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#719: Walk & Talk with Greg McKeown — How to Find Your Purpose and Master Essentialism in 2024

The Tim Ferriss Show

notes

NOTE

Stack the Decks in Your Favor

Create a system that makes doing the essentials the default, and not doing the non-essentials. It's not enough to just identify what's essential and what's non-essential, you have to realize that the system is built to make the non-essential easy to do, which is why it's hard to stick to the essentials. The key is to stack the decks in your favor by intentionally designing a system that defaults to doing the essential tasks.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Brought to you by AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and Momentous high-quality supplements.

Greg McKeown (@GregoryMcKeown) is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. Together they have sold more than two million copies in 37 languages. He is also a speaker, host of The Greg McKeown Podcast and founder of The Essentialism Academy with students from 96 countries. More than 175,000 people have signed up to his 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter.

He is currently doing a doctorate at The University of Cambridge, and he is easily one of my favorite thinkers on all things related to effectiveness, efficiency, and—at the end of the day—quality of life.

Greg is originally from London, England, and he and his wife Anna are parents to four children.

Please enjoy!

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This episode is also brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

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[00:00] Start

[10:02] How 2023 informed 2024’s highest priorities.

[16:09] Greg’s system for effortless execution of daily tasks.

[27:42] Directional documents, shameless repentance, and shifting success.

[36:53] Poetic mysticism and matchmaking introspection.

[41:51] What compass guides you toward purpose?

[45:10] The truth as a path to your best possible future.

[50:34] Maslow’s forgotten pinnacle of self-transcendence.

[54:28] Why self-actualization is an insufficient foundation for meaningful relationships.

[1:03:09] Recommended reading for relationship cultivation.

[1:07:43] A true, bittersweet tale of progressively deepening love.

[1:13:28] The benefits of treating social media as an option rather than an obligation.