#859: Q&A with Tim — The Upcoming AI Tsunami and Building Offline Advantage, Book Recommendations, Spotting Psychedelic Red Flags, Courage as a Learnable Skill, and More

28:09Tim Ferriss:And a lot of that's going to be due to AI job displacement. So the two startups that, and again, I mentioned that I'm an investor in these, so I'm biased, but the reason that I invested in these is to answer this question, or more specifically to help people answer this question. So the first one is called apt apt. And you can check that out at tryapt.ai. So tryapt, T-R-Y-A-P-T dot A-I. I had the co-founder and CEO create a code. So if any of you guys want to try it, ultimately it does cost money to get all the results and to get this sort of AI guided mentor or around your strengths and so on, which you discover or uncover through the process of going through this.

28:56Tim Ferriss:But you can get 50 % off with TIM50. That's the code to use, T-I-M-5-0. All right. So if you want to take a look at that, you can check it out. The other is Oboe, so O-B-O-E.com. And that is entirely focused on accelerating skill acquisition and learning. So I think these two actually go together really well. You could use apt first and then oboe. And I've played around with both. There's a lot that's going to be coming into both of these, but might be worth checking out. Honestly, if I were to tell you to go buy what color is my parachute or something, you might glean something from that. But I feel like in very dynamic times with so much shifting sand with respect to technology, you probably need something a bit more or benefit from something that is more dynamic and personalized from the get-go, as opposed to you having to do lots and lots of heavy lifting with a fixed format.

29:55Tim Ferriss:So that's what I would say, Becky. And definitely let me know what you think. Because if something's broken, or if you love something, or you hate something, all that stuff can get fixed. All right, next one. This is from Jeff. And we will do some live questions. These ketones are actually doing something, which is good. because it's 4 p.m. and I don't want to have any caffeine. Yeah, fortunately, it doesn't taste too much like jet fuel. Let me do one more, Jeff. Okay, this is the question. You've worked across books, podcasts, and experiments that each attracted their own communities. What have you learned about proactively shaping a community's culture, not just growing an audience?

30:32And how has direct interaction with people

30:35Tim Ferriss:changed the way you enter creative flow today? The last piece is probably the hardest answer, But I can tell you that I think that proactively shaping a community's culture actually helps you to build an audience. But to what end? Not build an audience like, oh, I'm aiming for 2 million, 3 million, 10 million YouTube subscribers. I don't like renting audience in a way that's dependent on algorithms. And you can look at a lot of the biggest YouTube channels. It's like their average views per video have cratered, even though they have huge numbers of subscribers. You see that with engagement on X and other places.

31:14Tim Ferriss:However, one thing that never goes out of style is 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly. You can read it for free at kk.org. And therefore, I will focus on the proactively shaping a community's culture. In my case, I think it's pretty simple. I treat a closed community like I would a dinner party at my house. So somebody walks into my house, this is a shoes-free house, right? Because who wants dog shit and bubble gum on your kitchen floor? I don't. So the shoes come off at the door, right? So let's say somebody comes in, they're like, no, I'm keeping my boots on. They come in, tracking mud all over the place.

31:53Tim Ferriss:They sit down at the dinner table. They kick their feet up on the table and start calling people assholes or something. Like that person's going to get dragged by their hair out, and then they're never coming back in. So that's a bit of a maybe melodramatic example. But zero tolerance policy for broken windows, right? You know, Malcolm Gladwell and others have written about this, but it's like when these minor infractions are permitted, I'm going to pull out a fancy term that tech people like. The Overton window, the broadness of what is now allowable behavior shifts. okay or i shouldn't say shift it's a fucking window it's not supposed to get wider or shorter but it moves in a more aggressive behavioral direction right so if you allow minor infractions you're going to get moderate infractions you allow those you're going to get major infractions so from the very first days of say the blog the comments section has guidelines and it's like remember the fonzie we're going to be cool like that like if you're an asshole we're going to boot you and blacklist you.

32:56Tim Ferriss:And you can criticize me, but don't be a dick to other people. And if you are, you're gone. I guess it's zero tolerance. And you have to enforce that. If you don't, people are crafty. They'll learn how to manipulate you because you are asking to be at least abused by not enforcing your own rules. So that's the first one. It's just like, you have to excise the cancers and remove the poison. You just have to, because the default state of pretty much the entire internet now because it's been allowed and encouraged through various gamifications on social platforms is just being loud, obnoxious, awful.

33:32Tim Ferriss:So you have to set rules to countervail that. Also, and Jeff, I think you've experienced this. If you have a private community of 100 people or 200 people or 50, it doesn't really matter. And you charge$5 a quarter,$5 a year, It doesn't really matter. But if you have some very nominal cost, people opt in who generally want to contribute and be in an environment of positivity. That's my experience, generally. So having some very, very nominal fee at the door, I think is incredibly helpful. And you find that also with events. I've done plenty of live events. Don't really do them anymore for a lot of reasons, but very, very rarely in the past, I would throw these live events for book launch parties, 100 people, 200.

