Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 121

Banksy grafitti close to the Roundhouse, Camden Town, London (Photo: CanonSnapper)

Just two quick housekeeping items, then back to our regular programming — some fun content coming — next post.

First, how you can get your product or service in front of 200 influencers this week; second, an update on the overwhelmingly successful school campaign.

The "Opening the Kimono" event is fully booked, and — my goodness — what an audience it will be! Top bloggers, highest-followed Twitter users, authors of 20 or so New York Times bestsellers, the team that engineered virality for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, top executives from huge companies that are household names, and many more.

If you have a product or service you'd like to get in a gift bag for this 200-person group, please fill out this form ASAP. First responders get priority. Note that, if you'd like to do this, all physical products would need to be shipped to Napa, California to arrive no later than this Friday, August 19th…

I am speechless about your birthday donations to Room to Read. I'll have much more to say on this, but here are the basics:

- Of a target $20,000, you raised more than $30,000. Absolutely incredible.

- I will therefore match $30,000 instead of $20,000, for a total of $60,000, which means we can build THREE schools! Those schools will be built in Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, to be completed in spring of 2013.

- Instead of 20 names on plaques, we'll therefore have 30 names (10 per school): 27 top donors, and the three top commenters/fundraisers, as voted on my all of you below. The #1 voted commenter will also get the promised round-trip ticket described in the last post.

Please vote on the below commenters, choosing the person you think was most effective as a fundraiser:

David Turnbull

Bjorn Karlman

Melissa Rachel Black

Rachel Rofe

MK

Please see each of their comments below this voting box, and vote on your favorite here! I cannot thank you all enough. Much more soon…

David Turnbull

What does education mean to you?

Education, to me, is the opportunity for life to change for the better. It's the one thing that can be consumed, but then reused forever. Once something is taught, its with the student for the rest of their life. It's a long tail benefit with an enormous impact for both current and future generations.

And here's what I've done:

1. I have a YouTube channel with over 33,000 subscribers. In the two recent videos I've dedicated a significant amount of time talking about this charity drive. You can find the videos below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6OlN2vy3MI (Skip to 3:00 for the relevant bit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4vg3tAhhk (Skip to 2:58 for the relevant bit)

2. I also have a blog that receives upward of 20,000 visitors per day. I have done two blog posts where I mention this charity drive. At the moment, both of these are on the home page and probably will be for the next 24 hours.

You can find these blog posts here:

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-nintendo-loses-money-and-an-entirely-unrelated-call-to-action

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-street-fighter-atv-wild-ride-spyro

3. I have a Twitter account with just under 5000 followers. I've sent out two tweets asking for retweets. You can find them here:

http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97159620669341697

http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97618243363155968

I have also tracked the clicks from all of these sources, along with the retweets. You can find the details here: http://bit.ly/davidturnbull (make sure you include the symbol at the end of the url).

Bjorn Karlman

Grattis på födelsedagen, Tim! (happy bday in my native Swedish).

Education to me is quite simply the leverage that allows individuals and societies to improve and grow. It is absolutely critical and I truly believe that the lack of it lies at the root of the majority of global problems. I ABSOLUTELY support Room to Read's efforts to promote literacy and education.

As the Third Culture Kid of overseas nonprofit worker parents that invested over a decade of their lives to working on public health, education and medical projects in Africa and Asia, you definitely caught my attention with the Room to Read library building project.

I want to make a positive, international, sustainable and SMART impact for education in developing countries using today's tools so your ephilanthropy ideas are like music to my ears. I officially work in health care philanthropy and I can say that you are miles ahead of most of the sector's stateside fundraising professionals.

Here's my stab at supporting your project (I share numbers/measurement backup sheepishly as I am only starting out in my quest to do good online and you and several of your readers are clearly already demigods in the arena):

1) I made an online donation

2) I tweeted from different angles about the project to my (wait for it…) 345 followers

3) I posted to both my personal page (with a very international and well-traveled 1135 friends) and my blog fan page on Facebook 317 fans

4) I wrote a blog post focusing on the importance of doing what REALLY matters and including multiple links for people to give to your project. (I am working hard on expanding the blog and currently it has a worldwide Alexa world wide ranking of #678,322 and stateside #54,940. It ranks as "relatively popular" (#140) in the Chico-Redding, CA area where I live and in San Francisco (#20,403). Alexa estimates the positive 3-month increase in global reach for the blog at 960%. I am trying to employ MED rules to keep this momentum going while avoiding burnout)

5) Emailed my blog subscribers (AWeber results show a 50% opening average on the emails I send to them)

6) Posted two links (one directly to the cause page and one to my post) to my other accounts: (Google Buzz, Gtalk Status, MySpace, LinkedIn, Identi.ca, FriendFeed, Flickr)

7) Sold my wife on the cause and the donation :)

Alright, that about covers it. I am drawing inspiration from the following 4HWW passage about the Princeton undergrads that you urged to compete for the RT trip ticket to anywhere in the world:

"It was a difficult challenge, perhaps impossible, and the other students would outdo them. Since all of them overestimated the competition, none of them showed up."

So this is me showing up. But regardless of the outcome, Happy Birthday again and thanks for using your platform in a uniquely meaningful way. You've convinced me of what CAN be done:)

Melissa Rachel Black

"What does education mean to me?" Great question and one that has certainly influenced my life.. that was the exact one I answered in a scholarship application essay in 2006 which won me a four-year fully paid tuition at the University of California. My answer then was "a combination of learning and doing" and thinking about it now, it still rings true.

