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Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety (#732)

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It’s never true to hate yourself or condemn yourself. — Martha Beck

Dr. Martha Beck (@themarthabeck) has been called “the best-known life coach in America” by NPR and USA Today. She holds three Harvard degrees in social science and has published nine non-fiction books, one novel, and more than 200 magazine articles. The Guardian and other media have described her as “Oprah’s life coach.”

Her recent book, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, was an instant New York Times Best Seller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection. Her next book, Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, is expected in early 2025.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#732: Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.

Right now, you’ll get a 1-year supply of Vitamin D free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive your 1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive daily, foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole-body health.

This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep! Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at the perfect temperature. It pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking to offer the most advanced (and user-friendly) solution on the market. Simply add the Pod Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. It also splits your bed in half, so your partner can choose a totally different temperature.

And thanks to the Pod Cover’s sleep and health tracking, you can wake up to a personalized sleep report each morning that provides key insights about how certain behaviors—like meditation or exercise—are impacting your sleep and overall health. The weather is heating up, but with Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover, your sleep doesn’t have to. Go to eightsleep.com/Tim today and save $200 on the Pod Cover. Eight Sleep currently ships within the USA, Canada, the UK, select countries in the EU, and Australia. Click here to claim this deal and unlock your full potential through optimal sleep.

This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

Their products are third-party tested (Informed-Sport and/or NSF certified), so you can trust that what is on the label is in the bottle and nothing else. If you want to try Momentous for yourself, you can use code Tim for 20% off your one-time purchase at LiveMomentous.com/Tim. And not to worry, my non-US friends, Momentous ships internationally and has you covered.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear an episode with our cherished mutual friend Boyd Varty? Listen to our conversation here in which we discussed the origins of the Londolozi Game Reserve, the ancient lineage of the Shangaan trackers, the hardest animals to track, living 40 days and 40 nights in a tree, beehive algorithms, trauma recovery, ceremony work, the meaning of Ubuntu, and much more.

#571: Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker’s Guide to LifeSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Martha Beck:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck | Amazon Bewildered Podcast The Gathering Room Podcast The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self by Martha Beck | Amazon The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | Amazon Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life | The Tim Ferriss Show #571 The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life by Boyd Varty | Amazon Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Beck | Amazon Londolozi Game Reserve Full Circle by Dave Varty | Amazon The Lion Tracker’s Guide To Life Quotes by Boyd Varty | Goodreads How to Track Your Life’s Purpose | Martha Beck The Porcupine and the Tamboti Tree | Londolozi Blog Tracking Lion | Londolozi Blog “Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology Is Indistinguishable from Magic.” | CCCB LAB Fear-Setting: The Most Valuable Exercise I Do Every Month | Tim Ferriss Lamont Library | Harvard Library The Rhodora by Ralph Waldo Emerson | Academy of American Poets Croc Attacks Son of Conservationist | IOL What Makes Crocodiles Such Stealthy Hunters? | Londolozi Blog About Down Syndrome | National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS)Have You Ever Tracked a White Rhino? | Londolozi Blog A Mormon Daughter’s Book Stirs a Storm | The New York Times Woo-Woo Definition & Meaning | Merriam-Webster The Survival Specialist | The Guardian Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Professor Donald Hoffman — The Case Against Reality, Beyond Spacetime, Rethinking Death, Panpsychism, QBism, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #585 The Integrity Cleanse DIY Workbook | Martha Beck I Think You’re Fat by A.J. Jacobs | Esquire The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri | Amazon Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare | Folger Shakespeare Library Stoicism vs. Hedonism: What’s the Difference? | Orion Philosophy The Addictive Puzzle Game That Started It All! | Tetris Nice Work If You Can Get It | Bewildered #49 Calm Down, We Can Do Both! | The Gathering Room Podcast #126 Elizabeth Gilbert’s Creative Path: Saying No, Trusting Your Intuition, Index Cards, Integrity Checks, Grief, Awe, and Much More | The Tim Ferriss Show #430 “Adulthood Is Emailing ‘Sorry for the Delayed Response!’ Back and Forth until One of You Dies.” | Marissa Miller, Twitter Sorry for the Delayed Response | The New Yorker ‘New Yorker’ Cartoon Editor Explores What Makes Us Get It | NPR It’s All Chinese To Me? | It’s All Greek To Me The Significance of Oranges Around Lunar New Year, Explained | Time What Is Zen Buddhism and How Do You Practice It? | Lion’s Roar Tao Te Ching: A New English Version by Lao Tzu and Stephen Mitchell | Amazon The Great British Baking Show | Netflix The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life by Timothy Ferriss | Amazon Sweet Vs. Savory | The Daily Nexus A Strange Place to Find Comfort | The Gathering Room Podcast #112 The Formula for Happiness | Martha Beck When You Want Not to Want What You Want | The Gathering Room Podcast #99 Compare Models | Tesla We Asked Leaf Blower Guys if They Know How Annoying They Are | Vice Andrés Segovia: The Father Of Classical Guitar (1975) | YouTube Cananga Odorata (Ylang-Ylang) | Wikipedia Why Do My Dog’s Feet Smell Like Fritos or Corn Chips? | AKC Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) | Psychology Today Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Reducing Suicidal Ideation and Deliberate Self-Harm: Systematic Review | JMIR Mental Health Perissodactyla | Wikipedia Luxury Safari Experience in South Africa | Sabi Sands Nature Reserve Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie | Amazon The Work | Byron Katie A Stillness within Stephen Mitchell | Los Angeles Times Faust: A Tragedy in Two Parts and the Urfaust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | Amazon Language. Culture. Germany. | Goethe-Institut USA Goethe: The Smartest Man in History? | Mystery Scoop How to Live Like a Rock Star (or Tango Star) in Buenos Aires… | Tim Ferriss What the Stroop Effect Reveals About Our Minds | Lesley University What is Neurodiversity? | Harvard Health Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight | TED Talk Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow Challenge | TinkerLab Awakening Your Magician | The Gathering Room Podcast #144 All of Creation | Martha Beck Activity: Mirror Writing | Museum of Science Figure Study Tool | Line of Action Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 | The University of the Arts What is Internal Family Systems? | IFS Institute Internal Family Systems Therapy, Second Edition by Richard C. Schwartz and Martha Sweezy | Amazon Richard Schwartz — IFS, Psychedelic Experiences without Drugs, and Finding Inner Peace for Our Many Parts | The Tim Ferriss Show #492 Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness Using IFS, A Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy by Jay Earley and Karen Donnely | Amazon Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach | Amazon A Mother Cheetah Reveals Her Tiny Cubs | Londolozi TV A Cat’s Best Friend | San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Stories The Merchant of Just Be Happy | The New York Times Koelle Simpson’s Equine Therapy | Oprah.com Capuchin Facts | Costa Rica Wildlife Guide The Magical Corner of Intention and Invention | The Gathering Room Podcast #155 A Tale of a Troop of Baboons | Londolozi Blog Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art by Lewis Hyde | AmazonSHOW NOTES[06:06] My contribution to teen atrociousness.[06:40] Connecting with Boyd Varty.[12:27] The path of not here.[16:38] Finding joy in the body can save your life.[21:17] The pregnant pause that ended Martha’s obsession with intellect.[26:51] Sensitivity and suffering.[30:14] The year of living lie-lessly.[35:36] An illuminating change of perspective.[46:14] The path to taking a black belt integrity cleanse.[49:42] Owning your right to say “No.”[53:45] Alternatives to “No” that remain honest.[57:11] The language of candor.[59:30] Ending relationships that have run their course.[01:00:37] The Asian influence.[01:04:26] Sweet or savory?[01:05:36] Are you comfortable?[01:07:29] Want vs. yearning and jumping the track.[01:20:36] Rhino ruminations.[01:22:06] The Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell, and Byron Katie.[01:33:19] America’s Goethe?[01:36:20] Weighing kryptonite against superpowers.[01:44:50] Exploring the opposite of anxiety.[01:56:38] Dick Schwartz and Internal Family Systems.[02:01:57] Compassion even for the self’s unwanted pieces.[02:04:20] Favorite animal.[02:08:58] Equine therapy.[02:15:06] Selling the ranch.[02:18:05] The monkey whisperer.[02:20:05] Parting thoughts.MORE MARTHA BECK QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“It’s never true to hate yourself or to condemn yourself.”