34:24Tim Ferriss:If people can RSVP to an event, your abandonment rate or no-show rate is going to be sky high. If you force them to pay$1 to hold their spot, suddenly the no-show rate goes down to low single digits. So I don't think there's any rocket science here, but the tough part is being willing to enforce. And maybe you give someone a two strikes you're out policy, but frankly, I find that that can metastasize. For instance, I have a lovely dog, was a stray two months ago, adopted her, and she's really smart. She's part Anatolian Shepherd, it would seem. And if she realizes, for instance, that she can kind of pit me against my partner and that she doesn't actually have to listen to sit until the third time.

35:20Tim Ferriss:She's not going to listen to the first two. She'll just stare at you defiantly and then sit the third time. Humans are the same way. They'll do that too. If they know they have two strikes, you're going to get more bad behavior because they know they can get away with it once. All right. So there you go. And let's go to, we've got plenty more questions, but let's go live to some live questions. And I apologize that there's so much in the chat. So I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to. Oh yeah, the crown means top fans. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you, top fan. Oh, look at that. Let's throw out some live questions and I'll give it a shot.

35:57Tim Ferriss:If you already posted one, please post again because I can't scroll up and go through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Favorite color, green right there. Specifically, it's like the color of late morning light, like 11 a.m. sunlight around August coming through maple leaves. That is the color of the sort of like translucent green. All right. Future of our lata. Okay. For those who don't know. Also coyote. Coyote continues to do really well. I feel like I have done mostly what I can do with Coyote at this point. And it's sort of in steady state. I mean, the reviews on Amazon and elsewhere are great.

36:41Tim Ferriss:It continues to sell well through the distribution channels. I wish in retrospect earlier on, I had really focused on, even though there are plenty of adults who enjoy it, focusing on families that have at least one or two kids in that sort of eight to 15 range. and that would have helped with escape velocity sooner, but hindsight 2020, I'm really, really happy with how it's turned out. And then Varlata, honestly, now that the AI tools are getting good enough, about six months ago, I was planning on creating a movie trailer for effectively a script. I've got the whole thing in my head focused on Tyrolean.

37:21Tim Ferriss:If anyone, this is the legend of Cockpunch. Now I think I will, for obvious reasons, lean towards legends of Varlata, but focusing on the relationship between Tai and his father and all sorts of craziness that ensues. So I've got like a whole movie script in my head and concept art that I haven't really done anything with from some of the top magic, The Gathering and D &D artists you can imagine. So we'll see, we'll see. I could see screwing around with that this summer. Yes, shout out to Jeff. for keeping the CP community humming. Happy to spend some time there as well. If I could only pick from the books on the shelves behind you, what book would you want everyone in this group to deep dive into or dive deep into?

38:10Tim Ferriss:I mean, I have those books up there for a reason. I have thousands of books. I've donated most of them. These are the ones I keep up for me to look at. Give me a second. I'll tell you. I'm going to give answers that may not be satisfying to some folks. That's okay. I'll give you one that I suppose you might expect from me. So one is going to be the effective executive from Peter Drucker. Classic, old, short, incredible bang for the buck. However, the other books, I would say, again, talking about what you do in a world of AI, do more interesting things. there's a book back there called of wolves and men by barry lopez who won i believe it was the booker or pulitzer prize for another of his books called arctic dreams of wolves and men is one of the best non-fiction books i've ever read and it really shattered the mold it redefined what let's just call it non-fiction nature writing could be it's just an incredible incredible book So there's one.

39:14Tim Ferriss:But again, this is choose your own adventure. Pick and choose. Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck. I mentioned it earlier. Is hilarious. Also an incredibly accurate and enjoyable, warts and all, ride through the US. What a quirky, weird ass country. So that's another one. Pretty fast read. Then there are entire shelves back there related to animal tracking and so on, because I've done a bunch of that. I don't think most of you should probably spend a lot of time on that. If you haven't read, I'll simplify the title here, Alice in Wonderland, you should go read Alice in Wonderland. Read the whole thing, not just quotes from it.

39:56Tim Ferriss:I have a collector's edition back there. And then there are a few, actually, that I was going to mention for one of the questions you guys submitted or as an answer. The 80-20 principle, Richard Koch. That just never gets old. just does not get old. And there's another book of his up there called Living the 80-20 Principle. It might be Living the 80-20 Way, but he really walks the talk. And if you haven't heard my podcast with Richard Koch, K-O-C-H, he's also one of the best investors I've ever met. I mean, he's had, I don't know if he's disclosed the actual amount. I know a lot of the world's best investors.

40:38Tim Ferriss:And he is quietly way up there in the pantheon. So also a practitioner, he's on the field. So worth paying attention to him. All the places I've traveled to, which have been the most breathtaking, there's so many. I mean, Queenstown, New Zealand at the right time of year, I think is incredible. But you name it, I think upstate New York, honestly, the gunks and that entire region where a lot of The Last of the Mohicans, the book, certainly. I don't know about the filming of the movie, but that takes place in that region. You can kind of put me anywhere. I mean, I think so many places are beautiful.

41:17Tim Ferriss:Take a couple of drawing classes. That makes things much more beautiful overall. Like gesture drawing classes. Get some live nudes. Keep it interesting. I mean, you may get an obese dude with his schwanz all over the place. So just so you know, it's not automatically going to be a Victoria's Secret model, but that's okay. can't win them all. I'm going to go back to the pre-submitted questions here, and then I'll come back to live. So think about what questions you want to ask and come back to that. All right. This is from Hilka. I'll abbreviate a bit because this was a long question. I'm only going to hit the first part here, but I'm a bootstrap founder in Replets Race to Revenue flying into San Francisco next week to pitch and network for a few days.

