometimes have to do what I call a “crowd-thinner.” One wrong person in your circle can destroy your whole future. It’s that important.

###

The above was taken from Tribe of Mentors, which shares short, tactical life advice from 130+ world-class performers from every imaginable field. Many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, and artists are part of the book.

Get Tribe of Mentors at these fine retailers or at your local bookstore!  Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Books-A-Million | Indigo

Here’s a partial list of people included: tech icons (founders of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Pinterest, Spotify, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more), Jimmy Fallon, Arianna Huffington, Brandon Stanton (Humans of New York), Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ben Stiller, Maurice Ashley (first African-American Grandmaster of chess), Brené Brown (researcher and bestselling author), Rick Rubin (legendary music producer), Temple Grandin (animal behavior expert and autism activist), Franklin Leonard (The Black List), Dara Torres (12-time Olympic medalist in swimming), David Lynch (director), Kelly Slater (surfing legend), Bozoma Saint John (Beats/Apple/Uber), Lewis Cantley (famed cancer researcher), Maria Sharapova, Chris Anderson (curator of TED), Terry Crews, Greg Norman (golf icon), Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum), and roughly 100 more. Click here to see the full list, sample chapters, and more.

The post 6 Short Life Lessons From Terry Crews appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/21/terry-crews/feed/ 15 34114 How To Break Up With Toxic Friends https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/how-to-break-up-with-toxic-friends/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/how-to-break-up-with-toxic-friends/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2017 17:42:03 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=33367 Note from the editor: The following is a guest post from Kristen Ulmer (FB: ulmer.kristen, kristenulmer.com). Kristen is a master facilitator who challenges existing norms around the subject of fear. She was a mogul specialist on the US Ski team and then became recognized as the best female big mountain extreme skier in the world, …

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]]> Note from the editor: The following is a guest post from Kristen Ulmer (FB: ulmer.kristen, kristenulmer.com). Kristen is a master facilitator who challenges existing norms around the subject of fear. She was a mogul specialist on the US Ski team and then became recognized as the best female big mountain extreme skier in the world, a status she held for 12 years. Known for enormous cliff jumps and you-fall-you-die descents, she was sponsored by Red Bull, Ralph Lauren, and Nikon. Her work on fear has been featured in such media as NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Outside Magazine, and others. Kristen is the author of The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Won’t Work and What to Do Instead.

***

I’m going to give you waaaay too much info here, because this is a huge topic. I trust you’ll find your favorite nuggets.

Every break up with a friend (or group of friends) will have a different dynamic, so there is no one-size-fits-all on what to say or do. But here are 3 steps to follow, so at least you don’t screw it up (too badly).

Step 1: Core guidelines

Do Not:

-Do not blame it on them:  When I retired as a professional athlete I broke up with almost all my skier friends and contacts. I could have easily blamed them and the entire industry for being wrong, when the deeper truth was I was messed up in the head about my sport. Don’t ever forget then—even if a person or group is toxic—you’re a part of the problem. Likely you’re not some fresh bowl of Cheerios, either.

-Do not blame it on yourself: ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ makes us squirt milk out our nose because we know ridiculous when we hear it. It’s both of you. They suck. You suck. The bigger problem is that we suck even more together. That’s what this is about.

-Do not intend to write them off forever. My rule is: if you haven’t seen someone for 24 hours, don’t assume you know who they are anymore. Even my X who was physically abusive, then became a heroin addict, 20 years later is today a lovely human being. People do change. Think about how much you’ve changed over the years, for perspective.

Do:

-Bring your A game. How you treat people during breakups is always going to be one of the greatest tests of your character. So, get your shit together and handle this with integrity. You will run into this person again, and you want both of you to feel OK when that happens.

-Gather information. When my GF came down with cancer, then started verbally abusing me, I felt blind about what to do. I called another friend with cancer to get the scoop on what I was dealing with. The friend opened my eyes, advising me to get away not only for my sake but for hers, because she was projecting her anger and fear on me and thus not dealing with it on her own.

-Decide if just a pause, is in order. My definition of a friend is someone who knows how screwed up you are but wants to hang out with you anyway. Don’t end friendships because someone is screwed up. Maybe just take a break, instead, and learn something about yourself. Your judgment of them (i.e., they’re self-absorbed) is a great a mirror for you (OK, but how am I also self-absorbed?). End it only if this person is toxic to your wellbeing, not trustworthy, or trying to harm you in any way. These are reasons to end a friendship.

Step 2: Pick your method:

-The blow off. Fine if they’re also blowing you off, or if it’s a group of 10 or more and it feels appropriate to just fade away. But If they’re trying to get together or pushing a connection, never, ever do this. This person or group meant something to you, so show them respect by not being a chicken shit and learn some better communication skills.

-Text: Only appropriate with acquaintances. Nothing important should ever be discussed over text, especially if it has the potential to become a bigger conversation.

-Email: Writing a letter and putting a stamp on it is a classier approach. But email is also fine if you’re a conflict avoider, or are better with written words versus spoken words (I know I am). But please, no more than one paragraph or you’ll trigger some long combative discussion. If the friend writes back multiple 10-page rants anyway (this happened to me), don’t read them or certainly engage. Write back a simple; “I can see you’re upset and understand why. This is very awkward and painful.” Then be done with it.

-In person: The best option and scary as hell. But remember, all things worth doing involve fear. Especially if this scares the crap out of you, then you should do it. See it as an opportunity to improve your people skills. Use the fear to help yourself be focused during the conversation.

Step 3: The actual breakup

The “do’s”: 

-Do make it short.

-Do make it private.

-Do treat it like a ceremony. Imagine a world where marriage, which starts with a ceremony, also ends with a ceremony. That would be incredible.