I might be deep deep deep in debt if it weren't for that opportunity.

Without reading I certainly wouldn't be where I am today–growing my muse doing what I love designing and printing gangster-rap greeting cards, while living abroad. Literacy is an amazing skill and definitely one that should be available to all.

Going to spread the good word every way I can. I would be honored to win the trip (currently planning an epic adventure with my great friend) but I'm here to support no matter what.

Thanks Tim.

[SECOND COMMENT]

I replied to "What is education" in my previous comment, and just decided that even though there's not much time left and I have a smaller audience than many of the other contributers, I would tell the silly little fearful part of myself who said my idea was stupid and that it wouldn't make a difference to kindly SHUT UP. :)

1. Created a new card in my muse shop dedicated to Room to Read & this fundraiser. http://etsy.me/q7zS1o

2. Uploaded photos of it on flickr with a description & link to the donation page (57,790 views on my account)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissarachelblack/5993502241/in/photostream

3. Initiated a store-wide sale and will donate 50% of all income to Room to Read before 11:59 PST

http://www.etsy.com/shop/melissarachelblack

4. Shared a link to your donation page on my muse's fanpage (92 fans)?

http://www.facebook.com/YeOldeGangster

5. Shared a link to your donation page on my facebook (874 friends)

http://www.facebook.com/meltr0n

6. Tweeted a link to your donation page on twitter (96 followers)

http://twitter.com/milkandcooties

7. Shared a link to your donation page on google (In 20 circles)

https://plus.google.com/106136978045494527771/posts

8. Shared a link to this blog post in our 4-Hour-Workweek Berlin meetup group (61 people)

http://www.facebook.com/groups/146524318752855/?ap=1

9. Sent a link to your donation page in my muse business' newsletter (88 people)

For measurability:

Donation page: https://bitly.com/oQYQoM

This blog post: https://bitly.com/nZpofR

Viel Erfolg!

[THIRD COMMENT]

Forgot to mention–if I win the round-the-world ticket, I'm going to Australia, Fiji, & New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, and more with one of my best friends, and we're going to continue the Room to Read mission… we will make a book!

She (from Britain) and I (from USA) will co-create a book called EATSRALIAN! with the help of local chefs & creatives to celebrate & examine the different food cultures of the big 3 English-speaking countries. We will organize food parties with local eateries and include their recipes, and invite designers, photographers, and illustrators we meet along the way to contribute imagery.

Food, art, friends, reading, and travel… an epic adventure. Nothing finer in my book.

And even if I don't win, I'm glad to have participated in any small way. Thanks & happy birthday.

Rachel Rofe

What does education mean to me?

Education, to me, is the highest leverage thing we can possibly do to solve the world's problems.

When people are empowered with education, there is hope. People can take education and they can do things with it. They can look for new solutions to problems in the world. They can learn to stand up for themselves. They can make change.

Most importantly, they can learn there's another way instead of what they have now.

If you think about it, life is one huge white circle of possibility. So many people have problems that cause them to be hyper-focused on one tiny black speck in this HUGE infinite white circle, when they could be looking at such a bigger picture.

Education opens someone's eyes to all of the infiniteness.

I know this because I went through it personally. I'll give you a little bit of my back-story, not to get sympathy, but because it formed the reason why education is so huge for me. The quick version is: just a few years ago I was 100 pounds overweight, broke, and totally despondent.

I was sexually and physically abused throughout my childhood, hated myself so much that I wouldn't brush my teeth or shower for weeks, and grew up thinking it was normal to be raped by my father. (This is EXTREMELY vulnerable for me to be sharing, by the way.)

When I was 14, my little 11 year old sister called me crying. She saw my father throw my mother's head into a wall. Then he told my sister how she wasn't really his daughter (untrue), and he tried to drive her and my mother into oncoming traffic. My sister had to reach through the center console and turn the wheel around.

I'm trying to keep this short, so I'll just say things didn't get better from there.

I honestly had no idea there was any other way besides the life I was living. I was focused on that black speck, not knowing about the huge infiniteness of possibilities in this world. I thought I'd forever be fat, with low self esteem, and no idea about how to stand up for myself.

EDUCATION is what saved my life. I came across a book called Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind. I never knew about personal development before and this totally shook my world up. The book led me into a 3 day seminar, and then a Warrior Camp, and countless more books.

That education taught me that it was possible to change my story.

I honestly didn't know I could before that.

I learned that I could do anything I wanted to.

Since educating myself, I changed my life around completely. I've lost the 100 pounds, traveled to many places, and quit my dead-end retail job and started working for myself. I was a cover story in a magazine for my weight loss, was featured in a few magazines for my entrepreneurial skills, and wrote a book about meditation.

I've had so many people from my school days find me on Facebook and tell me they were blown away at the things I've accomplished. I think most people don't know how much things can change. That's why education is so crucial.

Of course, education isn't just for people like me. Educating people in poor countries is literally their key to enhancing their lives and opening them up to other opportunities besides the ones they're currently open to.

For example, a lot of little boys in Afghanistan aren't able to go to school. They're too busy trying to raise money for their family. Many boys end up entering the Taliban not because they believe in it, but because it pays.

That's a TRAVESTY.

And that's just one example. I've read so many stories about children who are forced to play small and live small lives… and also so many about the exceptions, with people who DID get to educate themselves and make their worlds so much better.

