I’m excited to bring you a little taste test of a new show format that I’ve been working on — The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour.
After 200 conversations with a variety of fascinating people, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Foxx, Tony Robbins, Maria Popova, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Amanda Palmer, Malcolm Gladwell, Rick Rubin, Reid Hoffman, Chase Jarvis, Sam Harris, Rainn Wilson, and so many others, I started to spot patterns. This is the premise of my new book Tools of Titans, which is a compilation of all of my favorite habits, philosophies, and tools of world-class performers.
This is where Tim Ferriss Radio Hour comes in. In each episode, we’ll take a deep dive into one specific topic or tactic, bringing together the collective genius of past guests — with some new insights from yours truly — to help you become world class in your own right (if you aren’t already).
In this episode, we’ll be exploring meditation and mindfulness. You’ll hear from Chase Jarvis as he explains his top priorities for feeling fulfilled. I talk transcendental meditation with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I cover a wide spectrum with Sam Harris, and ask him about everything from hallucinogens to meditation techniques. And then I wrap up with Rainn Wilson, discussing how to handle life when you feel overwhelmed.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the first episode of The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour!
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
In this podcast, we talk with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In his first episode on the podcast, we discussed psychological warfare, never-told-before stories, how he became a millionaire outside of Hollywood, and much more (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
- The Tim Ferriss Show: Chase Jarvis, Master Photographer
- CreativeLive
- What is transcendental meditation (TM)?
- The Rise of Superman by Stephen Kotler
- Burning Man
- What is Wim Hof breathing?
- 5 Morning Rituals That Help Me Win The Day
- Check out the blog post and video documenting how I make my Titanium Tea.
- Headspace meditation app
- Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)
- Sam Harris on Daily Routines, The Trolley Scenario, and 5 Books Everyone Should Read
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
- Free Will by Sam Harris
- Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
- Are Psychedelic Drugs the Next Medical Breakthrough?
- How to Meditate, Sam Harris’s blog
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana
- The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Joseph Goldstein
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- 9 minutes of guided mindfulness meditation from Sam Harris
- Drugs and the Meaning of Life, Sam Harris’s blog
- Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna
- Rainn Wilson on Meditation, The Sexy Nostril Exercise, and Acting as Therapy
- Roland Griffiths — The science of psilocybin and its use to relieve suffering, TEDMED
- Life Lessons From The World’s Happiest Man by Mat Smith, Esquire
- Tara Brach on Meditation and Overcoming FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
- Watch Amy, the documentary about Amy Winehouse
- SoulPancake
- The Hilarious “Sexy Nostril” Game for Writers by Christopher Kokoski
Show Notes
- Chase Jarvis lays out his top priorities for feeling happy and fulfilled. [07:02]
- How TM (transcendental meditation) puts Chase in flow state (aka “the zone”). [08:40]
- You don’t have to be a Burning Man aficionado to benefit from TM. [010:45]
- Some of my current meditation routines, and how I incorporate mindfulness into my day. [14:57]
- Why Arnold Schwarzenegger started practicing TM in the ’70s. [17:30]
- Arnold applies the lessons of meditation to focus on everything from studying scripts to working out. [21:33]
- Sam Harris talks about various ways of achieving valuable altered states (e.g., transcendence) without invoking religion. [23:34]
- What type of meditation does Sam recommend to the novice? [29:17]
- Sam’s resources for those new to meditation. [33:46]
- Psychedelics Sam has found therapeutically valuable in his own life. [36:19]
- Why Terence McKenna argued that psychedelics are superior to meditation and yoga. [41:11]
- Are there benefits to a bad trip? [43:05]
- What does Rainn Wilson do when he’s feeling overwhelmed? [45:25]
- What scientists learned from scanning the brain of the world’s happiest man. [49:38]
- Acting can be a wonderful escape from your own head. How can non-actors benefit from playing theater games? [52:11]
- What is the sexy nostril game? [55:20]
- How Rainn gets to “normal.” [56:50]
People Mentioned
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Jamie Foxx
- Tony Robbins
- Maria Popova
- Peter Thiel
- Marc Andreessen
- Amanda Palmer
- Malcolm Gladwell
- Rick Rubin
- Reid Hoffman
- Chase Jarvis
- Sam Harris
- Rainn Wilson
- Paul McCartney
- Arianna Huffington
- David Lynch
- Ray Dalio
- Russell Simmons
- Howard Stern
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Wim Hof
- Jeff Bridges
- Sally Field
- Jesus
- Gautama Buddha
- Terence McKenna
- Roland Griffiths
- Adam Gazzaley
- Matthieu Ricard
- Tara Brach
- Amy Winehouse
- Paul Walker
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
great format~ I was wondering if you have ever read/listened to Unlimited power by Tony Robbins.
I really enjoyed this meditation show since this is something that I am into. I have heard all these episodes before but it is nice to have them all tied up in a nice little box.
