Timothy Ferriss's Blog, page 27
June 22, 2022
Jack Kornfield — How to Overcome Apathy, Find Beautiful Purpose, Befriend Anger, and Make Your Own Damn Sandwiches (#601)
Illustration via 99designs“We are consciousness. You’re not your body. You have a body, but it’s not who you are. You’re certainly not your thoughts. Oh, my God. If you were your thoughts, we’d be in trouble. They keep changing anyway, one opinion to another. And you’re not your emotions. They come like the tide or the weather. So who are you? Who you are is the awareness itself that was born into this body. You are consciousness.”
— Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield (@JackKornfield) trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the years, Jack has taught worldwide, led international Buddhist teacher meetings, and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology and is a grandfather, husband, and activist. Some of his current projects include MMTCP, a worldwide mindfulness teacher training; Cloud Sangha, a site offering access to expert mindfulness teachers online; and a positive impact Wisdom Ventures fund.
His books have been translated into 22 languages and have sold more than 1.5 million copies. They include The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology; A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace; Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are; and his most recent book, No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube.
Brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs recruitment platform with 770M+ users, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Eight Sleep’s Pod Pro Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating. More on all three below.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#601: Jack Kornfield — How to Overcome Apathy, Find Beautiful Purpose, Befriend Anger, and Make Your Own Damn SandwichesThis episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. Whether you are looking to hire now for a critical role or thinking about needs that you may have in the future, LinkedIn Jobs can help. LinkedIn screens candidates for the hard and soft skills you’re looking for and puts your job in front of candidates looking for job opportunities that match what you have to offer.
Using LinkedIn’s active community of more than 770 million professionals worldwide, LinkedIn Jobs can help you find and hire the right person faster. When your business is ready to make that next hire, find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. And now, you can post a job for free. Just visit LinkedIn.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep! Eight Sleep’s Pod Pro 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 Pro 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 now, my dear listeners—that’s you—can get $250 off the Pod Pro Cover. Simply go to EightSleep.com/Tim or use code TIM at checkout.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
Want to hear Jack Kornfield’s previous appearance on the podcast? Listen in on our conversation in which we discuss self-care during times of isolation, the four dimensions of freedom, coping with one’s own mortality, what spirituality is really about, abusing sacred medicines, what suicidal ideation is trying to teach us, underrated ways to access the mysteries around us, and much more.
#414: Jack Kornfield — How to Find Peace Amidst COVID-19, How to Cultivate Calm in ChaosWhat was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Jack Kornfield:Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are by Jack Kornfield | AmazonJack Kornfield — How to Find Peace Amidst COVID-19, How to Cultivate Calm in Chaos | The Tim Ferriss Show #414Jack Kornfield — Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy in the Present | The Tim Ferriss Show #300Insight Meditation SocietySpirit RockMMTCPCloud SanghaWisdom VenturesThe Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield | AmazonA Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield | AmazonAfter the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield | AmazonTeachings of the Buddha by Jack Kornfield | AmazonThe Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace by Jack Kornfield | AmazonBringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are by Jack Kornfield | AmazonA Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times by Jack Kornfield | AmazonAudio: Loving-Kindness Meditation | Jack KornfieldThe Healing Power of Love: Guided Meditation with Jack Kornfield | Sounds TrueIn a Politically Polarized Era, Sharp Divides in Both Partisan Coalitions | Pew Research CenterNotable Quotations | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn CenterDon’t Worry, Be Angry: Anger in Buddhism | Tricycle: The Buddhist ReviewThe Demon Mara, Who Challenged the Buddha | Learn ReligionsReichian Psychotherapy | TherapediaQuerencia | WikipediaMy Healing Journey After Childhood Abuse (Includes Extensive Resource List) | The Tim Ferriss Show #464Hypervigilance Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment | HealthlineMental Health Care Needs in US and 10 Other High-Income Countries | Commonwealth Fund“Trip of Compassion” — The Most Compelling Movie I’ve Seen In The Last Year | Tim FerrissTitanic Lifeboats | Titanic FactsWhat Is a Bodhisattva? | TricycleMarch For Our LivesDC Choir Sings with Jennifer Hudson, ‘The Times They Are a Changin’ at March for Our Lives Rally | WUSA9The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch | AmazonThinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess | AmazonThe Council of All Beings | The Rainforest Information CenterWe Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness by Alice Walker | AmazonUnited Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3-14 June 1992 | United NationsThe Paris Agreement | UNFCCCHow Was Avogadro’s Number Determined? | Scientific AmericanEstimations: Your Breath and Julius Caesar’s | FuturismOut-of-Body Experience: What’s Really Happening? | HealthlineA Brief For The Defense by Jack Gilbert | The Sun MagazineThe Grateful DeadAlways Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez | AmazonEmbrace Joy as a Moral Obligation | ieatyoumamaThe Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams | AmazonMission: JOY — Finding Happiness in Troubled Times | Prime VideoTools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss | AmazonA Meditation on Loving-Kindness | Jack KornfieldThich Nhat Hanh on Walking Meditation | Lion’s RoarSHOW NOTES[07:15] Apathy and polarization[08:44] Truth beneath anger[22:40] Ajahn Chah and contractor-ese[26:25] Retuning the tone of rage[33:24] Coping with trauma-induced hypervigilance[41:01] Making group therapeutic models work[47:15] In any effort to make the world better, put on your oxygen mask first[53:19] How can an aspiring Bodhisattva cut through widespread disengagement and apathy?[1:03:57] Thich Nhat Hanh and death[1:15:06] Out-of-body experiences[1:19:40] “A Brief for the Defense”[1:27:12] A guided meditation for recapturing the adventure and joy of childhood[1:38:47] The benefits of loving-kindness meditation[1:47:56] “Last year, foolish monk. This year, no change.”MORE GUEST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“We resonate with one another. It’s not a complicated thing. You could call it mystical, but if you put a violin on the table and somebody else plays a violin nearby, the strings of both of them will resonate.”
— Jack Kornfield
“If you really look, underneath anger is hurt or fear or some kind of humiliation where you feel like you’ve been disrespected.”
— Jack Kornfield
“I choose to be on the deck of the Titanic, and I’ll help people in the lifeboats.”
— Jack Kornfield
“We are consciousness. You’re not your body. You have a body, but it’s not who you are. You’re certainly not your thoughts. Oh, my God. If you were your thoughts, we’d be in trouble. They keep changing anyway, one opinion to another. And you’re not your emotions. They come like the tide or the weather. So who are you? Who you are is the awareness itself that was born into this body. You are consciousness.”
— Jack Kornfield
“There’s an enviable spirit in children.”
— Jack Kornfield
“We can’t bear our insecurity and we can’t bear the fact that we’re vulnerable in certain ways and that what’s out there is also part of us.”
— Jack Kornfield
“Meditation is not supposed to be a grim duty but rather more an act of adventure and understanding of opening the mind and heart and bringing a sense of well-being.”
— Jack Kornfield
June 15, 2022
Jason Portnoy of PayPal, Palantir, and More — Porn Addiction, The Corrosiveness of Secrets, Healing Wounds, Escaping Shame Cycles, and Books to Change Your Life (#600)
Illustration via 99designs“Happiness isn’t something you find. It’s what’s left when you get rid of all the things that make you unhappy.”
