Ramit Sethi recently interviewed Tim Ferriss shortly after the release of Tim's new book The Four Hour Chef. (I'm patiently waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail) Anytime two guys like this get together, it's great to have the opportunity to tune in. About 1700 other people were watching the live event as well. Anyways, here are my notes:
Resources mentioned: Scientific Advertising, Triggers, Art of Learning, Secrets of Power Negotiating, Start with Why, The Real Truth About Social Media. (links are for convenience, i'm not getting paid. apparently Amazon Affiliates isn't allowed in the state of NC)
Sell people what they want; give them what they need.
Learn only one behavior at a time. Do not try to implement multiple at the same times.
Success = achievement + appreciation
it’s not the million dollars that is the goal, it is the assumed lifestyle that earning $1m brings.
Don’t ignore the message because you consider the messenger abrasive.
Why did something that made you buy get you to buy? (Tim keeps them in a binder)
You don’t have to go to the extreme to learn from the extreme.
Tim’s advice to pick books using Amazon: read the 3 and 4 star critical reviews. then read the highlighted passages of the books. buy the ones that make the cut. read wikipedia entries on the book. THIS IS ONLY ENOUGH TO DISCERN WHETHER OR NOT TO READ don’t use this and pretend like you’ve read the book.
Use Amazon for business analysis and opportunity. use it like google. use keywords. look at the 4.5 star + products. read the 3 &4 star reviews and notice what people say is missing. These people are important cuz they are paying customers.
Tim and Ramit read 2-3 books per week.
Tips to read more:
Read while eating. in the bathroom.. commuting (audio books/programs), before bed
if you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities. Doing a lot of nothing instead of a couple important things. What are the 2-3 highest leverage activities you could be doing?
When overwhelmed, do an 80/20 analysis. First off, find the 20% of people that waste 80% of your time. 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your revenue. Make it hard for people to be a pain in the ass.
Tim does 80/20’s on the regular. As often as every two weeks if shit’s getting crazy.
As Bs Cs (people)
As are already awesome. Bs and B+ can be turned into As. B- and Cs never will be As so don’t waste your time on them.
Everybody who is a master deserves to be studied.
Principles vs Tactics. There are a million and one tactics...
Being your own boss is harder than having a boss.
rate of progress is most important than who is the best in the world. (who to study)
When you doubt yourself, what is your self talk?
Tim’s rituals: 30 grams of protein within waking up. synthesize. (learn what works for you and do that)
tim “thinks a lot in terms of bookends.”
huge value in routine and rituals. preserve your decision making for the things that really matter.
don’t force yourself to be inefficient. (making yourself doing something because you think you should be doing it only to be half-assing it)
examples of tactics to get you started (morning, during the day, before bed): something involving food in the morning, something you want to accomplish, what do you want to do before bed?
Tim recommends fat & fiction before bed. tablespoon of almond butter before bed. 15 minutes of fiction before bed to tune out.
Tim’s mentors: professor zschau (sp) stanford. high tech entrepreneurship (entreprenuers make stuff happen) john mcfee, seneca “letters from a stoic”, ben franklin
Ramit’s: Bj Fogg, Getting Everything You can out of Everything You’ve Got, Charlie Munger “Charlie’s Almanac” Psychological Frameworks
how can you add value to people… do what that person recommends and tell them how it helped you. know what somebody is interested in. do due diligence.
put your students in the middle of your world
it’s great to be tactical but you have to speak to the emotional.
people ask for the recipe then you give them the recipe and they do nothing. ask the people why and then give them just one thing to do and get them to take the first step.
Tim with his multiple book launch strategy: Tim rewards people who purchase more than one book by giving people incentive to buy more. 3+ books you get this. 10+ books you get this. 2500+ books you get this.
Any book is inexpensive.
Tim’s goal with this book is to have somebody be motivated to dust off something they’ve always wanted to do but gave up on and tackle it.
Time on this life is very finite. Bleed the stone. Not just for you but for your people and those around you.
Ramit asks Tim, what’s living rich mean to you? long dinners with close friends/family
if you have a void, work will fill it. schedule time. if it’s not on the calendar it’s not real. schedule personal time and protect it. treat it as important as anything else on your calendar.
have rituals to fall back on and keep you on track.
Life is messy. it’s always going to be messy. Plan around it and act anyways.
if you expect your issues to dissolve with a new this, that, the other you’ll just have new problems to deal with. Expect adversity and look toward it as an opportunity. Relish the opportunity to prove yourself.
the tactics sort themselves out and they change very regularly. They are important but you have to understand the underlying reason and principles.
Your most important to-do list item is probably the one you’ve been putting off. Putting this stuff off only makes it worse. The top people are the ones that are best at handling themselves in uncomfortable situations and being willing to take action.
“if you want to write a book, write a fucking book.” Michael Gerber
Ramit: if you’re going to do something, might as well take a few extra hours to make it the best.
Tim: i want my stuff to be valuable years beyond the moment i write it. i want the persistent content.
if you only have one good idea, you really have zero good ideas.
Develop a framework
The people who are best at what they do are the ones that are able to make simplicity out of the chaos.
adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals character.
to he who grasps the principles can create the techniques. Ralph Waldo Emerson