-Do be very firm, descriptive and unwavering. Saying sweet or vague things like “I love you, but I just feel like we should go our separate ways” may feel honorable, but the high road is not the high road here. You’ll only leave them feeling confused, causing them to fabricate some horror story about why you “hate” them that is worse than the real reason, which will likely plague them for decades. A pig is a pig. Having integrity means not putting lipstick on it.

-Do find a neutral place, preferably in the calm of nature, to have this conversation. I ended a best friendship of 25 years during a ski day. I told her, then committed to skiing with her on her terms for as long as it took, until it was time to go. Consider a hike, a park bench, walking the dogs (bonus—if either of you feels uncomfortable with eye contact, this negates that). I don’t recommend lunch because then you’re in a public place, looking at each other, and stuck there for the duration of a meal.

-Do have an exact plan on what to say, and practice it like you would practice any important speech.

-Do make it no more than one small paragraph, and have what you say be in this order:

  1. Establish the context, “I want to talk with you about our friendship.”
  2. Next, own your shit first, whatever it is, then add in their shit. What this looks like is:

“I know I’ve been a bad friend over the years, encouraging you to drink a lot and all, which makes me feel like an ass to even tell you this, but I think the alcohol has turned you turn into a scary person.”

“As you know, I’ve been super dismissive towards my friends since my business took off, but I wanted to let you know there’s another reason why I’ve backed off toward you in particular, which is I feel you’re abusive toward your wife, and have even become abusive toward me.”

Notice the word choices; this is not about blame, like “you’re an abusive person” which is arguable because no person is any one thing, to everyone, all the time. This is all about your experience, like “I feel like you’re abusive toward me,” which is not arguable.

  1. Finish with a conclusive statement:

“And I’m at the point now, where I don’t feel comfortable being around you anymore and want to end our friendship.”

“All this has made me lose my respect for, and trust in, you, and for these reasons I want to end our friendship.”

  1. Say it slowly, purposefully, then shut up and shift your perspective immediately to make it all about them. Let them do all the talking from here. The decision to end this friendship to this point was all about you. To balance things out you must now give them the respect and consideration they deserve, to have it be all about their process next.

The “do nots”:

-Do not expect things to go smoothly. If you’re dealing with a truly toxic person, they will likely lose it. They’ll project their fear and anger on you so they don’t have to deal with it themselves and try to trigger you to lose it, as well. Anticipate it, know this is a test, and under no circumstances (do I need to even say it?) should you scream, belittle, or accuse back. Be prepared with a commitment that you will stay in a place of integrity and compassion, and just continue to remain all about them.

-Do not try to humiliate them more than they already are. In response to anything they say, a simple “I can understand why you are upset. I would feel the same way” or “This is a big deal, isn’t it” in return will go far to validate their feelings.

-Do not say things like “It’s not just me” or “Everyone feels this way.” That’s probably not true, and even if it is, this is not an intervention. This is between YOU and them, only.

-Do not get defensive. My girlfriend started screaming, “Are you judging me?,” and I simply replied, “Yes, I am,” which calmed things right down. If they say you’re an asshole, full of yourself, an alcoholic, as well, even things that aren’t true, just say, “Yes, I am.” Because likely you are all these things at least one time in your life. May as well calm the situation down by owning them.

-Do not add in BS, unless you truly mean it. People can see right through “I wish you all the best” or “I hope someday we can be friends again,” which, in the moment, will only come across as condescending.

-Do not give parting advice. EVER.

-Do not say anything bad about them to others or talk at length about the nature of your split, after it’s over. You’ll only make yourself look like a jerk.

The post How To Break Up With Toxic Friends appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/how-to-break-up-with-toxic-friends/feed/ 5 33367 The Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/top10/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/top10/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2017 15:11:31 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34188 You can find below the top 10 most popular blog posts (not including popular podcast episodes) on this site as of November 2017.  1.How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise 2. How To Lose 20-30 Pounds In 5 Days: The Extreme Weight Cutting and Rehydration Secrets of UFC …

Continue reading "The Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts"

The post The Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> You can find below the top 10 most popular blog posts (not including popular podcast episodes) on this site as of November 2017. 

1.How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise

2. How To Lose 20-30 Pounds In 5 Days: The Extreme Weight Cutting and Rehydration Secrets of UFC Fighters

3. Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes

4. From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks

5. 12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time — The Only Post You’ll Ever Need

6. How to Create a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend (Examples: AppSumo, Mint, Chihuahuas)

7. How to Lose 100 Pounds on The Slow-Carb Diet – Real Pics and Stories

8 The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now

9. Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too

10. How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months

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]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/top10/feed/ 1 34188 Tribe of Mentors: Most Impactful Purchases of $100 or Less https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/under100/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/under100/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2017 15:08:09 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34169 Below, 100+ world-class performers all answer the question “What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?” There are some real gems, and I now use a handful of them daily. The responses are all pulled from my brand-new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short …

Continue reading "Tribe of Mentors: Most Impactful Purchases of $100 or Less"

The post Tribe of Mentors: Most Impactful Purchases of $100 or Less appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> Below, 100+ world-class performers all answer the question “What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?” There are some real gems, and I now use a handful of them daily.

The responses are all pulled from my brand-new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World.

Enjoy!

***

Aoki, Steve: The iMask Sleep Eye Mask is an absolute blessing to have on tour; I carry it with me wherever I go. Because we travel and our schedules are so stressful, I need to be able to sleep any time there is quiet. That time isn’t necessarily the traditional time that people sleep. For me, it’s when I have finished DJing, or I’m in a car. It is then that I put on my iMask and get those 15 minutes of sleep. When you’re tackling a strenuous work weekend — something like five countries in two days, which is something that we do in the summer — we have to sleep in any situation. This could be in the car, on the plane, going from hotel to the venue, or the venue to the airplane. I carry the iMask with me, and just stick it on to sleep or practice my Transcendental Meditation, which sometimes allows me to fall asleep. I like the iMask because it shuts everything out, so it’s absolutely one of the necessities on the road that helps me get my z’s.