41:56Tim Ferriss:If you were in my shoes and wanted to squeeze the maximum long-term leverage out of that short trip, what specific things would you do before during and after the event to one, have the right conversations and to turn them into real opportunities rather than just great chats. Okay. Bonus. How has your bootstrapped versus BC changed lately for tech software? I mean, I think it's just getting cheaper and cheaper to make software. So I think we're going to see a lot of self-funded startups. I mean, good news barrier to entry technically also economically is much lower bad news, the barrier to attention and actually getting people to use your stuff has never been higher.

42:34Tim Ferriss:So there is that, but I do think that we're going to see huge self-funded bootstrap companies, assuming that there aren't just a few gods, aka super intelligence, AI beasts that eat everything. But coming back to your question about network, this has also never been more true. I think in real life wins. Everything else is too crowded. So there is a talk I gave. I don't think there's any video. You don't need video, frankly, but there was a talk I gave at South by Southwest. We'll link to this in the show notes. But if you search my name and how to build a world-class network in record time, this will pop up.

43:17This is a talk I gave, who knows, seven years ago,

43:21Tim Ferriss:10 years ago at South by Southwest describing exactly what I did at South by Southwest 2007 when I launched the four-hour workweek. And my entire budget for that book, for launch and marketing and so on, was spent on a few trips to, I think it was Web Summit, maybe something Expo, Blog Expo, and then South by Southwest. And there's an approach described in that that I think is very, very effective. And it's still surprising to me, no matter how many times I talk about certain things, people just don't follow it. You know, if I'm like, hey, if I wanted to shill some shit coin and be like, it's going to the moon, right?

44:08Tim Ferriss:People would buy it immediately. But I'm like, hey, here's this thing. It actually takes some hard thinking and you need to plan for it. But it's so much more effective long-term than all of this hustle culture bullshit, like three-card Monty that you want to do every day for 10 hours. It's like the upfront stuff really matters a lot. In this case, I really recommend this talk, How to Build a World-Class Network in Record Time. And that sounds like YouTube clickbait, but it's actually true. A lot of friends who are still friends of mine, almost 20 years later, came from South by Southwest 2007 and a couple of those events I flew to.

44:46Tim Ferriss:These were not just transactional interactions. And there is a way to approach this, right? You definitely need to study any sessions and attendees beforehand. The good news is, bad news is that have the right conversations you don't need to worry about. You have no idea how to have the right conversations. Your goal is to meet people who are hopefully world-class at what they do, simpatico with you, meaning you guys will actually get along. Could be extracurricular interests, side hobbies. It could just be the way the two of you are programmed. And there are other kind of general strategies, like talking to moderators of panels instead of the panelists.

45:32Tim Ferriss:Everybody floods the panelists. the moderator gets orphaned. And in many cases, the moderator is just as impressive. And certainly the moderator knows everybody on the panel and lots of people on other panels and everywhere else. So there are a couple of tips in that that I would suggest checking out.

45:54Tim Ferriss:Just a quick thanks to one of our sponsors and we'll be right back to the show. Back in the day, this was 2004 maybe, I had someone approach me in a coffee shop and say, G'day, mate, and introduce himself. Who was that? It turned out to be the founder of AG1. Believe it or not, way back in the day. And people often ask me, what has survived after 20 plus years of testing every supplement under the sun? Just about. What actually has stayed in the rotation, in the toolbox? This episode's sponsor, AG1, is at the top of that very, very short list. I started using it close to 15 years ago when it was still called Athletic Greens.

46:31Tim Ferriss:I put it in the four-hour body, didn't get paid to put it in there, and it's outlasted almost everything else that I've tried. One scoop covers your nutritional bases, fills the gaps. You want to eat good food, of course, but 75-plus ingredients, including probiotics, B vitamins, and whole food nutrients act as, in my opinion, pretty cheap nutritional insurance. I take it first thing every morning with cold water. And at this point, it's automatic, like brushing my teeth. If you're looking for one simple daily habit that supports gut health and fills common nutrient gaps, this is where I'd start.

47:02Tim Ferriss:Right now, new subscribers to AG1 get a free welcome kit worth $87, including AG1 and AGZ travel packs. That's for sleep. It's actually great. And vitamin D3 plus K2. So that's a whole bunch of free stuff worth 87 bucks. So check it out. Take a look. Visit drinkag1.com slash Tim. And that's the number one. So drinkag1.com slash Tim to check it out. One more time, that's drinkag1.com slash Tim.

47:34Tim Ferriss:All right, next question is from Alex. My company is growing quickly. There are a lot of things that I need to be doing to hit escape velocity and be able to hire to manage at the top. I think that's manage. It says mange, but I assume you don't want mange. How do I choose what not to do? All right. Well, the good news is we already talked about a couple. So 80-20 principle, Richard Koch, I would read that. The Effective Executive, absolutely read that. And it's really going to give you frameworks for better discerning yourself what to do and not do. The other, depending on the current scope and scale of the company and then the ambitions, especially if it's venture-backed, is to read a book called The High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil.

