The Tim Ferriss Show

Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4) is a polymath. The breadth and depth of his interests and knowledge are truly astounding. He's a computer scientist, legal scholar, and cryptographer best known for his pioneering research in digital contracts and cryptocurrency. The phrase and concept of "smart contracts" were developed by Nick with the goal of bringing what he calls the "highly evolved" practices of contract law and practice for the design of electronic commerce protocols between strangers on the Internet. Nick also designed Bit Gold, which many consider the precursor to Bitcoin. This wide-ranging conversation is co-hosted by Naval Ravikant, a mutual friend and one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, who also happens to be one of Nick's biggest admirers. We cover a lot, including: What is Bitcoin, what are cryptocurrencies, and what problem do they solve? What is "social scalability?" What is Ethereum and what makes it unique? Strengths and weaknesses? How will smart contracts actually get adopted or

Vince Vaughn (@WildWest) is one of the most prolific actors, writers, and producers in the world. He's acted in more than thirty major motion pictures that have gone on to gross more than 1.7 billion at the box office. He is largely credited for redefining the R-rated comedy with his performance in the 2005 hit Wedding Crashers, which set the record for highest grossing R-rated comedy at the time. He is -- and will continue to be, I expect -- one of the most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. As a listener to this podcast, Vince reached out with his production company Wild West to see if we might do a TV show together. The result is Fear{less} with Tim Ferriss -- "less" is in parentheses because the objective is to teach you to fear less, not to be fearless. More details about the show can be found at tim.blog/fearless. I got the chance to catch up with Vince at Vulture Festival in New York City. In this conversation, we get into stories of his early beginnings, how to negotiate, his cold-calling career,

Phil Keoghan (@PhilKeoghan) has worked in television for almost thirty years on more than a thousand program episodes in more than a hundred countries. His work has earned him numerous awards, including ten prime-time Emmys. He is perhaps best known as the co-executive producer and host of CBS series The Amazing Race, currently in its twenty-ninth season. But there is much, much more to Phil's story, including unbelievable bucket lists, near-death experiences, and more. As just one example... In 2013, he decided to retrace the 1928 Tour de France riding an original vintage bicycle, with no gears, to tell the forgotten underdog story of the first English-speaking team to take on the toughest sporting event on earth. This experience was captured and turned into the brand-new film Le Ride, a gorgeous documentary and the first to be shot on a Sony F55 camera in 4K, which is equivalent to Super 35mm film. There are many takeaways from this conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Show notes and link

I've wanted to speak with psychotherapist Esther Perel for years. In a cover story, The New York Times called her the most important game changer in sexuality and relational health since Dr. Ruth. Her TED talks on maintaining desire and rethinking infidelity have more than 17 million views, and she's tested and been exposed to everything imaginable in thirty-four years of running her private therapy practice in New York City. In this episode, Esther and I explore: How to find (and convince) mentors who can change your life. What she's learned from Holocaust survivors. Polyamory and close cousins. Is there such a thing as too much honesty in relationships? Can we want what we already have? Why do happy people cheat? And much more. Esther is the author of the international bestseller Mating in Captivity, which has been translated into 26 languages. Fluent in nine of them (I've heard her in person), this Belgian native now brings her multicultural pulse to her new book The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity

This episode is by request. You have asked me many times for an episode on education, accelerated learning, and my mentors. It will all be covered in the following conversation with Charles Best (@charlesbest), the founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit website that enables anyone to help a classroom in need. It is one of my favorite companies -- profit or non-profit -- in the world. (And I'm not just saying that because we used to be wrestling partners in high school.) Charles founded DonorsChoose.org back in 2000 at a public high school in the Bronx where he taught history. Flash forward to 2017, and DonorsChoose.org is one of Oprah Winfrey's "ultimate favorite things" and made the cover of Fast Company as one of the "50 Most Innovative Companies in the World," the first time a charity has received such recognition. To date, teachers at more than seventy percent of all the public schools in America have created classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org, and more than two million people have g

Dr. Arthur De Vany is nearly eighty years old and ripped. Better known as Art De Vany, he was signed as a professional baseball player in his youth and later earned his Ph.D. in Economics at UCLA. He is most famous for his "evolutionary fitness" approach to training and diet, and our conversation focuses on that. During his time at UCLA, Art did many things, including creating mathematical and statistical models to precisely describe the motion picture market. Art is Professor Emeritus of Economics of the University of California, Irvine, and is a member of its acclaimed Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences. A lifelong student of metabolism and fitness, Art has lived as a Paleo athlete for more than thirty years and is considered a "patriarch" of the Paleo movement. He believes there is no such thing as "healthy" aging and that we can intervene to protect against the aging process. In this episode, we talk about his daily schedule, workout routines, why he never gets sick, ice ages, economics, philo