Aronofsky, Darren: I bought a really good spatula. It’s amazing what the right tool can do to your breakfast. [Note from Tim: I got a photo of Darren’s spatula, and it looks like the very well-reviewed and <$10 Winco TN719 Blade Hamburger Turner.]

Babauta, Leo: 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.

Bell, Mark: A pair of Groucho Marx glasses I bought in Japan for 200 yen. It moved everyone’s focus from my fellow wrestlers to me. It’s all in the way you market yourself.

Belmont, Veronica: I switched to drugstore shampoo and conditioner. I discovered that a $4 bottle of Pantene works much better than a $25 bottle of the stuff from Sephora. Just because something is more expensive doesn’t make it better!

Benioff, Marc: I really like this shirt that I bought from Under Armour, which displays one of basketball star Stephen Curry’s mottos: “I can do all things.” When you first see it, you think that it’s actually a kind of ego statement. What you don’t realize is that Stephen Curry, the MVP of the Golden State Warriors, is a religious person. He took this quote from Philippians 4:13 in the Bible, which says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Curry says this verse before he takes a shot on the court. It’s become one of his major mottos—it’s on his shoes and on this shirt. It’s a motivational and powerful motto that orients you, not only to something within yourself, but also to something greater. I think most people might look at his “I can do all things” motto and think it’s all about him, but it’s really about his faith. I bought several of them, and I really like them.

Boeree, Liv: Blinkist — an app that condenses nonfiction books into 15-minute reads.

Boone, Amelia: During a tough period in my life, I purchased a handmade wrap bracelet on Etsy inscribed with the quote “The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.” [Quote attributed to Neale Donald Walsch] I wear it on my wrist every day as a constant reminder to myself to live in a place of gratitude.

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

Buterin, Vitalik: A proper comfortable traveling backpack. I use it to carry all of my stuff (~10kg) everywhere with me wherever I fly, and it has helped greatly in making the experience more convenient.

Call, Jon: An electric single burner. I use the Aroma Housewares AHP‑303/CHP‑303 Single Hot Plate. It’s under $20 and is great to keep a cup of coffee (or three) hot!

Chadha, Richa: In my case, it would be buying a pro subscription to my IMDB account, enabling people from all over the world to find me easily.

Chainani, Soman: Mother Dirt: Cured my acne and skin problems permanently. It’s a $49 spray with oxidizing bacteria that you use in place of soap and it restores your skin to its natural balance. If I could buy this for every teenager in America, I would.

Coan, Edward: It’s a picture of my parents that I had framed. I’ve never heard my mom and dad badmouth anybody. The picture makes me think about how I should treat everyone I love. The picture was only taken a few years ago, and it’s my mom and dad together, next to each other—an upper torso shot. I’d never really seen them showing that much affection. My whole life, you never really saw it because of the five kids, and now the grandkids. They haven’t really had a chance to show it. They’re both around 87 years old now, and they’ve have had their health problems, but they’re still kicking. They love life, they love their kids and grandkids, and it keeps them going. I think what they instilled in me without me even knowing it was the ability to observe. Still today, I think that’s one of the things I’m really good at: just sitting back and observing. I’ve never been one to try to be the life of the party or to be too loud. I usually just sit back and observe with a smirk on my face. I don’t think you realize [how much your parents have given you] until you get older and can reflect on it.

Cummings, Whitney: A weighted blanket. I am not an expert on the science of why it works, but the “deep touch pressure” helps the body release more serotonin. When I’m anxious, stressed, or can’t sleep, I use it and I instantly feel calmer. [One model that Whitney likes is the large weighted blanket from Weighted Blankets Plus LLC.]

Dalio, Ray: A pocket notepad to jot down good ideas when they come to me.

Duncan, Graham: I recently bought the FINIS swim paddles (under $20; hat tip Ben Greenfield blog). They magically lengthen out my freestyle stroke, and combined with Cressi fins ($29) it feels like I’m flying through water.

Fraser, Mathew: Without a doubt, I would say my dawn simulator [Philips Wake-Up Light] is the biggest positive influence in my life. It is an alarm clock that wakes you up with light instead of sound. Because of this change, you feel as if you are waking up on your own, and are not groggy.

Gable, Dan: Right away I think about books. Most of the books that I’ve purchased recently probably have been books on saunas and maybe a little bit on how to invest your money. As a kid and even now, when I move into a new house or I have a bedroom, I need something on the doorway . . . It’s a simple chinning bar. It’s less than $100, but you need a good bracket on it so you don’t fall. I use it now more as a stretch bar, just to make sure all the kinks are out. I spend a few minutes on that every day as a warmup or when I get up. If I feel really good, I might hit a few chins.

Gaiman, Neil: I keep pondering a purchase that has positively impacted my life in the last few years, and I come up a bit blank. I have pens I love and notebooks. Probably the purchases I’ve made that have made me the happiest would be the Paco books, from France [by Magali Le Huche]: Paco and the Orchestra, Paco and Jazz, Paco and Rock, Paco and Vivaldi, Paco and Mozart . . . books where when you press down on an indicated spot, a sound effect or music plays. My small son Ash loves them, and when nothing else will soothe him, he will happily listen to/ read a Paco book, and the strains of a short piece of music will make everything good . . . . It makes my life good because it makes his good.

Gervais, Michael: A book for my son: Inch and Miles, written by coach John Wooden. We read it together on a regular basis. The joy that I get from hearing him understand Coach Wooden’s insights is fantastically rewarding.

Gregorek, Aniela: A sweet and curious yellow‑green parakeet, which our daughter named Margarita. The new bird came to replace our 12‑year‑old “soul of the house” (as I call our birds) who had passed away.

