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The Tim Ferriss Show
#412: Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self
Feb 27, 2020
01:23:15
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Quick takeaways
- Learning is unobstructed self-expression, not just acquiring knowledge.
- Continuous evolution of learning processes focuses on conceptual understanding and challenging assumptions.
- Maximizing feedback loops is crucial for learning and skill development.
- Combining best practices with experimentation and stress testing fosters growth and breakthroughs in skill development.
Deep dives
Creating Optimal Sleep Conditions
Improving sleep quality became a priority after realizing its impact on overall well-being, leading to changes in daily routine, exercise, diet, and investing in new beds and mattresses, like those from Helix Sleep, tailored through a sleep quiz for personalized comfort.
Enhancing Health with Comprehensive Nutrition
Athletic Greens, a recommended supplement for optimal health, provides comprehensive nutrition and can be incorporated in various ways, supporting performance, immune health, and nutritional balance when whole foods are insufficient, offering a free travel pack for first-time users.
Exploring Advanced Learning Strategies
Josh Waitzkin, a world-class performer and educator, delves into the continuous evolution of learning processes encompassing chess, martial arts, and now foiling, emphasizing conceptual learning over techniques, internalizing principles, and challenging assumptions at the core of skills development.
Harnessing Feedback Loops for Growth
Maximizing feedback loops, critically valuable for learning and advancement, prove essential in fields like chess with immediate, accurate feedback but require creative approaches, like biophysical feedback, in areas such as investing to establish effective learning mechanisms and refine decision-making.
Developing Visualization and Physiological Feedback
Applying intense visualization techniques and somatic feedback, such as cold plunging and biolpfedback training, to simulate physiological states, enhance performance evaluation, and internalize experiential learning, offering a deep dive into self-improvement through feedback mechanisms and intuitive learning practices.
Balancing Expertise and Creativity in Training
Navigating the blend of repetitive best practices and experimental phases in training, highlighting the strategic importance of allowing for initial suboptimal reps, trusting internal cues over external feedback, and leveraging a coach's deep understanding for subtle yet impactful guidance in skill development.
Building a Trusted Network for Stress Testing Ideas
Engaging in stress testing with trusted friends and thought partners ensures the critical examination of ideas. By surrounding oneself with individuals who challenge perspectives, like Dan Caulfield or Emily Quack, differing views can enhance critical thinking. This stress testing approach involves constant dialogue and pushes individuals to deconstruct thoughts effectively, preventing blind spots.
Unconventional Skill Development through Repetitions in Plain Sight
Discovering hidden repetitions for skill development involves unique approaches, like honing front side turns through circle spinning. Embracing unconventional methods, such as practicing glide on an efoil, can lead to accelerated learning even amid skepticism from others. By deconstructing themes into component parts and focusing on specific skills, individuals can simplify the learning process and achieve breakthroughs in various pursuits.
Josh Waitzkin on Beginner’s Mind, Self-Actualization, and Advice from Your Future Self | Brought to you by Helix Sleep and Athletic Greens.
"I think of learning as unobstructed self-expression." — Josh Waitzkin
Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, is an eight-time national chess champion, a two-time world champion in Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands, and the first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under nine-time world champion Marcelo Garcia.
For the past 12 years, Josh has been channeling his passion for the outer limits of the learning process toward training elite mental performers in business and finance and to revolutionizing the education system through his nonprofit foundation, The Art of Learning Project. Josh is currently in the process of taking on his fourth and fifth disciplines, paddle surfing and foiling, and is an all-in father and husband.
Please enjoy!
This podcast is brought to you by Helix Sleep. I started sleeping on a Helix in 2017, and they’ve been one of my top choices for mattresses ever since. Take their two-minute sleep quiz, and based on body type and how you sleep, their algorithm will identify and match you to your perfect mattress.
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This podcast is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I’m often asked: “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually Athletic Greens, which I consider my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. I often take it in the mornings and travel with it to minimize the likelihood of getting sick. Though I always focus on whole foods first, Athletic Greens covers my bases if I can’t get everything I need through meals.
As a listener of The Tim Ferriss Show, you'll get a free 20-count travel pack (valued at $79) with your first order at AthleticGreens.com/tim.
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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.
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