FITNESS, MONEY, AND WISDOM — HERE ARE THE TOOLS
Over the last two years, #1 New York Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss has collected the routines and tools of world-class performers around the globe. Now, the distilled notebook of tips and tricks that helped him double his income, flexibility, happiness, and more is available as TOOLS OF TITANS.
AMONG HUNDREDS OF TACTICS, YOU WILL LEARN:
How to optimize your mornings with Tony Robbins’s “priming” routine
How to “go on the offense” in your life like billionaire investor Chris Sacca
How Arnold Schwarzenegger uses psychological warfare … and how he made millions before movie stardom
How the “Wizard of Hollywood” Robert Rodriguez turns weaknesses into strengths
How to overcome setbacks and failure like former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink
How to push through fear and instill confidence like Jamie Foxx
How to find and stress-test opportunities like iconic entrepreneur Marc Andreessen
How to ask questions like best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell
How legendary music producer Rick Rubin uses saunas and tiny homework assignments
How comedian Mike Birbiglia got President Obama to say “poo” (and how to engage with celebrities)
How to get unstuck in your creative work like Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist (60M-plus copies sold)
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and one of Forbes’s “Names You Need to Know.” He is an early-stage tech investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Alibaba, and more) and the author of three #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef. The Observer and other media have called Tim “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his 100M-plus-download podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show.
This book presents a wide range of opinions about a variety of topics related to health and well-being, including certain ideas, treatments, and procedures that may be hazardous or illegal if undertaken without proper medical supervision. These opinions reflect the research and ideas of the author or those whose ideas the author presents, but are not intended to substitute for the services of a trained healthcare practitioner. Consult with your health care practitioner before engaging in any diet, drug, or exercise regimen. The author and the publisher disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects resulting directly or indirectly from information contained in this book.
Please don’t do anything stupid and kill yourself. It would make us both quite unhappy. Consult a doctor, lawyer, and common-sense specialist before doing anything in this book.
The #1 New York Times Bestsellers
VISIT www.penguin.co.uk for more details
First, gratitude to you all, my “companions on the path,” as James Fadiman would say.
Second, a portion of author royalties will be donated to these worthwhile causes:
Third, for all the seekers, may you find much more than you’re looking for. Perhaps this book will help.
I am not a self-made man.
Every time I give a speech at a business conference, or speak to college students, or do a Reddit AMA, someone says it.
“Governor/Governator/Arnold/Arnie/Schwarzie/Schnitzel (depending on where I am), as a self-made man, what’s your blueprint for success?”
They’re always shocked when I thank them for the compliment but say, “I am not a self-made man. I got a lot of help.”
It is true that I grew up in Austria without plumbing. It is true that I moved to America alone with just a gym bag. And it is true that I worked as a bricklayer and invested in real estate to become a millionaire before I ever swung the sword in Conan the Barbarian.
But it is not true that I am self-made. Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants.
My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction).
I had a big vision, and I had fire in my belly. But I would never have gotten anywhere without my mother helping me with my homework (and smacking me when I wasn’t ready to study), without my father telling me to “be useful,” without teachers who explained how to sell, or without coaches who taught me the fundamentals of weight lifting.
If I had never seen a magazine with Reg Park on the cover and read about his transition from Mr. Universe to playing Hercules on the big screen, I might still be yodeling in the Austrian Alps. I knew I wanted to leave Austria, and I knew that America was exactly where I belonged, but Reg put fuel on the fire and gave me my blueprint.
Joe Weider brought me to America and took me under his wing, promoting my bodybuilding career and teaching me about business. Lucille Ball took a huge chance and called me to guest star in a special that was my first big break in Hollywood. And in 2003, without the help of 4,206,284 Californians, I would never have been elected Governor of the great state of California.
So how can I ever claim to be self-made? To accept that mantle discounts every person and every piece of advice that got me here. And it gives the wrong impression—that you can do it alone.
I couldn’t. And odds are, you can’t either.
We all need fuel. Without the assistance, advice, and inspiration of others, the gears of our mind grind to a halt, and we’re stuck with nowhere to go.