All of this to say… I am EXTREMELY passionate about education.

And since talk is cheap, I should point out that 2 weeks ago a friend and I raised $50,000 for underprivileged children in a school in an Indian Reservation in Arizona. I am so proud to know that the people who donated and I helped possibly re-write a child's entire life.

You can read about it here if you like:

http://rachelrofe.com/how-we-raised-50k-in-less-than-10-hours-for-charity

I found out a little late about this contest but I still did my best to do several things to get the word out.

I wrote a blog post. I told my friends. I emailed it. I posted to Twitter, Facebook, my Facebook Page, Google Buzz, GTalk, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, and Flickr. I posted about it in an online forum.

I also ran a campaign and paid people $.30 per click to come over and check it out. I figured this would be a way to broaden my reach and hopefully get others spreading the word too. Hopefully the money I spent translated into thousands of dollars for the library.

You can track how many clicks I've been able to bring over by going to this specific link: https://bitly.com/donateforlibrary (make sure to keep the at the end). That link will give you stats on how many people came, and from where. I sent most people to my blog post first.

Thank you very much for this opportunity, happy birthday, and congratulations for raising all the money you did. :)

MK

To me, education means freedom. And that came, mostly, from reading (although I've been blessed with the opportunity to attend great schools and to acquire a degree or two along the way).

Reading, though, was at the core of it all: I grew up in a library (literally, my mum worked as a librarian when I was a kid) and I have been an avid reader ever since. I believe the ability to read from an early age is crucial to an inner sense of freedom and empowerment—and to upward social mobility (it definitely has been for me, as I hail from a so-called "developing" country).

It's a great initiative, Tim, and I hope you keep up the good work!

Here's what I've done so far:

* Tweeted to my 280 faithful followers:

"It takes $20,000 to build a library. Donate to Room to Read to help build one now: http://t.co/O7zBq6z #Reading = freedom!"

* Posted a question on my Facebook feed:

"What does reading mean to you?" with a link to the donation page

* Messaged my librarian friend, explaining the project to her and asking her to forward the message to her colleagues. She's one of the most social-media-savvy librarians I know, so I expect that to make quite an impact. ;)

* Added a donation link to our Shopify store (we've been featured in today's Shopify New Store Fridays blog post, so we expect a spike in traffic :)

* And much more to come!

(Photo: Sanctuary Photography)

34. I'm turning a glorious 34 this year, right about now.

It's going to be a great natal year–-I can already feel it. Perhaps it will be good luck for you, too: in this post, I'm giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world.

But back to that strange birthday gift…

Much to the chagrin of my momma-san, I've become quite difficult to buy presents for. Some friends even think I'm impossible to find presents for.

It's not entirely true. I love handwritten letters, home-made brownies (like Fred Wilson), girlfriends dressed in next to nothing, and–-most of all-–when people do something nice for others.

In lieu of gifts this year, my birthday wish is to help the poorest kids in the world learn to read. I believe literacy, and the self-determinism it allows, is fundamental to solving the problems of this world. Want an alternative to extremist terrorist schools, to have fewer welfare states, or to prosper with better economies? Teach people to read and help themselves.

On a personal level: can you imagine never having read a book? Never being able to satisfy your intellectual curiosity? That's unacceptable.

Since I am turning 34 this year, if you feel so inclined, please help me build a library for children through Room to Read by donating $34 (or whatever you can) to my donation page (give it a minute to load). Readers on this blog have already changed the world in real, significant ways, like this school in Vietnam that you all built!

A stand-alone library costs just $20,000 and can provide the educational foundation for multiple generations of kids. Here are two additional kickers:

- If you all help raise $20,000, I will personally foot the bill for another $20,000 library.

- I will put the names of the top 20 donors (and one person below) on dedication plaques placed on each library, 10 people per library. These are real libraries that will be finished in 2013, which you can see with your own eyes. It's an incredible feeling you'll never forget.

If we don't reach $20,000, the funds will still go to Room to Read directly for building schools.

Beyond the good karma, I'll add another incentive to act now: a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the world that Star Alliance flies, which is just about everywhere. There is no expiration date on the trip, so no rush on deciding where or when to go. Here's how it works:

No later than 11:59pm PST this Sunday, August 31st:

- Spread the word however you can. Send people to this post or to my library page.

- Leave a comment below telling me what you did (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail blast, add to your e-mail signature, encourage employees/friends to do the same, etc.). Measurement of any type gets huge bonus points.

- Lastly, answer the following question at the top of your comment: "What does education mean to you?"

I'll pick the top five promoters, and you'll all vote on the winner of the round-trip. Easy peazy. This winner will also get his or her name on one of the school plaques as a top donor. Pretty sweet, right? Perhaps that's where you'll globetrot with your free round-trip ticket?

Beyond the bribes, you'll feel awesome about yourself for doing real good for little 'uns who have so little, perhaps no future without education. Trust me.

Superman is not coming to help these kids, nor is the government–will you pause for a moment and step up for even two minutes? It would mean the world to me. I'll share pictures and updates from first construction to opening day.

Again, here is where to go to donate $34, $1, $1,000, or whatever you can.

Thank you for reading this post. You are all rock stars, and I continue to write on this blog purely because of you.

(Photo: Small Dog Electronics)

Macs are easy to use. Intuitive!

Viruses? Never heard of 'em!