Gregorek, Jerzy: When I was 19 years old I had just become a fireman and was racing for the first time to a fire that had broken out in an apartment. As our fire engine raced through the city with the lights spinning and the siren blaring I felt an overwhelming feeling of goodness. For the first time I felt somebody needed me, and I really liked it. Since that time I’ve kept educating myself and have tried to keep becoming an even better man so I could again help someone in need and feel that goodness again. Five years ago, I decided to eliminate my reactive behavior to irritations, but at first none of my tricks worked. I placed philosophical and inspirational quotes on my iPhone wallpaper or wrote in my journal, but the proverbs always lost their effectiveness over time. Then one day I told one of my clients who blamed her husband for everything to take 100 percent responsibility for her actions in what happened between them. “This way,” I said, “you will be free of trying to control him and you will be able to find constructive solutions to your relationship.” When she left I realized that the same advice could help me as well. Taking 100 percent personal responsibility would help me stop blaming or complaining and achieve a sense of flow. It would also give me the clarity in any conversation to locate the right words to help a person to accept a hard choice. On March 8 2017 I bought a bracelet on Amazon for $19.95 with the first letters of each word of a sentence: IARFCDP. Only I know what the letters mean, but I’ll share them with you now. They are the key to my personal proverb, a line that brings awareness and helps me see through my own emotional storms. It means: I Am Responsible For Calming Down People. Sometimes it helps me to teach what I need to learn myself. I never take it off; it reminds me many times a day what the letters stand for and lets me feel its goodness. Sometimes while reacting to an irritation I notice the bracelet and I stop myself before I go to the point where I’ll be sorry. Then, for the first time I experience glimpses of flow.

Harris, Sam: I found a great sleeve for my computer made by WaterField Designs (MacBook SleeveCase, $69). It is so well made that I carry my computer with me much more than I used to — and this has led to some very satisfying sessions of work in public places.

Holz, Fedor: 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.

Huffington, Arianna: The $100 product that has most positively impacted my life in the last six months is the Thrive Global phone bed. I know, I know, it’s a product from my own company so I may be breaking some unwritten Tim Ferriss Q&A rule, but as so many people reading this book know, when you can’t find something in the market, you have to create it. The phone bed lives on the bureau outside my bedroom and makes disconnecting a regular part of my nightly ritual. It has up to 12 ports so it can charge phones and tablets for the whole family. Our phones are useful for many things, but as the repositories of our to-do lists, our anxieties and our worries, they’re definitely not sleep aids. So to make it easy to put our phones away — by giving them their own bed where they can charge outside our bedroom — we can say goodnight to our day and get the sleep we need to wake up fully recharged.

Jarre, Jérôme: I spent four dollars to park near this beautiful lake in Oregon. I took a swim, had a trillion-dollar moment with the water.

Kelly, Kevin: I recently upgraded to a Team/Family plan for 1Password, the password management tool. Now all the security, ease, and relief of a good password system can be shared with all my family and people I work closely with. We can safely share appropriate passwords.

Koppelman, Brian: My Butterfly Petr Korbel table tennis racket. Because when I bought it, I knew I was really committing to my training as a Ping-Pong player. I have always loved the game, always told myself I’d try to get good someday. Buying it said that day is now.

Lewis, Sarah Elizabeth: Studies tell us that spending that yields the greatest happiness is the kind that buys you time or experiences, not things. I think that’s true. But I will say that I’m a sucker for a good plain, no-lined notebook from Moleskine.

Loehr, Jim: For less than $100, a case of Collins Stretch Tape (24/case) from Collins Sports Medicine is the best buy ever for active athletes. I go through several cases a year just for myself. Our athletes immediately fall in love with this product. It’s self-adhesive and elastic, making it a perfect performance combination for the support and protection of feet, hands, arms, and legs. It’s the best!

Lynch, David: 1/8″, 1/4″, and 5/16″ by 36″ unfinished hardwood dowels. These were ordered from Amazon Prime and delivered to my door. I used them as part of a side table I’m building, and they worked out very well for parts of wooden hinges.

Maté, Gabor: A version of Béla Bartók’s string quartets recorded in 1954 by the Végh Quartet. Perhaps I say so because I’m listening to this CD as I write these words, but I am moved and inspired by the modesty, the dedication to art, and the sheer purity of the performance.

McHale, Joel: Okay, it’s more than the last six months (what are you gonna do to me, Tim Ferriss? Sue me? Please. I will bury you) but I’m going to go with Audible.com. (They are not paying me to write this, that said please buy the Swiffer Wet-Jet today! It’s magic!) I’m dyslexic (yuo to2? This Time Frerris booak is me føreveer Takeing!) so when Audible came along — it changed my life. I’ve ultimately spent way more than the $100 Tim is holding us to for some godforsaken reason. Each book can be from anywhere from $3 to $30. The world of the classics has been opened to me, and I thank God and the nerds that designed this app for it. I was assigned Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment in high school. The chances of me reading that whole thing back then were as good as me growing a tail. I blew through the unabridged Audible version in a couple weeks (36 hours for the whole book). It was so good I got shivers (might have been the flu). When I drive, work out, do the dishes, etc., I listen to that app and I get lost in the world’s stories (either that or the Molly is really kicking in).

McMahon, Stephanie: My Bucky neck pillow. I travel all the time, and I don’t get much rest on the road or off, so it’s important for me to be able to sleep when I can. The Bucky neck pillow is rectangular in shape and fits perfectly behind my head when sitting on an airplane. I can’t stand the U-shaped pillows because I have a pea-size head (Irish people either have giant heads or tiny heads; I’m of the tiny variety) and they slide up too much. The Bucky pillow stays perfectly in place, giving me all I need for a comfortable flight.

Millman, Debbie: The purchase that has influenced me over the last six months is the Apple Pencil. I do soooo much of my artwork by hand and now there is a device that draws and feels like a “real” pencil that I can use electronically. It has changed the way I work.

Thorisdottir, Annie: The 5 Minute Journal gives focus to each day. Got it at Urban Outfitters. And maybe the Spiralizer, ha ha — it makes salad so much more fun and interesting to eat.