— Jason Portnoy
Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author Jason Portnoy began his career at PayPal, working closely with technology icons like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin, and Reid Hoffman. He served as the first chief financial officer of Palantir Technologies and later founded Oakhouse Partners, a top-performing venture capital firm.
Jason is sought after as a trusted advisor to technology company CEOs and has spoken on topics ranging from executive leadership to the intersections of technology and humanity. He holds engineering degrees from both Stanford University (MS) and the University of Colorado (BS).
His new book is Silicon Valley Porn Star.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Brought to you by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions marketing platform with ~770M users, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. More on all three below.
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#600: Jason Portnoy of PayPal, Palantir, and More — Porn Addiction, The Corrosiveness of Secrets, Healing Wounds, Escaping Shame Cycles, and Books to Change Your LifeThis episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness, generate leads, or build long-term relationships that result in real business impact.
With a community of more than 770 million professionals, LinkedIn is gigantic, but it can be hyper-specific. You have access to a diverse group of people all searching for things they need to grow professionally. LinkedIn has the marketing tools to help you target your customers with precision, right down to job title, company name, industry, etc. To redeem your free $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com/TFS!
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.
More than a store, Shopify grows with you, and they never stop innovating, providing more and more tools to make your business better and your life easier. Go to Shopify.com/Tim for a FREE 14-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
Want to hear another episode about navigating relationships? Listen to my first conversation with psychotherapist Esther Perel here in which we discuss polyamory, why happy people cheat, how to find (and convince) mentors who can change your life, what she’s learned from Holocaust survivors, and much more.
#241: The Relationship Episode: Sex, Love, Polyamory, Marriage, and More (with Esther Perel)What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Jason Portnoy:Silicon Valley Porn Star: A Memoir of Redemption and Rediscovering the Self by Jason Portnoy | AmazonCapitalism’s Favorite Drug by Michael Pollan | The AtlanticWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker | AmazonThis Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan | AmazonMichael Pollan — This Is Your Mind on Plants | The Tim Ferriss Show #520What Exactly Is a California Roll? | Cheap Traffic AttorneysOakhouse PartnersHillsborough, New JerseyChemical Engineers | Occupational Outlook HandbookUniversity of Colorado BoulderThe Man Who Taught Me How to Invest — Mike Maples | The Tim Ferriss Show #286A Guide to Sand Hill Road: The Epicenter of Venture Capital | Built In San FranciscoFogdog | Stanford Graduate School of BusinessPayPal | WikipediaPalo Alto | Hobee’s RestaurantOf Mice and Men by John Steinbeck | AmazonTao Te Ching by Lao Tzu | AmazonBooks by Ernest Hemingway | AmazonThe Art of War by Sun Tzu | AmazonBASES: Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial StudentsFinancial Analysts | Occupational Outlook HandbookMasters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman, June Cohen, and Deron Triff | AmazonBrian Chesky: Do Things That Don’t Scale | Masters of Scale with Reid HoffmanX.com | WikipediaUniversity Ave. in Palo Alto, California | TripadvisorRodin Sculpture Garden in Stanford, California | A Park a Day Bay AreaThe Stepford Wives by Ira Levin | AmazonThe Truman Show | Prime VideoTesla, SpaceX, Boring Company: How Elon Musk’s Companies Work Together | CNBCClarium Capital | WikipediaWhat is an IPO Roadshow? | Bottle Rocket MediaWhen Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein | AmazonVentures of the PayPal Mafia | FleximizePalantir Technologies | WikipediaThe Top 10 Signs of Porn Addiction | Addiction CenterWhat to Do When Porn Use Becomes a Problem | Psychology TodayCraigslist Shuts Down Personals Section Because of Sex Trafficking Law | EsquireFluoxetine (Prozac) | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental IllnessThe 30-Day Challenge: No Booze, No Masturbating (NOBNOM) | Tim FerrissRecovery from Sex and Lust Addiction | Sexaholics AnonymousDr. Gabor Maté — New Paradigms, Ayahuasca, and Redefining Addiction | The Tim Ferriss Show #298Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship) by Paramahansa Yogananda | AmazonThe Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life by Emmet Fox | AmazonThe Lost Booklets of Emmett Fox by Emmet Fox and Carl Tuchy Palmieri | AmazonThe Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav | AmazonHealing the Shame that Binds You by John Bradshaw | AmazonLove Warrior: A Memoir by Glennon Doyle | AmazonWomen Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He’ll Change by Robin Norwood | AmazonIdiom: Canary in the Coal Mine | Funky EnglishWhat Is the “Normal” Frequency of Masturbation? | ISSMIs Porn Harmful? The Evidence, the Myths, and the Unknowns | BBC FutureDo Porn Users Seek Out More Extreme Content Over Time? | Kinsey InstituteThey May Forget What You Said, But They Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel | Quote InvestigatorThe Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle | AmazonAlcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book by Anonymous | AmazonWarren Buffett Was ‘Terrified’ of Public Speaking and Took 3 Steps to Conquer His Fear | Inc.comCareer Advice from Peter Thiel’s Mentee | Business InsiderMicrosoft Excel Spreadsheet Software | Microsoft 365What Does a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Do? | InvestopediaSHOW NOTES[04:45] A caffeine-free breakfast[08:22] Background basics[10:52] Education and career diversions[16:51] Getting a job on the merits of an eclectic reading list and company t-shirt[21:47] Early days at PayPal[25:54] Lessons learned from Thiel, Hoffman, and Musk[31:40] Why were so many disparate projects seeded by the PayPal diaspora?[36:59] Peering into Palantir and the low-profile mindset[41:22] Origins of the title Silicon Valley Porn Star[44:02] Recognizing addiction, its escalating consequences, and its contributing factors[53:50] Escaping self-imposed victimhood and rescuing the marriage[1:05:52] Shared therapy and vocabulary[1:08:06] Simplifying and subtracting[1:15:20] Shame spirals and 12 steps (not South Africa)[1:25:22] From Porn Star to The Monk with help via choice reading selections and Coach Melissa[1:30:12] Reconciliation[1:33:22] Most important keys to the repair process[1:34:54] Safeguards against relapse[1:38:02] Modern porn vs. “natural” urges[1:40:11] What compelled Jason to write Silicon Valley Porn Star?[1:44:51] Time for surrender: filling in the post-book timeline[1:50:26] Enduring challenges[1:51:49] Retreat lessons[1:55:36] Jason’s billboard[1:57:34] Books most gifted[1:59:29] Good investments made[2:02:03] The obscure side of Microsoft Excel[2:04:36] What makes a great CFO?[2:08:52] Finance: on the job vs. school[2:11:21] Opening up to a partner about secrets we’ve been holding[2:17:52] Parting thoughtsMORE GUEST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“Monks don’t have mortgages.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Simplify and subtract.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Happiness isn’t something you find. It’s what’s left when you get rid of all the things that make you unhappy.”