Well, perhaps. But problems do crop up, even with the venerated Macintosh. Not long ago, I went to use Spotlight (cmd + spacebar) and, well, it looked a little off.

It displayed "Indexing Spotlight," with an estimated finish time of several MILLION hours.

I'm no computer scientist, but that seemed like an abnormally long time. Alas, "ruh-roh" realizations alone do not diagnose problems, let alone fix them. Much of the world has felt the same at one point or another: "My [fill in the blank] is screwed, but I don't even know where to start." Cars? Computers? Health? We're all ignorant of something, as mastering everything just isn't an option.

So, I put a notice out on the Internets asking for help and learned a lot about Macs in the process. First and foremost: It need not be complicated to bulletproof (or unf*ck) your Mac.

But what if your Mac crashes or is stolen? Does that goddamn spinning beachball mean that my computer's going to implode? Is there a simple way to sleep soundly at night?

My hope is that this post somehow helps you to do exactly that. It won't be fancy, and it won't impress the Carnegie Mellon CS crowd, but it will get the job done with minimal headache and paradox of choice. Here's what I've learned so far…

We'll start with an e-mail thread from Jared Cocken, Creative Director of The Wonderfactory, then we'll lead into personal suggestions.

If you have alternative solutions or more elegant fixes, please let me know in the comments!

Most software glitches on OS X are permissions-based. Permissions set the read/write characteristics of every file and who those files can be viewed by; it's an old system that comes from Mac OS X's Unix underpinnings. Luckily, it's usually pretty easy to repair permissions.

Below are a few steps that will (A) Fix common issues on Macs, and (B) Keep your Mac running smoothly.

1) Backup your data using one of the following methods:

Local Incremental Method – You can use Time Machine to perform incremental backups. I like the freedom of no wires, so I back up over WiFi to a

Uncensored version here.

For previous episodes of The Random Show, click here.

Last but not least, The Random Show is now on iTunes! If you simply want audio-only, or if you'd like to watch the episodes on your iPhone or iPad, here you go:

VIDEO: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-random-show-podcast/id417595309

AUDIO: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-random-show-podcast-audio/id417635513

(Photo: H.Koppdelaney)

Just a few weeks ago, I received the following from Ryan Holiday:

"…in the last 6 months, I've lost 15 lbs and am in the best shape of my life. From adding in sprinting to my running regime, using kettle bells once a week, using a weighted vest while taking long walks, and the cat vomit exercise, I now have abs and — like I said — lost weight in places I didn't know I was storing fat. It was all from your book and keeping to the slow-carb diet. Here's the part I really have to thank you for: by changing the way I thought about running, I ran the fastest mile in my life, and that's after four years of cross country and track in high school. Last Friday, I ran a 4:55 mile. A month before my 24th birthday, I shattered my all time best from track: 5:02. Being that close to breaking five minutes had always haunted me."

Those of you who've read this blog for a while know that Ryan is 24-years old and works directly with Dov Charney as his online strategist for American Apparel. He takes more heat, makes more high-stakes decisions, and takes more risks in a given week than most people experience in any given quarter… and he does so with an unusual calm. Unbeknownst to most, he largely credits this ability to his study of Stoicism, among other practical philosophies.

How did this philosophical bent accelerate his physical changes?…

Ryan made the above progress, in part, because he looked at how to transform choices related to food into a vehicle for larger transformation. If you want incentives to change, losing an additional 10 pounds oftentimes just doesn't cut it.

So let us look to the ancients.

This guest post from Ryan explores his thinking and features wisdom from Epicurus, Seneca, Epictetus, the Spartans, Montaigne and others.

I've been grappling with a dilemma.

It's a philosophical problem that's thousands of years old, but fresh in an age of obesity, eating disorders and widespread factory farming: how does eating fit into the so-called "good life"?

What does our diet have to say about our ethics and priorities? The world seems broken down into two camps: those that rarely give the connection a second thought, and those who care too much. Could there be a better way?

And so I sought out the answer in the best way I knew how—by looking to the masters.

A student once asked Epictetus how he ought to eat. This, Epictetus replied, was simple. The right way to eat is the same as the right way to live: be "just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and orderly." He meant that meals embody the principles and the disposition of the person who eats them. Food means choices and choices mean a chance to fulfill our principles. [So think: being thankful, eating just what you need, tipping generously, caring about where it comes from and how it got there.]

Epictetus was not alone. Philosophers have been experimenting with food for centuries in hopes of finding the best ways to be healthy and to enjoy life. (Seneca, for instance, was once a vegetarian for a year.) They sought to curb the impulse to gluttony just as strongly as they fought the urge to obsess over their weight and appearance. They looked to minimize harm and to live in accordance with nature—just as we wonder about animal cruelty or shop organic today. Ultimately, they understood that everything we do—especially something with life or death implications like diet—is a platform for philosophy, that something you do at least three times a day is worth doing well.

By "well", do I mean healthy? Or well, as in luxuriously? In fact, I mean both. In this short article, we'll examine eating "well" through three lenses: ethics, discipline (restraint and release), and health. It's my hope that you'll then realize that eating well is not just compatible with the philosophic life, but an integral and essential part of it. And conveniently, it has been baked into the The 4-Hour Body and slow-carb diet lessons.

1) Ethics

The ethics of what we eat is well-trod ground, as vegetarians and vegans constantly point out.

But I think Montaigne expressed the philosophy best when he reminded himself that he not only owed kindness and justice to his fellow man, but to animals capable of receiving the same.