Moskovitz, Dustin: The Back Buddy by the Body Back Company is my favorite purchase from the past five years, bar none. Most basically, it allows you to administer self-massage anywhere on your back with the full leverage of two hands, but I’ve also really gotten to know and appreciate all the little knobs and others features over the years. I’ve even learned how to manipulate parts of my skeletal structure (i.e. self-chiropracty) and incorporate it into my yoga practice. It only costs $30, so I have purchased several: one for the living room, one for my desk at the office, and a collapsible version for traveling (though I do bring the full-size one if I’m checking a roller bag). With 4,500 reviews and a 4.5-star average review on Amazon, I’m far from alone in my appreciation of this product.

Nosrat, Samin: Paul Stamets’s Host Defense MyCommunity mushroom complex is the most incredible immunity supplement I have ever taken (and I have taken a lot of them!). No matter how much I travel, how many hands I shake, or how exhausted I am, I don’t get sick as long as I take the supplement diligently.

Oswalt, Patton: ChicoBags, these re-usable shopping bags for groceries. You throw a bunch in the back of your car. They’re super-sturdy, they’re cheap, and they’re great for carrying everything. Nice heft and balance, too. If you fill one with cans of chili you have a nice, medieval-style mace.

Peters, Tom: I love to row. And I’ve been doing it since about age five. I don’t mean competitive rowing — I mean jumping into a rowboat and spending an hour or two on a river. I grew up on the Severn River, near Annapolis. After 60 years of row-row-row your boat, I discovered paradise: My sleek, light (Kevlar) 14-foot Vermont Dory. The maker is Adirondack Guide Boat of North Ferrisburgh, Vermont. (FYI: It was a lot more than $100 . . . but it sure as heck was my favorite purchase in a long, long time.)

Pinker, Steven: The X1 search program: instant, precision searching by independent criteria (not just Google-style search string goulash) to pinpoint my files and emails going back the 1980s. As info explodes, and memory doesn’t get better, it’s a godsend.

Pitt, Turia: It cost me a bit more than $100 but it’s completely changed my life. I got a pair of Beats Solo3 headphones while I was in the airport a couple of months ago. They’re the goods! I love listening to the app Brain.fm using the headphones — helps me to get in the zone and focus on the task at hand. I guess if I’m sticking to the “$100 or less” rule, the Brain.fm app has been life-changing too. Really helps me to focus on my work. I use it every day.

Pressfield, Steven: This cost a lot more than a hundred bucks, but I bought an electric car, a Kia Soul, and got some solar panels for my roof. Driving on sun power is a major giggle, trust me.

Ridley, Matt: SleepPhones. It’s a headband that goes over your eyes and ears and that has inside two ultraflat ear phones so you can listen to books as you fall asleep.

Ripert, Eric: An orb of Shungite stone. Its incredible protective and healing qualities — mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical — can be felt by even the most skeptical people. One benefit relevant for many of us today: it diffuses negative waves from electronics.

Robinson, Adam: This purchase is not less than $100 but at $159 it is too close to pass up: The HeartMath Inner Balance biofeedback monitor. It detects your heart’s minutest rhythms and sends a graph to your smartphone, facilitating HRV training.

Rubin, Rick: The Nasaline nasal irrigator. It’s a big plastic syringe, like a turkey baster. It gets filled with saline solution. I usually use it in the tub or shower. You squirt water up one nostril and it comes out the other nostril, and then repeat back and forth. Typically, you use one cup of water and one spoon of this solution, but I do two cups. It not only clears out all the mucous, but if you do it every day, or a couple of times a day, it shrinks the inner lining of your sinuses so that you have more space and a better capacity to breathe. I used to have trouble flying and equalizing [to counter the] pressure changes, and hyperbaric chambers would hurt my ears. But since using this sinus cleaner, I’ve never had those problems. Warning: If by mistake you forget to put in the salt, it’s horribly painful. Another item, probably a little more than $100, is the HumanCharger. The HumanCharger shoots light in your ears to help alleviate jet lag (as opposed to other devices that shine bright lights into your eyes, which can be uncomfortable and damaging to the eyes). The HumanCharger can also be used for other things like meditation, or if you have to be alert for a meeting, appointment or training session, you can wear it on the way.

Sacks, Rabbi Lord Jonathan: Without a shadow of doubt, buying [Bose] noise-canceling earphones. These are the most religious objects I have ever come across, because I define faith as the ability to hear the music beneath the noise.

Sorkin, Andrew Ross: Ear plugs for sleeping. I’ve tried them all. Hearos Xtreme Protection NRR 33 work best and are the most comfortable. If you really want to go to extremes to also control light, Lonfrote Deep Molded Sleep Mask is best for airplanes or anywhere else.

Silbermann, Ben: It’s not very original, but I like [Apple] AirPods [headphones] a lot. They’re wireless and they stay charged. I really like them a lot more than I expected.

Stiller, Ben: I found the right backpack [Incase City Collection]. It makes a big difference, since it is sort of my portable office/pocketbook. For a guy, unless you carry a “purse” (man purse), I think a backpack is essential. It always seems to end up getting overstuffed, and when it does I remind myself I don’t need to carry everything with me all the time. Getting one with a good top compartment for wallet, keys, etc., really makes life easier.

Strauss, Neil: Tile Mate key finder on Amazon. It’s given me hours of my life back that were previously spent dashing around the house, looking for my keys. Works great with pets too!

Szabo, Nick: Nothing terribly profound (or alternatively nothing that I don’t take for granted) for $100. Those little single-cup foamer/mixer things [Tim: like the PowerLix Milk Frother] are pretty cool for concocting my own custom cocoa/coffee/etc. Not taking things for granted, it may be something as mundane now (but unavailable before not much longer than a century ago) as a tankful of gas to drive up to San Francisco and do your podcast!

