Metadata
- Author: The Tim Ferriss Show
- Full Title: #518: Q&A With Tim — Current Morning and Exercise Routines, Holotropic Breathwork, Ambition vs. Self-Compassion, Daily Practices for Joy, Ontological Shock, and More
- Category:
- URL: https://www.airr.io/episode/60ca4b726f8ae2babe86d077
Highlights
Speaker 0: for stigmatic mushroom coffee and Laird superfood creamer. I had both this morning. In fact from that point on it really depends on the day. So I organize my week in thematic approach meaning rather than taking the five types of activities that I need or want to cover each week and spreading them throughout each day. I tend to have a day dedicated to different types of work. So Tuesday will involve lots and lots of phone calls or at least that’s when I’ll batch my phone calls with my team and with other people. So very frequently I will not do any type of journaling on that day but start walking and talking. So I’ll get a lot of my sun exposure (Time 0:07:16)
Speaker 0: on my right Elbow. More recently, I have been able to train without extended pain of course, a little nicks and bruises and so on. So we have climbing twice a week, we have accurate twice a week and then we have weight training typically of some type 1 to 2 times per week. This is nothing fancy. It’s something along the lines of saying Occam’s protocol in the, for our body or kettlebell swings, it’s very basic, it’s generally going to be 20 to 40 minutes and it is for the purpose of injury prevention, first and foremost, not performance enhancement and last but not least. Walking. I walk a fair amount on Tuesdays during calls, I would say I walk for 3 to 5 hours minimum and do my (Time 0:11:08)
Speaker 0: a few questions from the livestream. So, we’ll look at a couple of questions from the livestream here, Edgar, in a way I think is how we pronounce that question. What is your process to determine if you’re going the right direction? Sometimes we might get lost and trying to accomplish things instead of thinking about what is worth working for. Really, this is an energetic canary in the coal mine, for me, in the sense that if you find yourself low energy, which is very often accompanied by depressive or pessimistic thoughts, then I will do a number of things including 8020 analysis and some form of dream lining is outlined in the four hour workweek. But I (Time 0:12:15)
Speaker 0: Say 20% of people and activities that are producing 80% or more of my peak positive emotional states. And then on the other side, peak negative emotional states or negative ads and negative subtractions. And I will look at that. But but really it’s just using a simple rubric. Like how quickly do you fall asleep and how do you feel when you first wake up, when you first wake up? Is there a feeling of dread of, Oh fuck, I have to slog through another day of not really knowing where I’m going or is it a different feeling? So for me, as Jodie Foster once said, I believe could be mis attribution. But in (Time 0:13:07)
Speaker 0: states or negative ads and negative subtractions. And I will look at that. But but really it’s just using a simple rubric. Like how quickly do you fall asleep and how do you feel when you first wake up, when you first wake up? Is there a feeling of dread of, Oh fuck, I have to slog through another day of not really knowing where I’m going or is it a different feeling? So for me, as Jodie Foster once said, I believe could be mis attribution. But in the end, winning is sleeping well. Something along those lines. So it’s really how do you feel right before you get better when you go to bed and how do you feel right when you wake up and if something is off, I believe, you know, it it doesn’t need to be put into a spreadsheet and analyzed. (Time 0:13:20)
Speaker 0: It seems to me that it is a personal decision of sorts. Perhaps that is with a vocation. Perhaps you feel called something, perhaps you pursue something. But I’m looking for models of people who have done that. And so I think biographies will also hold an important position in my trying to navigate this particular period in my life. So there you have my answer in a way to both of those. All right, so let me scroll down, see what other questions we have in the live stream Andrew Robinson. If you were asked to give a commencement speech, what would be the core message? The core message would be you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So pick them very carefully and prune very carefully over time (Time 0:16:23)
Speaker 0: particular period in my life. So there you have my answer in a way to both of those. All right, so let me scroll down, see what other questions we have in the live stream Andrew Robinson. If you were asked to give a commencement speech, what would be the core message? The core message would be you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So pick them very carefully and prune very carefully over time because some friends are for a night, some for a season and some for life and all are welcome. There is a place and a time and there are certainly many benefits and enjoyment to be had for all. But those categories can change and not everyone is forever. All right, (Time 0:16:43)