Notice how different this is from most attitudes about food. Justice means doing what is fair and reasoned; kindness means empathy and consideration. Most discussions about diet (from paleo to veganism) are pervasively selfish: 'But what can I have for dessert?' 'Sorry, I don't consume diary.' 'Am I allowed to have this?' Rarely: 'is eating this the right thing to do?' We too quickly condemn what might be best for our health, or conversely assume that the optimal nutrition for us trumps any obligations we have as people. Montaigne reminds us of our real obligations, that we should always try to do what is fair and just—what we can look ourselves in the mirror and be okay with afterward.

It's a question I faced after reading Jonathan Foer's wonderful book Eating Animals. I knew vaguely that the horrors of slaughterhouses existed and that I could find hundreds of slaughterhouse abuse videos on YouTube in a second or read the flyers PETA gives out, but I deliberately chose not to. In avoiding them, I made the tacit admission that something was wrong, while refusing to examine that feeling further. There is the story of a Spartan King who met two of his subjects, a youth and the youth's lover, accidentally in a crowd. Embarrassed, the subjects tried to hide their blushing cheeks, but he noticed and replied, "Son, you ought to keep the company of the sort of people who won't cause you to change color when observed."

By eating well, we can be proud and transparent, rather than secretly uncomfortable. For starters, by eating more naturally (protein-dense, appropriate portions), we reduce our footprint—the amount we ask of the world to give us. By caring about the quality of what we ingest, we opt out of brutal factory farming and toxic industrial agriculture—keeping excessive blood off our hands. And by eating locally, we support small businesses and entrepreneurs instead of corporate behemoths who have few qualms about poisoning and fattening us (by doing the same to their "product") if it means greater profits.

Philosophy gives us the tools to root around within ourselves and find these inconsistencies. We can put them out in the open and resolve them. There is something deeply troubling about a system that drives us to obscure the sources of our food. It asks us to not think of what we are eating or why. I don't arrive at the same conclusions as Foer (vegetarianism), but I made a commitment after reading it, to eat the healthiest diet I could, as honorably and justly as was possible. I'm comfortable looking in the mirror after eating meat from farms like Niman Ranch or Good Shepherd Heritage Poultry. (thanks RareCuts.com!) If I don't have access to these, it means I must go without, which is not a problem because philosophy helps there as well.

2) Discipline (Restraint and Release)

The Stoics avoided pleasure to prepare for adversity. The Epicureans enjoyed pleasure to help get them through adversity. As with most things, the best option for most people is somewhere in between.

Treat yourself to good meals so you don't covet and crave them (Tim's cheat days); learn to love simple foods and they'll become all you need to be happy. And of course, the Cynics practiced a third way: they saw through the whole charade. Food is just dead animals, they said, plants and liquids we're eventually going to excrete. No need to get excited nor stressed.

Cumulatively, these three schools all realized that it was important to be disciplined and in control of yourself in normal situations, so that you can develop the coping skills to deal with difficult situations. Modern science adds another layer of insight when it shows us that self-control is a finite resource. Subjects who are forced to resist eating fresh-baked cookies, for example, give up on tough math problems more quickly and have trouble sticking with other tasks. This is definitely not the right attitude if you want to be introspective, dedicated and hardworking. So here we have the the real genius of Tim's "Cheat Days" and the Epicurean concept of enjoying the little things—it's an outlet for release that makes discipline easier.

Practicing restraint and targeted release is a deeply philosophic exercise. It means being in tune with your body and living naturally. These are two things that are increasingly difficult in a world of plenty. To be able to say "no," knowing that what may feel good now will actually feel bad later, is to master the self. To be able to reward the self with simple pleasures is to successful navigate the fine line between self-control and self-flagellation.

Cicero wrote that "need is what provides the seasoning for any and every appetite." He was observing a truism that was old even in his day–that the most enjoyable meals are not the most expensive or exotic, but come at some moment we never expected. After being sick for a long time, at the end of a long hard day or even, perhaps, not even food but a drink when we are incredibly thirsty. Discipline provide a bit extra seasoning we can add to every single thing that we consume. And if could make the notorious Spartan black broth digestible, it can work for us in our comfy nerfy-lives.

3) Health

Of course, eating well and being healthy go hand in hand. But philosophers have stressed this connection for reasons you may not expect.

The right diet is important not because it helps you live longer, they are quick to point out, but because it makes you a better philosopher. Think about what a better person you could be if you didn't fucking hate yourself after gorging your face at a dinner, or feel sick and bloated with gluten, to which you're allergic. If you felt in control of, and confident about, your body instead of lethargic and dissatisfied. Jumping these dietary hurdles is, in effect, a dress rehearsal for awareness in other areas. How much easier would it then be to be empathic, kind and generous? To focus on other people with energy that's no longer directed at your own problems?

A healthy man can help others better and longer. Anntonius the Pious, one of the truly great Roman Emperors, kept a simple diet so he could work from dawn to dusk with as few bathroom interruptions as possible—so he could be at the service of the people for longer. And as Seneca wrote to a friend, the better you eat, the less you need to exercise, thus leaving more time for philosophy. Our keen edge, he said, is too often dulled by heavy eating and then wasted further as we drain our life-force in exercise trying to work it off. It's ironic and sad how many people think they eat well (whole grains, carbs and fruits) but really sentence themselves to needless time at the gym. Imagine what would have come of that time if spent doing good for themselves and others.