I have been blessed to find mentors and idols at every step of my life, and I’ve been lucky to meet many of them. From Joe Weider to Nelson Mandela, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Muhammad Ali, from Andy Warhol to George H.W. Bush, I have never been shy about seeking wisdom from others to pour fuel on my fire.
You have probably listened to Tim’s podcasts. (I particularly recommend the one with the charming bodybuilder with the Austrian accent.) He has used his platform to bring you the wisdom of a diverse cast of characters in business, entertainment, and sports. I bet you’ve learned something from them—and oftentimes, I bet you picked up something you didn’t expect.
Whether it’s a morning routine, or a philosophy or training tip, or just motivation to get through your day, there isn’t a person on this planet who doesn’t benefit from a little outside help.
I’ve always treated the world as my classroom, soaking up lessons and stories to fuel my path forward. I hope you do the same.
The worst thing you can ever do is think that you know enough.
Never stop learning. Ever.
That’s why you bought this book. You know that wherever you are in life, there will be moments when you need outside motivation and insight. There will be times when you don’t have the answer, or the drive, and you’re forced to look beyond yourself.
You can admit that you can’t do it alone. I certainly can’t. No one can.
Now, turn the page and learn something.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger
I am not the expert. I’m the experimenter, the scribe, and the guide.
If you find anything amazing in this book, it’s thanks to the brilliant minds who acted as teachers, resources, critics, contributors, proofreaders, and references. If you find anything ridiculous in this book, it’s because I didn’t heed their advice or made a mistake.
Though indebted to hundreds of people, I wish to thank here the many guests who have appeared on my podcast and who grace the pages of this book, listed in alphabetical order:
Scott Adams
James Altucher
Sophia Amoruso
Marc Andreessen
Sekou Andrews
Patrick Arnold
Peter Attia
Glenn Beck
Scott Belsky
Richard Betts
Mike Birbiglia
Alex Blumberg
Amelia Boone
Justin Boreta
Tara Brach
Brené Brown
Bryan Callen
Shay Carl
Dan Carlin
Ed Catmull
Margaret Cho
Paulo Coelho
Ed Cooke
Kevin Costner
Whitney Cummings
Dominic D’Agostino
Alain de Botton
Joe De Sena
Mike Del Ponte
Peter Diamandis
Tracy DiNunzio
Jack Dorsey
Stephen J. Dubner
Dan Engle
James Fadiman
Jon Favreau
Jamie Foxx
Chris Fussell
Cal Fussman
Adam Gazzaley
Malcolm Gladwell
Seth Godin
Evan Goldberg
Marc Goodman
Laird Hamilton
Sam Harris
Wim Hof
Reid Hoffman
Ryan Holiday
Chase Jarvis
Daymond John
Bryan Johnson
Sebastian Junger
Noah Kagan
Samy Kamkar
Kaskade
Sam Kass
Kevin Kelly
Brian Koppelman
Tim Kreider
Paul Levesque
Phil Libin
Will MacAskill
Brian MacKenzie
Justin Mager
Nicholas McCarthy
Gen. Stan McChrystal
Jane McGonigal
BJ Miller
Matt Mullenweg
Casey Neistat
Jason Nemer
Edward Norton
B.J. Novak
Alexis Ohanian
Amanda Palmer
Rhonda Patrick
Caroline Paul
Martin Polanco
Charles Poliquin
Maria Popova
Rolf Potts
Naval Ravikant
Gabby Reece
Tony Robbins
Robert Rodriguez
Seth Rogen
Kevin Rose
Rick Rubin
Chris Sacca
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ramit Sethi
Mike Shinoda
Jason Silva
Derek Sivers
Joshua Skenes
Christopher Sommer
Morgan Spurlock
Kelly Starrett
Neil Strauss
Cheryl Strayed
Chade-Meng Tan
Peter Thiel
Pavel Tsatsouline
Luis von Ahn
Josh Waitzkin
Eric Weinstein
Shaun White
Jocko Willink
Rainn Wilson
Chris Young
Andrew Zimmern
“Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed-of things—the people on the edge see them first.”
“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.”
I’m a compulsive note-taker.