Torres, Dara: Crepe Erase body products for my sun-damaged skin.

Tyler, Aisha: I love the extended battery pack for my iPhone. [Apple’s branded iPhone 6/6s Smart Battery Case.] I know there is this disdain for people who are attached to their devices, but I generally feel my phone makes me more effective, more connected to others, and more creatively powerful on the whole. It also allows me a sweeping amount of personal freedom, untethering me from my desk and allowing me to develop a more robust social life, which I am in dire need of. I fucking love this phone case. It’s the little things, y’know?

Ulmer, Kristen: [As background], my mom was the youngest of nine kids. Her dad was a raging alcoholic and the family had a simple existence being tenant farmers. As a result, she grew up with severe money issues. They are so solidified that at age 83 she still washes and reuses Ziploc bags and eats around moldy food. And . . . I am my mother’s daughter. I am frugal as hell, which is okay — it helped me become a self-made millionaire — but I think at this point, it holds me back from going to the next level financially. Whenever I feel bad, I make a point to do something nice for other people. Either I stand outside the movie theater looking for someone who seems like they could use a break and I pay for their movie tickets, or I leave a $50 tip on a takeout burrito. Not only does it make them feel good, it makes me feel good, and it also impacts my life in one other way that’s not so obvious. Spending money like this is my subtle attempt to break free from my lineage and resolve my inherited money issues

Urban, Tim: The NYTimes crossword puzzle app. I’ve always liked crossword puzzles but I kind of sucked at them. Since getting the app I’ve gotten much better (started off mostly doing Monday through Wednesday puzzles and now I do every day of the week) and doing the puzzle is a delightful part of my day every day. I love waking up and working on the day’s puzzle in the morning — in bed, while eating breakfast, on the subway, while standing in line at a coffee place, etc. But I have to be careful — the later it gets in the week, the longer the puzzle takes me, and I often don’t have the discipline to put down a hard puzzle until I finish it, which can bleed badly into my planned work day and make me hate myself. Or sometimes I’ll open the app when I’m taking a five-minute work break, and then that turns it into an 82-minute work break and I again hate myself. So I now try to keep my puzzling to nighttime.

Vaynerchuk, Gary: My random assortment of 1980s wrestling T‑shirts.

Von Teese, Dita: Mylola.com has changed my life . . . conscientious 100 percent–organic cotton feminine products that you can curate according to your needs, delivered to your door every month in elegant packaging. They also donate products to low-income and homeless women (and girls) across the U.S. This company and their approach is life-changing for me and for every woman I know who has started using their products.

Waitzkin, Josh: Stay Covered Big Wave SUP leash ($36). It doesn’t break, which I have been immensely grateful for in some hairy paddle surfing moments way offshore.

Walker, Laura R.: I’m a bit of a pen geek. I recently found an erasable pen — the FriXion by Pilot in blue. It writes so smoothly, and being able to erase it gives me a sense of power and delight. I often use the pen with a “smart” notebook (like the Rocketbook Everlast smart notebook) that can be reused.

Zamfir, Vlad: An audio lectures series on institutional economics called “International Economic Institutions: Globalism vs. Nationalism.” It was interesting/important to me because it was the first information about institutional design that I’ve ever really internalized. I feel like I have a much better idea about “how society works” now that I understand something about the nature of institutions. Not that I can claim to understand much! I tried to “crystallize” some of my understandings, but I didn’t do a great job. In practical terms, though, I am now able to think much more clearly about blockchain governance. I can see that we have already a handful of nascent blockchain governance institutions! I can understand what it means for an institution to be more or less formal, and more or less tacit/ad hoc. I am now completely open to the possibility that institutionalization can be a reasonable process, rather than one that is inevitably powered by hubris.

###

The above responses are all pulled from my brand-new book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World.

Get Tribe of Mentors at these fine retailers and more: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Apple iBooks | Books-A-Million | Indigo

The post Tribe of Mentors: Most Impactful Purchases of $100 or Less appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/under100/feed/ 26 34169 Tribe of Mentors — Recommended Books from Mentors and Top Books from Tools of Titans https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/booklist/ https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/booklist/#comments Sat, 18 Nov 2017 14:39:01 +0000 http://tim.blog/?p=34167 The list below includes all the mentors in alphabetical order from Tribe of Mentors who have made book recommendations. I have also included the top most recommended books (two or more mentions) on the top. You will also find at the bottom of the post the top most recommended books from Tools of Titans as well. Enjoy! *** Top …

Continue reading "Tribe of Mentors — Recommended Books from Mentors and Top Books from Tools of Titans"

The post Tribe of Mentors — Recommended Books from Mentors and Top Books from Tools of Titans appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

]]> The list below includes all the mentors in alphabetical order from Tribe of Mentors who have made book recommendations. I have also included the top most recommended books (two or more mentions) on the top. You will also find at the bottom of the post the top most recommended books from Tools of Titans as well. Enjoy!

***

Top Books (2 or more mentions):

Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl)

The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Steven Pinker)

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich (Tim Ferriss)

The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari)

Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu)

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (David Deutsch)

Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment (George Leonard)

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Steven Pressfield)

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell)

Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Charles T Munger)

Finite and Infinite Games (James Carse)

The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)

The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins)

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)

Tools of Titans (Tim Ferriss)

Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison)

***

Abusulayman, Muna: The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes (William Ury)

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi: The Open Society and Its Enemies (Karl Popper)

Anderson, Chris: The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (David Deutsch), The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)

Aoki, Steve:  The Singularity Is Near (Ray Kurzweil), The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X)

Arnold, John: The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (Matt Ridley), The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Steven Pinker)

Aronofsky, Darren: Last Exit to Brooklyn (Hubert Selby), Requiem for a Dream (Hubert Selby)

