The Tim Ferriss Show

I’ve interviewed legendary storyteller Cal Fussman (@calfussman) on this show before (here and here), but this time, the roles are reversed, and he interviews me!If you are not yet familiar with him, Cal is a New York Times bestselling author and a writer-at-large for Esquire magazine, where he is best known for being a primary writer of the “What I Learned” feature. And this interview originally aired on Cal’s podcast, “Big Questions with Cal Fussman.”Cal has transformed oral history into an art form, conducting probing interviews with the icons who’ve shaped the last 50 years of world history: Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Robert DeNiro, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Woody Allen, Barbara Walters, Pelé, Yao Ming, Serena Williams, John Wooden, Muhammad Ali, and countless others.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. While I often praise this company’s lion’s ma

In this podcast, I had the rare opportunity to interview three men in Level 4 maximum security at Kern Valley State Prison. There was no time to do homework on any of them, so I crossed my fingers and jumped in. It was incredibly nerve-wracking and, ultimately, incredibly rewarding and fun. Any expectations I might have had going in were exceeded.I owe special thanks to Cat Hoke, all the men who participate in Defy (the program Cat started), and all the staff and officers at Kern, including Chief Deputy Warden Goss who made it possible for me to bring recording equipment. Thank you for the help, sir!If you're interested in a similar prison visit after listening to this episode, Cat now has five more trips lined up. Simply email admin@cathoke.com for more details. If this episode moves you in any way, make sure to check out Defy and other groups doing this work and making an impact, like the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC).Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Helix Sleep. I recently moved into a new home an

Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where I share the habits, tools and patterns of world-class performers. This special short episode features insights from Adam Robinson (@IAmAdamRobinson). His answers to my questions were highlighted in my most recent book, Tribe of Mentors.For those of you not familiar with Adam, he has made a lifelong study of outflanking and outsmarting the competition. He is a rated chess master who was awarded a Life Title by the United States Chess Federation. As a teenager, he was personally mentored by Bobby Fischer in the 18 months leading up to his winning the world championship.Then, in his first career, he developed a revolutionary approach to taking standardized tests as one of the two original co-founders of The Princeton Review. His paradigm-breaking — or “category killing,” as they say in publishing — test-prep book, The SAT: Cracking the System, is the only test-prep book ever to have become a New York Times bestseller. After selling his interest in The Pri

Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) is the photographer behind Humans of New York. He attended the University of Georgia and worked as a bond trader in Chicago before moving to New York to pursue photography. Followed by over 25 million people on social media, Humans of New York features daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City. It has been turned into two #1 New York Times bestselling books: Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories. In recent years, Brandon has expanded the blog to include stories from over thirty different countries, and was invited in 2015 to interview Barack Obama in the oval office. In 2017, Humans of New York was turned into a television series that is now available on Facebook Watch.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by WordPress, my go-to platform for 24/7-supported, zero downtime blogging, writing online, creating websites — everything! I love it to bits, and the lead developer, Matt Mullenweg, has appeared on this

Liz Lambert (@thelizlambert) first purchased a seedy motel on South Congress Avenue 23 years ago, and she transformed it into Hotel San José, which has become known today as the quintessential "Austin" hotel. The success of Hotel San José, which sparked a revitalization in the city's now thriving South Congress district, led her to launch Bunkhouse Group, a hospitality company founded on the pillars of design, music, and community-driven experiences.In the course of chronicling her experiences with the residents of Hotel San José on video camera, she ended up making the Last Days of the San José, a documentary that casts a fascinating light on human relationships in gentrification and urban renewal. You can check out the trailer here, click here to be notified when streaming becomes available, or get a copy of the DVD here.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Soothe.com, the world's largest on-demand massage service. Because I've been broken so many times, I have body work done at least twice a week, and I

“A good person dyes events with his own color…and turns whatever happens to his own benefit.” - SenecaFrom the outside looking in, the last several weeks have been disaster after disaster for me:Death in the familySeveral deals that have been worked on for 6+ months fell apart at the last minuteI might need to sue someone for egregious breach of contract and unexpected damagesOn and on and on...I've thought of several books over and over again during this period to cope. One of them was The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday (@ryanholiday). It has helped me to turn problems upside-down, look at them through a different lens, and even uncover unique opportunities.The Obstacle Is The Way is a collection of stories and principles about Stoicism, which I consider to be the ultimate personal "operating system" for anyone who wants to thrive in high-stress environments and situations.If you want to be antifragile like Thomas Jefferson, Marcus Aurelius, Bill Belichic

This podcast episode of The Tim Ferriss Show is coming up on the 11th anniversary of my first book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. While there are parts written by my 29-year-old self that make me cringe, I'm both honored and amazed that it continues to strike a chord with so many.Rather than re-editing the book and risking the loss of whatever made it work in the first place, I'd like to share case studies of people who have used it as a blueprint to build successful businesses as detailed in The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business by freelance journalist Elaine Pofeldt (@ElainePofeldt).Much like 11 years ago, I hope this episode inspires more people to make a change for the better and accomplish more than they thought possible.Please enjoy this episode!This podcast is brought to you by 99designs, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. Whether your business needs a logo, website design, business

