The Tim Ferriss Show

This is an interview you’ve been asking for since before I started the podcast: Morgan Spurlock. Morgan Spurlock (@morganspurlock) is an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker based in New York. He is a prolific writer, director, producer, and human guinea pig. His first film, Super Size Me, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, winning Best Directing honors. The film went on to win the Writers Guild of America Best Documentary Screenplay award as well as garner an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary. Since then he has directed, produced, and distributed multiple film, TV and digital projects, including the critically acclaimed CNN series Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, the FX series 30 Days, and the films Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, Confessions of a Superhero, Freakonomics, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and many others. Morgan’s latest project is a tech startup called Clect (homepage, AngelList profile), which is a community for the high-spending collectors community

I once wrote, "We all like to appear 'successful' (a nebulous term at best) and the media likes to portray standouts as superheroes...Most 'superheroes' are nothing of the sort. They’re weird, neurotic creatures who do big things DESPITE lots of self-defeating habits and self-talk." Focusing on what people accomplish without understanding the mindset that allows them to experience that success leads to limited results. To help close the gap, I wanted to share On The Shortness of Life by Seneca the Younger. It's a short letter written roughly two thousand years ago, yet it's timeliness. This is an essay that I revisit at least once a quarter because it focuses on how much time we're given in life, and how it's oftentimes misused or wasted. You can listen to my favorite portion here, which begins with: "Why do you torment yourself and lose weight over some problem..." This is a fantastic reminder to mind the critical few and to ignore the trivial many. You can listen to this one and the

Ever since episode #2 of the podcast, you’ve been asking for more Josh Waitzkin, so here it is! This is an in-depth jam session, and you can definitely listen to this one independently. Josh Waitzkin was the basis for the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. Considered a chess prodigy, he has perfected learning strategies that can be applied to anything, including his other loves of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (he’s a black belt under phenom Marcelo Garcia) and Tai Chi push hands (he’s a world champion). These days, he spends his time coaching the world’s top performers, whether Mark Messier, Cal Ripken Jr., or high-profile investors. I initially met Josh through his incredible book, The Art of Learning, which I loved so much that I helped produce the audiobook (download here at Audible). If you're interested in implementing programs designed by Josh in your classroom, go to theartoflearningproject.org and find out if the program is a good fit for you. This episode is DEEP, in the best way possible.

Today's episode is a bite-sized morsel for your brain and for your life. This is an excerpt from my favorite writing of all time. This letter is #22, "On the Futility of Halfway Measures." As usual, Seneca takes a little time in his preamble to get warmed up. That is his style. He seems to enjoy feeling out the recipient of his letter before jumping into the details. I love this letter because it addresses how we spend our time, which is one of the biggest stresses for all people, and especially entrepreneurs. My favorite portion is: "Hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance." I encourage you to listen to this and think of ways that you can adapt Seneca's wisdom to your own life. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularit

This is not going to be a long form interview where I dissect and deconstruct a world-class performer. Instead, this is a special edition of the Random Show. I am joined by Kevin Rose (@KevinRose), serial entrepreneur, and all around wild and crazy guy! Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want

This episode is very special to me and features a verbal Jedi who never gets interviewed himself: Cal Fussman. Cal (@calfussman) 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. The Austin Chronicle has described Cal's interviewing skills as "peerless." He 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, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Woody Allen, Barbara Walters, Pelé, Yao Ming, Serena Williams, John Wooden, Muhammad Ali, and countless others. Born in Brooklyn, Cal spent 10 straight years traveling the world, swimming over 18-foot tiger sharks, rolling around with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, and searching for gold

If you've enjoyed my previous in-between episodes , then this might be your favorite episode ever. It's one of the most actionable, information-packed interviews I've ever done. This time, it's Joel Stein (@TheJoelStein) asking the questions. Joel is one of the funniest writers I have ever read, and he's great at leading an interview. Here's how it all happened: Joel wanted me to help him figure out 5 areas he could improve for an upcoming series he was going to create. I have many different conversations with journalists. It can be painful when I have a 1-2 hour conversation, and then it's cut to a single sentence as a quote in a piece. And it's often a misquote. So how do you fix that? Well, you record it yourself, which is what we did. (With Joel's approval, of course.) This way, you don't "lose" the content, and you cover your ass with media and journalists. In this episode, we discuss a wide variety of topics, including: How I choose what to improve from infinite options How you can s