Ashley, Maurice:  Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life (Gail Sheehy), Sugar Blues (William Dufty), Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment (George Leonard), The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich (Tim Ferriss)

Attia, Peter: The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer (Stephen A. Rosenberg), Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions (Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson), Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Richard P. Feynman)

Babauta, Leo: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (Shunryu Suzuki), What Is Zen?: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind (Norman Fischer)

Bell, Mark: Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on your Passion (Gary Vaynerchuk), The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich (Tim Ferriss), 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System for Raw Strength (Jim Wendler)

Belmont, Veronica:  10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works- True Story (Dan Harris)

Boeree, Liv: The Passion Trap: How to Right an Unbalanced Relationship (Dean C. Delis), Map and Territory & How to Actually Change Your Mind (Eliezer Yudkowsky)

Boone, Amelia: Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand), A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), Brave Enough (Cheryl Strayed)

Brand, Stewart: Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility (James P. Carse), One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism (Rodney Stark), The Idea of Decline in Western History (Arthur Herman), The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Steven Pinker)

Brown, Brené: The Dance of Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships & Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts (Harriet Lerner), Positive Discipline series (Jane Nelsen Ed. D.), Touchpoints series (T. Berry Brazelton)

Call, Jon: Thinking Body, Dancing Mind: Taosports for Extraordinary Performance in Athletics, Business and Life (Chungliang Al Huang)

Cantley, Lewis Clayton: The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Richard Rhodes), The Baroque Cycle (Neal Stephenson), Bernie Gunther Novels (Philip Kerr)

Case, Steve: The Third Wave: The Classic Study of Tomorrow (Alvin Toffler)

Chadha, Richa: Autobiography of a Yogi (Paramahansa Yogananda), Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), Shame (Salman Rushdie), No Logo (Naomi Klein)

Chainani, Soman: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (Steven Pressfield), A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara), Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)

Crews, Terry: The Master Key System (Charles F. Haanel), Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl), You Are Not So Smart (David McRaney)

Cummings, Whitney: Getting the Love You Want (Harville Hendrix PhD), The Fantasy Bond: Structure of Psychological Defenses (Robert Firestone PhD), The Female Brain (Louann Brizendine M.D.)

Dalio, Ray: The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell), The Lessons of History (Will and Ariel Durant), River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Richard Dawkins)

Davidsdottir, Katrin: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court (John Wooden), The Champion’s Mind: How Champions Think, Train, and Thrive (Jim Afremow PhD)

Duncan, Graham: Making Sense of People: The Science of Personality Differences (Samuel Barondes), In Over Our Heads (Robert Kegan), Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World (Jennifer Garvey Berger)

Dyson, Esther: The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease (Marc Lewis), Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much (Eldar Shafir and Sendhil Mullainathan), From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds (Daniel C. Dennett)

Ek, Daniel: The Minefield Girl (Sofia Ek), Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success (Matthew Syed), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Charles T Munger)

Fallon, Jimmy: Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl), The Monster at the End of This Book (Jon Stone)

Fisher, Adam: The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance (Steven Kotler)

Forleo, Marie: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles  (Steven Pressfield)

Fried, Jason: Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger (Peter Bevelin)

Gable, Dan: The Heart of a Champion: Inspiring True Stories of Challenge and Triumph (Bob Richards)

Gaiman, Neil: Paco and the Orchestra; Paco and Jazz; Paco and Rock; Paco and Vivaldi; Paco and Mozart (Magali Le Huche)

Galef, Julia: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner), How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business (Douglas W. Hubbard), Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work (Chip and Dan Heath)

Gervais, Michael: Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl), Tao Te Ching (Lau Tzu), Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence (Gary Mack), Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success (John Wooden)

Gordon-Levitt, Joseph: Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (Lawrence Lessig)

Gregorek, Aniela: Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl), Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Oliver Sacks)

Gregorek, Jerzy: The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy (Viktor E. Frankl), The Tao of Power (R.L. Wing), Letters from a Stoic (Seneca)

Grylls, Bear: Rhinoceros Success: The Secret to Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity (Scott Alexander)

Harris, Sam: The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (David Deutsch), Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (Nick Bostrom), In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)

Holmes, Anna: Miss Rumphius (Barbara Cooney)

Holz, Fedor: Man’s Search For Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl)

Houston, Drew: Poor Charlie’s Almanack (Charles T Munger)

Huffington, Arianna: Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), Memories, Dreams, Reflections (C. G. Jung)

Jarre, Jérôme: Propaganda (Edward Bernays)

Jurvetson, Steve: Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn (Alison Gopnik), Ready Player One (Ernest Cline), Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World (Kevin Kelly), The Age of Spiritual Machines (Ray Kurzweil)

Kelly, Kevin: Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke), The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand), Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitman), My Experiments with Truth (M.K. Gandhi), Godel, Escher, Bach (Douglas R. Hofstadter), The Ultimate Resource (Julian Lincoln Simon), Finite and Infinite Games (James Carse), The Bible.

King, Larry: The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger), Lou Gehrig: A Quiet Hero (Frank Graham)

Koppelman, Brian: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami), The Artist’s Way  (Julia Cameron), Awaken the Giant Within (Tony Robbins), City of Thieves (David Benioff), Sizzling Chops and Devilish Spins: Ping-Pong and the Art of Staying Alive (Jerome Charyn)

Kutcher, Ashton: The Happiest Baby on the Block (Harvey Karp MD), The Sleepeasy Solution (Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack), Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari)

Laughlin, Terry: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment (George Leonard)

Levchin, Max: Master and Margarita (translated by Pevear, et al) (Mikhail Bulgakov)

Lewis, Sarah Elizabeth: A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Rebecca Solnit), James Baldwin: Collected Essays (James Baldwin), “The Creative Process” in The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985 (James Baldwin)

Lynch, David: That Motel Weekend (James Donner), The Srimad Devi Bhagavatam, The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)