Steve Jurvetson (@jurvetson) is an early-stage venture capitalist with a focus on founder-led, mission-driven companies at the cutting edge of disruptive technology and new industry formation. Steve was the early VC investor in SpaceX, Tesla, Planet, Memphis Meats, Hotmail, and the deep learning companies Mythic and Nervana. He also led investments in startups that were acquired for $16 billion, and five that went public in successful IPOs.In 2016, former President Barack Obama announced Steve's appointment as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Steve has also been honored as one of "Tech's Best Venture Investors" by Forbes, and as the "Venture Capitalist of the Year" by Deloitte. Steve will be launching a brand-new venture fund sometime later this year, and you can read about it at future.ventures.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Helix Sleep. I recently moved into a new home and needed new beds, and I purchased mattresses from Helix Sleep.It offers mattresses personalized to your pr

Whitney Wolfe Herd (@whitwolfeherd) is the founder and CEO of Bumble, one of the fastest-growing social networking apps in the world. She launched Bumble in 2014 as the only dating platform where women make the first move, and in three years, her vision has led to Bumble's growth to more than 28 million users worldwide in 144 countries.Bumble launched Bumble BFF in 2016 as a friend-finding feature and Bumble Bizz for professional networking in 2017. Whitney was named to Forbes' "30 Under 30" list and has recently been on the covers of not just Fast Company, but also Forbes and Wired.Please enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Soothe.com, the world's largest on-demand massage service. Because I've been broken so many times, I have body work done at least twice a week — so I have a high bar for this stuff. I do not accept mediocrity, and I wouldn't expect you to, either.After much personal testing, I can affirm that Soothe delivers a hand-selected, licensed, and experienced massage therapist to you in the co

This episode explores travel, and I'll take the partial credit or blame in advance, as it might want to make you quit your job and head off to the airport with a backpack.I have interviewed some fascinating people from around the world and in the next hour we will actually travel around the world with them. We'll also explore specific tips and strategies from our conversations related to how they think about travel, how they personally travel, and the role that travel can play in your life. This includes conversations with:Vagabonding author Rolf Potts about seeing the world now rather than waiting until some vague "later" that might never happen.My friend Kevin Rose about hiding tattoos in foreign lands and getting by without knowing the local language.Phil Keoghan from The Amazing Race about a life-changing epiphany earned while shipwreck diving.Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly about favorite travel tools and gadgets on our trip through the mountains of Uzbekistan.I hope you enjoy this episode of The Tim F

Cindy Eckert (formerly Whitehead) (@cindypinkceo) is an entrepreneur with 1.5 billion dollars in exits who currently serves as the founder and CEO of The Pink Ceiling, an investment firm and consulting enterprise nicknamed the Pinkubator with a mission to invest in, launch, and build other women-led or focused businesses. She believes that access to good advice alone is not enough to change the ratio of men to women in business, and that is why she personally invested more than 15 million dollars in 2017 alone to support the development of nine portfolio companies.I should mention right off the bat that if you're a guy, don't let this bio turn you off in any way — in the sense that I wanted to have Cindy on the show because she is a good CEO and entrepreneur, very much irrespective of gender. The negotiating techniques, the approaches to deal-making, everything that we talk about applies to entrepreneurs, period, full stop.Earlier in her career, Cindy was the founder of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, home of Addyi,

This might be the most important podcast episode I've put out in the last two years. Please trust me and give it a full listen. It will surprise you, perhaps shock you, and definitely make you think differently.Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan) is the author of seven previous books, including Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire, all of which were New York Times bestsellers. A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he also teaches writing at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley where he is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Science Journalism. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.His most recent book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, might be my favorite yet. This is the first podcast interview Michael has done about the book, the science

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) is an actor whose career spans three decades, and ranges from television (3rd Rock from the Sun) to arthouse (Mysterious Skin, Brick) to multiplex (Inception, 500 Days of Summer, Looper, Snowden). He made his feature screenwriting and directorial debut with Don Jon (Independent Spirit Award nomination, Best First Screenplay). He also founded and directs HITRECORD, an online community of artists emphasizing collaboration over self-promotion. HITRECORD has evolved into a "community-sourced" production company that publishes books, puts out records, produces videos for brands from LG to the ACLU, and has won an Emmy for its variety show HitRecord on TV.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I’ve been drinking this company’s mushroom-infused coffees and elixirs for years, and now I’ve got something new to share: Mushroom Matcha. It’s a green tea designed as a coffee alternative, perfect for those of us tryi

Nick Thompson (@nxthompson) is the editor-in-chief of WIRED. Under his leadership, Wired has launched a successful paywall, a Snapchat channel, and an AMP Stories edition; it has also been nominated for National Magazine Awards in design and feature writing.Nick is a contributor for CBS News and regularly appears on CBS This Morning. He is also co-founder of The Atavist, a National Magazine Award-winning digital publication. Prior to joining Wired, Thompson served as editor of NewYorker.com from 2012 to 2017.Before The New Yorker, Nick was a senior editor at Wired, where he assigned and edited the feature story that was the basis for the Oscar-winning film Argo. In 2009, his book The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War was published to critical acclaim. In February 2018, Thompson co-wrote WIRED's cover story Inside the Two Years That Shook Facebook -- and the World, an 11,000-word investigation based on reporting with more than 50 current and former Facebook employees

Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) is a former UFC middleweight contender who simultaneously served in the US Army as a Green Beret sniper and had tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a three-time winner of the Modern Army Combatives tournament, a grueling three-day event that tests mixed martial arts skills among other things. Tim is now a member of the Special Forces wing of the Texas National Guard.In his spare time, Tim heads up Sheepdog Response, an organization that trains civilians in self-defense and counter-terrorism skills, and Ranger Up, a military-themed clothing line. He's shared his martial arts and military expertise on several television shows, including the Spike TV series Deadliest Warrior, Hunting Hitler on the History Channel, and in the 2016 indie film Range 15. Tim is currently involved in an unscripted series from Discovery called Hard to Kill. Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I've been drinking this company's mushroom-infused coffees and elixirs for years, and now

This is a very short, roughly 10-minute, episode. It explains how to 10x your thinking and your goals, or -- put another way -- how to escape incremental thinking and think truly BIG. I loved it so much that I now listen to it on a regular basis as a reminder. Perhaps you'll end up doing the same.The speaker is Dr. Astro Teller (@astroteller). Astro is currently Captain of Moonshots (CEO) of X, Alphabet's moonshot factory for building magical, audacious ideas that, through science and technology, can be brought to reality. Astro is also co-founder and a current Director of Cerebellum Capital, a hedge fund management firm whose investments are continuously designed, executed, and improved by a software system based on techniques from statistical machine learning. Astro was also the co-founder and CEO of BodyMedia, Inc., a leading wearable body monitoring company that was sold to Jawbone in 2013.Dr. Teller holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Stanford University, Master of Sc

Katie Couric (IG: @katiecouric) is an award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of the non-profit Stand Up to Cancer, which has raised more than $500 million to fund scientific research teams.Katie launched her production company, Katie Couric Media, in 2015. Since then, the aptly named Katie Couric Podcast has featured conversations with some of the biggest names in politics, media, and popular culture.Katie's documentaries include Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric for National Geographic, Under the Gun, which aired on Epix, and Fed Up, which can be found on Netflix. Katie's six-part National Geographic series is called America Inside Out with Katie Couric, and I recommend you check it out.Katie joins CBS as the first woman at the helm of an evening newscast after a 15-year run as co-anchor of NBC's Today Show. Her awards include a duPont-Columbia, Peabody, two Edward R. Murrows, a Walter Cronkite, and multiple Emmys. Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by

Karlie Kloss (IG: @karliekloss) is an entrepreneur and supermodel who was discovered at a local charity fashion show at age 13 and has been modeling professionally ever since.Karlie has walked for and starred in campaigns for top designers including Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Versace, Adidas, Carolina Herrera, and Swarovski, among many others.Outside of modeling, Karlie's personal passion for coding led her to launch Kode With Klossy, a nonprofit that empowers young women to code and become leaders in tech -- poised to expand in 2018 to 50 camps in 25 cities.Time Magazine has recognized Karlie for her entrepreneurship and philanthropic work on its 100 Most Influential People list, and she has also been featured on the covers of Fast Company and Forbes for her work with Kode with Klossy.Karlie hosts Freeform six-part series Movie Night with Karlie Kloss and is a correspondent for Netflix's Bill Nye Saves the World.If you're interested in learning more about Karlie's codi

This episode is a rare exception to the rule -- unlike my usual long-form interviews, this is a drunk-dialing Q&A with you guys, which I’ve done a few times in the last few years, including for the celebration of the 100th episode of this podcast. In preparation for this episode, I solicited phone numbers from listeners who wanted to receive a call from me, and then I started drinking and dialing, answering questions and getting a little frisky along the way.In this episode, I cover topics such as:How Jocko Willink has made me more disciplinedMy thoughts on sex as a “doorway to a higher perception”My past experience with stimulants and psychedelicsHow I determine if a project is working or not. In other words, how do I decide when I should persevere or quit a project and move on?How I think about teachingAnd much, much more!Please enjoy this tequila-fueled Q&A! This episode is brought to you by Peloton, which has become a staple of my daily routine. I picked up this bike after seeing the suc

This podcast explores how to make better decisions, ask better questions, and be more creative. The stories range from escapes to India and speechwriting for Al Gore, to writing bestselling books and using “motivational interviewing” with kids.The guest is Daniel H. Pink (@danielpink), the author of six provocative books, including his newest, WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. WHEN is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and Publishers Weekly bestseller. Pink's other books include the long-running New York Times bestseller A WHOLE NEW MIND and the #1 New York Times bestsellers DRIVE and TO SELL IS HUMAN. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 37 languages. Pink lives in Washington, DC, with his family.Daniel was the host and co-executive producer of Crowd Control, a television series about human behavior on the National Geographic Channel. For the last six years, Lon