— Martha Beck

“There’s a level beyond just telling the truth, and it is called compassion—and it’s truer.”

— Martha Beck

“When you’re saying ‘Get away, I don’t want you,’ the part of you that does insomnia and depression goes into a panic because it’s now being told it can’t belong. You don’t want it, you’ve rejected it. It ups the ante, and all it knows how to do is keep you awake and make you depressed.”

— Martha Beck

“I said being creative is the opposite of anxiety, but you can’t get to creativity if you don’t start with acceptance and compassion and simple kindness toward the self, toward the parts of the self that are doing the things you can’t stand.”

— Martha Beck

“When you realize that nature is available to you as a companion if you just tell the truth, it really is worth giving everything else up.”

— Martha Beck

“I remembered Emerson’s statement that ‘beauty is its own excuse for being,’ and I thought, ‘Joy is its own excuse for being.’ That is the one thing I can experience that makes it worth sticking around for the suffering this life entails. So I shifted my entire life toward a sort of very simple test: does it bring me joy or does it not? And joy became the track I was following.”

— Martha Beck

“The essential self yearns. The social self wants.”

— Martha Beck

PEOPLE MENTIONEDOprah Winfrey Boyd Varty Bronwyn Varty-Laburn Dave Varty Shan Varty Renias Mhlongo Sherlock Holmes Arthur C. Clarke Ralph Waldo Emerson Eddie Izzard Alex Van Den Heever Brigham Young Hugh Nibley A.J. Jacobs Julie Schoenberg Jacobs Dante Alighieri Julius Caesar William Shakespeare Elizabeth Gilbert Andrés Segovia Molly Ferriss Steven C. Hayes Stephen Mitchell Byron Katie Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Jill Bolte Taylor Leonardo da Vinci Neil Gaiman Iain McGilchrist Richard Schwartz Jay Earley Tara Brach Lewis Hyde

The post Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety (#732) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on April 17, 2024 01:13

Dr. David Spiegel, Stanford U. — Practical Hypnosis, Meditation vs. Hypnosis, Pain Management Without Drugs, The Neurobiology of Trance, and More (#731)

Illustration via 99designs

“One of the things I love about working with hypnosis is people are surprised at what they can do because they’re trying out being different and seeing what it feels like.” — Dr. David Spiegel

Dr. David Spiegel is Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Center on Stress and Health, and Medical Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he has been a member of the academic faculty since 1975.

Dr. Spiegel has more than 40 years of clinical and research experience, has published thirteen books, 404 scientific journal articles, and his work has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Cancer Institute, and more.

He is the founder of Reveri, the world’s first interactive self-hypnosis app.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements; Helix Sleep premium mattresses; and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#731: Dr. David Spiegel, Stanford U. — Practical Hypnosis, Meditation vs. Hypnosis, Pain Management Without Drugs, The Neurobiology of Trance, and More

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.

Right now, you’ll get a 1-year supply of Vitamin D free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive your 1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive daily, foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole-body health.

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the best overall mattress of 2022 by GQ magazine, Wired, and Apartment Therapy. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.

This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

Their products are third-party tested (Informed-Sport and/or NSF certified), so you can trust that what is on the label is in the bottle and nothing else. If you want to try Momentous for yourself, you can use code Tim for 20% off your one-time purchase at LiveMomentous.com/Tim. And not to worry, my non-US friends, Momentous ships internationally and has you covered.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear another episode with someone who takes hypnosis seriously? Listen to my conversation with Loonshots author Safi Bahcall in which we discussed using hypnosis for insomnia relief, common relaxation trance induction techniques, the most effective applications of hypnosis, how hypnosis compares to meditation for self-control, understanding anger as a gift, effective and non-effective ways of helping someone cope with depression, and much more.

#382: Safi Bahcall — On Hypnosis, Conquering Insomnia, Incentives, and MoreSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Dr. David Spiegel:

LinkedIn | Stanford Medicine

Connect with Reveri:

Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

Digital Hypnosis | Reveri Conversion Disorder | Cleveland Clinic The Truth About Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures | Epilepsy Foundation Forensic Psychiatry | Wikipedia Academic Politics Are So Vicious Because the Stakes Are So Small | Quote Investigator Dr. Andrew Huberman — A Neurobiologist on Optimizing Sleep, Enhancing Performance, Reducing Anxiety, Increasing Testosterone, and Using the Body to Control the Mind | The Tim Ferriss Show #521 How Does Hypnosis Work? Here’s What the Science Says | Time Shared Cognitive Mechanisms of Hypnotizability with Executive Functioning and Information Salience | Scientific Reports Uncovering the New Science of Clinical Hypnosis | APA Mihály Csíkszentmihályi on the Autotelic Experience | Goodreads Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi | Amazon Women’s Swimming & Diving | Stanford University Athletics Tiger’s Psychologist: The Use of Hypnosis to Create a Champion | Golf Viral Meditation, Mindset, and Mastery | The Tim Ferriss Show #201 How to Know If You Can Be Hypnotized with Andrew Huberman | JRE Clips Piaget’s Theory of Childhood Development | Child & Family Blog Test–Retest Reliability of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, and the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale | International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis Point-of-Care Testing of Enzyme Polymorphisms for Predicting Hypnotizability and Postoperative Pain | The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics The Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) in Clinical Practice and Research | International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis The Eye-Roll Hypnosis Test: How to Measure Your Susceptibility with Dr. David Spiegel (Clip) | The Align Podcast What Is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)? | EMDR Institute “One Foot in the Present, One Foot in the Past:” Understanding EMDR | The New York Times We’d Rather Feel Guilty Than Helpless | Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church LSD May Chip Away at the Brain’s “Sense of Self” Network | Scientific American MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy | MAPS The World’s Largest Psychedelic Research Center | The Tim Ferriss Show #385 Psychedelics Open Your Brain. You Might Not like What Falls In. | The Atlantic Psychedelics Aren’t For Everyone | Green Market Report Research Takes a Closer Look at the Experience of Ego Dissolution | Binghamton News Nolan Williams — A Glimpse of the Future: Electroceuticals for 70%–90% Remission of Depression, Brain Stimulation for Sports Performance, and De-risking Ibogaine for TBI/PTSD | The Tim Ferriss Show #714 Accelerated TMS: Moving Quickly into the Future of Depression Treatment | Neuropsychopharmacology Scientists Use High-Tech Brain Stimulation to Make People More Hypnotizable | Stanford Medicine Stanford Hypnosis Integrated with Functional Connectivity-Targeted Transcranial Stimulation (Shift): A Preregistered Randomized Controlled Trial | Nature Mental Health Dr. James Esdaile and Deep Hypnosis | Institute of Interpersonal Hypnotherapy A Randomized Controlled Trial of Clinical Hypnosis as an Opioid-Sparing Adjunct Treatment for Pain Relief in Adults Undergoing Major Oncologic Surgery | Journal of Pain Research Vasodilation: What Causes Blood Vessels to Widen | Cleveland Clinic What Is Dissociation? | Mind What Is Pain? | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Dr. David Spiegel: Can You Control Pain with Your Mind? (Clip) | The Proof #297 Hypnotic Alteration of Somatosensory Perception | American Journal of Psychiatry How Hypnosis Can Alter the Brain’s Perception of Pain | Scope What Is Interoception, and How Does It Affect Mental Health? Five Questions for April Smith | APA Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Associated with Hypnosis | Cerebral Cortex The Pink Elephant Problem | Psychology Today Hypnotherapy Compared to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Smoking Cessation in a Randomized Controlled Trial | Frontiers in Psychology Trance and Dance in Bali | Wikipedia From Magic Power to Everyday Trance | The History of Hypnosis Re-Imagining Bleeders: The Medical Leech in the Nineteenth Century Bloodletting Encounter | Medical History Mesmeromania, or, the Tale of the Tub | Cabinet Recognizing and Treating Status Asthmaticus | Healthline US Involvement in the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive, 1968 | Office of the Historian Floating in the Dead Sea | Dead Sea The Secret of How Hypnosis Really Works | Time The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | SCEH American Society of Clinical Hypnosis | ASCH The International Society for Hypnosis | ISH Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis by Herbert Spiegel and David Spiegel | Amazon Self-Hypnosis for Major Wellness Issues | Oneleaf Fix the Miscommunication between Your Gut and Brain | Nerva Boiling Energy: Community Healing Among the Kalahari Kung by Richard Katz | AmazonSHOW NOTES[07:00] How Herbert Spiegel was exposed to hypnosis.[10:14] Using hypnosis to cure non-epileptic seizures.[11:53] What is a forensic psychiatrist?[14:43] How hypnosis works.[17:54] Hypnosis and the flow state.[21:03] How hypnosis differs from meditation.[22:38] Determining one’s susceptibility to hypnosis.[27:21] I take the eye-roll test.[29:33] Thoughts on EMDR.[36:29] Therapeutic psychedelics and ego dissolution.[41:05] Potential adverse effects of hypnosis?[42:34] Accelerated TMS improves response to hypnosis.[44:25] Hypnosis as a tool for stress and pain relief.[48:56] David treats my back pain with hypnosis.[57:09] Replicating this effect with self-hypnosis.[57:57] Understanding the science of pain relief.[1:03:18] Filtering the hurt from the pain.[1:06:37] For us, not against us.[1:09:12] Hypnosis vs. other addiction interventions.[1:11:41] A mesmerizing tale of hypnotic history.[1:16:10] Most surprising patient outcomes.[1:24:53] Finding connection to treat the agitated.[1:28:40] Who is Reveri designed for?[1:31:15] Hypnosis as a first rather than last resort.[1:35:02] Further resources and final thoughts.MORE DR. DAVID SPIEGEL QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“One of the coolest things about the [hypnotic] state is you tend to let go of your ordinary premises — not just about what’s going on at that moment, but who you are, what kind of a person you are. … People can try out being different and see what it feels like. They can let go of their usual premises, and that’s where hypnosis is something like flow state.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“Most eight-year-olds are in trances most of the time. As you know, if you call your eight-year-old in for dinner, he doesn’t hear you. He’s doing his thing — work and play are all the same thing for kids. I don’t know why we try to train them to be little adults, because they have so much fun.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“By the time you’re about 21, your hypnotizability becomes as stable a trait as IQ.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“[EMDR is] another therapeutic technique, but I have to say that my overall impression is what’s good about it isn’t new, and what’s new about it isn’t good.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“Depression with post-traumatic stress disorder is so harmful to people because it tarnishes their feelings about who they are as people. And if you can understand the experience, but disconnect it in some ways from this default mode conclusion about what sort of a person you are, that can be powerfully therapeutic.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“The good thing about hypnosis is you can turn it on real fast, you can turn it off real fast. So the worst thing that happens most of the time is, sometimes it doesn’t work, so what? So you do something else. … Hypnosis has not yet succeeded in killing anyone. It’s just not dangerous.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“Hypnosis is like an underappreciated company that hasn’t been managed well and has a lot more positive resources, and that’s what it’s like. We just don’t take advantage of it.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“One of the things I love about working with hypnosis is people are surprised at what they can do because they’re trying out being different and seeing what it feels like.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