Maples, Mike (Jr.): The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by Dearly Departing (Bronnie Ware), Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Richard Bach), Hope for the Flowers (Trina Paulus), Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want (Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy), How Will You Measure Your Life? (Clayton M. Christensen)

Maté, Gabor (Dr.): Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne), The Scourge of the Swastika (E.F.L. Russell), The Dhammapada (Anonymous), The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self (Alice Miller), Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)

Maynard, Kyle: Dune (Frank Herbert), The Stranger (Albert Camus), The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell)

McHale, Joel: The Road (Cormac McCarthy), The Blade Itself (Joe Abercrombie), The Book of Strange New Things (Michel Faber), How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Invention, Creation, and Discovery (Kevin Ashton), Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why (Laurence Gonzales)

McMahon, Stephanie: Tools of Titans (Tim Ferriss)

Millman, Debbie: The Voice That Is Great Within Us: American Poetry of the Twentieth Century (Hayden Carruth)

Moskovitz, Dustin: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership (Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman)

Negreanu, Daniel: The Four Agreements (Don Miquel Ruiz)

Newmark, Craig: Book of Longing (Leonard Cohen)

Noah Harari, Yuval: Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

Norman, Greg: The Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Dan Millman), Tools of Titans (Tim Ferriss), On China (Henry Kissinger), The Way of the Shark (Greg Norman)

Novogratz, Jacqueline: The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison), Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

O’Reilly, Tim: The Meaning of Culture (John Cowper Powys), The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu (translated by Witter Bynner), Rissa Kerguelen Saga (F.M. Busby)

Oswalt, Patton: The Enigma of Anger: Essays on a Sometimes Deadly Sin (Garret Keizer)

Paul, Caroline: The Stars (H.A. Rey)

Peters, Tom: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain), Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (Frank Partnoy), The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness (Linda Kaplan Thaler), The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference (Linda Kaplan Thaler), Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (Cathy O’Neil), Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America (George Whalin), Small Giants: Companies That Chose to Be Great Instead of Big (Bo Burlingham), Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways (William C. Taylor), Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders (Hermann Simon)

Pitt, Turia: The Map That Changed the World (Simon Winchester), Born to Run (Christopher McDougall), The Barefoot Investor (Scott Pape), Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl)

Pressfield, Steven: History of The Peloponnesian War (Thucydides)

Ravikant, Naval: Total Freedom (Jiddu Krishnamurti), Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari), The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge (Matt Ridley)

Ridley, Matt: The Double Helix (James D. Watson PhD), The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins)

Ripert, Eric: 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line (Eric Ripert), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), A Plea for Animals (Matthieu Ricard), Cent éléphants sur un brin d’herbe/ One Hundred Elephants on a Blade of Grass (Dalai Lama)

Robinson, Adam: Zen in the Art of Archery (Eugen Herrigel), Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Betty Edwards), The Crack in the Cosmic Egg (Joseph Chilton Pierce), The Act of Creation (Arthur Koestler), The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Julian Jaynes)

Rubin, Gretchen: A Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander), The Little House books (Laura Ingalls Wilder), The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis), His Dark Materials books (Philip Pullman)

Rubin, Rick: Tao Te Ching (Translated by Stephen Mitchell), Wherever You Go, There You Are (Jon Kabat-Zinn), The Paleo Solution (Robb Wolf)

Sacks, Lord Rabbi: Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading (Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky)

Saint John, Bozoma: Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison)

Salzberg, Sharon: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)

Sharapova, Maria:  The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness: A True Story (Joel Ben Izzy)

Shea, Ryan: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson), The Sovereign Individual (James Dale Davidson)

Silbermann, Ben: The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Steven Pinker), Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (Samin Nosrat)

Slater, Kelly: The Tao of Health Sex and Longevity (Daniel Reid), The Prophet (Khalil Gibran)

Stiller, Ben: The Second Tree From the Corner (E. B. White), Nine Stories (J.D. Salinger), The Jaws Log (Carl Gottlieb)

Strauss, Neil: Ulysses (James Joyce), Under Saturn’s Shadow (James Hollis)

Szabo, Nick: The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins)

Thorisdottir, Annie Mist: Iceland Small World (Sigurgeir Sigurjonsson), Iceland In All Its Splendour (Unnur Jökulsdóttir)

Ulmer, Kristen: The Wisdom of the Enneagram (Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson), The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle)

Urban, Tim: The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

Vietor, Tommy: The Nightingale’s Song (Robert Timberg)

Von Teese, Dita: On Sex, Health, and E.S.P. (Mae West), It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken (Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt), Your Beauty Mark (Dita Von Teese)

Waitzkin, Josh: On the Road (Jack Kerouac), Tao Te Ching (translated by Gia Fu Feng and Jane English), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig), Ernest Hemingway On Writing (Larry W. Phillips)

Walker, Laura R.: Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Siddhartha Mukherjee), How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman), Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas (Rebecca Solnit), Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir), The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich (Tim Ferriss)

Wilcox, Zooko: Good Calories, Bad Calories (Gary Taubes)

Williams, Jesse: Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond), The Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole), Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), The Souls of Black Folk (W.E.B. DuBois), The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

Wilink, Jocko: About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior (Colonel David H. Hackworth)

Zamfir, Vlad: Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (Bertrand Russell), Complexity and Chaos (Dr. Roger White), The Lily: Evolution, Play, and the Power of a Free Society (Daniel Cloud)

Zelnick, Strauss: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

###

Top 17 from Tools of Titans (with three or more mentions in the book):

  1. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
  2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
  3. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  4. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
  5. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
  6. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
  7. Dune by Frank Herbert
  8. Influence by Robert Cialdini
  9. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
  10. Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom
  11. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman
  12. The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
  13. The Bible
  14. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
  15. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  16. Watchmen by Alan Moore
  17. Zero to One by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters

The post Tribe of Mentors — Recommended Books from Mentors and Top Books from Tools of Titans appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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