48:23Tim Ferriss:E-L-A-D-G-I-L. Arguably one of the best, certainly, angel investors of the last few decades. I mean, his hit rate is absolutely insane. He's invested in at least 40 unicorns, also a tremendous founder and operator in his own right. You can check him out. has a pretty wicked biology background on top of everything else. So those are a few that come to mind. And then maybe last but not least, it's been a long time since I read it, but the Blue Ocean Strategy, probably worth checking out. Because if you choose to compete in a crowded category, you just have a harder road ahead of you. So creating a category of one, in a sense, much like Cirque du Soleil did back in the day.

49:07Tim Ferriss:I'm expecting you're not dealing with Eastern European acrobats, but you get the idea. All right. Let's take a look. This is from JC. When exploring somatic or psychedelic healing spaces, what specific questions or observations do you use to quickly distinguish between a highly competent, grounded practitioner and a narcissistic guru? Tough. A lot of good actors out there. The first thing that comes to mind, and obviously with all the usual caveats, these things are powerful. You can definitely destabilize yourself. They're illegal in most places, etc. So don't break any laws, talk to your doctor, blah, blah, blah.

49:41Tim Ferriss:But you could ask practitioners or you could ask someone who's had two trips and they're suddenly acting like a messiah proselytizing everybody. You could ask them the same question. But specific to clinicians or practitioners, ask them what types of adverse events they've seen. What are the most concerning adverse events they've seen? A simpler way to put that is how do you handle freak outs, right? What do you do when somebody really loses their shit? And if their answer is people don't lose their shit, there aren't any adverse events. They're either lying, delusional, or very inexperienced.

50:23Tim Ferriss:Maybe all three. Those are not mutually exclusive. So I find that to be a pretty quick, necessary, but not sufficient way to use a particular line of questioning to separate seasoned practitioners who are honest from those who are neither of those things. Of course, do your own homework. I don't think anyone who's new to this, and by new, I mean they have not been doing it more than a decade, ideally multiple decades, makes the fly list for me. It's just become too goddamn trendy. So I would just say probably unfairly, but I would be biased towards people who have been doing this since before Michael Pollan's exceptional book, How to Change Your Mind.

51:07Tim Ferriss:That might be the cutoff for before and after. All right, I'm going to hit a couple more here, and then we'll go back to live questions. Actually, you know what? Let's go back to live questions. Yeah, Kumare, great documentary. Fred recommended. Everybody should watch Kumare, K-U-M-A-R-E. I won't ruin the surprise. Check that out. It's a great, great film. So I liked it so much that way back in the day, there was a startup called Quarterly.co, which sent out boxes of goodies to people who subscribed, right? And I would hand curate all these things that I really liked. It was kind of like Five Bullet Friday, but on a quarterly basis where you get all my favorite things shipped to you in a box.

51:44Tim Ferriss:Very difficult business to make work. But at one point, this also dates me, it tells you how long ago it was. I reached out to the filmmaker who made Kumare and we figured out a way to make it work that I would ship something like 3000 USB drives, each of which contain this movie to my subscribers. That was one of my items that I sent. All right. Lots of questions about conferences. I don't have a particular take on conferences these days. I apologize. I just, I'm not tracking it actively. There are always interesting meeting places in person. So I don't believe that's outdated. South by Southwest has gotten very large and quite corporate.

52:23Tim Ferriss:Doesn't mean you can't have interesting interactions. But I would look for the events, ideally, that are fewer than 1 ,000 people, fewer than 500, even better, if you can. All right. This is from Chris. If I weren't an author and podcast, what other careers or industries would you have pursued? I wanted to be a comic book penciler for ages and still do some, actually, of my art pads right back over there. where I love to do live gesture drawings. Honestly, helps me get out of my head. Somebody will be up there, they'll hold a pose for like 60 seconds at a time and then change or two minutes or five minutes at a time.

53:00Tim Ferriss:You really can't get in your head. There's just not enough time for it. So I really, really enjoy that. But I wanted to be a comic book penciler and was an illustrator through a good part of college, helping to pay for expenses, things like that, illustrating books and so on. The prospects then were not very attractive financially to do that, especially after my extended family paid a fortune on my education. So I shifted gears, but certainly felt a draw towards that. What kind of dog is Molly? Molly is a rescue mutt. She is a Labrador, Bloodhound, and Pitbull mix. I'm sure there's Heinz 57 of other breeds in there.

53:43Tim Ferriss:In terms of training, honestly, I put up some basic training videos on YouTube if you just search my name and dog training. But the books that I have found most helpful are Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor. I think everybody should read that. I think the back copy says something like, whether you want to stop your cat from jumping on the table, train your dog to do X, or convince your mother-in-law to stop nagging you. The instructions are all the same. Something like that. It's pretty funny. But Karen Pryor brought clicker training, sort of audible cueing of that type from marine mammal training, dolphins, orcas, etc.