Would love to hear one on morning and evening rituals….
Great stuff Tim,
Really enjoyed it and love the idea. I hope everyone else does so we can get some more. I would even like another on Meditation but would be cool to hear one on routines morning/night along with maybe gifted books and why! Whatever goes up, I’m listening too!
Cheers;
Mike Sants
Montreal
I fully enjoyed this, amazing work! You said you are looking for commonalities between world-class performers but this theme approach brought me to reflect on the uniqueness of each guest rather than their commonalities. There are so many ways to meditate, to wake up and to go to sleep. I don’t want to listen to a world-class expert and model what he or she does. I want to listen to hundreds of them and keep the bits and pieces that touch me. It’s like shopping to get ideas and coming back home to create a unique version of what I saw. Well done Tim. Your podcast is most certainly my favorite shopping mall for sweet ideas. Organizing it by department adds to the experience.
I really liked this! It’s is nice to to keep ones thoughts on one subject.
Tim, this format kicks ass! I love your podcast and the way you cover so much stuff, so many topics in a limited amount of time, but this focused format is going to be amazing!
Can’t wait to read Tools Of Titans!
Jack
I have been listening to your podcast from the day you started and have always thought of and wished for this format (maybe commented sometimes🙂 I also LOVE the style of your presence going back and forth. It is not a lazy stuck of episodes. I think making an episode on human relations and the psychology of it would be amazing.
Please get rid of the techno music behind your intro speech lol!
Sorry Tim, just super distracting! Hard to focus on what you were talking about, other than that I enjoyed the skipping around to different people’s takes on the same topic. I’m sure this is similar to the Tools of Titans book format.
Listen regularly and this is the first time I have ever left feedback for a podcast. The focused format used for the Meditation, Mindset and Mastery podcast is perfection and the content highly applicable. Looking forward to devouring the new book!
This format of show is great. Like you said, once you’ve done podcast after podcast pretty obvious trends start to emerge and I think it’s really helpful to distill some of the good conversations about particular topics into stand alone episodes. I’ve found myself wondering, while listening to your content, what other person mentioned something similar to what a current guest is talking about and whether they agree/disagree with one another or have other insights. Without an efficient way of finding that out myself I usually just let those questions go unanswered, so I’m glad you’ve started do it.
I have no suggestions for future topics right now, just looking forward to the next episode you put together. Cheers.
I liked the concept. However I would suggest you remove the music when you are talking. During your usual episodes, you only play music in the intro and outro, but here you also have it when you introduce the episode. That was distracting, I would rather listen to your voice.
Can anyone tell me what Tim said around 15.55 minutes mark: “Oddly enough, it seems that a high percentage of men gravitate ultimately towards TM, high percentage of women gravitate towards ___”?
I think he said: Vipassana Meditation.
Vipassana!
In terms of format, I really liked how you used the time between segments to provide additional information and updates. It was very brief but I think that adds a lot of value, speaking as someone who has already listened to some of the featured episodes. When I listen to an older episode I always wonder–since experimentation is a huge over-arching theme, are there recommendations that become invalidated over time or are there better ways, etc.
Also, I like the thematic approach. Your main podcast is all about getting to know a new person & their world, whereas this style is more about getting to understand or getting introduced to a specific topic.
Great stuff Tim. I’ll look forward to the book. I was surprised to see there is NO ANALYTICS TRACKING (sorry for caps just looking to grab some attention) on your landing page and minimal on this site. For a self-professed tester and analyst your missing a big opportunity! I’d love to work your team to improve this. Keep up the great work. Kind regards, Mark
PROGRAMMING AND METAPROGRAMMING IN THE HUMAN BIOCOMPUTER – John C. Lilly
A BOOK YOU NEED TO READ FOR MEDITATING
Tim! I usually don’t comment but brilliant idea!
For a long time I was promising myself to start listening from the beginning to Tim Ferriss Show to extract all the main ideas that I can apply (since I usually listen while doing something else and never took notes or anything). This is exactly what I needed! 🙂 I love TFS but that is a fantastic idea!
Also, paper-copy of “Tools of Titans” in UK, please!
Best,
Aleks
Hi Tim – this format as a compliment to the usual podcast format is a great idea.
Targeting topics rather than Guests is a useful and efficient way to present the information and I can imagine this being of good use in other topics.
The background music is a little annoying as it takes attention away from your words rather than complimenting them. Background music is fine, but it’s got to serve the foreground.
Some other topics I’d like to hear about in this format are habits for writers, dealing with negativity from yourself and others and establishing empathy and compassion for others.
Hi Tim, is there any chance in the world you would have 5-10 minutes to speak with an unemployed (for first time ever) 46 year old who has an ebay store that sells about 750 items a month but needs to dramatically increase my income? Listened to your books thanks for everything, even a tweet of my store or a share on facebook would help a lot!