— Jason Portnoy
“So much of this stuff is going on, it’s below the surface. And I think if we talk about it with less shame and less judgment, it could be really healthy for all of us.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Just keep climbing.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Our default state is peacefulness. Our default state is happiness. You would say that children or kids are really good at reading people’s energy. They’re really good at assessing if someone’s safe or not. Animals have this sense. Why do they all have this sense, but adults don’t? What did we do? We put layers and layers of stuff around that core part of ourselves, that intuition. And in order to get back to that place, that default state of peacefulness or happiness or being in tune with others, we had to start peeling away those layers around the outside.”
— Jason Portnoy
“If I live a life of humility, of love for myself, and compassion for others, I can get through just about anything.”
— Jason Portnoy
Jason Portnoy of PayPal, Palantir, and More — Porn Addiction, Sexaholics Anonymous, Shame Spirals, and His Path to Recovery and Redemption (#600)
Illustration via 99designs“Just keep climbing.”
— Jason Portnoy
Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author Jason Portnoy began his career at PayPal, working closely with technology icons like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin, and Reid Hoffman. He served as the first chief financial officer of Palantir Technologies and later founded Oakhouse Partners, a top-performing venture capital firm.
Jason is sought after as a trusted advisor to technology company CEOs and has spoken on topics ranging from executive leadership to the intersections of technology and humanity. He holds engineering degrees from both Stanford University (MS) and the University of Colorado (BS).
His new book is Silicon Valley Porn Star.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Brought to you by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions marketing platform with ~770M users, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. More on all three below.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#600: Jason Portnoy of PayPal, Palantir, and More — Porn Addiction, Sexaholics Anonymous, Shame Spirals, and His Path to Recovery and RedemptionThis episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, the go-to tool for B2B marketers and advertisers who want to drive brand awareness, generate leads, or build long-term relationships that result in real business impact.
With a community of more than 770 million professionals, LinkedIn is gigantic, but it can be hyper-specific. You have access to a diverse group of people all searching for things they need to grow professionally. LinkedIn has the marketing tools to help you target your customers with precision, right down to job title, company name, industry, etc. To redeem your free $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com/TFS!
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.
More than a store, Shopify grows with you, and they never stop innovating, providing more and more tools to make your business better and your life easier. Go to Shopify.com/Tim for a FREE 14-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
Want to hear another episode about navigating relationships? Listen to my first conversation with psychotherapist Esther Perel here, in which we discuss polyamory, why happy people cheat, how to find (and convince) mentors who can change your life, what she’s learned from Holocaust survivors, and much more.
#241: The Relationship Episode: Sex, Love, Polyamory, Marriage, and More (with Esther Perel)What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Jason Portnoy:Silicon Valley Porn Star: A Memoir of Redemption and Rediscovering the Self by Jason Portnoy | AmazonCapitalism’s Favorite Drug by Michael Pollan | The AtlanticWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker | AmazonThis Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan | AmazonMichael Pollan — This Is Your Mind on Plants | The Tim Ferriss Show #520What Exactly Is a California Roll? | Cheap Traffic AttorneysOakhouse PartnersHillsborough, New JerseyChemical Engineers | Occupational Outlook HandbookUniversity of Colorado BoulderThe Man Who Taught Me How to Invest — Mike Maples | The Tim Ferriss Show #286A Guide to Sand Hill Road: The Epicenter of Venture Capital | Built In San FranciscoFogdog | Stanford Graduate School of BusinessPayPal | WikipediaPalo Alto | Hobee’s RestaurantOf Mice and Men by John Steinbeck | AmazonTao Te Ching by Lao Tzu | AmazonBooks by Ernest Hemingway | AmazonThe Art of War by Sun Tzu | AmazonBASES: Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial StudentsFinancial Analysts | Occupational Outlook HandbookMasters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman, June Cohen, and Deron Triff | AmazonBrian Chesky: Do Things That Don’t Scale | Masters of Scale with Reid HoffmanX.com | WikipediaUniversity Ave. in Palo Alto, California | TripadvisorRodin Sculpture Garden in Stanford, California | A Park a Day Bay AreaThe Stepford Wives by Ira Levin | AmazonThe Truman Show | Prime VideoTesla, SpaceX, Boring Company: How Elon Musk’s Companies Work Together | CNBCClarium Capital | WikipediaWhat is an IPO Roadshow? | Bottle Rocket MediaWhen Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein | AmazonVentures of the PayPal Mafia | FleximizePalantir Technologies | WikipediaThe Top 10 Signs of Porn Addiction | Addiction CenterWhat to Do When Porn Use Becomes a Problem | Psychology TodayCraigslist Shuts Down Personals Section Because of Sex Trafficking Law | EsquireFluoxetine (Prozac) | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental IllnessThe 30-Day Challenge: No Booze, No Masturbating (NOBNOM) | Tim FerrissRecovery from Sex and Lust Addiction | Sexaholics AnonymousDr. Gabor Maté — New Paradigms, Ayahuasca, and Redefining Addiction | The Tim Ferriss Show #298Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship) by Paramahansa Yogananda | AmazonThe Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life by Emmet Fox | AmazonThe Lost Booklets of Emmett Fox by Emmet Fox and Carl Tuchy Palmieri | AmazonThe Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav | AmazonHealing the Shame that Binds You by John Bradshaw | AmazonLove Warrior: A Memoir by Glennon Doyle | AmazonWomen Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He’ll Change by Robin Norwood | AmazonIdiom: Canary in the Coal Mine | Funky EnglishWhat Is the “Normal” Frequency of Masturbation? | ISSMIs Porn Harmful? The Evidence, the Myths, and the Unknowns | BBC FutureDo Porn Users Seek Out More Extreme Content Over Time? | Kinsey InstituteThey May Forget What You Said, But They Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel | Quote InvestigatorThe Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle | AmazonAlcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book by Anonymous | AmazonWarren Buffett Was ‘Terrified’ of Public Speaking and Took 3 Steps to Conquer His Fear | Inc.comCareer Advice from Peter Thiel’s Mentee | Business InsiderMicrosoft Excel Spreadsheet Software | Microsoft 365What Does a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Do? | InvestopediaSHOW NOTESNote from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.
A caffeine-free breakfastBackground basicsEducation and career diversionsGetting a job on the merits of an eclectic reading list and company t-shirtEarly days at PayPalLessons learned from Thiel, Hoffman, and MuskWhy were so many disparate projects seeded by the PayPal diaspora?Peering into Palantir and the low-profile mindsetOrigins of the title Silicon Valley Porn StarRecognizing addiction, its escalating consequences, and its contributing factorsEscaping self-imposed victimhood and rescuing the marriageShared therapy and vocabularySimplifying and subtractingShame spirals and 12 steps (not South Africa)From Porn Star to The Monk with help via choice reading selections and Coach MelissaReconciliationMost important keys to the repair processSafeguards against relapseModern porn vs. “natural” urgesWhat compelled Jason to write Silicon Valley Porn Star?Time for surrender: filling in the post-book timelineEnduring challengesRetreat lessonsJason’s billboardBooks most giftedGood investments madeMicrosoft ExcelWhat makes a great CFO?Finance: on the job vs. schoolOpening up to a partner about secrets we’ve been holdingParting thoughtsMORE GUEST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“Monks don’t have mortgages.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Simplify and subtract.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Happiness isn’t something you find. It’s what’s left when you get rid of all the things that make you unhappy.”