We all know that eating healthily is good, but too often we forget why. It is not just about us. It's about our place in the world and the role we need to fulfill. Like a soldier's diet, our choices about food help us with the job we must do, and if we waver in our dietary decisions, we may come up empty at a critical moment elsewhere.

An Athenian statesman once attended a dinner party put on by Plato. When he met his host again, he is reported to have said "Plato, your dinners are enjoyable not only when one is eating them, but on the morning after as well." The man's point was that he'd felt good the next day too. He was sharp and ready to go instead of a miserable bloated mess. To me, this is a host and a guest understanding the proper role of food, health and pleasure in our lives

Conclusion:

We live incredibly unnatural, stressful lives in increasingly unhealthy times.

The Japanese novelist and runner Haruki Murakami has a theory along the following lines: an unhealthy soul [whether deliberate or from external forces] requires a healthy body. How we treat this bit of flesh we've been given says a lot about what we will become on the inside.

Put in a more uplifting light, in such a crazy world, we need to utilize every positive counterweight we can. Eating well is one powerful option.

The benefits aren't just physical, but also emotional and even existential. Some of the most important moments in my life and career have come at dinners with friends. I think back on these meals, like an Epicurean, and I can savor the the taste all over again. No matter where I am, what I am going through or how long ago it was, I always have this to turn to, to lean on, to enjoy.

By leaning on the masters, who have meditated with this topic for centuries, we find age-old but fresh perspectives. I followed their lead and began thinking philosophically about food–that is, trying to eat both naturally, reasonably and ethically–and I saw drastic changes. I am in the best shape of my life physically and mentally.

And this is why Philosophy is so important. Because it can turn a simple thing like eating into a lens for viewing the world, a path to what we all want: the good life.

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Interested in philosophy and excellent reading in general? Consider joining Ryan's free reading list e-mail. It started as a small private e-mail list for friends, but it has now become a book club of about 1,500 people.

If you liked this, I also recommend:

Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs

On The Shortness of Life: An Introduction to Seneca

All posts in "Practical Philosophy"

(Photo: Royce Bair)

Hello lads and lasses. This post is intended as a morsel, a sugar high and respite. Life is serious enough, so this post will require zero calories of brain power.

Not to worry, of course, as we'll be back to our regular content with the next how-to post.

In the meantime, some goodies: the "Kimono" winners and a $1,000 travel voucher giveaway.

KIMONO SPOTS

Congratulations, after much tallying and consideration, to the winners of the $10,000 spots to the "Opening the Kimono" event! Please keep an eye on your inbox for follow-up details:

- Sheila McCarthy (votes)

- Jacqueline Biggs ("wild card" views)

First, sincere thanks to all who submitted video case studies, even those who re-submitted old videos and therefore weren't eligible. Second, HUGE thanks to Dustin "America's Trainer to the Moms" Maher for making the "wild card" scholarship possible — you rock!

Three honorable mentions for the "wild card" seat are below (out of dozens of great videos), and one includes a pic of me drunk at my London book launch. Oh, Internet, you hurt so good T_T

Two of them highlight post-4-Hour Workweek (now 2,172 reviews!) travel adventures:

$1,000 TRAVELOCITY TRAVEL VOUCHER — GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Alright, moving on…

I wanted to have some fun and get people traveling. "But I can't travel… it costs to much!" is a common refrain. Partnering with a new start-up called PunchTab, I wanted to remove this barrier.

Here's how it will work, as PunchTab explains:

Entering the giveaway is simple and takes only 30 seconds. Register by connecting to the giveaway widget below using Facebook. For each step you complete, you'll earn a giveaway entry:

1. Like this blog post by clicking on the Facebook Like button (+1 entry).

2. Become a fan of Tim Ferriss on Facebook (+1 entry).

3. Leave a comment telling me where you'll go and what you'll do there (+1 entry).

4. Tweet about the giveaway (+1 entry).

5. Unlimited bonus entries by pasting your invite link everywhere you can. For example:

- For every friend who clicks the invite link you Tweeted in step 4, you'll earn +1 entries.

- For every friend who then joins the giveaway, you'll earn +5 entries.

Giveaway ends June 31, 2011 at midnight PST. Open to residents of North America.

Enjoy! Attack! Discuss!

(Photo: Stuck in Customs)

For the last two years, one name has come up again and again when talking with A-class start-up investors: Pivotal Labs.

See, Pivotal Labs quietly helps dozens of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world, including freight trains like Groupon and Twitter. If your start-up needs to get good coding done quickly, as in lightning fast — or if new hires need to get good at coding quickly — top venture capitalists are likely to look over their shoulder and confide: "Call Pivotal Labs."

I first met the Founder of Pivotal Labs, Rob Mee, when one of the start-ups I advise, TaskRabbit, began working with them.

One thing is immediately clear: Rob is obsessed with how to get obscenely high output. But that's nothing new. Here's the differentiator: he's obsessed with how to get obscenely high output with sustainable effort. One of his first remarks to me was "3am with Jolt and pizza can be fun, but it's a myth that it's the fuel behind scalable success…"

My kinda guy.

I then posed a few questions:

How do you create a scalable, bullet-proof business? In this case, "bullet-proof" meaning that there's no single point of failure — it won't nose dive if any single player (like you) is taken out… or opts out.