[Moderator: link removed]
Brian Carter
Hey Tim,
I’m a 26 year old w/ Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer (currently in remission), and I’ve been a long time listener and gobbled up every bit of information you put out since I discovered The 4 Hour Body in 2013.
Mindfulness and meditation along with Stoic philosophy have become a necessary part of my day to day when facing my own imminent mortality (gotta love being told I have a <1% 5 year survival rate any time I see an MD).
These tools have been a huge help with keeping my sanity, but I was wondering if you had any advice as to finding a doctor who would be comfortable prescribing Metformin and/or rapamycin?
Knowing your story of your close friend who passed at 30 from pancreatic cancer, I'm hoping you might have recommendations to another who's hoping not to share that fate.
Sincerely,
Joey Massa
Hey this is grate now I can go listen to it.
What a great format! I love how this brings multiple views into one area of study, feels like more of an academic approach. Only suggestion I have is to leave out the background music while you are talking. Other than that – phenomenal work! I bet this will be great for your SEO optimization, since one podcast will pop up when people search for multiple names (Chase, Arnold, etc). Love the new format – but also love the more in-depth old format; please continue doing both!
This format looks great sir! I haven’t listened yet, but I’m excited to. I’ve been listening to your show for some time now, and I really enjoy the long-format conversations that you have with folks, but always had a hard time going back to listen to key insights and “crystalization moments”. Looks like you may be responding to similar feedback.
That being said, I would echo others’ comments here and recommend that you keep the old format too as there’s nothing more powerful than an unedited conversation.
Also, it’s really great to see you actually treat your 200th episode as a turning point (reflection point?) where you try out a new format. My guess is that you’ve decided to increase your production budget a bit more due to how successful the podcast format has been for you, and that because you have so much content, there’s huge opportunity here to re-mix it and focus it. Way to go!
BTW. I just ordered your new book, and I’m looking forward to reading it and getting more engaged with your work.
Keep up the solid work. Godspeed.
Is there a wiki for your show?
I really enjoyed the format. I particularly like that although the topic of meditation was the common theme, each guest had a different take and method. It’s very easy to listen to accomplished guests discuss their practices and methods (which work for them) and fall into the mindset that if we do not follow their methods we are somehow not doing it right. Not to discount their expertise, but often there is more than one “right” way. This format allows the listener to distil various methods, evaluate and then experiment for oneself.
Great work!
I also appreciate that is must have been a time-consuming process to come up with the content for this. I would love to know the nuts and bolts of how you (and your team) did it. Did you review transcriptions of previous episodes and get out your color-coded highlighters? Or was it more tech-savvy? Note: I am a trained sociological researcher with a *love* qualititative analysis. And I own my own set of color-coded highlighters. Would love to dig into a project like this for future episodes. Possible topics: 1) Injury recovery from the masters, both body, and mind restoration practices. 2) Recommended books, by topic and reasons why. 3) Productivity tips (e.g., morning routines, goal setting (or not), time management) 4) Overcoming self-doubt (or get off your ass and start). 5) Performance hacks from the masters; Ketosis, IF, Carb Backloading, women’s featured section on this, etc… These are just and few, but…. each podcast should also feature Timmy’s Take — what does Tim do? You know we all consider you an expert and as much as your audience loves hearing from your guests, you know they want your personal experiences as well. Thanks, Tim. please reach out if you are looking for another team member. [Moderator: contact info. removed]
This format is genius Tim, it’s very efficient and it gets to the core of things like in this case, meditation. I started meditation a year ago when I first listened to your podcast and it changed my life. Keep up the amazing work and thank you for all this great information!
Tim –
Really enjoy the new format. Though I appreciate the usual long-form episodes, some of my favorite have been the “inbetween-isode” shows. This show length and distillation of content has me very much looking forward to future episodes and Tools of TItans.
Thank you for your work
So smart, Tim. I’ve always seen a need for this type of format. So many great interviews out there where the guest mentions something on a specific topic (ie meditation), but noone was putting it all together into single session episodes. Until now. Keep it up bud!
I like the one hour format idea, as opposed to the varying lengths of your other podcasts. I also like that you’re focusing on one topic rather than trying to cover many with one person. It feels a little more streamlined this way. Love your work regardless 🙂
I love this format and the topic o meditation. One thing I’d love to hear more is what is the more effective way to reach the “enlightened” state. Sam Harris talked about the difference between “flow state” vs. not-well-executed meditation, while Rainn Wilson said even 1 minutes of peace of mind can mean a lot for the day. Personally, I am still struggling with how to improve the quality of my meditation in a systematic way, as I still tend to feel unfulfilled with 1 minutes of good meditation in a 20 minutes session. Thank you very much Tim! Excellent work!
Cool! Great format!!
Loved the latest episode of Tim Tim talk talk – I would love some interjection from your good self throughout the show reiterating points or adding any info, tools, techniques you have learnt sine the original recording of the audio. Love your work Tim cant thank you enough for the enormous impact you’ve had on my life!!