— Jason Portnoy
“So much of this stuff going on, it’s below the surface. And I think if we talk about it with less shame and less judgment, it could be really healthy for all of us.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Just keep climbing.”
— Jason Portnoy
“Our default state is peacefulness. Our default state is happiness. You would say that children or kids are really good at reading people’s energy. They’re really good at assessing if someone’s safe or not. Animals have this sense. Why do they all have this sense but adults don’t? What did we do? We put layers and layers of stuff around that core part of ourselves, that intuition. And in order to get back to that place, that default state of peacefulness or happiness or being in tune with others, we had to start peeling away those layers around the outside.”
— Jason Portnoy
“If I live a life of humility, of love for myself and compassion for others, I can get through just about anything.”
— Jason Portnoy
June 8, 2022
New Insights from Sam Harris, Dr. Peter Attia, Ramit Sethi, and Elizabeth Gilbert (#599)
Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is usually my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life.
This episode is something different. It’s an experimental format that I’m super excited about.
This is an episode that scratches an itch I’ve had for years. I am not always able to listen to every great podcast episode out there, even when they are by some of my closest friends. The answer to my predicament was to ask them to send me a top segment from their podcast that I could listen to and—more importantly—also share with you, my dear listeners.
My team edited them together, and here we are! This episode is a compilation of 15-to-30-minute clips from some the best podcasters in the world and certainly some of my favorites.
At the beginning of each clip you will hear an intro from the host and where to find their work and podcast. At the end, I’ll also share one of my favorite clips from an episode of The Tim Ferriss Show.
You can view this episode as a buffet, and I strongly suggest that you check out the shows included. If you like my podcast, you will very likely enjoy the featured shows in this episode.
And before you go: Do you like this format? If so, please let me know on Twitter at @tferriss and also mention @TeamTimFerriss. Whether we continue this series or not depends on you.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Brought to you by Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and Allform premium, modular furniture. More on all three below.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#599: New Insights from Sam Harris, Dr. Peter Attia, Ramit Sethi, and Elizabeth GilbertThis episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. 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 up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Allform! If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about Helix Sleep mattresses, which I’ve been using since 2017. They also launched a company called Allform that makes premium, customizable sofas and chairs shipped right to your door—at a fraction of the cost of traditional stores. You can pick your fabric (and they’re all spill, stain, and scratch resistant), the sofa color, the color of the legs, and the sofa size and shape to make sure it’s perfect for you and your home.
Allform arrives in just 3–7 days, and you can assemble it yourself in a few minutes—no tools needed. To find your perfect sofa and receive 20% off all orders, check out Allform.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Sam Harris:
Making Sense Podcast | Website | Waking Up (App) | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Sam’s first, second, third, and fourth appearances on this podcast.Books by Sam Harris | AmazonThe Tail End | Wait But WhyChange Your Mind: Meditation Benefits for the Brain | Ask the Scientists“Missing” Woman Joins in Search Party Looking For … Herself | Boing BoingChoiceless Awareness | WikipediaHuman Consciousness: Where Is It from and What Is It For? | Frontiers in PsychologyThe Fractal Moment: An Invitation to Begin Again | The On Being ProjectThe Alan Watts Collection | Waking UpEffective AltruismWill MacAskill on Effective Altruism, Y Combinator, and Artificial Intelligence | The Tim Ferriss Show #120Connect with Peter Attia:
The Peter Attia Drive Podcast | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Peter’s first, second, third, fourth, and fifth appearances on this podcast.The Future of Liquid Biopsy | NatureRajpaul Attariwala, M.D., Ph.D.: Cancer Screening with Full-Body MRI Scans and a Seminar on the Field of Radiology | The Peter Attia Drive #61Peter on the Importance of Regular Colonoscopies | The Peter Attia Drive #202Colorectal Cancer Screening | Peter AttiaAMA #34: What Causes Heart Disease? | The Peter Attia Drive #203How Early and Aggressive Lowering of ApoB Could Change the Course of ASCVD | The Peter Attia Drive #202What Is ApoB? | Pritkin Longevity CenterAllan Sniderman, M.D.: Cardiovascular Disease And Why We Should Change The Way We Assess Risk | The Peter Attia Drive #185My Nutritional Framework | Peter AttiaCalorie Restriction, Part I: What Does Restricting Calories Have to Do With Longevity? | Peter AttiaTime-Restricted Eating: A Beginner’s Guide | Healthline“Most People Practicing Intermittent Fasting Think They’re Getting Leaner…” | Tim Ferriss, TwitterDEXA Scan (DXA): Bone Density Test, What Is It and How It’s Done | Cleveland ClinicAre You Eating Enough Protein? | The Peter Attia Drive #202Exercising For Longevity: Strength, Stability, Zone 2, Zone 5, And More | The Peter Attia Drive #206Connect with Ramit Sethi:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich Podcast | Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Ramit’s first, second, third, and fourth appearances on this podcast.I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works by Ramit Sethi | Amazon“My Wife Is Going To Divorce Me Unless I Can Stop Being So Cheap” | I Will Teach You To Be Rich #20“I Want To Trust My Wife With Our Money, But What If She Blows Everything?” | I Will Teach You To Be Rich #21How to Talk to Your Partner About Money (at Any Stage) by Ramit Sethi | IWTConscious Spending Plan: Budget by Looking Into the Future | IWTConnect with Elizabeth Gilbert:
Magic Lessons Podcast | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Elizabeth Gilbert’s episode on this podcast.Books by Elizabeth Gilbert | AmazonMeditations by Marcus Aurelius | AmazonInternal Family Systems (IFS)Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)Diana, Herself: An Allegory of Awakening by Martha Beck | AmazonThe Integrity Cleanse DIY Workbook by Martha BeckThe School for The Work by Byron KatieSHOW NOTES[07:40] Who is Sam Harris?[10:10] The last time[14:58] Mindfulness changes the brain[21:53] When intrusive thoughts disrupt meditation[24:03] The perils of taking the search for self too literally[33:18] Can you point to your consciousness?[35:26] Begin again[39:10] A recap and where to find more from Sam[42:47] Who is Peter Attia?[44:17] The challenges of cancer screening[46:14] Nobody should ever die from colon cancer[49:39] When should you have your first colonoscopy?[51:18] Early and aggressive lowering of apoB could change course of ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease)[59:36] New thoughts on nutrition and TRF (time-restricted feeding)[1:03:57] DEXA scanning for determining muscle mass[1:06:46] The perils of underdoing protein[1:08:36] Updated thoughts on exercise[1:12:58] How Peter trains for grip strength[1:14:00] Exercise: the good news and bad news[1:15:32] Who is Ramit Sethi?[1:16:59] Frugal vs. cheap[1:23:37] Focusing on what can go right vs. what can go wrong[1:27:13] The qualities that make us successful can wind up costing us everything[1:31:18] Questions for galvanizing change from cheap to frugal[1:41:46] The worry-free number[1:46:35] Why is New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert a fan of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius?[1:52:32] Lessons from Martha Beck[2:02:03] Staying true to one’s inner compass and saying “No” without remorsePEOPLE MENTIONEDTim UrbanAlan WattsWilliam MacAskillRajpaul AttariwalaChadwick BosemanAllan SnidermanMarcus AureliusMartha BeckCincinnatusGeorge WashingtonMichael MithoeferAnnie MithoeferOprah WinfreyByron KatieJune 1, 2022
Primatologist Isabel Behncke on Play, Sexual Selection, and Lessons from Following Bonobos for 3,000 Kilometers in the Jungles of Congo (#598)
Illustration via 99designs“Play prepares you for the future.”