54:23Tim Ferriss:to dog training. Or at least she's one of the people responsible for that really fantastic book on behavioral change and shaping behavior overall. And then listen to my podcast with Susan Garrett. Susan Garrett, G-A-R-R-E-T-T, is impressive because she has won, I want to say, I don't know, five to 10 national dog agility championships, even though she herself is much older than most of the human competitors who have to kind of run alongside their dogs. And she really, really knows her stuff. So those would be, I would say, two places that you can start, two or three places. Very kind comment here.

55:01Tim Ferriss:All of your works hold so many lessons on protection and nourishment, the root of being a father. I feel that way. Thank you. My closest friends are like, yeah, you know what? You're going to be a great dad. So that's part of the reason why I'm headed that way. Even though, you know, word on the internet is that I've self-help optimized myself into being single and miserable. That's not true. So all those trolls can suck a dick. It makes me feel like I'm drinking tequila. Beware of those ketones, guys. More on my thoughts is from Cindy on Enneagram, dating and business peeps. I think Enneagram, look, it might be tech-friendly astrology, but I've seen it used at Shopify.

55:39Tim Ferriss:I've seen it used at Dropbox. I've seen it used by more than one person to meet very good matches in intimate relationships. And I think there's something to it. I mean, it is a tool. I would say that I try to be as tool agnostic as possible, but I found the Enneagram, and there are other options, of course, as one good option for identifying your own blind spots for, say, your partner. And this could be someone you work with, superior, subordinate, colleague, what your likely blind spots are, where you're likely to be oversensitive, and therefore how you might want to handle things internally like meetings, decision-making, conflict resolution.

56:23Tim Ferriss:And that's pretty interesting. and it has been tested on a pretty large scale within places like Shopify and Dropbox, unlike many other things. So I find it interesting. And the app that I mentioned earlier, tryapp.ai, code TIM50 for 50 % off. I don't get any affiliate kickback or anything. That's just to save you guys some money. They incorporate the Enneagram. So pretty interesting. I was telling I was like, hey, once you figure out this kind of business career mentoring side, you could very easily have a matchmaking capability built into it. All right. Quantum computing, I find fascinating, amazing, and terrifying in equal measure.

57:08Tim Ferriss:I have not done much in the quantum computing world. I have looked at maybe how certain cryptocurrencies are more prepared to be quantum resistant than others. I've looked at stuff like that. I mean, not to mention all of our other fancy passwords that we currently use and security, but I have not really gone super deep. I feel like that's an area much like fusion where you really want to be as technical as possible. Wading into those waters. I did a podcast with Steve Jurbitzen ages ago, who was one of the first investors in D-Wave, But yeah, people are talking about AI, but man, when quantum actually hits and the joke has been with fusion, for instance, that fusion is always 30 years away.

57:56Tim Ferriss:I don't think that's true anymore. I could be proven wrong, but I also think that's true with quantum where people are like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That shit's never going to work. I'm like, we'll see. Look at Alphabet's investments into quantum computing. It does raise some questions. Very interesting and also pretty scary to imagine what post-quantum looks like. This is a good question. How do you maintain so many friends despite your countercultural ideologies? My friends and I, I think, have maybe implicitly, and this is maybe survivorship bias, but agreed that as long as you're civil, you can disagree on all sorts of stuff.

58:39Tim Ferriss:And I surround myself with friends who are going to push back. And this includes my oldest friends. This isn't just like fancy friends that I've accumulated since the podcast or anything. This also applies to my oldest friends from high school and college. So I would also say that most of my friends are pretty adaptable in light of new information. I don't spend a lot of time around blowhards where like, I'm an X, I'm a Y, right? I'm a liberal and that person's a neocon or I'm a conservative and that person's a libtard or whatever. I don't hang out with those folks because while I recognize that level of simplicity is appealing in a very chaotic, messy world, it's not particularly an accurate reflection of reality and the gradations in between extremes.

59:31Tim Ferriss:And it's certainly not very helpful unless you are playing the political game and that's just an arrow in the quiver that you have to use. But otherwise, I just stay away from that stuff, right? Which doesn't mean we, I certainly don't steer away from controversy, but I ask myself, right? Is this, and this applies to watching news or social media. I know I've said this before, but I haven't had any social media apps on my phone for probably three or four years. And the way I feel about the news in the four-hour work week is probably 10x more intense now in terms of my selective ignorance around mainlining quote-unquote news.

1:00:10Tim Ferriss:Because if it's not relevant to your life, and if you are not going to make a decision differently or take action because of it, or maybe avoid action because of it, if there isn't some kind of follow-up, you don't need it, is my general feeling. and that's going to become not just a maybe perceived luxury. I've been doing this for decades now and I wouldn't consider myself ineffective in the world, but it's going to become a survival imperative. If you want to remain sane, you can't doom scroll 24 seven. There's no way you can't doom scroll even a few hours a day. So I've seen some crazy, crazy physiological data from people on and off of social media, like blood tests and mental health assessments and so on.

1:01:02Tim Ferriss:Ham D caps five, you know, all this kind of stuff. It's not good guys. So I'm getting up on my soapbox now, but yeah. And we were talking about that. No asshole rule just because someone disagrees with you does not mean they're an asshole. But if someone is really throwing sharp elbows for no reason, it's like, they're out. I very freely have an inflow and outflow of friends. There are certain friends who have remained in the inner sanctum, and I for them too, because they reserved the same right for years and decades and decades now. And people are allowed to have off days, but it's like if someone has suddenly adopted being an asshole as part of their personality or identity in service of quote unquote, keeping it real or something.

