Mission 8: The greatest Tim Ferriss Podcasts, or How to make your commute interesting, motivational and educational
Hello friends of the Timeless,
As you may have already noticed, I’m quite a fan of Tim Ferriss and his philosophy of life.
Today (after the usual ramble), I’ll be sharing my 5 favorite episodes of The Tim Ferriss Show — the 5 podcast interviews that I believe could benefit ANYBODY, ANYWHERE.
Podcasts?
Podcasts have only recently entered my life. I frequently make 1+hour commutes for work, and I was looking for a good way to spend that time. So I experimented with downloading some episodes on iTunes.
Turns out, I’m pretty much addicted by now. Why?
- Time just flies by. When interesting people get into a cool discussion — I’m wishing to be stuck in traffic 5 minutes longer to finish the episode! Qué cambio!
- They inspire me. I get out of the car a bit smarter, a bit more motivated — and with a little more perspective on life.
- They are totally free. Hurrah!
Whether you move by train, plane or car — if there’s one thing you should change next week, I think it’s this: start listening to podcasts that interest you.
At the end, I’ll list a couple other amazing podcasts to check out — but first, let’s focus on the Tim!
The Tim Ferriss Show
On his podcast, Tim does long-form interviews with people who are “the best in their field”. This ranges from athletes, to artists, CEOs, martial arts teachers, military generals, etc…
The central theme, as quoted:
“Deconstructing world-class performers. Teasing out the routines, life lessons, tactics, habits, etc. that you can apply to your own life.”
Now, the man has managed to produce a whopping 700 blog posts, 273 podcast episodes and 7 books. Even though I’m a fan, I’ve probably read or heard only 1/10th of his portfolio.
So the question becomes… Where do we start?
Start with the timeless ones…
Heeeere we go again… But it’s actually easier said than done. How do you pick them? I figured this might be a good time to answer my own question.
- What is “timeless” exactly? Why would one of Tim’s podcasts be timeless, and the other just normal?
I have to say it’s probably different for everyone, and comes down to taste.
But for me, I have 3 rules to separate the gems from the pack:
- Principles: I’m not looking for the next hype or trend. So that one podcast about the latest development in bio-engineering might be cool… But it’s probably not timeless.
If it’s not a toolbox for many different situations — not timeless. - Practical: I need something that is actually applicable in real life. Not a vague discussion that I can’t translate into action.
If it’s not useful in real life — not timeless. - Peculiar: I’m looking for things that are different. Something that challenges the traditional point of view, that gets me thinking, that teaches me something new.
If it’s not giving me a new or different perspective — not timeless.
In any case, I’d love to hear your definition of Timeless. Or if you’re more about showing then telling, upload your favorite timeless podcast here!
My 5 favorite Tim Ferriss podcasts
- #25: KEVIN KELLY — WIRED Co-founder, Polymath, Most Interesting Man In The World
An absolute gem of an episode. “Most Interesting Man In the World” is quite the claim, but Mr. Kelly does not disappoint. In this first part, he explains some of his early choices in life: why he decided to “slack” around Asia, how he found projects that were truly unique, and why he decided to experiment with having only 6 months to live. - #317: STEVE JURVETSON — The Midas Touch and Mind-Bending Futures
Pro tip: skip to 06:15 to avoid the ads.
Tim talks to one of the most succesful venture capitalists in the world. The first investor in Tesla, SpaceX, Hotmail (!), D-Wave Systems, … He talks about which technologies on the horizon are poised to be massive disruptors — and he lays out the principles behind why he backs certain start-ups. If you love science and tech, this is a 2.5-hour long treat. - #19: The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades
A short piece of 17 minutes, describing the philosophy of becoming a “polymath”. Reason number 3 (Boredom = failure) is one of my most important guiding principles in life… - #61: MATT MULLENWEG — The Benevolent Dictator of the Internet
Matt Mullenweg is the 33-year old founder/CEO of Wordpress & Automattic Inc. Although he’s young, he is PACKED with wisdom and a joy to listen to. Here he discusses how Wordpress got started, his productivity routines, his hiring tactics, the future of the internet, … A must-listen. - #67: AMANDA PALMER — How to Fight, Meditate, and Make Good Art
A “peculiar” one. I didn’t know anything about Amanda Palmer before this episode, but it turns out she’s a SUPER interesting human being. Street artist, music producer, writer, … In any case, her book “The Art of Asking” is on my reading list.
Awesome episodes that did not make the cut: Naval Ravikant (angel investor), Ray Dalio (largest hedge fund in the world), Maria Sharapova (tennis champion), Seth Godin (marketing guru), Ricardo Semler (business maverick, amazing discussion!!), Arnold Schwarzenegger (no comment), …
You can find a complete list of all these pieces on the author page of Tim Ferriss on Timeless.
If you have a favorite podcast episode you would like to see featured for our community — I’d love to hear it, don’t hesitate to message me or leave a quick reply!
Books?
If you like the podcast, there’s a good chance you may also be interested in some of his books:
- The 4-Hour Workweek: probably his biggest legacy to the world, reframing how we define work, productivity and mobility.
- The 4-hour Body: I’ve experimented with the slow carb diet and it’s quite effective.
- The 4-hour Chef: I need this……
- Tools of titans: HUGE book with practical life tips. Check out an awesome summary here.
Other Podcasts
Besides Tim Ferriss, here are some other amazing podcasts I’ve been exploring:
- The After On Podcast: “Unhurried conversations with thinkers, founders and scientists”. Every episode is an extreme deep-dive into the latest in technology: neuroscience, quantum computers, drones, online privacy, …
- This American Life: Crazy stories, cool history lessons, funny anecdotes, … all brought to life with a magnificent flair. It’s important to pick your episodes here, but you should not die without listening to TAL once!
- The Ezra Klein Show: Politics, the state of the globe, journalism, … Ezra Klein somehow gets people like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates or Hillary Clinton on his show — and doesn’t hesitate to fire heavy question at them!
- … What are your favorites?
Adios?
Yup, I’m off to go for a run while listening to a podcast!
I hope to see some new gems on the Discover page when I get back ;-).
Have a great week,
Gilles & Thomas
Why Timeless?
As you may know, we’re trying to find and preserve truly valuable content on the web. The first blog post gives some more context on the idea of an open database of “wisdom”. In short: we’re trying to separate the signal from the noise on the web. We’re not looking for the next hype or trend; we’re looking for principles that can be applied in many different circumstances.
Gameplan
First and most crucial step: find the wisdom. On today’s over-crowded internet, ruled by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other hype-machines… this could prove hard enough.
Here’s the plan:
- Every week, I start things off with my 5 all-time classics on a certain theme.
- Productivity, Decision Making, Health, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Relationships, … y mucho más!
- If you have great material on this subject, you can upload it into the database. Sharing is caring!
- We check out each other’s favorites and rate them on their timeless value.
- Subject by subject, we build up “hit-lists” of wisdom to preserve and expand.
- Maybe most importantly, we all learn a shit ton of each other in the process.