“I’d love to see [hypnosis] integrated better with people’s overall health and wellness care. I think it’s been sort of the Rodney Dangerfield of psychotherapies.”
— Dr. David Spiegel

PEOPLE MENTIONEDHerbert Spiegel Marcia Greenleaf Gustav Aschaffenburg Henry Kissinger Andrew Huberman Afik Faerman Mihály Csíkszentmihályi Tiger Woods Jay Brunza Jean Piaget Dana Cortade Francine Shapiro Robin Carhart-Harris Nolan Williams James Esdaile Thomas Paul Hackett, Jr.Franz Mesmer M. de Voltaire Anna Freud Sigmund Freud Louis XVI Benjamin Franklin Antoine Lavoisier Joseph-Ignace Guillotin Rodney Dangerfield

The post Dr. David Spiegel, Stanford U. — Practical Hypnosis, Meditation vs. Hypnosis, Pain Management Without Drugs, The Neurobiology of Trance, and More (#731) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on April 10, 2024 11:40

Reed Hastings, Co-Founder of Netflix — How to Cultivate High Performance, The Art of Farming for Dissent, Favorite Failures, and More (#730)

Illustration via 99designs

“Hope is everything.”
— Reed Hastings

Reed Hastings (@reedhastings) became executive chairman of Netflix in 2023, after 25 years as CEO. He co-founded Netflix in 1997. In 1991, Reed founded Pure Software, which made tools for software developers. After a 1995 IPO and several acquisitions, Pure was acquired by Rational Software in 1997. Reed is an active educational philanthropist and served on the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004. He is currently on the board of several educational organizations including KIPP and Pahara. Reed is also a board member of City Fund and Bloomberg.

He received a BA from Bowdoin College in 1983 and an MS CS in artificial intelligence from Stanford University in 1988. Between Bowdoin and Stanford, Reed served in the Peace Corps as a high-school math teacher.

You can learn more about Powder Mountain at PowderMountain.com.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform .

Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account; AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement; and Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#730: Reed Hastings, Co-Founder of Netflix — How to Cultivate High Performance, The Art of Farming for Dissent, Favorite Failures, and More

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.

Right now, you’ll get a 1-year supply of Vitamin D free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive your 1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive daily, foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole-body health.

This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is an app that helps you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn 5% APY—that’s the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account. That’s more than ten times more interest than if you left your money in a savings account at the average bank, according to FDIC.gov.

It takes just a few minutes to sign up, and then you’ll immediately start earning 5% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you’ll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more. Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started.

This episode is brought to you by Shopify! Shopify is one of my favorite platforms and one of my favorite companies. Shopify is designed for anyone to sell anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business. In no time flat, you can have a great-looking online store that brings your ideas to life, and you can have the tools to manage your day-to-day and drive sales. No coding or design experience required.

Go to shopify.com/Tim to sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period. It’s a great deal for a great service, so I encourage you to check it out. Take your business to the next level today by visiting shopify.com/Tim .

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear an episode with another Netflix founder? Listen to my conversation with Marc Randolph, in which we discussed changing communication style as a leader, split testing superpowers, what sets good entrepreneurs apart from mediocre ones, best and worst ideas, pushing back when countless people proclaimed Netflix’s business model would never work, and much more.

#496: Marc Randolph on Building Netflix, Battling Blockbuster, Negotiating with Amazon/Bezos, and Scraping the Barnacles Off the HullSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Reed Hastings:

