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“I think of myself as a human guinea pig and a teacher more so than a writer, and that's how I approach whatever it is that I'm doing,” said Tim Ferriss, in a recent Leading Edge webcast with Tim Clarke, Senior Director at Salesforce. From this session, I found Ferriss to be more of a storyteller, rich with lessons and insights.
From challenging experiences in work, to life-saving occurrences in his personal life, Ferriss shared ideas and stories that can impact and relate to all. Here’s a look at some of my favorite quotes; for the full experience, watch the replay here.
“The idea is not to be idle. That's not something that I advocate. It is to maximize your per hour output.”
“Look for the optimal dose of any activity. Too little sun, you don't get a tan. Just enough, you get a tan. Too much, you get burned.”
“Look for flexible principles so that you can then have a toolkit that's adaptable.”
“Indiscriminate action is a form of laziness."
“I want to measure twice, and cut once; therefore, the vast majority of my important work is deciding what to work on.”
“Even a small amount of non-reactive planning and reflection will completely separate you from everyone else, because you are avoiding the impulse and social pressure to multitask.”
“In a world of distraction and multitasking, the ability to single task — to genuinely do one thing without getting distracted by push notifications, alerts, email, text messages, social media, whatever it might be — is a super power.”
“If we're talking about just distractions, we're talking about prioritization. If you feel like you don't have time, you don't have priorities. Everyone has the same amount of time.”
“Listen to other experiences, and start forming questions that you can journal.”
“For me, money is not a prime motivator. It's one criterion that I can use to filter out opportunities. My high is the eureka moment when I find, or I am taught, a non-obvious way of solving a problem. That's it.”
“Where can you trade money for time? Where can you spend money that creates more time tomorrow or next week? That is almost always a good investment.”
“When you start to assess the cause of an action, and dissect the fears with fear setting of the action, people can do amazing things.”
“You develop confidence through action, and you have to have courage first.”
“I don't think people are fearless. If you're fearless, you're nuts. But you can learn to fear less.”
“Anyone you have in your mind as an icon is an imperfect, flawed creature, just like all humans on the planet.”
“Friction points and single points of failure happen in any given day potentially, so think in a concise, intelligent way. Out of five items to do, which one would make you satisfied with your entire day?”
“Babe Ruth struck out all the time, but he's not remembered for that. He's remembered for what worked.”
“You can fail at plenty as long as you get a few important things right.”
“Schedule things in advance, or you might be inclined to quit. A lot of standup comedians do this, because they may have six or 12 gigs before they do their first set well. Commit beforehand; prepay if you can.”
“How can you use different belief systems, different frameworks, different principles, different tech tools to optimize your productivity and your effectiveness?”
“I often ask myself, what if I just did the opposite for 24 to 48 hours?”
“The easiest way to distinguish yourself is to ask yourself how you can be different, and not just better.”
“If you sit down in a negative state, you will be thinking first and foremost of problems, and not solutions.”
“The question, ‘what is the worst thing that can happen?’ is a very powerful question.”
“Instead of thinking of the repercussions of an action, you should also be asking yourself, ‘what are the costs of inaction?’”
“Much like you would train your body, you can train your mind.”
“Observe your thoughts, instead of being constantly the victim of your thoughts.”
To find out more from Ferriss, go to tim.blog or fourhourworkweek.com, and be sure to watch his Leading Edge webcast.