What are the myths of tech product creation (software specifically, and entrepreneurship more broadly) that he'd like to expose?



This post contains his answers.

Think software doesn't apply to you? If you're in business, rest assured that at least a few principles of good software development most definitely apply to you. Translate them into your world and prosper.

Software development is a rapidly evolving field that got off to a very rocky start.

Conventional wisdom for many years was that software engineering should be like other types of engineering: design carefully, specify precisely, and then just build it – exactly to spec. Just like building a bridge, right? The problem with this approach is that software is just that. Soft. It's endlessly malleable. You can change software pretty much any time you want, and people do. Also, since software can be used to model just about anything, the possibilities for what you can ask software developers to do are pretty much infinite. Want to simulate a circuit in software? Go ahead. Run a bank? No problem. Connect half a billion people to their friends? Why not, piece of cake. Not only that, but what we ask programmers to produce changes in the middle of the development, often in unpredictable ways.

This is not bridge-building.

Denying the reality of constant change doomed many software projects, for many decades, to either abject failure or huge budget overruns. So why did an entire industry hew to this conventional wisdom that flew in the face of all evidence? Hard to say. Finally, however, there has begun to emerge a new consensus: software development needs to respond well to change. In fact, it needs to be optimized for change. Nowhere is this embraced more than in today's web start-up development community. So-called agile methods have gained currency, and the "lean start-up" movement calls for exceedingly rapid change, often automated and based on experimentation with the live system.

So we're all good, right? Not so fast. In spite of the acceptance of more agile methods, there's plenty of received wisdom hanging around… and most of it ought to be thrown out the window.

1. Myth: You have to hire "ninjas".

The myth of the hero hacker is one of the most pervasive pathologies to be found in Silicon Valley start-ups: the idea that a lone programmer, fueled by pizza and caffeine, swaddled in headphones, works all hours of the night to build a complex system, all by himself. Time out. Software development, it turns out, is a team sport. All start-ups grow, if they experience any meaningful success. What works for a lone programmer will not work in a company of 10. And what's worse, encouraging the hero mentality leads to corrosive dysfunction in software teams. Invariably the developers who do a yeoman's 9-to-5, week after week, cranking out solid features that the business is built on, lose out to the grasping egomaniacs who stay up all night (usually just one night) looking to garner lavish praise. Rather than reward the hero, it's better to cultivate a true esprit de corps.

2. Myth: Programmers need to work in quiet, without interruption.



This makes sense … if people are working on their own. Every interruption does indeed break concentration, and it takes a while to get back "in the zone". Some well-known software companies even insist that each programmer have their own private office. That way they'll never be interrupted, right? Except that modern-day interruptions have little to do with an actual person tapping you on the shoulder, and everything to do with instant messaging, mobile phones, Facebook and Twitter, email, and the music coming in through headphones that programmers swear helps them concentrate. The reality is that most programmers working on their own only spend a small fraction of their day actually programming: the interruptions are legion, and dropping in and out of a state of concentrated focus takes most of their day. There is a solution, however: pair program. Two programmers, one computer. No email, no Twitter, no phone calls (at least not unscheduled; you can take breaks at regular intervals to handle these things). If you do this, what you get is a full day of pure programming. And "getting in the zone" with someone else actually takes almost no time at all. It's a completely different way of working, and I maintain that it is far more efficient than working alone ever can be. And in fact, with the current level of device-driven distraction in the workplace, I'd suggest it is the only way that software teams can operate at peak efficiency.

3. Myth: Start-ups run hot, so we're just gonna have to burn everyone out.



Working crazy hours doesn't get you there faster. In fact, it slows you down. Sure, you can do it for a week. But most start-ups plan to be around for a little longer than that, and developers will going to have to keep programming for months, if not years, to build a successful product. Many start-ups operate as if the pot of gold is just around the corner; if we only work a little harder, we'll get there. Pretty soon developers burn out, and simply go through the motions of working long hours without any corresponding productivity. Working intensely, for shorter periods of time, is far more effective. Pivotal has helped hundreds of start-ups build systems, and has done it on a strict 40-hour week.

4. Myth: Looming deadlines necessitate shortcuts.



Many software teams use the excuse of a high-pressure market and the need to ship product right now as an excuse to do shoddy work. Writing tests goes by the wayside; careful design is forgotten in the rush of frenzied hacking. But software teams are no different than other teams we're all familiar with, and the way high-performing teams succeed is not to lose their cool: on the contrary, when the pressure's on, you stay frosty, and let your training carry you through. How many times have we heard stories of remarkable performance under unimaginable pressure – whether it be military, professional sports, or a pilot landing a plane on a river – and the explanation almost invariably involves the heroes saying, "We trained for this situation."

5. Myth: Developers should take ownership of their code.



Ownership sounds good. As American as apple pie. Personal responsibility, right? But "ownership" in a software team implies that only one developer writes – and understands – each module of code. This leads to defensiveness on the part of the developer. It also creates risk for the business owner, since the loss of one person could slow the team, or potentially cripple the business if they were responsible for a particularly crucial part of the system. A much healthier process allows any developer to work on any code in the system. Pair programming facilitates this, because knowledge is passed from person to person. The so-called "bus count" (how many people in your team have to get hit by a bus before you're all dead in the water) is a critical indicator of risk for the software start-up. And it's not really a bus we're talking about here – it's your competitors, who would love to hire your best developers. The more people who understand the whole system, the stronger and more resilient your organization.