At the behest of my astute legal counsel, here is a legal disclaimer for this episode: First, I am not recommending, endorsing, or supporting any of the substances or compounds (especially illegal) discussed or described in the interview. I am interviewing Patrick Arnold as a journalist seeking additional information regarding matters of public interest and concern. Second, I have removed some of the names of athletes who are alleged to have used performance enhancing drugs. I recognize that this seems excessive, but even if athletes have been publicly banned for drug usage, unless the ban relates to the specific substance and time period referenced in the podcast, I can be sued for defamation for repeating or publicizing these stories. With all that said, here we go... If you liked my episode with Dom D'Agostino, you might love this one. Patrick Arnold, widely considered “the father of prohormones," is an organic chemist known for introducing androstenedione (remember Mark McGwire?), 1-Androstenediol (market

This is one of my favorite letters from Seneca. Before you listen, I want you to think about this philosophy from Fight Club: "The things you own end up owning you." - Tyler Durden Understanding this mindset will help you to explore the practical philosophies found in this episode. Please enjoy Letter 42, On Values, by Seneca the Younger. If you find this useful, you can pick up the whole collection at the Tao of Seneca. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. 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. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 servic

This episode is a special double header. It features one interview and one performance. First up is Kaskade (@Kaskade), widely considered one of the Founding Fathers of Progressive House Music. He's been voted "America's Best DJ" twice by DJ Times, headlined Coachella 4x, and been nominated for Grammys 5x. Next, you'll hear Sekou Andrews (@SekouAndrews), the most impressive poetic voice I've ever heard. I first saw him perform at TED, where he blew my mind. Sekou is a schoolteacher turned 2x National Poetry Slam champion. He has presented privately for Barack Obama, Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, as well as for many Fortune 500 companies. Each one of these takes a few minutes to get warmed up, so be patient. There are gems in both. Among other things... Kaskade covers his first breaks, making his own luck, formative musical influences, and we dig into his notetaking process, and the origins of one of his biggest hits. Sekou will inspire you to be inspired by your story. Do you want to change your narrativ

"My parents never really told me I couldn't do anything." - Shaun White This particular episode comes from a fun event -- my first live podcast at the iconic Troubadour in L.A. It sold out through my newsletter in 30 minutes, so thanks to all of you who came. If you haven't signed up for the email newsletter, you should check it out. It's free. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com/friday. There were quite a few amazing guests at the event, and we're going to divide them up into a few episodes. Shaun White (@ShaunWhite) is our first -- a professional snowboarder and skateboarder. Among his formidable feats of strength: He's a 2x Olympic Gold medalist. He holds the X Games record for gold medals at 15, as well as the highest overall medal count at 24. Shaun has earned the number two spot on BusinessWeek's list of the 100 most powerful and marketable athletes. And -- ACH-TUNG! -- for those near L.A. or willing to travel, Shaun is hosting an incredible event called Air + Style. Think of it as X Games meets Coachella,

This episode might make your head explode... in the best way possible. Walter O'Brien (AKA "Scorpion") (@walterobrienscs) is the founder of Scorpion Computer Services and ConciergeUp.com, a for-hire global think tank that provides intelligence-on-demand as a concierge service. The tag line for the latter is, "for any funded need." Need to defend against chemical warfare? Move an entire manufacturing operation over a weekend? Save a loved one from a deceitful spouse? Thread the needle on a thorny legal issue? Become a pop star in a foreign country? When Walter and his team of 2,000+ distributed geniuses say "any funded need," they mean it literally. Born in Ireland, Walter was diagnosed as a child prodigy with an IQ of 197. He became an Irish national coding champion and competed in the Olympics in informatics. Fast forward to today, he and Scorpion get paid to fix every imaginable problem for billionaires, startups, governments, Fortune 500 companies, and people like you and me. On the large si

I expected this episode to be amazing, and Seth 10x'd expectations. He's incredible. Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog) is the author of 17 bestselling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. He writes about the way ideas spread, marketing, strategic quitting, leadership, and--most of all--challenging the status quo in all areas. His books include Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, and What to do When it's Your Turn (And it's Always Your Turn). Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog (which you can find by typing “Seth” into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. In 2013, Godin was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. Recently, Godin turned the book publishing world on its ear by launching a series of four books via Kickstarter. The campaign reached its goal in just three hours and became the most successful book project in Kickstarter history. In this episode, we cover dozens of topics and stories, including some he's never d

Sometimes mindset is everything. That's why I hope you pay close attention to this episode of the podcast. This two-thousand-year-old letter from Seneca the Younger is a practical guide for constructing world-class habits. The careful listener will find an extremely practical blueprint for optimizing performance in high-stress situations. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. If you enjoy this lesson, I highly recommend listening to more of these letters. You can find 27 hours of these letters at The Tao of Seneca: Practical Letters from a Stoic Master. If you want to find more audiobooks that I suggest, head over to audible.com/timsbooks. Enjoy! This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get servi