— Isabel Behncke
Isabel Behncke (@IsabelBehncke) is a field primatologist and applied evolutionary ethologist who studies social behavior in animals (including humans) to understand our urgent challenges with each other and the planet.
Isabel grew up at the foothills of the Andes mountains in Chile, where she developed a life-long love for nature and wildness as well as culture and the arts. An explorer-scientist, she is the first South American to follow great apes in the wild in Africa. She walked more than 3,000 km (~1864 miles) in the jungles of Congo for her field research observing the social lives of wild bonobo apes, who, together with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives. Isabel documented how bonobos play freely in nature and has extended this research to study how human apes play—at Burning Man, other festivals, and in everyday life. Isabel has observed how play is at the root of creativity, social bonding, and healthy development, findings that have relevance in education, innovation, complex risk assessments, and freedom.
Isabel holds a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Nature Conservation, both from University College London, an MPhil in Human Evolution from Cambridge University, and a PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology from Oxford University. She has won several distinctions for her public communication and knowledge integration, which range in formats from TED, WIRED, the UN, BBC, and Nat Geo to rural schools in Patagonia and traveling buses of schoolchildren in Congo. She is a senior fellow of the Gruter Institute, a TED fellow, and currently advises the Chilean government, working on long-term strategies in science, technology, innovation, and knowledge for Chile’s president. She can be found in Chile and New York City.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
Brought to you by LMNT electrolyte supplement, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Headspace easy-to-use app with guided meditations. More on all three below.
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#598: Primatologist Isabel Behncke on Play, Sexual Selection, and Lessons from Following Bonobos for 3,000 Kilometers in the Jungles of CongoThis episode is brought to you by LMNT! What is LMNT? It’s a delicious, sugar-free electrolyte drink mix. I’ve stocked up on boxes and boxes of this and usually use it 1–2 times per day. LMNT is formulated to help anyone with their electrolyte needs and perfectly suited to folks following a keto, low-carb, or Paleo diet. If you are on a low-carb diet or fasting, electrolytes play a key role in relieving hunger, cramps, headaches, tiredness, and dizziness.
LMNT came up with a very special offer for you, my dear listeners. For a limited time, you can get a free LMNT Sample Pack with any purchase. This special offer is available here: DrinkLMNT.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Headspace! Headspace is your daily dose of mindfulness in the form of guided meditations in an easy-to-use app. Whatever the situation, Headspace can help you feel better. Overwhelmed? Headspace has a 3-minute SOS meditation for you. Need some help falling asleep? Headspace has wind-down sessions their members swear by. And for parents, Headspace even has morning meditations you can do with your kids. Headspace’s approach to mindfulness can reduce stress, improve sleep, boost focus, and increase your overall sense of well-being.
Go to Headspace.com/Tim for a FREE one-month trial with access to Headspace’s full library of meditations for every situation.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear an episode with another brilliant Chilean in search of what the natural world can teach us? Have a listen to my conversation with mycologist Giuliana Furci, in which we discuss escaping political persecution, what makes Chilean mycology so unique, discovering new species in the wild, befriending Jane Goodall, the importance of letting things rot, and much more.
#525: Giuliana Furci on the Wonders of Mycology, Wisdom from Jane Goodall, Favorite Books, and the World’s Largest FungariumSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Isabel Behncke:Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Isabel Behncke: Evolution’s Gift of Play, from Bonobo Apes to Humans | TED 2011Isabel Behncke: What Can Bonobos Teach Us About Play? | TED Radio HourPlay in the Peter Pan Ape | Current BiologyChimps and Bonobos | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyEthology | WikipediaKonrad Lorenz’s Imprinting Theory | Simply PsychologyB.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning | Simply PsychologyConsilience | Merriam-WebsterConsilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward Osborne Wilson | AmazonProject Nim | Prime VideoEvolution | Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyKing Lear by William Shakespeare | AmazonLunar Society of Birmingham | WikipediaEx Omnia Conchis: Darwin and His Beloved Barnacles | Scientific American Blog NetworkThe Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | AmazonWho Are the Brahmins? | ThoughtCo.The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf | AmazonThe Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin | AmazonCorrespondence Deserving of a Wider Audience | Letters of NoteLetters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher | AmazonSanta Fe InstituteNatural Selection & Sexual Selection: An Illustrated Introduction | Cornell Lab of OrnithologyNiche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution by F. John Odling-Smee, Kevin N. Laland, and Marcus W. Feldman | AmazonWhat is Niche Construction? | Kevin Laland and Lynn ChiuThe Complex Alternative: Complexity Scientists on the COVID-19 Pandemic | SFI PressWe Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us | Quote InvestigatorHistory of the Congo River | LiveScienceWhere Do Chimpanzees Live? | African Wildlife FoundationWhere Do Bonobos Live? | African Wildlife FoundationSome Apes Jane Goodall Studied Fought a Years-Long War | AV ClubJane | National Geographic Documentary FilmsLake Tanganyika | Google MapsWhere’s Waldo? by Martin Handford | AmazonHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | AmazonThe Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution by Richard Wrangham | AmazonThe Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W. Moffett | AmazonFemale Bonobos Shut Down Violent Males. Here’s What Humans Can Learn from Them. | UpworthyHow to Live Like a Rock Star (or Tango Star) in Buenos Aires… | Tim FerrissWhy Some Mammals Kill Babies of Their Own Kind | Smithsonian MagazineDon’t Sleep with Mean People | Baba BrinkmanSexual Dimorphism | Wikipedia“The Truth Is Rarely Pure and Never Simple.” -Oscar Wilde | GoodReadsNaturalistic Fallacy | Logically FallaciousCongo-Brazzaville: Republic of the Congo | Nations Online ProjectKinshasa: Democratic Republic of the Congo | Nations Online ProjectOxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine | AmazonPrimate Research Institute (PRI) | Kyoto UniversityWamba, Luo Reserve | WikipediaThe Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist by Frans De Waal | AmazonShinto | Japan GuideSweet Potato Washing Revisited: 50th Anniversary of the Primates Article | SpringerLinkMorphogenetic Fields of Body and Mind | Quantum UniversityAttentional Bias | Verywell MindScientific Heretic Rupert Sheldrake on Morphic Fields, Psychic Dogs and Other Mysteries | Scientific American Blog NetworkJiro Dreams of Sushi | Prime VideoWatch a Coyote and Badger Hunt Their Prey Together | SmithsonianThe 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | AmazonIt’s the Economy, Stupid | WikipediaNext of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees by Roger Fouts and Stephen Tukel Mills | AmazonKanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh | Amazon25 Amazing Ways Animals Communicate That You Never Knew About | Best LifeAustin Bats Watching Guide | Merlin TuttleAcroYoga InternationalOf Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez | AmazonWhat Is Meant by Native Americans and Some Wolf Biologists Referring to a ‘Conversation of Death’ between Wolves and Wild Prey Animals? | QuoraHow the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis Explains Our Taste for Liquor | The AtlanticSHOW NOTESNote from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.