6. Myth: You need a quirky hiring process.



Would you hire an actor without an audition? You wouldn't last long as a director if you did. But this is exactly what almost all companies who hire software developers do today. Usually the process involves talking through an applicant's experience with them. And that's all. Imagine asking an aspiring actor if they enjoyed their role as Hamlet. Did you play him well? Good. You're hired! Many famous software companies propose brainteasers for their applicants. Some top companies even give candidates an IQ test. The best of them run candidates through a simulated software problem on a whiteboard. This is a sorry state of affairs. I'm going to state (what should be) the obvious: the only way to hire good programmers reliably is to program with them. I run programmers though a one-hour, rapid-fire, pair programming interview – and that's just the start. Having done it over a thousand times, I can score developers relative to each other on a 100-point scale. What do I look for? Mental quickness, ability to think abstractly, algorithmic facility, problem-solving ability. And most importantly, empathy. Because collaboration is the most important thing we do, and it doesn't matter how smart you are if you can't relate to how other people think.

7. Myth: Specialization is essential.



Managers, quite naturally, want to attack problems by dividing and conquering. In software teams, this often manifests as an urge to force specialization. Front-end vs. back-end, database administrators, and so on. Brad Feld suggests in his blog that every team should have one "full-stack programmer", someone who's a true generalist. He's right, but he's not going far enough. Everyone, in every team, should know the full stack [Tim: read Carlos Bueno's piece here]. Why? Because specialization makes a team fragile. Remember that bus count? Every specialist is a liability; if they leave, and you can't replace them, you're sunk. Not only that, but it makes a team sluggish. Specialists need to make their disparate parts of the system communicate through defined interfaces. In effect, they end up writing informal contracts with each other about how to do it. This leads to a lot of overhead, and often defensiveness or finger-pointing. At Pivotal, every developer works on every level of the system, from HTML and JavaScript, to Ruby, and down to the database. And the argument that specialists will be better at a particular layer of the system if they're allowed to focus on it doesn't really hold water. The state of software technology today is simply not that difficult. Programmers are better off knowing all layers and how they interoperate. By the way, another important implication of all this: you don't need to hire for a particular technology. Ruby programmers in short supply? Fine, hire a Java programmer and train them in Ruby (pair programming works great for this). Someone defines themselves as a "server-side" programmer? No problem, make them do JavaScript, they'll pick it up.

If they're any good, that is.

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Read more about Pivotal Labs and find their collection of tech talks here. If you're in SF or Boston, try TaskRabbit while you're at it :)

Click here to browse this blog's other Entrepreneurship posts (covering everything from Twitter and FUBU to selling companies and angel investing).

(Photo: Markal)

Please find below the finalists for the scholarship spot to the $10,000 Opening The Kimono event (all semi-finalist videos here).

There are nine contenders, listed in no particular order. Please watch the videos and vote on your single favorite at the bottom of this post. Two important things to note — achtung!

1) Voting ends next Thursday, June 9, at 11pm PST.

2) Because there were so many outstanding videos, I'm offering a second "wild card" scholarship. That's right — another $10,000 spot, though you'll need to cover flights and hotel, just like the other scholarship. Here's how it works…

- You cannot have a video that qualified for the semi-finals or finals.

- The YouTube video with the most views wins the "wild card" scholarship. The link and view count must be posted in the comments below by the same deadline of next Thursday at 11pm PST. No exceptions, so don't wait until last minute.

- The video must have at least 2,500 views to be eligible. If no one reaches this number, no additional spot will be given away.

Enjoy the videos and best of luck to all!

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Odds and Ends: More Book Notes on Amazon

If you're interested, I've uploaded my Kindle highlights from several new books, ranging from hedgefund investing to Katie Couric's new compendium of "the best advice I ever received" stories from notable public figures. Find them and all of my public notes here — be sure to follow me at the top left to see my new notes and highlights as I post them.

This short presentation, delivered in Berlin at the NEXT Conference, covers the four key principles of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Body. It also includes an interview with the fantastic David Rowan, editor of Wired Magazine in the UK.

The Q&A covers smart drugs, Ambien, measurement of "thoughts" (prefrontal cortex activity), and more.

All speaker videos from NEXT can be found here, and include some gems, like the inimitable CTO of Amazon, Dr. Werner Vogels.

(Photo credit: Graphistolage)

The following interview is a slightly modified version of an interview that just appeared on BoingBoing.

It explores philosophical systems as personal operating systems (for better decision-making), the value of college and MBAs, and the bridge between business and military strategy, among other things.

Avi first reached out to discuss my practical obsession with the philosopher Lucius Seneca, so that's where we start…

Avi Solomon: How did you get to Seneca?



Tim Ferriss: I came to Seneca by looking at military strategies. A lot of military writing is based on Stoic philosophical principles. The three cited sources are — first — Marcus Aurelius and his book Meditations, which was effectively a war campaign journal. The second is Epictetus and his handbook Enchiridion, which I find difficult to read. The last is Seneca and, because Seneca was translated from Latin to English as opposed to from Greek to English, and also because he was a very accomplished writer and a playwright, I find ":

For more, grab the hardcopy or Kindle above, or you can find the entire public domain version of Letters from a Stoic here. It might just change your life.

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To see my highlighted notes (thus far) from the incredible book, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, just click here. To see *all* of my highlights on this and other books, which I'll make public soon, simply follow me on Amazon here. Hope you enjoy!