Powder Mountain | Twitter | LinkedIn

Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II by Jennet Conant | Amazon Radio History: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of LORAN | Mini-Circuits Blog Stock Market Crash of 1929 | Federal Reserve History Subprime Mortgage Crisis | Federal Reserve History The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by MIchael Lewis | Amazon Memento | Prime Video Risk Tolerance: It’s in Your DNA | University of California San Diego Jeff Bezos Explains One-Way Door Decisions and Two-Way Door Decisions (Clip) | Lex Fridman Podcast #405 Free Solo | Prime Video Why Culture Matters with Netflix’s Reed Hastings | Masters of Scale #8 Netflix Culture — Seeking Excellence | Netflix How Netflix Reinvented HR | Harvard Business Review Ozark | Netflix Pure Software | Wikipedia Beginner’s Guide to Java | Microsoft Azure Epic Pass | Vail Resorts Multi Resort Ski Passes | Ikon Pass Radical Candor: Fully Revised and Updated Edition: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean by Kim Scott | Amazon I Think You’re Fat by A.J. Jacobs | Esquire Reed Hastings and John Doerr: Building an Iconic Company | Kleiner Perkins Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh | Amazon Reed Hastings On Netflix’s Biggest Mistake | Forbes Farming for Dissent | The Condorsay Newsletter No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer | Amazon Netflix vs. Blockbuster — The Official Case Study | Drift Vintage Calgonite Commercial (1970s) | YouTube TED 2018: Netflix Sees Itself as the Anti-Apple | Wired Reed Hastings: Netflix Future, Hardest Keeper Test, Lessons From Book | Variety Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by James Collins and William C. Lazier | Amazon Jim Collins on The Value of Small Gestures, Unseen Sources of Power, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #483 Jim Collins — A Rare Interview with a Reclusive Polymath | The Tim Ferriss Show #361 Why Is Rinsing Your Cottage Cheese Important? | Dan Greer The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni | Amazon The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business by Patrick Lencioni | Amazon Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari | Amazon The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers | Amazon I Am Woman | Prime Video Helen Reddy: I Am Woman (Video) | YouTube Netflix at 20: Let’s Revisit the Failure of Qwikster | Quartz Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Apologizes for Mishandling the Change to Qwikster | YouTube Netflix Apology | Saturday Night Live 24 Lessons from Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters to Shareholders | CB Insights Research Where Does Netflix Go from Here? With CEO Reed Hastings | New York Times Events Goldilocks Principle | Wikipedia Wasatch Peaks Ranch Skiing | Yellowstone National Park Lodges What is Cat Skiing? (Quickly Explained) | The Ski Girl Salt Lake City International Airport to Powder Mountain | Google Maps Eden, Utah | Visit Ogden Warren Buffett Was ‘Terrified’ of Public Speaking and Took Three Steps to Conquer His Fear | Inc.com What Are Index Funds, and How Do They Work? | Investopedia 35. Amateurs Should Stick With Low-Cost Index Funds | 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Reed Hastings Creates $100 Million Education Fund | Philanthropy News Digest KIPP Public Charter Schools Support a Classroom. Build a Future. | DonorsChoose QuestBridge Waiting For Superman | Prime Video Understanding Charter Schools vs. Public Schools | US News Why Can’t Charter Schools and Teachers’ Unions Be Friends? | Pacific Standard Reed Hastings’ Philanthropic Efforts and Social Impact | Pressfarm Make the Most of Your World | Peace Corps Summary of Reed Hastings’ Interview with Stanford Graduate School of Business | r/Entrepreneur The Three Qualities of the Most Effective Team Players | TEDSHOW NOTES[06:34] Alfred Lee Loomis and Tuxedo Park.[07:53] Risk tolerance: nature or nurture?[10:56] Cultivating culture that “eats strategy for lunch.”[15:41] The logic behind generous severance.[17:02] Adapting to Pure chaos.[18:44] Reference checking potential hires.[20:29] Context vs. control.[22:35] Radical candor.[24:15] Guardrails for maintaining work/life balance.[27:04] Farming for dissent.[28:39] Believing in the green crystals.[30:54] High-performance team, not family.[31:59] The keeper test.[32:49] Fire and replace, or replace and fire?[33:59] Beyond Entrepreneurship and other recommended reading/viewing.[37:46] A favorite failure.[40:32] Outstanding leaders.[41:10] Reed’s two “religions.”[42:19] Powder Mountain.[44:44] How Powder Mountain differs from Reed’s other projects.[46:24] Powder Mountain’s biggest challenges ahead.[47:02] Could Reed ever really retire?[47:19] Best investments of time, energy, or money.[48:49] How can we improve education in the US?[52:48] What class would Reed teach?[53:59] Juggling projects without losing focus.[55:04] Philanthropy: Why Africa?[55:32] Being “big-hearted champions who pick up the trash.”[56:28] Reed’s billboard.[58:01] Parting thoughts.MORE REED HASTINGS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I’m in the camp that culture eats strategy for lunch. … How do you get human beings to work well together and accomplish amazing things? One of the aspects of that is being around other incredible performers.”
— Reed Hastings

“Customers would love to have everything for free. The challenge is to have great customer satisfaction and to charge them enough to have growing operating income. And that constraint is what makes business challenging, fun, and exciting.”
— Reed Hastings

“The few times I’ve done investing, I’ve lost my shirt. And I realize I’m just so optimistic. Anybody who seems to have a good idea, I’m like, ‘Sure!'”
— Reed Hastings

“Hope is everything.”
— Reed Hastings

PEOPLE MENTIONEDAlfred Lee Loomis Bill Gates Michael Burry Steve Eisman Jeff Bezos Reid Hoffman Patricia Quillin John Doerr Elon Musk Jim Collins Larry Ellison Patrick Lencioni Yuval Noah Harari Helen Reddy Brian Armstrong Warren Buffett Dale Carnegie

The post Reed Hastings, Co-Founder of Netflix — How to Cultivate High Performance, The Art of Farming for Dissent, Favorite Failures, and More (#730) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on April 03, 2024 15:26

Legendary Actor Scott Glenn — How to Be Super Fit at 85, Lessons from Marlon Brando, How to Pursue Your Purpose, The Art of Serendipity, Stories of Gunslingers, and More (#729)

Tim Ferriss and Scott Glenn

“If you love it, make it your life. And right along with that, be tenacious. Learn that the most important thing about being knocked down is getting back up. And if you can put yourself in the spot where you say, ‘I don’t care how many times I get knocked down, I’m getting back up every single time and going after what I want,’ that’s the answer.”
— Scott Glenn

Scott Glenn’s acting career spans nearly 60 years. His impressive film resume includes performances in Apocalypse Now, Urban Cowboy, The Right Stuff, Silverado, The Hunt for Red October, The Silence of the Lambs, Backdraft, The Virgin Suicides, and The Bourne Ultimatum. More recently, Scott has appeared on the small screen as Kevin Garvey Sr. in The Leftovers, the blind sensei Stick in Marvel’s Daredevil and The Defenders, and as the retired sheriff Alan Pangborn in Castle Rock. This year, Scott will return to HBO to join season 3 of The White Lotus.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform .

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear an episode with Scott’s TV son on Apple TV+’s upcoming Bad Monkey series? Listen to my conversation with Vince Vaughn here in which we discussed developing grit, high school trauma, sharpening acting chops through improv, rejection inoculation, finding tone in storytelling, expanding comfort zones, and much more.