Baco and JiroWhat is an applied evolutionary ethologist?Lorenz vs. SkinnerThe brilliance of consilienceHumboldt vs. Darwin and the origins of evolutionary thinkingRecent revolutionary thoughts about evolutionComplexity and niche constructionWhat’s more fun: a barrel of chimpanzees or a barrel of bonobos?Chimpanzee geographyMagnificent bonobosFemale mammal problems and solutionsSexual dimorphismAvoiding naturalistic fallaciesHow accurate is it to call the Congo the Heart of Darkness?Why are the Japanese so interested in animal behavior?Potato-washing monkeysWhy do breakthroughs seem to come in clusters?Animals at play: the adaptive joker hypothesisThe overlap between flow states and playWhat the natural world can teach humans about optimizing playThe everlasting tango between energy and timePost-pandemic playHow much do we understand about the way animals communicate?The drunken monkey hypothesisParting thoughtsMORE ISABEL BEHNCKE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“Play prepares you for the future.”
— Isabel Behncke
“Time is an incredibly democratizing force, because you and an earthworm have 24 hours in the day. That’s a fixed budget, which means that there’s this constant interplay, tango, or martial art between your energy budget and your time budget. How you buy time or you use time is in interaction with your energy budget.”
— Isabel Behncke
“There’s something about really putting yourself in the feet, and the wings, and the mind of another animal as much as you can.”
— Isabel Behncke
“Evolution really is about how all life is related and how all life evolves. Everything has an origin and, like King Lear said, ‘Nothing comes from nothing.'”
— Isabel Behncke
“Being a female mammal is expensive.”
— Isabel Behncke
Primatologist Isabel Behncke — What We Can Learn from Bonobos and Chimpanzees, Lessons from Sex and Play, Walking 3,000 Kilometers Through The Heart of Darkness, The Ape and The Sushi Master, and More (#598)
Illustration via 99designs“Play prepares you for the future.”
— Isabel Behncke
Isabel Behncke (@IsabelBehncke) is a field primatologist and applied evolutionary ethologist who studies social behavior in animals (including humans) to understand our urgent challenges with each other and the planet.
Isabel grew up at the foothills of the Andes mountains in Chile, where she developed a life-long love for nature and wildness as well as culture and the arts. An explorer-scientist, she is the first South American to follow great apes in the wild in Africa. She walked more than 3,000 km (~1864 miles) in the jungles of Congo for her field research observing the social lives of wild bonobo apes, who, together with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives. Isabel documented how bonobos play freely in nature and has extended this research to study how human apes play — at Burning Man, other festivals, and in everyday life. Isabel has observed how play is at the root of creativity, social bonding, and healthy development, findings that have relevance in education, innovation, complex risk assessments, and freedom.
Isabel holds a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Nature Conservation, both from University College London, an MPhil in Human Evolution from Cambridge University, and a PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology from Oxford University. She has won several distinctions for her public communication and knowledge integration, which ranges in formats from TED, WIRED, the UN, BBC, and Nat Geo, to rural schools in Patagonia and traveling buses of schoolchildren in Congo. She is a senior fellow of the Gruter Institute, a TED fellow, and currently advises the Chilean government, working on long-term strategies in science, technology, innovation, and knowledge for Chile’s President. She can be found in Chile and New York City.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
Brought to you by LMNT electrolyte supplement, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Headspace easy-to-use app with guided meditations. More on all three below.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#598: Primatologist Isabel Behncke — What We Can Learn from Bonobos and Chimpanzees, Lessons from Sex and Play, Walking 3,000 Kilometers Through The Heart of Darkness, The Ape and the Sushi Master, and MoreThis episode is brought to you by LMNT! What is LMNT? It’s a delicious, sugar-free electrolyte drink mix. I’ve stocked up on boxes and boxes of this and usually use it 1–2 times per day. LMNT is formulated to help anyone with their electrolyte needs and perfectly suited to folks following a keto, low-carb, or Paleo diet. If you are on a low-carb diet or fasting, electrolytes play a key role in relieving hunger, cramps, headaches, tiredness, and dizziness.
LMNT came up with a very special offer for you, my dear listeners. For a limited time, you can get a free LMNT Sample Pack with any purchase. This special offer is available here: DrinkLMNT.com/Tim.
This episode is brought to you by Headspace! Headspace is your daily dose of mindfulness in the form of guided meditations in an easy-to-use app. Whatever the situation, Headspace can help you feel better. Overwhelmed? Headspace has a 3-minute SOS meditation for you. Need some help falling asleep? Headspace has wind-down sessions their members swear by. And for parents, Headspace even has morning meditations you can do with your kids. Headspace’s approach to mindfulness can reduce stress, improve sleep, boost focus, and increase your overall sense of well-being.
Go to Headspace.com/Tim for a FREE one-month trial with access to Headspace’s full library of meditations for every situation.
This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear an episode with another brilliant Chilean in search of what the natural world can teach us? Have a listen to my conversation with mycologist Giuliana Furci in which we discuss escaping political persecution, what makes Chilean mycology so unique, discovering new species in the wild, befriending Jane Goodall, the importance of letting things rot, and much more.
#525: Giuliana Furci on the Wonders of Mycology, Wisdom from Jane Goodall, Favorite Books, and the World’s Largest FungariumSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Isabel Behncke:Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Isabel Behncke: Evolution’s Gift of Play, from Bonobo Apes to Humans | TED 2011Isabel Behncke: What Can Bonobos Teach Us About Play? | TED Radio HourPlay in the Peter Pan Ape | Current BiologyChimps and Bonobos | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyEthology | WikipediaKonrad Lorenz’s Imprinting Theory | Simply PsychologyB.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning | Simply PsychologyConsilience | Merriam-WebsterConsilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward Osborne Wilson | AmazonProject Nim | Prime VideoEvolution | Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyKing Lear by William Shakespeare | AmazonLunar Society of Birmingham | WikipediaEx Omnia Conchis: Darwin and His Beloved Barnacles | Scientific American Blog NetworkThe Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | AmazonWho Are the Brahmins? | ThoughtCo.The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf | AmazonThe Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin | AmazonCorrespondence Deserving of a Wider Audience | Letters of NoteLetters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience by Shaun Usher | AmazonSanta Fe InstituteNatural Selection & Sexual Selection: An Illustrated Introduction | Cornell Lab of OrnithologyNiche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution by F. John Odling-Smee, Kevin N. Laland, and Marcus W. Feldman | AmazonWhat is Niche Construction? | Kevin Laland and Lynn ChiuThe Complex Alternative: Complexity Scientists on the COVID-19 Pandemic | SFI PressWe Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us | Quote InvestigatorHistory of the Congo River | LiveScienceWhere Do Chimpanzees Live? | African Wildlife FoundationWhere Do Bonobos Live? | African Wildlife FoundationSome Apes Jane Goodall Studied Fought a Years-Long War | AV ClubJane | National Geographic Documentary FilmsLake Tanganyika | Google MapsWhere’s Waldo? by Martin Handford | AmazonHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | AmazonThe Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution by Richard Wrangham | AmazonThe Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W. Moffett | AmazonFemale Bonobos Shut Down Violent Males. Here’s What Humans Can Learn from Them. | UpworthyHow to Live Like a Rock Star (or Tango Star) in Buenos Aires… | Tim FerrissWhy Some Mammals Kill Babies of Their Own Kind | Smithsonian MagazineDon’t Sleep with Mean People | Baba BrinkmanSexual Dimorphism | Wikipedia“The Truth Is Rarely Pure and Never Simple.” -Oscar Wilde | GoodReadsNaturalistic Fallacy | Logically FallaciousCongo-Brazzaville: Republic of the Congo | Nations Online ProjectKinshasa: Democratic Republic of the Congo | Nations Online ProjectOxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine | AmazonPrimate Research Institute (PRI) | Kyoto UniversityWamba, Luo Reserve | WikipediaThe Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist by Frans De Waal | AmazonShinto | Japan GuideSweet Potato Washing Revisited: 50th Anniversary of the Primates Article | SpringerLinkMorphogenetic Fields of Body and Mind | Quantum UniversityAttentional Bias | Verywell MindScientific Heretic Rupert Sheldrake on Morphic Fields, Psychic Dogs and Other Mysteries | Scientific American Blog NetworkJiro Dreams of Sushi | Prime VideoWatch a Coyote and Badger Hunt Their Prey Together | SmithsonianThe 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | AmazonIt’s the Economy, Stupid | WikipediaNext of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees by Roger Fouts and Stephen Tukel Mills | AmazonKanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh | Amazon25 Amazing Ways Animals Communicate That You Never Knew About | Best LifeAustin Bats Watching Guide | Merlin TuttleAcroYoga InternationalOf Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez | AmazonWhat Is Meant by Native Americans and Some Wolf Biologists Referring to a ‘Conversation of Death’ between Wolves and Wild Prey Animals? | QuoraHow the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis Explains Our Taste for Liquor | The AtlanticSHOW NOTESNote from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.