Speaker 0: be able to add volume to that. All right, So I get this question a lot. Do you know of any psychedelic retreats that I can recommend? I can’t do that of course, because as much as I wish I could immediately whatever I recommend would suffer as one listener called it the hug of death and they would get more applications than they could accept. They would attempt to increase capacity and then quality and customer service would go through the floor and it would be a complete disaster for everyone involved. Self frank Chen who or what has consistently brought you joy in the past six months, one year, three years, five years. Well, I would say we’re talking who you know, my girlfriend is, the first who comes to mind. And then of course we have molly pup, my (Time 0:25:13)
Speaker 0: choosing to have you as a parent. So I really wanted to do a lot of self work and go through quite a lot of therapy, many different types of therapy for childhood trauma etcetera. Before even considering that as an option, it just it seemed like the only ethical way to approach it. And secondly, some of my hesitation has been around my genetic predisposition and it is a genetic predisposition. I’ve seen this in my family certainly to depressive episodes and whether or not I want to pass along genetic code that could predispose someone who didn’t ask for it to experience depressive episodes on a regular basis. But at this point, for many (Time 0:32:25)
Speaker 0: too squishy for a lot of hard driving kind of Mackenzie, I banker aspiring folks who just you know, want to conquer the world. So let’s not use self compassion. But what about meditating? 20 minutes in the morning, this will help you to become more self aware. Let’s start there. Forget about compassion. If you have the ability to pause even for a few seconds before reflexively responding, say in anger or in anything if you have the ability to be more self aware so that you can regulate more effectively. Will that make you more effective or will that make you less effective? I think it will make you more effective. (Time 0:40:05)
Speaker 0: in your office were in a smoking jacket, you’d be a weirdo, and it’s just not necessary. So that’s a very, very long answer to your question. But hopefully that is helpful in some capacity. And here’s the other thing, It’s not all or nothing. It’s like when a female friends of mine say if I lift weights, I’ll get really bulky, won’t I? And I say that’s not gonna happen overnight. You’re not just going to turn into some Show pony with like quads villas in 48 hours. So train, do some resistance training and it’s going to be incremental and if you don’t like it, stop, you know, you’re not going to become a buddhist master monk overnight. If you start meditating or considering some of these topics by reading books like radical acceptance or awareness by Anthony de Mello for instance, there you (Time 0:43:09)
Speaker 0: of wood that has a quote laser etched into it and it’s not so much a quote as a proverb. It’s a polish proverb and it’s very simple. Not my circus, not my monkeys. Now, why would I use that very often? Because my unproductive thought or emotional loop is triggered by some bullshit that gets foisted upon me like a hot potato. And I would say in combination with not my circus, not my monkeys. The expression, your lack of preparation does not constitute my emergency, which was said to me once way back in the day when I was getting started because I was trying to rush someone to do something and it is simply a reminder that if you allow everyone else’s (Time 0:58:10)
Speaker 0: ted lasso, L A S. S. O. Came up repeatedly. It was probably one of the top three. So that is also on my list. Yeah. And even in this chat there are many plus ones for ted Lasso matt Ridley asks how much time do I set aside for reading each week? I tend to read before bed as a way to wind down. And very frequently I would say, you know, once or twice a week I will try to read. This is often if I am feeling anxious for whatever reason or rushed, But without a clear explanation, I will meditate, have my tear coffee, then lay down on the couch with my dog and read for 30 to 60 minutes. So I would say if you (Time 1:00:26)
Speaker 0: understanding as a concept is hard to wrap our heads around with a lot and that even if we could wrap our heads around it, we’re going to be constantly misunderstood. That removes a lot of the pressure to make yourself understood if that makes any sense. So if the secret to happiness is low expectations, as I was told by one of my danish friends when I asked them why Denmark rated as one of the happiest countries on earth, then perhaps the key to overcoming the fear of being misunderstood is just to assume that everyone misunderstands everyone and that there is no point that it is pissing in the wind to try to prevent people from misunderstanding you. So that’s (Time 1:05:39)