Not mad with the format at all. I was afraid it would get too jumpy, but 3-4 counterparts for a one hour show seems to be just right! Looking forward to the next episodes.
Radio Hour amazing. Keep doing. Sometimes I cannot listen to all your pod casts but if you ever put out another of these, I will consider them a must listen, as I get a concentrated amount of “nuggets” to blow my mind.
I’m a woman listener. Do not think you have captivated only the dudes, your podcast has interest to any “thinking” person on a quest for better (whatever).
Keep it up TF! Looking forward to listening to your new book whenever it comes to Audible. Read the Graveyard book. Just the delight I needed. Many Thanks!
The profile of one woman TF listener: 38 y/o single mom, physical therapist, director of rehab, Filipino mother of a 6 y/o, Catholic, non political. Ha! If you cared, but your show does appeal to females despite your statistics.
I just eat up your Dom A’agastino, peter Attia, and any thing about the physical/medical science/neuro science, meditation. Actually I love all the stuff you do. It’s basically all the questions is ask of those guests if I had no job. Love you! Thanks for all you do!
I loved this format – pulls together themes that might otherwise be missed. That said, I am 100% with Maija Maltais (comment below) on the reasons why I love your show so much – individual stories about people making their way in life. It’s opened up areas of thought that I’ve never considered and that make life on earth far richer.
Hi Tim!
In a world of sound bites, I love the long format, the deep conversation that generates. The radio format is interesting as a recapitulation, however, I hope and wish you do not abandon your talented long format interviewing.
Yes, more of this format, please. Very helpful for many reasons, not the least of which is recapping info from podcasts. Will enjoy this as much as your regular podcasts. Thanks, as always, for all you do!
Great format Tim!
Some other topics/skills I personally am interested in you covering on the radio hour are:
-exercise routines (ideally strength-based)
-productivity (also goal-setting)
-cooking
-reaching out to people of higher status than you in your field (eg Ramit’s advice when you spoke to him).
Thanks again for the great work!
Best
J
This is a nice way to get a sample of what you do. I prefer the in depth/long format shows which are able to explore topics at a deeper level.
I appreciate what you do
Tim- wondering if you provide a quick reply- I have a bad case of medial epicondylitis/ tendonopathy in my right elbow. Own an indoor obstacle training and ninja facility and it’s impairing my ability to work with members! Done all of the basics: stretching, golf elbow band, KT taping, Voodoo band flossing, etc. Heard that ozone or PRP shots may be best. Any help would be extremely appreciated! Jason
I love the new format. More please!
Love it man! Speaking 100% selfishly, here’s some more I’d like to hear:
JiuJitsu and/or other Martial Arts
Time Management/productivity
Exercise – obviously there could be many sub categories here, as you have a great many very dense episodes on this topic
Writing
Creativity
Supplements
Also can you PLEASE do a video episode with Wim Hof, get out there in the cold!
I’m knew to the Tim Ferriss podcast and have been binge listening listening to his podcasts for the last few weeks as I’m stuck in traffic in Chicago. These are great! Fascinating guests and very well put together. This “Radio Hour” was also very well done! I do not practice meditation, but have been thinking about it after listening to some of your other shows. This episode has convinced me.
I’m looking forward to more of these Radio Hours.
Keep up the great work!
Hi Tim,
I enjoyed being reminded of these little bits of conversation/advice. It’s also great to hear the different points on similar topics from different people in one segment. Hopefully you’re able to produce more Radio Hour episodes in the near future! Thanks for sharing so much content with us, it really goes a long way.
In future episodes, topics that would really help me are:
– how to break through the noise and make decisions more effectively
– learning how to learn
– patience and measuring progress
Thanks again for everything!
Very cool show! I liked that you picked out some cool stuff some past shows to expand on. More like these would be an awesome way to expose people to a broader amount of info at once, then the other talks are there for more info. You’re awesome, always interesting and always educational, keep it up!
PS is there no 5 bullet friday today or does it just not come at the same time each week?
I enjoyed the Radio hour. Although I had heard the podcasts before, concentrating different opinions / experiences on the same subject was novel and educational. Thanks
Giving Back
Tim,
I’ve taken tones away from your blog and podcast over the last 6 years. Thank you!
I’ve heard you share many books and have read lots of them. Thanks again.
I want to give back to you (besides buying your books which I have all of them)
I’ve read and tried many meditations and this recommendation for you is something that wont benefit me other than sharing something cool with you.
Check out this book on meditation. Read it with an open mind and try it. I was skeptical and found this method to really work. The book is:
pathnotes of an american ninja master by Glen Morris
The title sucks but its great info on meditation and martial arts.
For your next retreat look up: Santiago Dobles
His KAP meditation retreat will show you some amazing things. Again, I have no affiliation with these guys. You can download the book for free online.