To wit, I have recorded nearly every workout since age 18 or so. Roughly 8 feet of shelf space in my home is occupied by spine upon spine of notebook upon notebook. That, mind you, is one subject. It extends to dozens. Some people would call this OCD, and many would consider it a manic wild goose chase. I view it simply: It is the collection of my life’s recipes.
My goal is to learn things once and use them forever.
For instance, let’s say I stumble upon a picture of myself from June 5, 2007, and I think, “I really wish I looked like that again.” No problem. I’ll crack open a dusty volume from 2007, review the 8 weeks of training and food logs preceding June 5, repeat them, and—voilà—end up looking nearly the same as my younger self (minus the hair). It’s not always that easy, but it often is.
This book, like my others, is a compendium of recipes for high performance that I gathered for my own use. There’s one big difference, though—I never planned on publishing this one.
___________
As I write this, I’m sitting in a café in Paris overlooking the Luxembourg Garden, just off of Rue Saint-Jacques. Rue Saint-Jacques is likely the oldest road in Paris, and it has a rich literary history. Victor Hugo lived a few blocks from where I’m sitting. Gertrude Stein drank coffee and F. Scott Fitzgerald socialized within a stone’s throw. Hemingway wandered up and down the sidewalks, his books percolating in his mind, wine no doubt percolating in his blood.
I came to France to take a break from everything. No social media, no email, no social commitments, no set plans … except one project. The month had been set aside to review all of the lessons I’d learned from nearly 200 world-class performers I’d interviewed on The Tim Ferriss Show, which recently passed 100,000,000 downloads. The guests included chess prodigies, movie stars, four-star generals, pro athletes, and hedge fund managers. It was a motley crew.
More than a handful of them had since become collaborators in business and creative projects, spanning from investments to indie film. As a result, I’d absorbed a lot of their wisdom outside of our recordings, whether over workouts, wine-infused jam sessions, text message exchanges, dinners, or late-night phone calls. In every case, I’d gotten to know them well beyond the superficial headlines in the media.
My life had already improved in every area as a result of the lessons I could remember. But that was the tip of the iceberg. The majority of the gems were still lodged in thousands of pages of transcripts and hand-scribbled notes. More than anything, I longed for the chance to distill everything into a playbook.
So, I’d set aside an entire month for review (and, if I’m being honest, pain au chocolat), to put together the ultimate CliffsNotes for myself. It would be the notebook to end all notebooks. Something that could help me in minutes but be read for a lifetime.
That was the lofty goal, at least, and I wasn’t sure what the result would be.
Within weeks of starting, the experience exceeded all expectations. No matter the situation I found myself in, something in this book was able to help. Now, when I’m feeling stuck, trapped, desperate, angry, conflicted, or simply unclear, the first thing I do is flip through these pages with a strong cup of coffee in hand. So far, the needed medicine has popped out within 20 minutes of revisiting these friends, who will now become your friends. Need a reassuring pat on the back? There’s someone for that. An unapologetic slap in the face? Plenty of people for that, too. Someone to explain why your fears are unfounded … or why your excuses are bullshit? Done.
There are a lot of powerful quotes, but this book is much more than a compilation of quotes. It is a toolkit for changing your life.
There are many books full of interviews. This is different, because I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something or replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested. Everything in these pages has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of these tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration. They work when you need them most.
Some applications are obvious at first glance, while others are subtle and will provoke a “Holy shit, now I get it!” realization weeks later, while you’re daydreaming in the shower or about to fall asleep.
Many of the one-liners teach volumes. Some summarize excellence in an entire field in one sentence. As Josh Waitzkin (here), chess prodigy and the inspiration behind Searching for Bobby Fischer, might put it, these bite-sized learnings are a way to “learn the macro from the micro.” The process of piecing them together was revelatory. If I thought I saw “the Matrix” before, I was mistaken, or I was only seeing 10% of it. Still, even that 10%—“islands” of notes on individual mentors—had already changed my life and helped me 10x my results. But after revisiting more than a hundred minds as part of the same fabric, things got very interesting very quickly. For the movie nerds among you, it was like the end of The Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects: “The red door knob! The fucking Kobayashi coffee cup! How did I not notice that?! It was right in front of me the whole time!”
