Experts in Excess

Your guide to sustainability.

You are here: Home / Archives for Influences

Influences

Influences: Tim Ferriss

by Leave a Comment

Who is Tim Ferriss?

I will let Tim’s bio page take this one:

“Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Company‘s “Most Innovative Business People” and one of Fortune‘s “40 under 40.” He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek and Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. The Observer and other media have called Tim “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 100 million downloads.”

Picture of Tim Ferriss seated on the floor in a living room. Tim is reading and taking notes with a cup of tea in front of him. Tim is Caucasian with a buzzed haircut, stubble, and wearing a henley.

How did I find him?

I picked up The 4-Hour Work Week in 2008. Like a lot of the things that I love, it sounds like a scam. For those of you that aren’t familiar, the core lesson is really about freeing yourself to execute on what’s most important to you. While some of the details are a bit dated, the overall philosophy addresses prioritization, optimization, delegation, and resources in ways that best fit your personal goals. To me, this is what he is seeking to accomplish in most everything he writes. I’m going to avoid digressing into a full book review but I will say that the book is foundational for so many of my philosophies even if I don’t love the read.

From this introduction, I have followed Tim’s blog, read all of his books, and I listen to his podcast. Tim is a prolific producer of content and I cite it often. I also talk about Tim like I know him (I don’t, yet), which annoys my wife.

Tim Ferriss is often pigeonholed as a lifehacker or self-help. What I think is missed here is his obsession with priniciples. As much as he might talk about tactics, he’s always trying to get to the underlying principles. I might be projecting here, but he’s a scientist. He’s publishing in near real-time, so there is a constant evolution. What might be wrong, offensive, or confusing in the moment either leads to a dead end (often acknowledged) or success. The thing I love most about Tim is that he’s seems to be nearly obligated to share those successes with you for the low cost of a book, or your time.

Biggest benefits?

Tim has influenced me in two, huge ways.

  1. Principles – as mentioned above, Tim is obsessed with principles and he shares them freely. Principles are the mental models or software for how each of us operates. This is a critically important exploration.
  2. Introductions – In Tim’s pursuits, he is interviewing the best, in nearly every category, constantly. There are literally hundreds of people that I have been introduced to and now read, follow, or watch thanks to Tim’s endless hunting.

Crown Jewel(s)

“Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide” is a heartfelt blog post on Tim’s near-attempt at suicide. Mental health is something that all of are exposed to, even if we don’t all experience it. I can’t recommend reading this post highly enough.

“Why you should define your fears instead of your goals” TED2017 Talk.

Connection to sustainability?

Whenever I get the chance I’m going to tell you that sustainability isn’t special. It is just like anything else, you are working with a group of people on a combination of problems.

That said, Tim Ferriss has spent an inordinate amount of time working with groups of people on their various problems. There are droves of lessons to be learned from this exploration. Tim is particularly good at studying human behavior as it relates to marketing (sales), compliance (diet), and learning. Again, his capacity to draw out principles that can be universally applied is incredibly valuable.

As much time as I’ve spent with his material, I’m sure there are dozens of key lessons I’ve overlooked or haven’t found a place for yet. Speaking of his material, the vast majority of it is free. His podcasts are professionally edited, annotated, and transcribed. There is no paywall in his blog. His books are all competitively priced, available in all formats, and undoubtedly in your local library.

Tim Ferriss has a lot to teach you.

Where to Start with Tim Ferriss?

It really depends on your goals… a general prescription would be Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, which is designed to be consumed as a buffet, not a textbook:) From there, I’d listen to a podcast, you can look for a name you recognize or there is a Top 10.

Room for Improvement

Tim seems to resonate poorly with female audiences. I’m a dude and very much in the center of Tim’s target market, so I have a tough time identifying specific areas for improvement. Most obvious to me is Tim’s approach to interviews with women he seems to be attracted to. Twitterpated? Intimidated? I can only speculate and I know it can be hard to listen to.

Tim also did TV show, The Tim Ferriss Experiment, which wasn’t great (IMHO) but totally “on-brand” so you won’t lose anything in tracking it down.

Canon

Books

Blog/Podcast

Social Media