#243: How to Fear Less: Vince VaughnSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODERoom Service Poems for Carol | Carol Glenn Ceramics Friction Zone by Scott Glenn | Carol Glenn Ceramics Scott Glenn Prefers Living Away From the Hollywood Hubbub | Deseret News Bighorn Crags: Climbing, Hiking, and Mountaineering | SummitPost Challis, Idaho | Chamber of Commerce The Baby Maker | Prime Video Nashville | Prime Video Apocalypse Now | Prime Video Universal Studios Hollywood Scott Glenn Landed His ‘Apocalypse Now’ Role After Saving Francis Ford Coppola’s Life | The Hollywood Reporter Baretta | IMDb Cattle Annie & Little Britches | Prime Video Wild Bunch | Wikipedia The Studios At Paramount 13 and a 1/2 | Urban Dictionary Nuestra Familia | Wikipedia Urban Cowboy | Prime Video Scott Glenn as Wes Hightower | Frostbite A Look Back at How Gilley’s Gave Us ‘Urban Cowboy’ | Texas Highways Collision Course: An Omnibus of Plays at Cafe Au Go Go (1968) | AbeBooks Scott Glenn Talks The Defenders, Daredevil, and The Leftovers | Esquire Scarlet Fever: All You Need to Know | CDC Benzylpenicillin | Wikipedia The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) | Prime Video This Is How to See if You Would’ve Been Drafted for Vietnam | Military.com Snap-on Tools April 2, 1963 | Kenosha News Archive One of the Original Acting Studios in NYC | HB Studio Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad | Wikipedia The Salvation Army USA How to Convert to Judaism | My Jewish Learning Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu | Amazon Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals by Brian Enos | Amazon Mysticism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Why Do Creationists Keep Saying Carbon Dating Is Debunked? | r/Atheism What Kind Of Fish Swallowed Jonah? How Did He Survive? | I Love Docs Scott Glenn And Killer Joe: A Perfect Fit | Playbill The Leftovers | Prime Video ‘The Leftovers’: Scott Glenn on His “Unpredictable, Subversive” Character | The Hollywood Reporter Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor | Amazon Vince Vaughn to Star in ‘Bad Monkey’ from ‘Ted Lasso’ Co-Creator | The Hollywood Reporter Eugene the Marine | IMDb Stories From the UN Archive: Marlon Brando, the UN’s First Frontman for Water | UN News Bizarre Things That Happened on the Apocalypse Now Set | Looper Royal Academy of Dramatic Art | RADA What Is Method Acting? | We Are Actors Where Was Apocalypse Now Filmed? | The Cinemaholic Rolling Stones: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction | The Ed Sullivan Show Simple 10-Minute Daily Ear Massage & Acupressure | Qigong of Tulsa How to Breathe Properly | Breathwrk How Humming Stimulates Your Vagus Nerve for Stress Relief | Bustle Pressing Reset: Original Strength Reloaded by Tim Anderson and Geoff Neupert | Amazon The Quick and the Dead: Total Training for the Advanced Minimalist by Pavel Tsatsouline | Amazon Kettlebells | Amazon The Most Brutal Push-Up Exercise (Prison Push-Ups) | Victor Gaspar Resistance Bands Vs Weights: Which Gives The Better Workout? | Marathon Handbook Resistance Bands | Amazon FeetUp | Amazon Scott Glenn is a 75-Year-Old Knife-Fighting, Spear-Fishing Madman | GQ Where to See Manatees in Florida | Visit Florida Master Your Inner Experience | Breath Hold Work Freediving Apnea Trainer The Actors Studio Decompression Sickness | Harvard Health Learn to Dive Today | NAUI Worldwide Static Line Skydiving: Is It Really Safe? | DZONE Skydiving Golden Knights | GoArmy.com Everything We Know About ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 | Robb Report Krabi-Krabong: Thailand’s Traditional Martial Art | Fighters Vault Where to Watch Muay Thai Fights in Bangkok | HeavyBJJ Off Limits (1988) | IMDb Lesser Vehicle | Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia Savate | Wikipedia Asia’s Infamous Golden Triangle and the Soldiers Tracking down the Drug Smugglers Who Rule Its Narcotics Trade | ABC News Three Pagodas Pass Much More Than A Border Gate | The Lost Passport How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area | Codus Operandi The Right Stuff | Prime Video Tosca Cafe, San Francisco: An Oral History | Bon Appétit Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov in “Giselle” (1977) | American Ballet Theater Easy Writer | Sun Valley Magazine Slow Riding Tips: How to Ride a Motorcycle at Slow Speeds | Harley-Davidson Insurance The SVD Dragunov: The World’s Most Prolific Sniper Rifle And Its Olympic Roots | Gun DigestSHOW NOTES[07:10] Idaho vs. Los Angeles.[13:26] Apocalypse Now, self-confidence soon after.[17:26] Burt Lancaster’s movie star lessons.[23:06] The birth and death of Wes Hightower.[32:22] Catching the attention of James Bridges.[35:42] Scarlet fever.[37:29] From Marine to police reporter.[42:12] Berghof Studios and parental advice.[50:44] Converting to Judaism.[53:36] Lao Tzu: the ultimate mystic?[58:16] Letting go with Killer Joe.[1:02:53] “Crazy Whitefella Thinking.”[1:08:31] Getting out of the way and Erwan Le Corre.[1:11:51] Lessons from the “morally phenomenal” Marlon Brando.[1:16:26] How Scott’s childhood bout with scarlet fever informed his life’s course.[1:19:05] Daily routines and exercises of an in-shape 85-year-old.[1:35:12] Securing a serendipitous skill set.[1:42:13] Thailand talk.[1:46:18] Increasing surface luck.[1:47:04] How Scott met and fell in love with his wife.[1:53:04] “Just dance.”[1:53:46] Mistakenly calling Rudolf Nureyev Russian.[1:55:57] Poetry.[2:00:01] What Laurence Olivier knew about the value of tenacity.[2:01:41] Parting thoughts.MORE SCOTT GLENN QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I understood, because of the way I’ve learned everything in my life that’s important to me, is you learn by apprenticeship, not from a book or going to school. At least I can’t.”

— Scott Glenn

“I did one audition and they said, ‘You know, you’re not really very good. We want to give you things to work on.’ And I said, ‘What the fuck do you know? Who have you worked with? Because I was just doing improvs and work with Marlon Brando, Vittorio Storaro, Francis Coppola, Dennis Hopper. And they accepted me as an equal. What have you done? You’ve done this and this. You can’t even fucking direct traffic.’ So they kicked me out of Universal.”

— Scott Glenn

“I stopped off in Wyoming at one point. People must have thought I was nuts. I got out of the Jimmy and I walked down to the side of the road and I took this invisible Wes Hightower and threw him in the ground and broke his fucking neck and called Carol at a pay phone. I said, ‘Wes Hightower is dead. I’m coming home.'”

— Scott Glenn

“The most important single event in my life was scarlet fever when I was nine years old that I wasn’t supposed to have survived. … But that experience turned me into an athlete, turned me into someone who had learned to not only live with, but fall in love with, my fantasies and my imagination.”

— Scott Glenn

“What gives performances on film their juice or electricity is their degree of spontaneity. … And complete spontaneity is not watching yourself at all. Complete spontaneity is being in the now so completely that you really don’t have a past, and more importantly, way more importantly I think with acting, you don’t have a future, which means plans on what you’re going to do in the scene dissolve and then finally disappear.”

— Scott Glenn

“When I need to learn something, the best teacher in the world materializes right in front of me.”

— Scott Glenn

“I’m willing to fall on my ass in front of people. The embarrassment of screwing up and being clumsy and falling on my ass in front of people is not great enough to keep me from doing it. And that’s the trick to being a good student.”

— Scott Glenn

“The thing about the pandemic that I realized is a lot of people who were in love with each other had to discover whether they liked each other or not.”

— Scott Glenn

“If you love it, make it your life. And right along with that, be tenacious. Learn that the most important thing about being knocked down is getting back up. And if you can put yourself in the spot where you say, ‘I don’t care how many times I get knocked down, I’m getting back up every single time and going after what I want,’ that’s the answer.”

— Scott Glenn

Carol Glenn Eric Ryback Robert Altman Francis Ford Coppola Richard M. Colby Martin Sheen Marlon Brando Dennis Hopper Vittorio Storaro William Shakespeare Rupert Hitzig Rod Steiger Burt Lancaster Amanda Plummer Diane Lane Pablo Picasso James Bridges Jack Larson Ryan O’Neal Sam Shepard Irving Azoff Freddy Fender Debra Winger John Travolta Wes Hightower Edward Parone Aaron Latham Lord Byron Walter Mitty William Hickey Lao Tzu Brian Enos Mike Johnson Tracy Letts Damon Lindelof Mimi Leder Molly Ferriss David Gulpilil Vince Vaughn Konstantin Stanislavski Isaac Boleslavsky Laurence Fishburne Gray Frederickson Erwan Le Corre Scott Reitz Lee Strasberg John Shaw Kurt Johnstad James Stewart Jimmy Stewart Jacques Cousteau Forrest Gump Gregory Hines Fred Ward Freddie Fields Rudolf Nureyev Matt Mattox Vladimir Putin Natalia Makarova Laurence Olivier

The post Legendary Actor Scott Glenn — How to Be Super Fit at 85, Lessons from Marlon Brando, How to Pursue Your Purpose, The Art of Serendipity, Stories of Gunslingers, and More (#729) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on March 27, 2024 09:00

How to Start a War

“How to Start a War” is a short story by yours truly.

I’ve never shared fiction on this blog before, and it makes me quake in my boots, but this year will be a year of firsts. The story was originally published in NFT form to learn more about the technology and play footsie with my friend Kevin Rose.

It’s a little tale about mercenaries, modern life, and the games we all play. The prose, handwriting, and concept is by me. The graphic design, which you can see at this link, is by Lisa Quine.

And how much of this is actually fiction?

Well, that’s a damn good question…

“If you want to start a war, call me.”

He handed me his card. It was nondescript: Name, number, AOL email address, stock art of an eagle. He could have passed for a plumber, handyman, or tree remover.

We were parting ways after a long weekend together, and the pieces of the puzzle had only started to coalesce in the last hour. I’d known he was former military from the outset, and I had guessed he was in his early 60’s from the gray hair, weather-beaten face, and close-cropped beard. His language also dated him. But beyond that, I knew little, as he was quiet and sullen.