To help you see the same, I’ve done my best to weave patterns together throughout the book, noting where guests have complementary habits, beliefs, and recommendations.
The completed jigsaw puzzle is much greater than the sum of its parts.
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
These world-class performers don’t have superpowers.
The rules they’ve crafted for themselves allow the bending of reality to such an extent that it may seem that way, but they’ve learned how to do this, and so can you. These “rules” are often uncommon habits and bigger questions.
In a surprising number of cases, the power is in the absurd. The more absurd, the more “impossible” the question, the more profound the answers. Take, for instance, a question that serial billionaire Peter Thiel likes to ask himself and others:
“If you have a 10-year plan of how to get [somewhere], you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 months?”
For purposes of illustration here, I might reword that to:
“What might you do to accomplish your 10-year goals in the next 6 months, if you had a gun against your head?”
Now, let’s pause. Do I expect you to take 10 seconds to ponder this and then magically accomplish 10 years’ worth of dreams in the next few months? No, I don’t. But I do expect that the question will productively break your mind, like a butterfly shattering a chrysalis to emerge with new capabilities. The “normal” systems you have in place, the social rules you’ve forced upon yourself, the standard frameworks—they don’t work when answering a question like this. You are forced to shed artificial constraints, like shedding a skin, to realize that you had the ability to renegotiate your reality all along. It just takes practice.
My suggestion is that you spend real time with the questions you find most ridiculous in this book. Thirty minutes of stream-of-consciousness journaling (here) could change your life.
On top of that, while the world is a gold mine, you need to go digging in other people’s heads to unearth riches. Questions are your pickaxes and competitive advantage. This book will give you an arsenal to choose from.
When organizing all of the material for myself, I didn’t want an onerous 37-step program.
I wanted low-hanging fruit with immediate returns. Think of the bite-sized rules within these pages as PEDs—performance-enhancing details. They can be added to any training regimen (read here: different careers, personal preferences, unique responsibilities, etc.) to pour gasoline on the fire of progress.
Fortunately, 10x results don’t always require 10x effort. Big changes can come in small packages. To dramatically change your life, you don’t need to run a 100-mile race, get a PhD, or completely reinvent yourself. It’s the small things, done consistently, that are the big things (e.g., “red teaming” once per quarter, Tara Brach’s guided meditations, strategic fasting or exogenous ketones, etc.).
“Tool” is defined broadly in this book. It includes routines, books, common self-talk, supplements, favorite questions, and much more.
In this book, you’ll naturally look for common habits and recommendations, and you should. Here are a few patterns, some odder than others:
Of course, I will help you connect these dots, but that’s less than half of the value of this book. Some of the most encouraging workarounds are found in the outliers. I want you to look for the black sheep who fit your unique idiosyncrasies. Keep an eye out for the non-traditional paths, like Shay Carl’s journey from manual laborer to YouTube star to co-founder of a startup sold for nearly $1 billion (here). The variation is the consistency. As a software engineer might say, “That’s not a bug. It’s a feature!”
Borrow liberally, combine uniquely, and create your own bespoke blueprint.
RULE #1: SKIP LIBERALLY.
I want you to skip anything that doesn’t grab you. This book should be fun to read, and it’s a buffet to choose from. Don’t suffer through anything. If you hate shrimp, don’t eat the goddamn shrimp. Treat it as a choose-your-own-adventure guide, as that’s how I’ve written it. My goal is for each reader to like 50%, love 25%, and never forget 10%. Here’s why: For the millions who’ve heard the podcast, and the dozens who proofread this book, the 50/25/10 highlights are completely different for every person. It’s blown my mind.
I’ve even had multiple guests in this book—people who are the best at what they do—proofread the same profile, answering my question of “Which 10% would you absolutely keep, and which 10% would you absolutely cut?” Oftentimes, the 10% “must keep” of one person was the exact “must cut” of someone else! This is not one-size-fits-all. I expect you to discard plenty. Read what you enjoy.
RULE #2: SKIP, BUT DO SO INTELLIGENTLY.
All that said, take a brief mental note of anything you skip. Perhaps put a little dot in the corner of the page or highlight the headline.