Ryan Flaherty (@ryanflaherty1) is the Senior Director of Performance at Nike. Prior to holding that position, Ryan was the Founder and President of Prolific Athletes LLC, a sports performance facility in San Diego, California, where he trained some of the world's best athletes. His clients include Serena Williams, Russell Wilson, the Arizona Cardinals, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, and hundreds of other professional athletes. While he is well known for dramatically improving his athletes' speed, more and more athletes (and coaches) seek Ryan out for his training and guidance on injury prevention. Many of Ryan's clients have made remarkable recoveries from injuries, and several NFL teams and European soccer clubs have sought his methodology to implement into their training programming. Ryan developed an algorithm called "Force Number" that is based on the hex (or trap) bar deadlift and body weight to predict speed such as the forty-yard dash. In this discussion, we talk about exercises for reducing injury po

Rhonda Patrick, PhD, (@foundmyfitness) is an American biochemist and scientist. She first appeared on this podcast back in episode twelve, and whether you want to extend life, inexpensively buy a stem cell "insurance policy," or guard against cancer, Rhonda has valuable insights and recommendations. In this episode, Rhonda tackles some of your most requested topics, including: Best practices for fasting (and who struggles most with time-restricted feedings) What blood tests are most important to analyze for overall health The "minimum effective dose" for the benefits of sauna Heat vs. cold exposure, and how they should be used effectively Most effective smart drugs The latest fat loss research And much, much more Rhonda is known for her studies of the mechanistic link between vitamin D and serotonin production, research that may have important implications for the understanding of autism and other disorders, and for her popular podcast, Found My Fitness. Dr. Patrick also conducts clinical trials, performed ag

Murray Carter (@CarterCutlery) is a Canadian craftsman like no other. At eighteen, he fell into an apprenticeship with a sixteenth generation Yoshimoto bladesmith that lasted six years -- and was asked to take the position of number seventeen in the Sakemoto family tradition (perhaps the only Caucasian ever to have had the honor and privilege of this position). Murray continued forging blades in Japan for twelve more years and in June 2001, he was awarded the rating of Mastersmith by the American Bladesmith Society, thus proving the highest degree of competency by Western standards. In 2005, he moved to the United States (as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability, no less) to start Carter Cutlery; he has continued forging blades in Oregon since. This is a fascinating episode on many levels, so please enjoy! This podcast is brought to you by Headspace, the world’s most popular meditation app (with more than four million users). It’s used in more than 150 countries, and many of my closest friends swear by it. Try He

Dorian Yates (@dorian_yates) is a six-time Mr. Olympia who has taken the already extreme sport of bodybuilding to a new level. He's one of my adolescent heroes whose innovations in training (e.g., Occam's protocol) influenced what I later put into The 4-Hour Body. In this particular conversation, we dig into all sorts of topics that I've been dying to ask Dorian since I was a teenager. We discuss his relationship to pain, specific workouts, how he warms up, common mistakes and misconceptions, self-talk, his favorite books, and much more. I sincerely hope you enjoy this conversation with Dorian Yates as much as I did! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. 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,

Marie Kondo (@MarieKondo, also known as "KonMari") is a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and entrepreneur. She developed a revolutionary method of organizing known as the KonMari Method, which consists of gathering together everything you own, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" -- as well as choosing a dedicated place to store them. Going far beyond a typical tidying how-to, her method is a way of life and a state of mind. Marie captured the findings in her mega-best-selling books, including The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing and its follow-up, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up. Her books have sold more than seven million copies and have been published in more than forty countries. Kondo's methods have become so famous that her last name has become a verb, 'Kondo-ing,' and people who share her specific values are referred to as 'Konverts.' She has been named one of T

Cory Booker (@corybooker) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from New Jersey. I generally have an allergy to politics, but Cory's story is endlessly fascinating (e.g., he's faced down death threats from gangs, run into burning buildings, and much more), and we have a few years of history together. We cover a lot in this wide-ranging catch-up conversation, including his diet, lessons from early mentors and athletics, routines, books that have had an impact, learning how to "street fight" in New Jersey after receiving a Rhodes Scholarship, and much more. Cory began his political career as a city councilor from 1998 to 2002 in Newark, New Jersey's largest city. He later served as mayor of Newark, which under his leadership entered its biggest period of economic growth since the 1960s -- the first new downtown hotels were constructed in forty years, the first new office towers in twenty. He then won the Senate Democratic primary in August of 2013, and then won the general election on O

Welcome to the second installment of The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour. After more than 200 conversations with the world's top performers, you start to spot certain patterns. These are the shared habits, hacks, philosophies, and tools that are the common threads of success, happiness, health, and wealth. These commonalities were the premise of my most recent book, The New York Times #1 bestseller Tools of Titans -- a compilation of my favorite lessons, routines, and tips of many of my guests. In this particular episode, I've gathered some of the best advice from past guests about fitness, nutrition, and wellness. This includes conversations with: General Stanley McChrystal about thriving on one meal per day. Tony Robbins about morning discipline and routines. Wim Hof about consciously controlling his autonomic immune system. Dominic D'Agostino about nutritional strategies for peak performers. Without further ado, let's get started. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour! Show notes and

