The Tim Ferriss Show with Tim Ferriss
“To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.” Timothy Ferriss
Tim Ferriss, best-selling author, angel investor, entrepreneur, experimenter, and lifestyle guy. In his show, you can expect to be kept fascinating by powerful and inspiring conversations with some of the world’s top performers and walk away with tools, techniques and tactics for a vast array of skills and disciplines.
I think of Tim as a personal development expert and kind of a celebrity in this space. Beyond the tools and methodologies that Tim skilfully extracts from his guests, that we can all benefit from using, I believe there is something more significant to take away – the courage and ability to self-learn. It is common across all the interviews Tim does regardless of the interviewee’s background or field of expertise.
Learning is the skill of the future. With everything rapidly advancing and at increasing rates, the skills we learn today may be irrelevant tomorrow. However, the knowledge we can always utilise is our understanding and ability of how to learn. Being able to learn means we can efficiently master the skills and tasks to adapt to changing situations.
The guests Tim brings on his show are the best of the best and indeed a mixed bag. From celebrities such as Jamie Fox, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tony Robins, king-pin entrepreneur’s, recently Sir Richard Branson, to grand master chess, players, poker players, people who specialise in the fields of neuroscience, physical fitness and mindfulness and everything in-between. Tim is well connected which truly allows him to access the best of the best for his show.
Earlier on Tim also did his own solo shows. I really enjoyed these. Tim delivered on some of his own passions and fields of expertise. Episodes of sleeping tactics, physical agility, learning, and productivity. I’d suggest going back through the archives and digging out some of these, packed with gold. It’s what got me hooked on Tim. That and his first book – Four Hour Work Week, the book that put Tim on the map and into the public eye. A great read.
Nowadays, Tim has guests do their own solo shows. It’s a chance for others to speak on their passions and areas of expertise. Speaking free-form on their topic and also answering some of the questions that Tim’s million or so fans send through. These interviews are worth the time to listen.
I am not sure how Tim would describe what he does, however, now having written five books, which seem to get bigger and bigger, I would suggest a fit title would be Author. He has many hats and is really all about lifestyle design. It is a large part of the attraction. To me, lifestyle design is all about figuring out how we wish to live our life, then via our autonomous and individual pursuits being capable of seeking and learning the tools and skills to allow us to operate and move forward towards that ideology.
Tim himself is a meditation practitioner specialising in the practice of Transcendental Meditation. Like most meditation practices as far as I can tell it is merely a technique that can assist to remove distraction to improve awareness and relaxation. The difference is that it uses a mantra, word or sound to help one to focus their concentration. Derived from the Vedic tradition of India and brought to America by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi sometime in the 1960’s.
Tim is also a fan of the work of stoicism. An ancient Greek philosophy which Tim would describe as the perfect operating system for life. I highly recommend grabbing the Audiobook Tim produced called the Tao of Seneca. Volume 1 was an excellent introduction to Stoic Philosophy. I haven’t yet made it through Volume 2 as I found the thoughts to be a little more long-winded and of less clear. A good reminder to get back to it nonetheless. Read my review of the Tao of Seneca.
If you are not one of the million plus people already tunning into The Tim Ferriss Show I do highly recommend you have a listen. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea however based on the diverse variety of interviews and shows available I am sure there is something to tickle most people’s taste buds.
In summary, in the interest of lifestyle design, Tim’s an expert. First, you must understand what that looks and feels like to you without being driven by external demands or expectations. While I am sure, Tim has a team of people that help in with many aspects of his work he seems to live a pleasantly simple life, and even with the fame, success and no doubt capital, this is not something consumes him. I think he’s mentioned this in one of his shows.
To understand and integrate the lifestyle you desire, a level of awareness is required, and there are plenty of thoughts and tools about this shared on his podcast. From there it is necessary to have good health because without health awareness, and clarity will wane, affecting motivation, the ability to learn and courage to act towards creating the life you want. All subjects that Tim addresses beautifully on The Tim Ferriss Show. Enjoy!
Some of Tim’s book that are worth a read.
Further Reading and Resources
TED Talks: Ideas worth spreading
Elite Daily: The Voice of Generation Y
Four Hour Work Week: How to escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich.
The Minimalists: How to pursue a minimalist lifestyle and be happier.
Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain
Rich Roll: Plantpowered Wellness Advocate
The Art of Charm: Build confidence, feel comfortable and networking differently.
The Art of Manliness: Encouraging men to be better husbands, fathers, brothers, citizens.
Tiny Buddha: Simple wisdom for complex lives.
Mind Body Green: Lifestyle media brand dedicated to inspiring you to live your best life.
Zen Habits: Find simplicity and mindfulness in life.
Creative NonFiction: “true stories well told.”
Barking Up the Wrong Tree: science-based answers and expert insight on how to be awesome at life.
The Positivity Blog: Practical articles on happiness, self-esteem, productivity and social skills.
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