Baco and JiroWhat is an applied evolutionary ethologist?Lorenz vs. SkinnerThe brilliance of consilienceHumboldt vs. Darwin and the origins of evolutionary thinkingRecent revolutionary thoughts about evolutionComplexity and niche constructionWhat’s more fun: a barrel of chimpanzees or a barrel of bonobos?Chimpanzee geographyMagnificent bonobosFemale mammal problems and solutionsSexual dimorphismAvoiding naturalistic fallaciesHow accurate is it to call the Congo the Heart of Darkness?Why are the Japanese so interested in animal behavior?Potato-washing monkeysWhy do breakthroughs seem to come in clusters?Animals at play: the adaptive joker hypothesisThe overlap between flow states and playWhat the natural world can teach humans about optimizing playThe everlasting tango between energy and timePost-pandemic playHow much do we understand about the way animals communicate?The drunken monkey hypothesisParting thoughtsMORE ISABEL BEHNCKE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“Play prepares you for the future.”
— Isabel Behncke
“Time is an incredibly democratizing force, because you and an earthworm have 24 hours in the day. That’s a fixed budget, which means that there’s this constant interplay, tango or martial art, between your energy budget and your time budget. How you buy time or you use time is in interaction with your energy budget.”
— Isabel Behncke
“There’s something about really putting yourself in the feet, and the wings, and the mind of another animal as much as you can.”
— Isabel Behncke
“Evolution really is about how all life is related and how all life evolves. Everything has an origin and, like King Lear said, ‘Nothing comes from nothing.'”
— Isabel Behncke
“Being a female mammal is expensive.”
— Isabel Behncke
May 26, 2022
Morgan Fallon — 10 Years on the Road with Anthony Bourdain, 9 Emmy Nominations, Lessons from Michael Mann, Adventures with Steven Rinella, High Standards, Wisdom from West Virginia, and More (#597)
Illustration via 99designs“We were punching way out of our class, and that was because of the very high standards. And that can only come from the top … and that was Tony.”
— Morgan Fallon
Morgan Fallon (@diamondmofallon) is a nine-time-Emmy-nominated executive producer, director, and cinematographer. He was born and raised in New England and studied film at Emerson College in Boston. After graduating, he spent three years working for his mentor, director Michael Mann, and in 2007, he began a long-term working relationship with producers Chris Collins and Lydia Tenaglia and their New York-based production company, Zero Point Zero Productions.
Through his tenure at ZPZ, Morgan focused primarily on work with ZPZ creative partner Anthony Bourdain on several episodic series and documentaries produced by Bourdain, including the Emmy-winning Mind of a Chef, the theatrically distributed documentary The Last Magnificent, and the Emmy-, Peabody-, PGA-, TCA-, and ACE-award-winning series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which Morgan shot, directed, and produced throughout the series’ one-hundred-and-three-episode run.
Currently, he is a director and executive producer for the Emmy-winning series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell.
He lives in California with his wife and production partner, , and his two children.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube.
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Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#597: Morgan Fallon — 10 Years on the Road with Anthony Bourdain, 9 Emmy Nominations, Lessons from Michael Mann, Adventures with Steven Rinella, High Standards, Wisdom from West Virginia, and MoreThis episode is brought to you by Gravity! I place sleep at the top of my list for optimizing health, energy, and performance. If good sleep is in place, it helps everything else; if not, it hurts everything else. I’ve had sleep issues almost my entire life, which is why I’m always experimenting and adding great sleep aids. One of my new favorites is the Gravity Weighted Blanket. 72% of Gravity users have reported better, more restful sleep, and 76% have reported falling asleep faster and feeling more rested in the morning.
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This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear the last time Morgan’s fellow documentary maker and MeatEater host Steven Rinella was on the show? Listen here to hear about survival fantasy versus survival reality, paradoxical undressing, using GPS to make emergency contact with the outside world when you’re stuck outside of civilization, Steven’s multitool of choice, how to secure drinking water in different types of terrain, things you should always have in your car, and much more.