The gathering was roughly 15 male guests, all self-made in some industry, and all pretending to be Jason Bourne. Perhaps Jason Bourne with a drinking problem. I, on the other hand, was a jack of all trades, master of some, but it had never added up to dynastic wealth. Nonetheless, here I was, invited by a back-slapping half-acquaintance who got my email years before. Once I’d signed the NDA like everyone else, folks seemed happy to forget I was there.

The stated purpose of the weekend was to learn evasive driving, hence we had some ex-Marines signed up to teach. I spent my days listening to the attendees peacock about finance, old sports injuries, and third homes. I spent my nights sipping whisky around a campfire with the instructors. Perhaps it was because I shaved my head, perhaps it was the shared silence, but one by one, they began to ask me questions. That’s how “Stan,” as we’ll call him, eventually opened up. We bonded over hunting and Hunter S. Thompson.

And now, at the very tail end of our time together, Stan was filling me in on his next gig. It turned out that he was a tree remover of sorts, or at least an obstacle remover. This all came to light because I asked him where he was headed after our make-believe excursion in nowhere Arizona. I’d been wondering how he paid the bills the rest of the year.

“I’m headed to Burma. I’m a God-fearing Christian, and there are some Christians who need protecting.”

He went on to explain that a large and pension-friendly non-profit had reached out to him through friends of friends. The non-profit was decidedly Christian but no longer advertised itself as such. It had pivoted to a broader donor base in the 1980s. Still, their roots remained intact, and they’d asked Stan if he’d be willing to “support” several small enclaves of Christians in northern Myanmar, whose rural villages were being attacked and, in some cases, burned by one particular paramilitary group. While most of the West thinks of Buddhism as a doctrine of peace, it turns out that no faith is immune to extremism.The violence was being inflicted by self-avowed Buddhists, who were also ruthlessly effective at cutting off supply lines of food and water to these encampments. They viewed any belief system outside of Buddhism as a betrayal of the truth, and that was justification enough for forced removal of both Muslims and Christians, often to Internal Displacement Camps (IDC). The attacks routinely included murders, and the murders were rarely investigated. The entire situation was mostly ignored by the Myanmar national army and local law enforcement, if not condoned. The whole thing was a spectacular mess.

I asked Stan what he could possibly do to protect these groups.

After all, he’d mentioned that it was just him and two other silver-haired vets who’d been hired, all well past their primes.

“Well, that’s pretty easy. These Christian villages can only be reached by helicopter. We have intel on the six or so primary pilots. They all live in one hub, a small city. So, the plan is to kill two or three of the pilots in their homes in a single night, in front of their families, and leave letters as written warnings. That should slow things down. If they don’t stop, then we kill the rest at longer range. It’s important to realize that these pilots aren’t trained to deal with this type of thing.”

The conversation went on for some time, each new revelation dwarfing the one preceding it.

Flying home that evening, the encounter prompted dozens of questions I didn’t have answers for, like:

How many times per year did Stan do something like this? And who hired him?

How many mass conflicts have been started, or prevented, by similar low-tech strikes?

And… how on earth did the U.S. 501(c)(3) in question categorize this expense?

To Stan’s credit, he never mentioned their name, but I could easily imagine an annual fundraising gala in a fancy Manhattan ballroom, replete with high-price auction items (a weekend at a board member’s Lake Como estate?), celebrity guests (wouldn’t the red carpet photos look great on Page Six?), and Fortune 500 execs sitting at $50,000 tables (their comms teams picked the perfect non-profit for great coverage!). In my mind’s eye, there is a well-dressed society woman on stage — white teeth, white dress, white pearl necklace — announcing the auction item: “Support for local partners helping at-risk minority groups in Southeast Asia.” Starting bid: $25,000 USD.

How did Stan and his team get paid? Did the non-profit donate to a recognized NGO on the ground, who then paid Stan in cash? Who knows.

All I knew was that he was being paid for two weeks of services. Put another way, in fewer than 14 days, a number of helicopter pilots — currently having ice cream with their daughters, maybe watching TV with their wives — would meet Stan but never see his face. Those men, no doubt believing themselves on the right side of history, would find themselves unexpectedly at the end of their own timelines and the flash of a muzzle. Perhaps that very same evening, a CEO on the Upper East Side would be bragging to dinner guests about his latest philanthropic work in Southeast Asia.

So, is Stan a valiant hero, a psychopath murderer, or simply (simply!) a guy with ends to meet and skills that don’t translate to civilian life? Is he good, bad, or neutral? Or are these all bullshit questions? After all, he can be these three things at the same time. It depends on your perspective, the stories you believe, and whether or not he’s on your side.

I have to imagine that we’ve all backed killers. Whether through paying taxes or chasing tax havens, whether by buying shoes of unknown origin or snorting a line of coke at a bachelor party, we’ve all been complicit in immense suffering. A Stan five steps removed is still a Stan, isn’t it?

Sitting in my aisle seat, these and other thoughts floated through my mind. The orange juice I’d been drinking tasted metallic. I pulled out Stan’s card to replay the day’s events, and as I turned it over in my hands, I noticed a quote on the back:

Vanitas vanitatum dixit Ecclesiastes omnia vanitas.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity.

How incredibly freeing it would be to believe it. I tried to commit the Latin to memory and failed completely, which only seemed to reinforce the point. I wondered why Stan put this on his card. As a warning to others? As a reminder to himself? A nihilistic justification?

There was a tap on my shoulder, snapping me out of my reverie, and an attractive middle-aged woman seated behind me held up my wallet. “I think you dropped this, sir.”

“Thank you very much. That’s really kind of you.”

My own voice echoed back like someone else’s, and I wondered: was it kind to return my wallet? I’d paid for the fantasy weekend, after all, which in turn partially supported Stan. Maybe it paid for part of his plane ticket to Myanmar. But how much of me was legitimately disgusted, and how much of me was glad to be involved or even proud? I couldn’t tell.

The absurdity was dizzying, and a smile involuntarily spread across my face. It wasn’t a smile of amusement. It made me think of chimpanzees, who sometimes break into maniacal laughter in the canopy if a troupe member is torn apart by a leopard on the jungle floor. I mean, what the fuck else are you going to do?

By this time, I needed a stiffer drink. I hailed the flight attendant and ordered two gin tonics, both doubles. She paused, considered objecting, then folded and walked away.

Three minutes later, I had my drinks on my tray, and I turned back to the woman behind me:

“Thanks again for the wallet. Do you mind if I ask you one quick question?”

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Published on March 22, 2024 07:37

Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons from Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, The Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More (#728)

Illustration via 99designs

“I did five years of Akimbo. It was in the top one percent of all podcasts, and then I just stopped. And I stopped not because I didn’t love it — I did love it — I stopped because if I kept doing it, there’s something else I wouldn’t do instead. And creating a vacuum is required so that I will do the hard work of filling the vacuum. But if I just keep doing the thing, then there is no vacuum.”
— Seth Godin

Seth Godin is the author of 21 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about work. His books have been translated into 38 languages and Seth’s books include Tribes, Purple Cow, Linchpin, The Dip, and This Is Marketing. Seth writes one of the most popular marketing blogs in the world, and two of his TED talks are among the most popular of all time. He is the founder of the altMBA; the social media pioneer Squidoo; and Yoyodyne, one of the first internet companies.

His new book is The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

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Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#728: Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons from Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, The Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear the last time Seth Godin was on the show? Have a listen to our conversation here, in which we discussed the changes of aging, getting over momentary lapses of optimism, finding significance and making a difference, ethically reclaiming meaning from work in the Quaker surveillance state, circumnavigating false proxies, employee retention, soliciting useful writing feedback, and much more.