1:01:48Tim Ferriss:I don't have time for that. Somebody asked about podcast interviewing a female screenwriter. Yeah, sure. Depends on the screenwriter. It's actually reaching out to two female screenwriters not too long ago. Don't think I heard back. So what are you going to do? Yes. This is a comment by Tim. This sounds super simple. My longest, latest relationships share a common sense of humor married for 33 years and that's foundational. Same goes for oldest and longest lasting friendships. Yeah, a hundred percent. Humor is just reflective of so many other qualities. And there's a difference between humor and just like a kind of cynicism, right?

1:02:24Tim Ferriss:Quippy cynicism. I'm not so much into that, but like if, if there's a fast banter and people also are good at making fun of themselves, not all the time, but in the right dose, it generally bodes well. what inspired my most recent blog post fugacity labs this is on the self-help trap what i learned from 20 plus years of optimizing myself optimizing on quotation marks might have been improving we split test a bunch of different headlines but what prompted that is just seeing how you know at worst miserable at best constantly anxious or self-doubting so many people are in the self-help, self-development world.

1:03:06Tim Ferriss:And I feel like we are all sitting on a slightly too warm stovetop of baseline anxiety due to the technological tectonic plates that we're dealing with and certainly the kind of algo-driven personalized feeds that will just pour gasoline on your limbic system. And coming back to what we can control, it's like, okay, sure, I can suggest people delete social media apps off of their phones. Realistically, most people are not going to do that. And there are some upsides. If you have the ability to moderate with these tools, you can stay connected with friends, et cetera, et cetera. Although I've become more and more dubious of those defenses.

1:03:54Tim Ferriss:If people were able to, instead of just looking at screen time by app to see what actual usage is, The use cases that they're spending time on with a given app, I think that would be very illuminating. In any case, in lieu of that, what else can you do? What other levers can you pull? And I think the in real life relational component is the lever that makes all other levers easier in a way. So that's what prompted writing that blog post. Very nice question. How can we help you, whether here or in the Discord book forum? Just try to go first with people, to quote Gabby Reese. I interviewed Gabby with Laird Hamilton, one of the kings of big wave surfing.

1:04:44Tim Ferriss:And I think her billboard answer was go first. Just smile and say hi first. Just do that. Say helping the world to be just 1 % brighter in some tiny way. right like leave a 20 as a tip like once a month somewhere i know that's not necessarily trivial money for folks but it's like give somebody an absurd tip right like if they're really good really kind just like or it doesn't need like have a nice tea tip i'm a 10 right something like that it doesn't need to be money you get the idea do i have any news to share about the notebook yeah i'm gonna put on my diving goggles and get back into it in the next uh probably month or two pretty soon.

1:05:26Tim Ferriss:Have a couple of other things. And I'll have, I foresee at least one big announcement related to other projects coming up in the next few months, but going back in, wish me luck. Let me think about, this is a question from John, still love the 17 questions. People can find those 17 questions. I think they're in Tools of Titans, maybe Tribal Mentors, but also on Tim.blog. There's a PDF with the 17 questions I most often ask myself. I've got one. A question that I would probably add is some version of what is the most generous interpretation of this. I have been trained since a wee little lad to be pretty anger forward, let's just say, if I were a wine, very anger forward.

1:06:11Tim Ferriss:And the way that shows up, there are, to get fancy, myriad ways this shows up. One is that some days I can just feel like the entire world is conspiring to make me annoyed. And obviously that's not true. But if it seems like someone is ripping you off, which does happen, most of the time, it's probably just a misunderstanding. So what's the most generous interpretation? If you feel like your significant other did something to annoy you, or they always do X, they never do Y. Like, okay, well, what's the most generous interpretation of this? And I'm borrowing this from other people, but I feel like that is a very helpful question.

1:07:02Tim Ferriss:And you could pair that with a bunch of other ones. I think Krista Tippett, great podcaster, by the way, but Krista Tippett, one of the OGs, On Being, I believe is her podcast. And I believe it's Krista. I might be misattributing, but at least I'm not saying Oscar Wilde or Abe Lincoln, that she said, anger is pain shown in public, something like that, right? So you can apply that to yourself too if you're a little anger forward. And that doesn't mean navel gaze and you have to do 12 years of therapy to figure it out. What is the most generous interpretation of this, whatever this might be? I would add that to my questions.

1:07:41Tim Ferriss:Okay. If you go to a city and you have two days, what are your go-to activities? Bicycle tour, bike tour, for sure. One of the best ways to meet locals, figure out what's fun that isn't just a glossy photo posted on Instagram, or a super expensive three Michelin star restaurant. Bicycle tour. Hang out. Also hang out with... You don't have to actually stay at a hostel, but go talk to the manager of a hostel or somebody who works the front desk and has been there for a couple of years, they'll have lots of great recommendations. Okay, where does accumulating wealth fall on my scale of overall success?