Try it and you will be surprised.
Thanks for all your work.
Scott
Great format Tim, I’ve listened to it twice already!!!
Do more of these please. I wonder if you could do one on the topic of sexuality and diversity. I think a lot could be said about developing endurance in today’s world.
Thank you for being alive buddy 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed. Great format
I truly enjoyed this, what a great way to sum up on gold nuggets on particular topics along the podcast journey… I normally enjoy (and won’t go without) the 3 hour podcasts you do, however, this is great for diggin a little deeper and remembering advice, which can be sort of hard to dig out in the midst of 200 podcasts with 1,5-3 hours a piece.
Awesome.
Love it Tim. Thank you.
I love your show
I really enjoyed the new show. Having several influential speakers focus on a few topics each expressing their point of view is much more satisfying. The varied input helps one decide how they truly feel about a topic.
Thank you so much for this. This was my first listen – I heard exactly what I needed to hear, yet seem to resist with everything I have got – the power of stillness, even if only for 10 min. It was helpful to learn how important it is in the lives of such talented and successful people: if they need it, I definitely do! And the show notes help a ton after-the-fact. Much gratitude.
Great format! I’ve often found myself wanting to go back to a certain podcast for a bit of knowledge and forgetting who the guest. This way makes it much easier to get what im looking for. I hope you keep doing these. Tim, you are the reason my audible reading list is booked for months solid and your advice keeps helping me in more ways than I can count. Thanks!
Hi Tim! I love that you are making a recapitulation of your episodes. Helps to own and embody the material. And in general I love your work and find there is a real sanity inducing element to it all. Hope you continue for a long time. As far as the content of your radio hour format: you are the master pattern finder, so just fire away :-)!
From Estonia with warmest regards,
I really like the Radio Hour concept. I can only assume it is inspired by the TED Radio Hour, which I have always enjoyed — the idea of an entire show centered around one topic. And have you considered doing one not only centered on one topic, but on one profession? Sports. Entertainment. Business. You’ve had writers/directors Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez on your show — I would love to hear specific things about their routines in one show.
Do you want to increase your female audience share?
(plus help male audience better communicate / connect with women).
Simple, easy tweaks is all it would take.
I’ll bite, what are they?
4 Things.
1.
Disliked the format.
I appreciate that some people like little collections and it may be for them, but I love the long form and becoming engaged with each guest in depth.
A snippet from different guests on one subject is alright but seems redundant, as I have listened to every one of your podcasts at least once, as well as diving into the show notes for each.
Not sure who your audience is here.
Diehards will probably find it redundant, but I may help get new or occasional listeners to dig deeper into your back catalog.
2.
Disliked the ‘production values’.
If I want slick production, echoes and music and beats in the background and other such trills I would listen to Freakonomics. But I don’t.
I love listening to you for the exact thing you are good at, being human while interacting and exploring other humans. (Albeit on sometimes obscure subjects.)
3
I thought this was supposed to be easy for you? Was that not one of your goals for this?
Keep it simple and time efficient for yourself. If you’re bored after the new book find something new to explore.
I would rather you had spare time for more interviews than for tweaking your audio settings and editing.
4.
As a personal aside (Not on the ‘Radio’ version, but in general) although I do not mind when you have guest read and answer questions from your listeners, it is always better with you live on the other side of the mike.
Even if you were to simply read them to your guest via skype or something, at least you would have an opportunity to elicit further and deeper comment when the opportunity arose.
Thanks for all your work on this. I have loved getting to know yourself and your guests and learning from you all.
I love hearing the snippets from other podcasts. It helps me filter what I want to listen to next.
Ron Hori
Nice, but, whilst the ‘revision’ clips of older good podcasts, the normal podcasts so often reference previsous ‘casts this new podcast needs to be more focused, i.e. drawing in parts on say one subject, tighter than this and not wander too much as many of the originals do (which is a good thing).
Maybe 2 a month, now you have a body of work, it is doable – especially if you add a bit more on the up-date on the subjects.
“We” may be the source of which subject to cover in the “hour”, so good start keep going.
Hey Tim, have followed all of your writing and the podcast. I pulled up the podcast thinking it was more Tim, Tim, Dial, Dial…the drunk dial sessions I have absolutely loved. The way you dissect fan’s questions and issues, it’s a fantastic complement to the long-form material. Radio Hour felt like a revision of the best of familiar topics. It was valuable: hearing the most succinct commentaries on approaching meditation, and few different angles.
Though, for sheer “must listen”, I’d vote for more Tim, Tim, Dial, Dial ahead of Radio Hour, from the first listen.
The one-hour show is great. I have the time for that. It’s information is condensed and varied from different prospectives. Do more.
