Ep. 196 - Tim Ferriss: [Part 1] Becoming a Titan & Overcoming Your Worst Weakness

I was very late and I was very upset at myself. I had flown three thousand miles. I moved into an Airbnb right next to where Tim was staying. I had written thousands of notes on ripped pieces of paper and stuck them all throughout the book. I had notes written up and around all the margins. I listened to dozens of his podcasts. And I've known him for years. All morning I had jotted down possible questions. And I was late to meet Tim for our podcast. Because the west coast is three hours a way in time travel from the east coast. That's how stupid I am. I rushed over and he was waiting. Tim follows his own advice. He was relaxed. No problems. I apologized, we spoke for awhile, and then started the podcast. Three hours later...not even close to done but we stopped. I want to be a better person in life. I want to be healthier. I want to be more creative. I want to find what is hidden inside of me, dig around, unleash it. I want to find the strength to do that. It's not an easy to thing to do. To scrape the dirt and dust that collects inside of ourselves. To explore. To wander. To create. Tim's book, "Tools of the Titans" is a guidebook for doing the above. And I had a lot of questions. ---- A few months after I started my podcast in 2014, Tim wrote me and said, "Can I call you and ask you some questions about podcasting". I said sure and he called and we talked for quite awhile. He called many podcasters during this period. Then he started his own podcast. He DOMINATED. All of his guests were amazing. He told me he was getting so much great advice from his guests it was overwhelming. The aftermath of a hailstorm where everything is just glowing and even the air you breathe seems cleansed. But that lasts only a short time until the atmosphere is filled with the everyday pollution of life. So he took a month off, re-listened to all his podcasts, and just for his own use he wrote down the advice he was hearing. "But it was too much," he told me. "I kept writing. It was clearly a book." It's not like any other book he's written. He steps out of the way in many cases, and let's these super-achievers do the talking. He curates their thoughts. They had found the hidden gems inside themselves, and long ago brought them up to share with the world to achieve their successes, and now they documented them with Tim. That's why I flew 3000 miles. I wanted the gems. I wanted answers. ---- I've had so many ups and downs I try to quantify what works on the way up. What goes wrong on the way down. I try to quantify: what are the steps for reinvention? I wonder: what makes someone break out of mediocrity? About seven months ago I threw out all of my belongings. I gave away or donated to the library about 3000 books. All of my books now are on my kindle. None of the answers were in my things. But now I have one physical book. Tim's. And I plan to keep it. Here are ten things (among many) I learned from the book and from our podcast: "ALL I HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP" I'm impressed how Tim did his work before starting a podcast. Starting something new is not about taking risks. Jumping into the unknown, getting out of the comfort zone, doing something scary. It's not about bravery. It's the exact opposite. You can only do so many "new" things in life. So do the work beforehand. He called people up. He learned the craft as much as he could. He talked to people ranging from me to people at Apple. He had initial guests lined up. He had a huge launch. And he told me the other day that he is persistent at getting his guests. One recent guest, he told me, took two years to book. Which was refreshing for me to hear since it often takes me that long or longer to book many guests. Comedian Whitney Cummings told him: "My work is not done on the night of a big standup special. My work was done three months ago. All I have do is show up." Even though I was late for our podcast,... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.