Perhaps it’s skipping and glossing over precisely these topics or questions that has created blind spots, bottlenecks, and unresolved issues in your life? That was certainly true for me.
If you decide to flip past something, note it, return to it later at some point, and ask yourself, “Why did I skip this?” Did it offend you? Seem beneath you? Seem too difficult? And did you arrive at that by thinking it through, or is it a reflection of biases inherited from your parents and others? Very often, “our” beliefs are not our own.
This type of practice is how you create yourself, instead of seeking to discover yourself. There is value in the latter, but it’s mostly past-tense: It’s a rearview mirror. Looking out the windshield is how you get where you want to go.
I was recently standing in Place Louis Aragon, a shaded outdoor nook on the River Seine, having a picnic with writing students from the Paris American Academy. One woman pulled me aside and asked what I hoped to convey in this book, at the core. Seconds later, we were pulled back into the fray, as the attendees were all taking turns talking about the circuitous paths that brought them there that day. Nearly everyone had a story of wanting to come to Paris for years—in some cases, 30 to 40 years—but assuming it was impossible.
Listening to their stories, I pulled out a scrap of paper and jotted down my answer to her question. In this book, at its core, I want to convey the following:
| 1 | Success, however you define it, is achievable if you collect the right field-tested beliefs and habits. Someone else has done your version of “success” before, and often, many have done something similar. “But,” you might ask, “what about a first, like colonizing Mars?” There are still recipes. Look at empire building of other types, look at the biggest decisions in the life of Robert Moses (read The Power Broker), or simply find someone who stepped up to do great things that were deemed impossible at the time (e.g., Walt Disney). There is shared DNA you can borrow. |
| 2 | The superheroes you have in your mind (idols, icons, titans, billionaires, etc.) are nearly all walking flaws who’ve maximized 1 or 2 strengths. Humans are imperfect creatures. You don’t “succeed” because you have no weaknesses; you succeed because you find your unique strengths and focus on developing habits around them. To make this crystal-clear, I’ve deliberately included two sections in this book (here and here) that will make you think: “Wow, Tim Ferriss is a mess. How the hell does he ever get anything done?” Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. The heroes in this book are no different. Everyone struggles. Take solace in that. |
STRUCTURE
This book is comprised of three sections: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. Of course, there is tremendous overlap across the sections, as the pieces are interdependent. In fact, you could think of the three as a tripod upon which life is balanced. One needs all three to have any sustainable success or happiness. “Wealthy,” in the context of this book, also means much more than money. It extends to abundance in time, relationships, and more.
My original intention with The 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW), The 4-Hour Body (4HB), and The 4-Hour Chef (4HC) was to create a trilogy themed after Ben Franklin’s famous quote: “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
People constantly ask me, “What would you put in The 4-Hour Workweek if you were to write it again? How would you update it?” Ditto for 4HB and 4HC. Tools of Titans contains most of the answers for all three.
EXTENDED QUOTES
Before writing this book, I called Mason Currey, author of Daily Rituals, which profiles the rituals of 161 creatives like Franz Kafka and Pablo Picasso. I asked him what his best decisions were related to the book. Mason responded with, “[I] let my subjects’ voices come through as much as possible, and I think that was one of things that I did ‘right.’ Often, it wasn’t the details of their routine/habits, so much as how they talked about them that was interesting.”
This is a critical observation and exactly why most “books of quotes” fail to have any real impact.
Take, for example, a one-liner like “What’s on the other side of fear? Nothing.” from Jamie Foxx. It’s memorable, and you might guess at the profound underlying meaning. I’d still wager you’d forget it within a week. But, what if I made it infinitely more powerful by including Jamie’s own explanation of why he uses that maxim to teach his kids confidence? The context and original language teaches you how to THINK like a world-class performer, not just regurgitate quotes. That is the key meta-skill we’re aiming for. To that end, you’ll see a lot of extended quotes and stories.
I’ve occasionally bolded lines within quotes. This is my emphasis, not the guest’s.