Really liked the format Tim. Great idea taking all the big themes and putting together. Love it. One bit of feedback could be to make it a bit more slick. I’m comparing it to the TED Radio Hour, Freakenomics and other highly-produced shows. Not sure if you’re interested in producing something like that yourself – It might be interesting to give one of the episodes over to a team from Radiotopia or Gimlet Media to see what they could come up with.
Magic stuff Tim… many thanks…
OK here goes… Thanks for the podcast, a cool summary of meditation.
Thought it would be worth mentioning a paradigm (shit this sounds like clickbait) that’s rarely heard about. I’ve been studying this for the last four years which replaces every other practice, system, set of beliefs around meditation, psychology and spirituality I’ve studied most of my 40+ years. (man it does sound clickbaity…)
Brace yourself, not sure how to write this… The last four years through my work (organisational development/culture) I stumbled across something which has been given a bunch of different names, “Three Principles”, “Innate Health”, “Health realisation” and “Psychology of mind” to name a few.
For me, it has replaced all of these other approaches. It explains all human experience and I’ve never read material that has given me a sense of calm and clarity so..er clearly and quickly.
Wait it gets more perplexing… There are no real techniques, processes or practitioner/high level courses you need to attend (although some people are beginning to run them). No moral code or set of rules to make yourself feel better than others. No gurus or retreats you need to bury your funds into (sorry Zenu). Just read a couple of the books on the topic (maybe even just one of them) and you’ll get it. Simple. But I found there’s value reading a few different authors to get some different perspectives on the work (recommendations below!).
So there’s just three simple principles which explain all of our experience. Mind, Thought and Consciousness. Remind yourself of them and life becomes easier. No need to meditate for hours on end. Remind yourself of the principles and this sense of calm comes easily and quickly. I did the ten day vipassana retreat back home in Australia and that did come close to the sense of calm I can access with a thought. Since working with this material, insights and creativity become a daily occurrence in both my personal and working life (you’re expecting me to talk about how I earnt $9,456 in one day? Nope, none of that).I find myself more in flow, better humoured, live lighter, and have a better understanding of my interactions with others and myself, a clearer perspective. There’s no detachment from the world required either, simply a better way of responding to it all.
I recently heard someone who is working with this material say, “I just want to spend more and more time in this space”. I have to say I completely agree. When I started reading this work, I thought that this is all I want to do now, to get this material out to as many people as possible and spend more time letting it unravel itself in my life.
You’re still reading! Whoa, I guess this sounds a bit wanky, so all I can say is check it out and judge for yourself. Nice. OK some book recommendations if you’re interested. A bunch of people have written about this so here are some of the great books I’ve read and thought worth passing on. Many of them give me the same experience: I read a little bit, get the impact of what I’ve read and just kinda sit there and let it soak in, sitting slackjawed and looking into space.
I’ve put them in kind of an order but that’s just my choice. Pick one and go nuts. They’re all great and give different perspectives on the material.
“The Inside-out revolution” by Michael Neill
“Invisible power” by Manning, Charbit and Knot
“Clarity” by Jamie Smart
“Somebody should have told us” by Jack Pransky
“The Space Within” by Michael Neill
“Coming Home” by Dicken Bettinger, Natasha Swerdloff
For me it was very telling that two of these authors, Michael Neill and Jamie Smart were very heavily into the world of NLP who then subsequently dropped it all to focus now pretty exclusively on the 3 principles work.
I originally wanted to write this to get to Tim as his reach would make this work really spread. However, to be honest I’d be happy if anyone reading this got as much out of it as I have. If you do, drop me a line, I’d love to hear what you got out of it. You can reach me on pauljsewell(at)gmail(dot)com (Am I doing this right?).
A lovely little line for me which sums it all up (don’t get caught thinking it’s too simple – although it is!!):
“The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our life” – don’t assume you get this until you read one of the books…!
Thanks for your time,
Paul S
《Tools of Titans》中文语? You are my mentor, always trying to learn from you.
Wow this was really awesome. I really enjoyed the meditation part as I’m also in it from a long time. It’s a very peaceful process, once you are in it you are kind of addicted to it, your mind starts working faster than before, yes you really feel fulfilled. Amazing work!………
Hey Tim! love the new format, as a feedback I think it would have even more value if you give more details about how you replicate it and how could we do the same to better our lives.
Hi Tim, loved this format – brings a great different perspective focused on a subject rather than a personality. Please do more.
Loved this! Please do more of them!
Love the experimental format. Focusing on one core topic with multiple contributors gives more clarity and makes identifying takeaways easier for me as a listener.
Tim,
and or parties that are seeing this email.
I doubt you lack the time because you are
my role model in so many ways and
mentor to millions of people accross the world sharing amazing information about
people in their respective fields.
That is literally what you do. You chunk, que and put this information applying the 80/20 law along with the minimal lifestyle, and stoicism laws and the law of attraction and get your message accross in a beautiful well written thought out way.