1:08:22Tim Ferriss:Zero. It's like, look, a lot of wealthy people make a lot of excuses as to why they need to keep making money. Like, well, you know, I could give money now, but if I compound at such and such, compound an annual growth rate, and then, you know, I'll give it away when I'm dead, basically. or yada, yada, yada. I just don't buy it. Working dogs who have been tracing a rabbit around to track their whole lives in sixth gear get very good at chasing something in sixth gear. So they want to continue doing that. I'm not holding myself up as some enlightened being. I've just had the benefit of seeing so many people crash and burn or just end up with this existential malaise because when they actually pause for a second, If they do pause and sometimes life forces you to pause with a divorce or medical emergency, they have this maybe sense of hollowness or certainly not a sense of fulfillment.

1:09:22Tim Ferriss:So I've just seen that so many times. It's like accumulating wealth, who cares? It's just like, how many people can give you the full name of Alexander the Great? Nobody's going to remember you. Nobody's going to remember me. Nobody's going to remember us. It's okay. It's totally fine. It's actually very freeing. it's like everybody should read i think it's percy shelley ozymandias yeah percy shelley ozymandias everybody should find this o-z-y-m-a-n-d-i-a-s so good everybody should read ozymandias what do i prioritize instead of wealth relationships and this sounds so trite but it's like there are people who say that and then you go visit them and you're like holy shit Their kids hate them and they never see their best friends or their quote unquote best friends are constantly a different roster because as Arthur Brooks would put it, they're deal friends, not real friends, right?

1:10:22Tim Ferriss:But I mean, the past year review really helps to make this point for me over and over again. And if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, just search my name and past year review. But thinking about it, it's like, okay, who are the 10 most important people in your life? Did you spend as much time as you would like to spend with them last year? If the answer is no, invest in those 10 before you invest in anyone else and track the results. Then you look back, look at the number of positive experiences, energetically, emotionally, whatever it is, over that quarter, that year. It's not something you have to do all the time.

1:10:56Tim Ferriss:And you're like, oh yeah, doubling down on those 10 really made my year so much better. Blocking out time with those people in advance made it so much better. Okay, let's do more of that. That's about it. Yeah, it might have been Tara Brock who talked about the anger is fear on the outside. Who knows? Some smart person who's a lot chiller than I am said that. All right, guys. Let me see if there's anything left here. I think there is. There's some questions that were submitted. Let me do this. David, here we go. As a soon-to-be father, I'm thinking a lot about parenthood. If you started a family, what would be the top three values or lessons you'd hope to instill in your children?

1:11:34Tim Ferriss:I have thought about this a lot and I've had, I've been able to watch what has worked and what has not worked. I think optimism, resourcefulness, and like lots of physical activity, lots of physical activity. You got to run that dog. Tired dog is a happy dog. So yeah, optimism. I think Mike Maples Jr. was the first person who really underscored this. He has a bunch of kids who have turned out well. Optimism is kind of number one. It's like the mother quality that enables all else. Resourcefulness, I would say, I think Maya Angelou actually said courage is sort of the mother quality because everything else at its breaking point depends on it.

1:12:11Tim Ferriss:I had something which is like no failure, only feedback, just encouraging them to try stuff, positive reinforcement, try stuff, try stuff. And this applies to dog training too, but some of my friends who have never had dogs get all pissed off and get their knickers in a twist when I compare kids to dogs. I know they're not the same, but you know what? Shaping behavior is pretty similar across mammals. Anyway, optimism, courage, slash try a bunch of shit. It's fine. It's just feedback. And then resourcefulness. And I think if you have optimism and you're willing to try a bunch of stuff, aka use courage in certain ways, then I think resourcefulness is a byproduct of that.

1:12:51So those would be the things

1:12:54Tim Ferriss:I would focus on. and lots and lots and lots and lots of physical activity together as a family, right? Okay. Let's see. Rachel, thought I'd throw out an odd question this time. Have you ever been on a treasure hunt or geocache? What's the weirdest, coolest, most unexpected thing you found out in the wilderness? Could be something natural or unnatural. Well, black bear stole a leg from my elk last year. That was pretty annoying. And we found it, chewed all sorts of mangled contortions. That was a bummer. I don't want to have sloppy seconds after a bear has gotten into your elk leg. Just pro tip.

1:13:31Tim Ferriss:I've been on treasure hunts and geocaches. I would say the thing that comes to mind, which is somewhat unrelated to your question, is that if people are like, what's the most interesting way you've lost money? Because I do get my face ripped off then and again, part of the early stage investing game. I invested in treasure hunters, very famous treasure hunters, who were searching for sunken Spanish galleons full of gold bars and all sorts of stuff. And ultimately, one of the people involved just absconded with all of the investor money. And it turned into this, like, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego fucking debacle.

1:14:09But, you know, makes for a story. So once again, don't bet money you cannot afford to lose, especially when it involves

1:14:18Tim Ferriss:Spanish galleons. Oh, good lordy, lordy, lordy. Let's see. All right. This is maybe the last one that I'll hit. This is coming back to encodings. Cindy, you and Jim Collins talked about encoding. This is a term that Jim uses, which is somewhat comparable to strengths. Like what are your innate strengths? So we spoke about that. I'd love if you'd go deeper on the topic, share more about how it resonated with you personally, and give additional practical advice on how people currently locked into work or career situations can progress with a plan towards living fully within their encoded selves.

1:14:52I find that asking your best friends could be family members, could also be employees.