How to Read Quotes—The Micro
… = Portion of dialogue omitted
[words in brackets] = additional information that wasn’t part of the interview but may be necessary to understand what’s being discussed, or related info or recommendations from yours truly
How to Read Quotes—The Macro
One of my podcast guests, also one of the smartest people I know, was shocked when I showed him his raw transcript. “Wow,” he said. “I generally like to think of myself as a decently smart guy, but I use past, present, and future tense like they’re the same fucking thing. It makes me sound like a complete moron.”
Transcripts can be unforgiving. I’ve read my own, so I know how bad it can be.
In the heat of the moment, grammar can go out the window, to be replaced by false starts and sentence fragments. Everyone starts an ungodly number of sentences with “And” or “So.” I and millions of others tend to use “and I was like” instead of “and I said.” Many of us mix up plural and singular. This all works fine in conversation, but it can hiccup on the printed page.
Quotations have therefore been edited in some cases for clarity, space, and as a courtesy to guests and readers alike. I did my best to preserve the spirit and point of quotes, while making them as smart and readable as possible. Sometimes I keep it fast and loose to preserve the kinetic energy and emotion of the moment. Other times, I smooth out the edges, including my own stammering.
If anything sounds silly or off, assume it was my mistake. Everyone in this book is amazing, and I’ve done my best to showcase that.
PATTERNS
Where guests have related recommendations or philosophies, I’ve noted them in parentheses. For instance, if Jane Doe tells a story about the value of testing higher prices, I might add “(see Marc Andreessen, here),” since his answer to “If you could have a billboard anywhere, what would you put on it?” was “Raise prices,” which he explains in depth.
HUMOR!
I’ve included ample doses of the ridiculous. First of all, if we’re serious all the time, we’ll wear out before we get the truly serious stuff done. Second, if this book were all stern looks and no winks, all productivity and no grab-assing, you’d remember very little. I agree with Tony Robbins (here) that information without emotion isn’t retained.
Look up “von Restorff effect” and “primacy and recency effect” for more science, but this book has been deliberately constructed to maximize your retention. Which leads us to …
SPIRIT ANIMALS
Yes, spirit animals. There wasn’t room for photographs in this book, but I wanted some sort of illustrations to keep things fun. It seemed like a lost cause, but then—after a glass or four of wine—I recalled that one of my guests, Alexis Ohanian (here), likes to ask potential hires, “What’s your spirit animal?” Eureka! So, you’ll see thumbnail spirit animals for anyone who would humor me and play along. The best part? Dozens of people took the question very seriously. Extended explanations, emotional changes of heart, and Venn diagrams ensued. Questions poured in: “Would a mythological creature be acceptable?” “Can I be a plant instead?” Alas, I couldn’t get a hold of everyone in time for publication, so drawings are sprinkled throughout like Scooby snacks. In a book full of practicality, treat these like little rainbows of absurdity. People had fun with it.
NON-PROFILE CONTENT AND TIM FERRISS CHAPTERS
In all sections, there are multiple non-profile pieces by guests and yours truly. These are typically intended to expand upon key principles and tools mentioned by multiple people.
URLS, WEBSITES, AND SOCIAL MEDIA
I’ve omitted most URLs, as outdated URLs are nothing but frustrating for everyone. For nearly anything mentioned, assume that I’ve chosen wording that will allow you to find it easily on Google or Amazon.
All full podcast episodes can be found at fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. Just search the guest’s name, and the extended audio, complete show notes, links, and resources will pop up like warm toast on a cold morning.
In nearly every guest’s profile, I indicate where you can best interact with them on social media: TW = Twitter, FB = Facebook, IG = Instagram, SC = Snapchat, and LI = LinkedIn.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is recommended by many guests in this book. There is one specific takeaway that Naval Ravikant (here) has reinforced with me several times on our long walks over coffee. The protagonist, Siddhartha, a monk who looks like a beggar, has come to the city and falls in love with a famous courtesan named Kamala. He attempts to court her, and she asks, “What do you have?” A well-known merchant similarly asks, “What can you give that you have learned?” His answer is the same in both cases, so I’ve included the latter story here. Siddhartha ultimately acquires all that he wants.
MERCHANT: “… If you are without possessions, how can you give?”
SIDDHARTHA: “Everyone gives what he has. The soldier gives strength, the merchant goods, the teacher instruction, the farmer rice, the fisherman fish.”