You are amazing. You have impacted me in a tremendous way. And I just want to say… thank you. it’s truly like you said if you bring sincere, honest value to your customers and just let the whole equal greater then the sum of its parts life just falls into place but you have to make the decision.
With the decision comes action, with action comes reward, you among other significant people who add value to millions of people get that. 5 days ago I did not…
You made me cognizent. Present in the lives of my family and friends. The law of attraction is powerful. When you make people feel good you feel good.
This is me taking action. Copying your greatness and applying it to my weaknesses. I bought your book and expect it to enhance my brain again. Win-win.
I thought I had to choose between family, work, finances, self growth. I dont. If I give these thoughts a voice maybe they’ll come back to me. Tim, together we’ve NLPd the fuck outta my brain and my magnetism is amazing. Thank you for truly transforming my life as you have so many others. You are truly truly a fantastic human being. Thank you for mastering yourself, your thoughts, and your body and then teaching me hown to apply that in my life.
I may be of some use to you to… I am very niched at the moment and have a particular set of skills that could help you and or we can share together to chunk and que and teach. I am a catalyst for body talks. A former of healing the body through various emotional and physical ways.
What I do is awaken people just like you do by sharing my gifts. I am by no means at your level of mastery of self, but in the future if I can somehow be of help to you please do not refrain to reach out to me. I support you all the way whether you do or dont. Although I know you dont. And that’s what makes you so damn fucking powerful…
Thank you. I feel like I’m on aderol right now and I’m sitting in my bathroom at 5 in the morning bc I can’t sleep.
You’ve awakened me sir.
Mario
Really enjoyed this Tim. Makes the podcasts a lot easier to digest, all the while allowing for variation in personalities.
Dear Tim and All,
I have been reading your comments with interest and I am both surprised and concerned. I am, perhaps, on the older listeners side, therefore my view is different. I am also an immigrant, who landed here as an adult. Legally, though, and it was really expensive, FYI.
Many of you, are college educated, self-educated and intellectually curious. Most of you enjoyed the long conversations Tim had with his guests and all the interesting knowledge and hints to find out more.
It is very important to receive the information and then, with all the acumen of your life and experience, elaborate your own thoughts.
This short episode is interesting as a “recap” but it is, sorry Tim, his understanding of what we all heard. It is like reading a book or an abridge version. Yes, you get something, and yes, from the point of view of who did it.
I encourage Tim and you co-listeners, to keep searching on the long formats. Do not accept “pre-digested”. Elaborate your own ideas, your own point of view, educate yourself.
And yes, thank you for giving it a though!
Hi Tim – I really liked the concept here – connecting thematically similar elements that are shared among podcast guests. I’d love to see more of these episodes – I can only imagine how time-consuming they must be to compile. But the richness of information is outstanding. thank you!
I think it’d be cool if you did a post or some sort of content on handling strong break up emotions. I think a great, and compounding, life skill I want to develop is to continue being mindful, happy, and productive even when blindsided by a major loss (like a LTR break up). I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I’d let to let an unfavorable change in my relationship status keep me from leading a great four hour week.
G’day Nick, my name is Paul, another fan of Tim Ferriss’s podcast. Hey, not sure if you’re interested but I stumbled across something which I found really useful. Apologies for the long text below but it’s a cut from a comment I made for this episode a week or two back….
I feel your pain man, it’s not easy. But maybe these books could help. They helped me. All the best. Let me know how it goes if it’s of use.
Paul / Stavanger, Norway
/ / / / /
Thought it would be worth mentioning a paradigm that’s rarely explored. I’ve been studying the topic of meditation, mindfulness etc for most of my 40+ years and for the last four years found something which replaces every other practice, system, set of beliefs around meditation, psychology and spirituality.
The last four years through my work (organisational development/culture) I stumbled across something which has been given a bunch of different names, “Three Principles”, “Innate Health”, “Health realisation” and “Psychology of mind” to name a few.
For me, it has replaced all of these other approaches. It explains all human experience and I’ve never read material that has given me a sense of calm and clarity so..er clearly and quickly.
There are no real techniques, processes or practitioner/high level courses you need to attend (although some people are beginning to run them). No moral code or set of rules to make yourself feel better than others. No gurus or retreats you need to bury your funds into (sorry Zenu). Just read a couple of the books on the topic (maybe even just one of them) and you’ll get it. Simple. But I found there’s value reading a few different authors to get some different perspectives on the work (recommendations below!).
So there’s just three simple principles which explain all of our experience. Mind, Thought and Consciousness.
Remind yourself of them and life becomes easier. No need to meditate for hours on end. Remind yourself of the principles and this sense of calm comes easily and quickly. I did the ten day vipassana retreat back home in Australia years ago and that wasn’t close to the sense of calm I can access with the awareness of these principles.
Since working with this material, insights and creativity become a daily occurrence in both my personal and working life.I find myself more in flow, better humoured, live lighter, and have a better understanding of my interactions with others and myself, a clearer perspective. There’s no detachment from the world required either, simply a better way of responding to it all.