#672: Seth Godin — The Pursuit of Meaning, The Life-Changing Power of Choosing Your Attitude, Overcoming Rejection, Life Lessons from Zig Ziglar, and Committing to Making Positive ChangeSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Seth Godin:

Website | Seth’s Blog | Instagram | Facebook

The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams by Seth Godin | Amazon Other Books by Seth Godin | AmazonSeth’s previous appearances on the podcast: 672, 476, 402, 343, 177, 138 The (Urban) Legend of Ernest Hemingway’s Six-Word Story | Open Culture Steven Pressfield on Writing Exercises, Muses, Lucky Charms, and Beating The Resistance | Writing Routines The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield | Amazon No Biological Free Lunches | Tim Ferriss Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud | Amazon A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language | xkcd Top Ten Stupid Pet Tricks | Letterman Dune | Prime Video The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro | Amazon The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin | Amazon The Real “Rules” of Haiku | The Poetry Place Long Form AI | Seth’s Blog Claude AI | Anthropic ChatGPT | OpenAI Conan O’Brien Says Larry David Is “Exactly Like He Is on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm'” | Exclaim!Peanuts by Charles Schulz You Don’t Need More Time | Seth’s Blog Isaac Asimov: Centenary of the Great Explainer | Nature Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” | Auburn University Clue VCR Mystery Game by Parker Brothers | Amazon When Siskel and Ebert Were the Names Above the Title | The New York Times The Wizard of Oz (1985) | MobyGames This is Akimbo (A Podcast from Seth Godin)The Rise and Fall of Squidoo | Wizzley Tango World Record: Tim Ferriss and Alicia Monti | Live with Regis and Kelly Sinecure Definition & Meaning | Merriam-Webster Chilean Sea Bass: How Patagonian Toothfish Was Saved | MSC The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln Online “Advice for Authors” Search Results | Seth’s BlogSHOW NOTES[06:14] Writing a provocation rather than a prescription.[13:08] Divvying up concepts.[16:25] Comprehension over complication.[18:58] How Seth fulfills a blog post’s purpose.[22:28] Claude AI vs. ChatGPT.[23:41] How Seth Godin as a Service (SGaaS) maintains consistency.[27:23] Simplification over exaggeration.[31:56] Working with Isaac Asimov and getting a Clue.[36:53] How Seth moves life’s story forward (even when he loves the current chapter).[43:28] Why does Seth write?[44:59] Is an ounce of prevention worth a pound of sinecure?[45:15] Parting thoughts.MORE SETH GODIN QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“If I can show up with something in your bones you know to be true or interesting or worth thinking about, but I can say it in a way that would benefit you if you could share it with your friends and colleagues, that’s a great blog post.”
— Seth Godin

“I can read a blog post I wrote 14 years ago, and I might not write the same one today, but it rhymes with the one I would write today because there is a voice that this character has that I’m very comfortable with.”
— Seth Godin

“I did the first thing that all writers do when I got ChatGPT, which is I asked it to write like me, and I was pleased to discover it was a parody of me. And being able to be parodied is a really good sign, and that’s what it is to have this voice is to say — I could exaggerate it in six different directions and people could tell I would be parodying it. But like the Peanuts comic strip, Charles Schulz did it every single day, and it’s very hard to tell which decade a Peanuts strip is from.”
— Seth Godin

“I try to reduce ideas to their essence without becoming hyperbolic because the voices of social media amped up the hyperbolic part. That’s not a simplification. That’s an exaggeration.”
— Seth Godin

“There’s an assertion at the beginning that creates a tension, and then a release of that tension that lands an idea.”
— Seth Godin

“I did five years of Akimbo. It was in the top one percent of all podcasts, and then I just stopped. And I stopped not because I didn’t love it — I did love it — I stopped because if I kept doing it, there’s something else I wouldn’t do instead. And creating a vacuum is required so that I will do the hard work of filling the vacuum. But if I just keep doing the thing, then there is no vacuum.”
— Seth Godin

“My whole point of view is that life is projects — it is not a job.”
— Seth Godin

“I am not a high performer. I am interesting.”
— Seth Godin

PEOPLE MENTIONEDErnest Hemingway Steven Pressfield Scott McCloud Superman/Clark Kent David Letterman Larry David Charles M. Schulz Isaac Asimov Stanley Kaplan Rick Rubin L.L. Cool J Beastie Boys Peter Olotka Gene Siskel Roger Ebert Arthur C. Clarke Ray Bradbury Michael Crichton Byron Preiss Jerry Seinfeld

The post Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons from Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, The Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More (#728) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on March 20, 2024 06:01

Hugh Howey, Author of Silo and Wool — A Masterclass on Writing, Unorthodox Self-Publishing, and Living in The AI Age (#726)

Illustration via 99designs

“You have to have loftier goals than your expected outcome.”
— Hugh Howey

Hugh Howey (@hughhowey) is the New York Times bestselling author of Wool, Beacon 23, Sand, Machine Learning, Half Way Home, and more than a dozen other novels. His Silo trilogy was recently adapted by Apple TV, becoming their #1 drama of all time. A series based on his novel Beacon 23, starring Lena Headey, also released last year, with season two due in March. Hugh’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. He lives in New York City with his wife Shay.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account, Momentous high-quality supplements, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#726: Hugh Howey, Author of Silo and Wool — A Masterclass on Writing, Unorthodox Self-Publishing, and Living in The AI Age

This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is an app that helps you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn 5% APY—that’s the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account. That’s more than ten times more interest than if you left your money in a savings account at the average bank, according to FDIC.gov.

It takes just a few minutes to sign up, and then you’ll immediately start earning 5% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you’ll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more. Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started.

This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

Their products are third-party tested (Informed-Sport and/or NSF certified), so you can trust that what is on the label is in the bottle and nothing else. If you want to try Momentous for yourself, you can use code Tim for 20% off your one-time purchase at LiveMomentous.com/Tim. And not to worry, my non-US friends, Momentous ships internationally and has you covered.

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the best overall mattress of 2022 by GQ magazine, Wired, and Apartment Therapy. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear another episode with someone who builds fictional worlds for a living? Listen to my most recent conversation with The School for Good & Evil author Soman Chainani, in which we discussed giving stories away, the art of Christopher Marley, potentially gay bulls, career lessons from Taylor Swift, cross-collar dating, dodgy allergies, the life-changing power of ketamine, hookups, and much more.

#720: Life Lessons from Taylor Swift, Conquering Anxiety, Coaching Teens, Career Reinvention, Supposedly Gay Bulls, Your Shadow Side, and More — Soman ChainaniSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Hugh Howey:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