If you’re interested in the creative process of a famed author, jumpstarting your own creation, note taking, list making, or simply handling hard emotions, this episode is for you. Recorded in front of a 2,000-plus person crowd at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this one was a blast. My guest is Cheryl Strayed (@CherylStrayed), author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, the New York Times bestsellers Tiny Beautiful Things and Brave Enough, and the novel Torch. Her books have been translated into forty languages around the world. Wild was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her inaugural selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Strayed's essays have been published in The Best American Essays, The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, The Sun, Tin House, and elsewhere. Strayed is the co-host, along with Steve Almond, of the WBUR podcast Dear Sugar Radio, which originated with her popular Dear Sugar advice colu

This is round two for Debbie Millman, whose first interview on this show quickly became one of the most downloaded episodes of all time (listen to it here). Graphic Design USA has named Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman) "one of the most influential designers working today." She is also the founder and host of Design Matters, the world's first and longest-running podcast about design, where she's interviewed nearly 300 design luminaries and cultural commentators including Massimo Vignelli and Milton Glaser. Debbie's done it all. Her artwork has been exhibited around the world. She's designed everything from wrapping paper to beach towels, greeting cards to playing cards, notebooks to t-shirts, and Star Wars merchandise to global Burger King rebrands. Debbie is the President Emeritus of AIGA (one of only five women to hold the position in the organization's one-hundred-year history), the editorial and creative director of Print magazine, and the author of six books. In 2009, Debbie co-founded (with Stev

Ricardo Semler (@ricardosemler) is the former CEO of Semco Partners, a Brazilian company best known perhaps for its radical form of industrial democracy and corporate re-engineering. During his leadership, Semco grew from four million in 1982 to two hundred and twelve million in 2003. His innovative -- but very controversial -- business management policies have attracted widespread interest from all over the world. He is the best-selling author of Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace and The Seven-Day Weekend: A Better Way to Work in the 21st Century (not to be confused with another book titled in an admittedly similar fashion). Ricardo recently started a podcast called LeadWise, where he has conversations with leaders about "challenging assumptions and changing how we live and work." Entrepreneurship and education are just two of the topics discussed in this wide-ranging conversation. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ricardo Semler as much as I did! Show notes and links

Jerzy Gregorek (@TheHappyBody) immigrated from Poland to the United States with his wife, Aniela, in 1986 as political refugees. He subsequently won four World Weightlifting Championships and established one world record. In 2000, Jerzy and Aniela founded UCLA's weightlifting team. As co-creator of The Happy Body Program, Jerzy has been mentoring people for more than 30 years. In 1998, Jerzy earned an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His poems and translations have appeared in numerous publications, including The American Poetry Review. His poem Family Tree was the winner of Amelia magazine's Charles William Duke Long Poem Award in 1998. Naval Ravikant (@naval) also joins us on this podcast, as he introduced me to Jerzy. Naval is the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList. He is an active angel investor and has invested in more than 100 companies. His deals include Twitter, Uber, Yammer, Postmates, Wish, Thumbtack, and OpenDNS, which Cisco bought for $635 million in cash. As alw

Caroline Paul (@carowriter) returns to the podcast by popular demand for a round 2 Q&A. (You can catch her first appearance here.) Caroline is the author of four published books. Her latest is the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure. Once a young scaredy-cat, Caroline decided that fear got in the way of excitement, confidence, and self-reliance. She has since flown planes, climbed tall mountains, and fought fires as one of the first female firefighters in San Francisco. In this episode, Caroline answers your most popular questions, including: The best starting point for overcoming your fears How to stay focused in the moment and not let your mind create anxiety and stress Her biggest life-changing experiences Coping strategies for dealing with life's most difficult events And much, much more! I hope you enjoy this round 2 Q&A with Caroline Paul. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is b

Dr. Philip Zimbardo (@PhilZimbardo) is one of the most distinguished psychologists in the world and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is arguably best known for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which students were turned into mock prisoners and guards for a continuous 24-hour-a-day study. The experiment was planned for two weeks but terminated after just six days. In this podcast, we explore how we -- as humans -- can do less evil, how you can be a "deviant for day," mindful disobedience, and much more. It was a blast. Apart from the above, Dr. Zimbardo has served as President of the American Psychological Association and designed and narrated the award-winning 26-part PBS series, Discovering Psychology. He has published more than 50 books, including Shyness, The Lucifer Effect, The Time Cure, The Time Paradox, and most recently, Man, Interrupted. Dr. Zimbardo currently lectures worldwide and is actively working to promote his non-profit, The Heroic Imagination Project. His current resear

John F. Crowley is the Chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotechnology company, which he helped to found in 2005 and is now a 300+ person company in 22 countries. John's involvement with biotechnology stems from the 1998 diagnosis of two of his children with Pompe disease -- a severe and often fatal neuromuscular disorder. In his drive to find a cure for them, he left his job and became an entrepreneur as the Co-founder, President, and CEO of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals in 2000, a biotech start-up conducting research on a new experimental treatment for Pompe disease (which he credits as ultimately saving his children's lives). In 2001, Novazyme was acquired by Genzyme Corporation for nearly $200 million. John and his family have been profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and are the subjects of a book by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Geeta Anand, The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million -- and Bucked the Medical Establishment -- in a Quest to Save His Children. The