1:14:58Tim Ferriss:360 reviews can be very brutal. You can listen to my conversation with Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, about how brutal that can be. It doesn't have to be brutal, though. I would say that a couple of questions come up that I have asked close friends, some of my best friends, people who know me really well. When have you seen me at my best? Or when do you see me at my best? But it's good to have practical examples or concrete examples from the past, not just like when you tend to do this, you tend to do that. It's like, no, give me an example. Like when have you seen me at my best? When have you seen me at my worst?

1:15:32Tim Ferriss:Like what stories or memories come to mind, then what is easier for me than for other people? What do you see in me that I find easier than most people? Jim didn't like that question because he wanted it all to be internally, individually referenced, but this is how I do it. I actually do find that aspect helpful because then you're not only finding strengths, you're finding strengths that allow you to potentially compete. And I just like having both if I can. And then you could ask you to what, this is very closely related to the last one, but what strength or ability do I discount in myself?

1:16:10Tim Ferriss:There are certain things, a friend of mine is making a point about something related to startups recently. And I was like, yeah, I mean, it doesn't strike me as particularly special because the A, B, and C, and he's like, that's the problem. He's like, you can't see it because like you're the fish swimming in the water. And I was like, huh, okay. And then I bounced it off a few other people And they're like, yeah, that's like a fucking weird superpower of yours. And I don't understand it. And I was like, oh, never really realized. So what strengths or ability do I discount on myself, right? This is you using that question for somebody else or not harness, right?

1:16:41Tim Ferriss:It could be discounting. It could just be like, what strength or ability am I not using that I have? And one question that can infer a lot of the answers to these others also is if I weren't doing X, whatever your current gig is, like, what could you see me doing? And I feel like if you ask enough people who know you well enough and who aren't going to bullshit you, who will also be willing to answer questions about your weaknesses, right? In other words, example given, when have you seen me at my worst? If they can't answer that, they're not going to give you fully candid advice. So I would say those are a few of the approaches that I've used, and I've found them very helpful.

1:17:21Tim Ferriss:Okay, last question. Geocaching. A lot of people here into geocaching. Yeah, I mean, sure, it'd be fun. I've also dreamed about doing orienteering courses, which I think could be super, super fascinating. This is the last question. I think it's a good one to end on. Is courage external or internal? How do you teach it to kids? I think courage is learned. You have to practice it. And if you're not afraid, it's not courage, right? If someone's fearless, they're by definition not using courage. You have to be afraid of something. so you can edge yourself and you can edge kids into that right it's not like hey you've never been in the water before let's take you up to do cliff diving no no yeah i mean that's unhelpful fear with severe consequences it's like you can stair step into it i don't think courage is a decision i don't think courage is something you get from reading a book i don't think courage is something that you can develop abstractly, I think you have to prove to yourself that you have it.

1:18:24Tim Ferriss:And the only way your subconscious will believe it is if you are actually doing things that are uncomfortable. That's it. Which means it is learnable. And there may be some set point that contributes to it in one way or another. If you're Alex Honnold and your amygdala is like basically asleep. It's like, okay, well, right. That explains a few things, but it's also something that you can very sequentially sort of expose yourself to just like you would to build a tan or to get stronger in the gym. I think it's through action, right? It's like progressive resistance that you develop courage. I've seen my friends do this with their kids.

1:19:06Tim Ferriss:And this is also why the physical activity is very, very helpful to prove to kids or help them prove to themselves that they can do hard things. Like, okay, sure. You can wait until they can sit down with calculus and try to figure that out. Or you could be like, yeah, that thing that you're nervous about doing, like hitting a baseball, climbing a whatever, you know, five, nine in a indoor climbing gym. Like, yeah, okay. Let's get after it. All right. I will stop there, guys. I appreciate somebody asked, when is Alex Honnold coming on the podcast? I had him on about six months before he free soloed LCAP.

1:19:37Tim Ferriss:If you want to listen to Alex Honnold before he got media polished, My podcast is a good way to start. Great guy, but it was before he got polished for primetime. And that's about it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, appreciate you taking the time. And thanks for all the great questions. And be safe out there. Be just a bit kinder than is necessary. To others, yes, but to yourself also. Go first, smile, say hi. Thanks, everybody. Hey, guys, this is Tim again. Just one more thing before you take off. and that is Five Bullet Friday. Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend?

1:20:16Tim Ferriss:Between one and a half and two million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Five Bullet Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. It is basically a half page that I send out every Friday to share the coolest things I've found or discovered or have started exploring over that week. It's kind of like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, albums, perhaps, gadgets, gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends, including a lot of podcast guests. And these strange esoteric things end up in my field, and then I test them, and then I share them with you.

1:20:55Tim Ferriss:So if that sounds fun, again, it's very short, a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend, something to think about. If you'd like to try it out, just go to tim.blog slash Friday, Type that into your browser, tim.blog slash Friday. Drop in your email and you'll get the very next one. Thanks for listening. It has been a wild year for money and the markets, but managing your cash doesn't have to be a guessing game. Wealthfront has a simple solution to help you cut through all the chaos and manage your money with confidence. With the Wealthfront cash account, your cash can earn 3.3 % base annual percentage yield from partner banks.

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