MERCHANT: “Very well, and what can you give? What have you learned that you can give?”
SIDDHARTHA: “I can think, I can wait, I can fast.”
MERCHANT: “Is that all?”
SIDDHARTHA: “I think that is all.”
MERCHANT: “And of what use are they? For example, fasting, what good is that?”
SIDDHARTHA: “It is of great value, sir. If a man has nothing to eat, fasting is the most intelligent thing he can do. If, for instance, Siddhartha had not learned to fast, he would have had to seek some kind of work today, either with you, or elsewhere, for hunger would have driven him. But, as it is, Siddhartha can wait calmly. He is not impatient, he is not in need, he can ward off hunger for a long time and laugh at it.”
___________
I think of Siddhartha’s answers often and in the following terms:
“I can think” → Having good rules for decision-making, and having good questions you can ask yourself and others.
“I can wait” → Being able to plan long-term, play the long game, and not misallocate your resources.
“I can fast” → Being able to withstand difficulties and disaster. Training yourself to be uncommonly resilient and have a high pain tolerance.
This book will help you to develop all three.
I created Tools of Titans because it’s the book that I’ve wanted my entire life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Pura vida,
Tim Ferriss
Paris, France
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
—Lao Tzu
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
—J. Krishnamurti
“In the end, winning is sleeping better.”
—Jodie Foster
“I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering.”
Amelia Boone (TW: @AMELIABOONE, AMELIABOONERACING.COM) has been called “the Michael Jordan of obstacle course racing” (OCR) and is widely considered the world’s most decorated obstacle racer. Since the inception of the sport, she’s amassed more than 30 victories and 50 podiums. In the 2012 World’s Toughest Mudder competition, which lasts 24 hours (she covered 90 miles and ~300 obstacles), she finished second OVERALL out of more than 1,000 competitors, 80% of whom were male. The one person who beat her finished just 8 minutes ahead of her. Her major victories include the Spartan Race World Championship and the Spartan Race Elite Point Series, and she is the only three-time winner of the World’s Toughest Mudder (2012, 2014, and 2015). She won the 2014 championship 8 weeks after knee surgery. Amelia is also a three-time finisher of the Death Race, a full-time attorney at Apple, and she dabbles in ultra running (qualified for the Western States 100) in all of her spare time.
Spirit animal: Carp
• What would you put on a billboard?
“No one owes you anything.”
• Amelia’s best $100 or less purchase?
Manuka honey bandages. Amelia has scars all over her shoulders and back from barbed-wire wounds.
• Most-gifted or recommended book
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski: “This is a book that you have to hold, because there are parts of it where you need to turn it upside down to read it. There are certain pages where, you are reading it, and it turns in a circle…. This is a book that’s an entire sensory experience.”
• Who do you think of when you hear the word “successful”?
“Triple H is a great example [of someone who’s transitioned extremely well from athlete to business executive]. So, Paul Levesque.” (See here.)
Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, PhD (TW/FB/IG: @FOUNDMYFITNESS, FOUNDMYFITNESS.COM) has worked alongside notables including Dr. Bruce Ames, the inventor of the Ames mutagenicity test and the 23rd most-cited scientist across *all* fields between 1973 and 1984. Dr. Patrick also conducts clinical trials, performed aging research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and did graduate research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she focused on cancer, mitochondrial metabolism, and apoptosis. More recently, Dr. Patrick has published papers on a mechanism by which vitamin D is able to regulate the production of serotonin in the brain and the various implications this may have for early-life deficiency and relevance for neuropsychiatric disorders.
Spirit animal: Coywolf
Dr. Patrick introduced me to using teeth for stem-cell banking. If you are having your wisdom teeth removed, or if your kids are losing their baby teeth (which have a particularly high concentration of dental pulp stem cells), consider using a company like StemSave or National Dental Pulp Laboratory to preserve them for later use. These companies will send your oral surgeon a kit, and then freeze the biological matter using liquid nitrogen. Costs vary, but are roughly $625 for setup and then $125 per year for storage and maintenance.