I recently heard someone who is working with this material say, “I just want to spend more and more time in this space”. I have to say I completely agree. When I started reading this work, I thought that this is all I want to do now, to get this material out to as many people as possible and spend more time letting it unravel itself in my life.
You’re still reading! Whoa, I guess this sounds a bit wanky, so all I can say is check it out and judge for yourself. OK some book recommendations if you’re interested. A bunch of people have written about this so here are some of the great books I’ve read and thought worth passing on. Many of them give me the same experience: I read a little bit, get the impact of what I’ve read and just kinda sit there and let it soak in, sitting slackjawed and looking into space.
I’ve put them in kind of an order but that’s just my choice. Pick one and go nuts. They’re all great and give different perspectives on the material.
“The Inside-out revolution” by Michael Neill
“Invisible power” by Manning, Charbit and Knot
“Clarity” by Jamie Smart
“Somebody should have told us” by Jack Pransky
“The Space Within” by Michael Neill
“Coming Home” by Dicken Bettinger, Natasha Swerdloff
For me it was very telling that two of these authors, Michael Neill and Jamie Smart were very heavily into the world of NLP who then subsequently dropped it all to focus now pretty exclusively on the 3 principles work.
I originally wanted to write this to get to Tim as his reach would make this work really spread. However, to be honest I’d be happy if anyone reading this got as much out of it as I have. If you do, drop me a line, I’d love to hear what you got out of it. You can reach me on pauljsewell(at)gmail(dot)com (Am I doing this right?).
Thanks for your time,
Paul S
Radio Hour ROCKS! Please continue to produce Tim Ferriss radio hour shows.
Topic I would like to see:
1. Sleep Strategies
2. Family and Work balance strategies
Tim, would be nice if you could speed up the recordings 1.25x like on youtube.
Sometimes you guys speak slow (which is not bad at all!) but I can process most of stuff even on faster speed.
Of course I mean it would be optional like on Youtube.
This was an excellent podcast. One idea I always have when listening to talks about meditation is why don’t meditators ever recommend lying down to meditate. If it’s just fear of falling asleep, why would that be so bad? After all, meditation is not some socially responsible activity like flying a plane or delivering the mail. Really, it’s just goofing off because the twists and turns of one’s own consciousness can be so much more entertaining and instructive than attempting to be productive in a businesslike manner. It’s like the mind is this mysterious black box that is kind of like some sexy person you would like to know better, so you ingratiate yourself somehow so you can hear him/her revealing what is important in the so-called here and now.
TF,
Great new format!
The standard podcast formats are great, but it’s a great change up to have the specificity of a single subject and be hearing relevant interviews and opinions on the matter, from multiple people, in the one epidode.
Sometimes the standard podcasts have so many great but varying tidbits that it’s hard to take it all in. Having a more dedicated subject makes it much easier to follow, easier to take notes, easier ro digest and therefore more enjoyable as a whole.
Great work either way – appreciate the great work you’re doing. Really making a positive impact on my life!
It’s kind of funny how meditation became the new how to quick fix for a happier more productive life. While all of the above may indeed by a consequence, the philosophy behind meditation is that of non-attachment. Thus, going into it with a mindset “this will help me to achieve x, y, z concrete goals” is likely to result in 1/10 of the experience one could have had with it.
Love love the Podcasts. Halfway through your Titans book. I’m no prude by I do have brain surgeon wife who can’t stand swearing and I also have 4 very impressionable kids for whom is rather not reinforce swearing. Now I think you are totally awesome and would like to listen to the podcasts with my family as there is valuable information to be had. Could you do a non explicit version for folks like us.
Thanks and keep keeping on!
enjoy your podcasts very much
have you seen the TM documentary “david wants to fly”? it is hard to find in the US, but i feel is important to see to be aware of the downside of the TM movement. please check it out, i’d be curious to hear what you make of it, and the TM dogmas that do exist and we should be aware of. i enjoy meditating myself and have taken the TM class, but when you look deeper in the TM organization it gets very weird very fast. people should be wary of it in my opinion. not the teaching/act of mediation, but the organization itself like all large organizations is subject to corruption and uncool activities
Really enjoy listening…when I can. So, many times I’ve it heard said, by you and others, that after a good session of meditation that the rest of your day is easier/better, etc. Ok. But…have not heard in practical terms HOW it is made better. I mean, for example, does the crappy driver cutting you off not result in too many expletives, or the lousy customer service rep not trigger a meltdowns?
Could you elaborate a bit next time that comes up. Please use your calm-state to pardon me if I’ve missed your comments about this very aspect somewhere already.
Live long and prosper.
Daniel Paul
Hello Tim,
My question to you is: how did you explain your parents about the use of psychedelics as a medicine? Any thoughts on how to gently introduce this topic during a conversation?
Regards, Eim