The Silo Series Boxed Set: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories by Hugh Howey | Amazon Silo | Apple TV+Beacon 23: The Complete Novel by Hugh Howey | Amazon Beacon 23 | Prime Video Sand by Hugh Howey | Amazon Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey | Amazon Half Way Home by Hugh Howey | Amazon So You Want to be a Writer… | Hugh Howey The Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams | Amazon Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card | Amazon Hugh Howey: Winning at the Self-Publishing Game | The Knowledge Project Podcast #63 The Bern Saga by Hugh Howey | Amazon Celebrating 100 Years | Simon & Schuster A Publishing Contract Should Not Be Forever | The Authors Guild Ten Things Nobody Tells You About the Publishing Industry | Publishers Weekly What Is Stockholm Syndrome? It All Started with a Bank Robbery 50 Years Ago | AP News Imposter Syndrome: Why You May Feel Like a Fraud | Verywell Mind The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | Amazon Best Sellers | The New York Times The Murky Path To Becoming a New York Times Best Seller | Esquire CreateSpace | Kindle Direct Publishing Dedicated to Serving the Book Industry | Ingram Content Group A Guide to Book Publishing Rights | Amita Parikh Literary Agents Discuss Foreign Rights and the International Book Market | Jane Friedman Power Laws: How Nonlinear Relationships Amplify Results | Farnam Street Blog Hugh Howey (Author of Wool Omnibus) | Goodreads My Advice to Aspiring Authors | Hugh Howey Don’t Like to Write, But Like Having Written | Quote Investigator What We Find When We Get Lost in Proust | The New Yorker This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar | Amazon Circe by Madeline Miller | Amazon Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A Novel by Gabrielle Zevin | Amazon The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles | Amazon Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles | Amazon Why Rappers Love Grey Poupon | Vox Writing About My Father | Hugh Howey The Power of Story | Hugh Howey 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly | The Technium Who Are the Big Five Publishers? | Aspiring Author Highlander: The Movie | Prime Video The Three Breakthroughs That Have Finally Unleashed AI on the World | Wired The Upside of Artificial Intelligence Development | Wired The Creator of ‘Silo’ Says Same-Day AI Movies Are Coming Soon | Wired Why I Write About AI | Hugh Howey The First Emotionally Intelligent AI | Pi The AI Companion Who Cares | Replika Sheila Conversational AI | App Store AI Won’t Replace Humans — But Humans with AI Will Replace Humans without AI | Harvard Business Review The Beginning to the End of the Universe: The Big Crunch vs. The Big Freeze | Astronomy What is CRISPR? | New Scientist How Cheap Drones Are Transforming Warfare in Ukraine | The Economist The Race to a Battery-Powered Future | The Brink With NVIDIA Up 80% This Year, Are There Any AI Crypto Tokens You Should Be Buying Now? | The Motley Fool Surgical Sperm Extraction | HFEA By 02060 the Total Population of Humans on Earth Will Be Less than It Is Today. | Long Bets World Population Growth Is Expected to Nearly Stop By 2100 | Pew Research Center What to Expect at a Shabbat Dinner | Chabad.org How Long Until We’re All Amish? by Lyman Stone | Medium The Power of Myth — The Hero’s Adventure with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers | The Tim Ferriss Show #456 The Brains of Believers and Non-Believers Work Differently | Psychology Today Everybody Worships: David Foster Wallace on Real Freedom and the Skeleton of Every Great Story | Mockingbird This is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio) | Farnam Street This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace | Amazon Atheists Can Be Dogmatic | Discover Magazine Consider Revising Celibacy Rule for Catholic Priests, Vatican Official Says | The Guardian Married Catholic Priests? They Exist, and Here’s How | Baltimore Sun C.S. Lewis and Eight Reasons for Believing in Objective Morality | Moral Apologetics Why Do We Clean? | Hugh Howey Justice with Michael Sandel | Harvard University The Iliad by Homer | Amazon The Golden Rule | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Roland Griffiths, PhD — Life’s Ultimate Glide Path, An Unexpected Stage IV Diagnosis, Facing Death, How Meditation and Psychedelics Can Help, and The Art of Living a Life of Gratitude | The Tim Ferriss Show #641SHOW NOTES[06:48] Breaking the formula with a literary sleight of hand.[11:00] A commitment to 10 years of obscurity.[15:02] Buying back rights and self-publishing.[22:04] Why authors should strive for a reader-first vs. publisher-first mindset.[24:22] Hitting the NYT Best Sellers List with a self-pub book.[27:44] Pricing logic.[31:00] The undersold value of worldwide rights.[33:57] How authors can find deal leverage early on.[37:07] Establishing a daily writing habit.[41:34] Fiction that inspires better writing.[45:27] Collaboration vs. writing solo.[46:59] Ways the publishing industry protects the status quo.[49:55] Why Hugh makes publishing deals at all.[50:45] Self-promotion as therapy.[53:05] Keys to fruitful collaboration.[55:47] Common mistakes creatives make.[1:01:03] AI’s present-and-future impact on publishing.[1:06:05] AI-generated occupational and existential crises.[01:10:11] Mid-term optimist, long-term pessimist[01:14:57] Procreation in uncertain times.[01:19:07] The future of religion.[01:26:21] Free will and objective moral truth.[01:31:02] Parting thoughts.MORE HUGH HOWEY QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“It might not be your best time as a professional or a human, but your best time as a writer is when you’re doing it for yourself and no one’s looking over your shoulder while you’re doing it.”
— Hugh Howey

“You have to write a book that you think one other human will find this the best book they’ve ever read.”
— Hugh Howey

“You don’t want a bad review, someone to pay $2.99 for something they read in an hour. No amount of money is worth the onslaught of one-star reviews from angry readers.”
— Hugh Howey

“Publishers used to think a book kind of burned out its welcome really quickly, and now they’re realizing books have really long tails — successful books — and if you can get an engaged readership on board, it’s worth so much money to have that engaged fandom.”
— Hugh Howey

“You have to have loftier goals than your expected outcome.”
— Hugh Howey

“A common mistake I see people make is thinking that readers won’t follow you across genres. So you see people spread out their name amongst different pen names. I’m going to write under this for sci-fi and under this for romance, and this is my nonfiction stuff. The brand is you. And if people enjoy your prose, they’ll follow you to other genres. So really consolidate your identity. Unless you have a reason to not write under your real name, embrace your writing under your real name and make sure that you are the brand. The more readers can feel a connection with the person behind the work, the better off your career will be.”
— Hugh Howey

“Trusting expertise can get you in trouble.”
— Hugh Howey

“Everything written more than a hundred years ago is all free to read and you can download them all. That has not stopped people from having amazing careers. So the idea that there’ll be too much to read and so no one will make a living, that’s always been true. I’m not sure what AI would change about that.”
— Hugh Howey

“I think there’s an existential crisis that we’re going to face when we realize what you and I do is computational. Our brains are large language models. We’re not that special. We can replicate the human soul in a lot of ways. I think people are going to have a hard time with that.”
— Hugh Howey

“If you try to decide on whether or not to have kids based on what kind of life you think they’re going to have, no one would have kids, because nothing’s a guarantee. Life is going to be weird.”
— Hugh Howey

PEOPLE MENTIONEDShay Londre Dan Brown George R.R. Martin Kevin Kelly Ridley Scott Kristin Nelson Jenny Meyer Marcel Proust Amor Towles Michael Lewis Richie Rich Matt Mikalatos David Foster Wallace Roland Griffiths

The post Hugh Howey, Author of Silo and Wool — A Masterclass on Writing, Unorthodox Self-Publishing, and Living in The AI Age (#726) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Published on March 13, 2024 07:25

Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author of Wool and Mega-Creative — How to Sell Millions with Self-Publishing, How to Find Your Big Break, Making Hit TV Shows (Silo), How AI Will Upend Your Life, Nonconformist Creative Process, Advice for Writers, and More (#726)

Illustration via 99designs

“You have to have loftier goals than your expected outcome.”
— Hugh Howey

Hugh Howey (@hughhowey) is the New York Times bestselling author of Wool, Beacon 23, Sand, Machine Learning, Half Way Home, and more than a dozen other novels. His Silo trilogy was recently adapted by Apple TV, becoming their #1 drama of all time. A series based on his novel Beacon 23, starring Lena Headey, also released last year with season two due in March. Hugh’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. He lives in New York City with his wife Shay.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account, Momentous high-quality supplements, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses.

Listen onApple Podcasts [image error]Listen onSpotify [image error]Listen onOvercast#726: Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author of Wool and Mega-Creative — How to Sell Millions with Self-Publishing, How to Find Your Big Break, Making Hit TV Shows (Silo), How AI Will Upend Your Life, Nonconformist Creative Process, Advice for Writers, and More

This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is an app that helps you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn 5% APY—that’s the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account. That’s more than ten times more interest than if you left your money in a savings account at the average bank, according to FDIC.gov.

It takes just a few minutes to sign up, and then you’ll immediately start earning 5% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you’ll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more. Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started.

This episode is also brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements! Momentous offers high-quality supplements and products across a broad spectrum of categories, and I’ve been testing their products for months now. I’ve been using their magnesium threonate, apigenin, and L-theanine daily, all of which have helped me improve the onset, quality, and duration of my sleep. I’ve also been using Momentous creatine, and while it certainly helps physical performance, including poundage or wattage in sports, I use it primarily for mental performance (short-term memory, etc.).

Their products are third-party tested (Informed-Sport and/or NSF certified), so you can trust that what is on the label is in the bottle and nothing else. If you want to try Momentous for yourself, you can use code Tim for 20% off your one-time purchase at LiveMomentous.com/Tim. And not to worry, my non-US friends, Momentous ships internationally and has you covered.

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the best overall mattress of 2022 by GQ magazine, Wired, and Apartment Therapy. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear another episode with someone who builds fictional worlds for a living? Listen to my most recent conversation with The School for Good & Evil author Soman Chainani in which we discussed giving stories away, the art of Christopher Marley, potentially gay bulls, career lessons from Taylor Swift, cross-collar dating, dodgy allergies, the life-changing power of ketamine, hookups, and much more.