When a guest is nominated for "Podcast of the Year," that's usually a good sign to bring them to the show for more. That's why Naval Ravikant (@naval) is back, and this time, he's answering your questions. For those of you that missed round 1, Naval is the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList. He has invested in more than 100 companies, including more than a few “unicorn” mega-successes. Maybe most importantly, he has developed a diverse set of skills and knowledge that are invaluable. Even if you have no interest in startups or investing, this will be well worth your time. In this episode, Naval answers your top 10 questions from Reddit, including topics such as, Artificial intelligence Most recommended books Happiness hacks Conflict resolution Startup tips And much, much more... Enjoy these fascinating insights from Naval. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively dis

Luis von Ahn (@luisvonahn) is an entrepreneur and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is known for inventing CAPTCHAs, being a MacArthur Fellow ("genius grant" recipient), and selling two companies to Google in his 20's. Luis has been named one of the 10 Most Brilliant Scientists by Popular Science Magazine, one of the 50 Best Brains in Science by Discover, one of the Top Young Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review, and one of the 100 Most Innovative People in Business by FastCompany Magazine. Luis is currently the co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, a language learning platform created to bring free language education to the world. With more than 100 million users, it is the most popular way to learn languages in the world, and it is the most downloaded app in the Education category on both iTunes (5-star average, 3,300+ reviews) and Google Play. I first met Luis as an early investor in Duolingo, and every time I meet him, I learn something new. In this conversation, we talk about

This is a special episode that is the result of more than 10 years of dreaming. For years, I've been studying Stoicism, but I've always had a particular interest in The Tao of Seneca. What is the Tao of Seneca? There's a collection of letters called, "The Moral Letters to Lucilius." And I have read this entire collection of letters and other letters of Seneca, the author, probably more than 100 times. It has been my constant companion for at least the last 10 years. And I have given various forms of these letters to more friends than I can even count and several hundred acquaintances -- I feel that strongly about it. So when people ask me about my favorite book, I say this collection of letters. The problem has been there is no good audio edition. So I, for many months now, have made this my passion project to create The Tao of Seneca: Practical Letters from a Stoic Master. Three volumes, and it covers them all. Here's the description: The Tao of Seneca is an introduction to the stoic philosophy thr

This episode, I sit down with Edward Norton (@EdwardNorton). Edward is an actor, filmmaker and activist. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards for his work in Primal Fear, American History X, and Birdman. He has starred in scores of other films, including Fight Club, The Illusionist, and Moonrise Kingdom. Unbeknownst to most people, Edward is also a serial startup founder (e.g. CrowdRise; here’s my current campaign), a UN ambassador for biodiversity, a massively successful investor (e.g. early Uber), a pilot, and deeply involved with wilderness conservation. In this conversation, we cover a lot of ground, including: His beginnings in acting, and what early mentors taught him What separates great actors from mediocre actors, as illustrated through an early Marlon Brando story Edward’s physical preparation for American History X (and camera trickery) The importance of surfing His favorite books, documentaries, underrated films and filmmakers, and essays (The Catastrophe of Succ

Sometimes one interview just isn't enough. That was certainly the case with my good friend, Chris Sacca. Chris (who I interviewed before) was recently the cover story of the Midas Issue of Forbes magazine. He was on the cover because he's a newly minted billionaire and the proprietor of what will likely be the most successful venture capital fund in history: LOWERCASE Capital. He's an early-stage investor in companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Kickstarter, and many more. Also, he wears cowboy shirts, has a great beard, and is hilarious, which is reason enough to bring him back for more. In this episode, he answers all of your most pressing questions based on your votes and feedback.s You'll find some fantastic responses, ranging from life advice to business recommendations and everything in between. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This episode is brought to you by Foodist Kitchen. Sometimes the most life-changing habits are the ones we put off,

My guest this episode is my friend, Eric Weinstein (@ericrweinstein), managing director of Thiel Capital, a Ph.D in mathematical physics from Harvard, and a research fellow at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford University. We recorded at my house after Eric emailed me this question: "Wanna try a podcast on… psychedelics, theories of everything, and the need to destroy education in order to save it?" He’s brilliant and hilarious. If you enjoyed my podcasts with Derek Sivers or Sam Harris, you’ll love this one. We cover a lot of ground, including: Living from first principles rather than the “consensus reality" The genius of Kung Fu Panda What it’s like working with Peter Thiel, and how Peter hired him How to innovate when you risk being crucified by close-minded communities (and experts) His favorite books Why one of his favorite documentaries is about pornographers And much more... Also, be sure to check this out. Here is the Johns Hopkins psychedelic research I'm backing. Check out the supporters