Mesenchymal stem cells can later be harvested from the dental pulp of teeth for useful (e.g., bone, cartilage, muscle, blood vessels, etc.), life-changing (e.g., motor neurons for repairing damaged spinal cord), or potentially life-saving (e.g., traumatic brain injury) treatments using your own biological raw materials.
“Hyperthermic conditioning” (calculated heat exposure) can help you to increase growth hormone (GH) levels and substantially improve endurance. I now take ~20-minute sauna sessions post-workout or post-stretching at least four times per week, typically at roughly 160 to 170°F (71–76°C). If nothing else, it seems to dramatically decrease DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness).
Focusing on endurance and growth hormone, here are some observations from Dr. Patrick:
TF: Hot baths can also significantly increase GH over baseline, and both sauna and hot baths have been shown to cause a massive release in prolactin, which plays a role in wound healing. I usually stay in a hot bath or sauna for about 20 minutes, which is long enough to significantly elevate my heart rate. I push a few minutes past dynorphin release, which usually makes one feel dysphoric and want to get out (but *not* to dizziness or lightheadedness). Generally, I’ll listen to an audiobook like The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman during the heat, then cool off for 5 to 10 minutes using an ice bath (I put 40 pounds of ice in a large bath to get it to roughly 45°F (7°C); more details here) and/or by drinking ice water. I’ll repeat this cycle 2 to 4 times.
• Three people Dr. Patrick has learned from or followed closely in the last year
Dr. Bruce Ames, Dr. Satchin Panda (professor at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California), Dr. Jennifer Doudna (professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley).
“If the best in the world are stretching their asses off in order to get strong, why aren’t you?”
Christopher Sommer (IG/FB: @GYMNASTICBODIES, GYMNASTICBODIES.COM) is a former U.S. National Team gymnastics coach and founder of GymnasticBodies, a training system that I’ve tested for the last 8 months (no affiliation). As a world-renowned coach, Sommer is known for building his students into some of the strongest, most powerful athletes in the world. During his extensive 40-year coaching career, Coach Sommer took meticulous notes on his training techniques—his wins and failures—so that he could translate the best elements into a superior exercise system for both high-level and beginner athletes. His four decades of careful observation led to the birth of Gymnastics Strength Training (GST).
Spirit animal: Falcon
The combination of GST and AcroYoga (here) has completely remodeled my body in the last year. I’m more flexible and mobile at age 39 than I was at age 20. I’m going to skip explaining a lot (e.g., Maltese, Stalder press handstand) that is best seen in video or pictures, though I’ll describe the most critical (starting here). Google is your friend.
“If you want to be a stud later, you have to be a pud now.”
Coach first told me this when I was complaining about slow progress with shoulder extension (imagine clasping your hands together behind your back, arms straight, then raising your arms without bending at the waist). When in doubt, work on the deficiencies you’re most embarrassed by. My biggest weaknesses are shoulder extension and bridging using the thoracic spine (versus lower-back arch). After improving them 10% over 3 to 4 weeks—going from “making coach vomit” to merely “making coach laugh”—a host of physical issues that plagued me for years completely disappeared. To assess your biggest weaknesses, start by finding a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) near you. Related from Sommer: “You’re not responsible for the hand of cards you were dealt. You’re responsible for maxing out what you were given.”
Sommer’s distinction between “flexibility” and “mobility” is the most concrete and clear I’ve heard. “Flexibility” can be passive, whereas “mobility” requires that you can demonstrate strength throughout the entire range of motion, including the end ranges. See the J-curl and pike pulse exercises here and here for two examples of mobility, which can be also be thought of as “active flexibility.” The pike pulse is a particularly clear demonstration, as it tests “compression strength” in a range that most people never experience.
“Slow down. Where’s the fire?” This is Coach’s constant reminder that certain adaptations take weeks or months of consistent stimuli (see here). If you rush, the reward is injuries. In GST, there are surprising stair steps after long periods of zero progress. Roughly six months into doing his “hamstring series” with minor gains, I seemingly doubled my max ranges overnight. This was completely unsurprising to Sommer.
“I used to tell my athletes there are stupid gymnasts, and there are old gymnasts, but there are no old, stupid gymnasts because they’re all dead.”