#482: Steven Rinella — A Short Introduction to True Wilderness Skills and SurvivalSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Morgan Fallon:ZPZ Production | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
The Mind of a Chef | Prime VideoJeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent | Prime VideoAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown | Prime VideoUnited Shades of America | Prime VideoEmerson CollegeThe Tim Ferriss Experiment | IMDb (currently not available for streaming) Outside of Ordinary | Alfred UniversityPink Floyd: The Wall | Prime VideoDeliverance | Prime VideoApocalypse Now | Prime VideoDo the Right Thing | Prime VideoJaws | Prime VideoThe Wild Bunch | Prime VideoThe Insider | Prime VideoAli | Prime VideoThe Thin Red Line | Prime VideoGoodfellas | Prime VideoHeat | Prime VideoThe Last of the Mohicans (Director’s Cut) | Prime VideoThe Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper | AmazonDelicatessen | Prime VideoThe Making of ‘Ali’ | IMDbConfessions of a Matchmaker | Prime Video9 Things No One Tells You about Surviving a Buffalo Winter | Only In Your StateTrapdoor Spider Seizes Insect | The Dark: Nature’s Nighttime World | BBC EarthDiary of a Foodie | GourmetAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations | Prime VideoThe Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli | AmazonRoadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain | Prime VideoThe Biggest Loser | Prime VideoSteven Rinella on Hunting (and Why You Should Care), Reconnecting with Nature, Favorite Trips, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #470The Wild Within | IMDbMeatEater | NetflixAmerican Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella | AmazonEthiopia | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownEthiopia | The World Factbook | CIAAzmari: An Ethiopian Musician | Africa Direct | Al JazeeraJohn Wick | Prime VideoJohn Wick: Chapter 2 | Prime VideoFilm 101: What Is the Director of Photography and Is Director of Photography the Same as Cinematographer? | MasterClassBehind the Scenes of ‘Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown’ with Director Morgan Fallon | CNN TravelFree Solo | Prime VideoLagos, Nigeria | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownSicily: Strangest Snorkel Trip Ever? | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownLost In Translation | Prime VideoJosh Homme with Anthony Bourdain | No ReservationsUS Desert (with Queens of the Stone Age) | No ReservationsBipolar Disorder Symptoms and Causes | Mayo ClinicCan Music Therapy Help People with Bipolar Disorder? | Medical News TodayExploring the Nike Missile Site at San Vicente Mountain Park | California Through My LensHow Anthony Bourdain’s Love of Jiu-Jitsu Helped Him Transform His Life | Men’s JournalWhat is Enduro Racing? | Liv Cycling Official siteGrandmaster Maurice Ashley Plays NYC Trash-Talker | The Tim Ferriss ExperimentSearching For Bobby Fischer | Prime VideoSearching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess by Fred Waitzkin | AmazonThe Matrix | Prime VideoMuzzle Devices | JMac Customs LLCWhat is a Muzzle Brake? | Sporting SystemsWest Virginia | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownThe Spirit of McDowell County | The Welch NewsKenya | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownWe Need to Talk About Cosby | ShowtimeAntarctica | Anthony Bourdain: Parts UnknownMorgan In Dray Valleys, Antarctica | InstagramGin And Juice | Snoop DoggHoth | WookieepediaSHOW NOTESNote from the editor: Timestamps will be added shortly.
How has Morgan’s decision to take up endurance mountain biking in his mid-40s been going so far? As someone who’s still recovering from injuries sustained years ago, am I one to make a judgment call?After being on track to further develop his talent in ceramics, what compelled Morgan to study film at Emerson College, and how did he get in after his application was initially rejected? What did he take away from his time there?Who is Michael Mann, and how did Morgan come to work with him? What made him such a rare cinematic force in the early 2000s when they met?How did Morgan go from dining with the rich and famous at Nelson Mandela’s house in Mozambique to living in his parents’ New Hampshire basement, and what did he do to regroup after this detour and find his niche?How did Morgan connect with Chris and Lydia at ZPZ, and what did he do to make himself indispensable to the projects he was lucky enough to land during this time?As someone who worked with and knew the late Anthony Bourdain fairly well, what did Morgan think of Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain? Is there anything about it he wishes had been handled differently?On going into the wild with conservationist, hunter, writer, living encyclopedia, and former guest on this show Steve Rinella, what it means to get “cliff hung,” and the transferable skills Morgan picked up from documenting their wilderness treks for television.How did Morgan get the call to first work with Anthony Bordain in Egypt, and what moderately reckless stunt endeared him to Tony and secured a place for him on future runs?Morgan talks about that time he traveled to Ethiopia with Anthony Bordain and Marcus Samuelson to direct an episode of Parts Unknown during a tuberculosis outbreak. How did he prepare for it, what did he do to manage the anxiety disorders he experienced while there, and why will he probably never watch a John Wick movie?What are the responsibilities of a director of photography (DP), and why does Morgan tend to drive them crazy?On Tony’s high standards, why Morgan appreciated them, and the different types of standards one might expect to encounter over the course of a career in Hollywood — or fine dining — depending on the caliber of the people in charge.What Morgan knows about that time Tony went snorkeling with dead cephalopods in Sicily and how it was made into a hilarious scene for the viewing audience while simultaneously bringing the man himself to the brink of nervous breakdown.Why Morgan’s house is filled with memorable detritus.What tools has Morgan found to be most effective for dealing with the symptoms of his own bipolar disorder? Are people in his line of work prone to coping with similar struggles, and might the condition carry certain benefits for the creatively inclined?Why did Morgan stop drinking when Tony died, and what’s been his most effective therapy for staying on the wagon?Morgan explains how he and another cinematographer used two cameras to “dance with geometry” and make scenes more dynamic for The Tim Ferriss Experiment.What advice would Morgan give his younger self regarding the journey from DP to director to showrunner and transitioning from a narrowly creative role to a broader creative role with more managing responsibilities? What has he learned about delegating constructively — rather than destructively — during his time in this field?Why was the West Virginia episode of Parts Unknown so special to Morgan?How does Morgan choose the projects he works on now? What prompted his involvement with United Shades of America?What’s next for Morgan?How has Morgan succcessfully navigated wotking with his wife?The best day of Morgan’s career, appreciation for being able to do the work that keeps him constantly in awe of the world, and other parting thoughts.MORE MORGAN FALLON QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“When you’re working on the kind of stuff that I do, it’s a knife fight. You’re intentionally small. You don’t operate with big crews. You operate with small crews. You don’t want to freak people out. I don’t work with actors; I work with people, and you’ve got to have a light touch. You’ve got to go in, you’ve got to figure out how to pull the most value out of things with the fewest amount of resources.”
— Morgan Fallon
“Oh, we got told to unfuck ourselves all the time. I got told that on a daily basis. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Start working. Unfuck yourself.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.'”
— Morgan Fallon
“You want to run a high-caliber kitchen, there is only one way to do it. And you are not friends with your crew. You are in charge and it’s your responsibility. And I think that Tony approached it from that perspective, at least initially. He had extremely high expectations that I think they were based on his history of knowing how to run an effective kitchen.”
— Morgan Fallon
“We were way out of our group, you know. We were going out on shows where we were shooting for seven days in the field. We had a $3,000 external equipment rental budget and we were getting cinematography nominations. My last cinematography nomination was up against Free Solo. We were punching way out of our class, and that was because of the very high standards. And that can only come from the top … and that was Tony.”
— Morgan Fallon
“I decorate my house with the detritus of traveling the world with Tony, and I’m fucking proud of it. There’s junk all over my house.”
— Morgan Fallon
“As you start to climb the ladder up to directing and then to showrunning, you need to depend on other people. So part of that is bringing good people in. The other part is understanding when you need to let people do their job.”
— Morgan Fallon
May 24, 2022
Edward O. Thorp, A Man for All Markets — Beating Blackjack and Roulette, Beating the Stock Market, Spotting Bernie Madoff Early, and Knowing When Enough Is Enough (#596)
Illustration via 99designs“When you begin to think for yourself, the whole world changes and becomes much clearer.”
— Edward O. Thorp
Edward O. Thorp (@edwardothorp) is the author of the bestseller Beat the Dealer, which transformed the game of blackjack. His subsequent book, Beat the Market, coauthored with Sheen T. Kassouf, influenced securities markets around the globe. He is also the author of A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market.
Edward was one of the world’s best blackjack players and investors, and his hedge funds were profitable every year for 29 years. He lives in Newport Beach, California.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the video on YouTube here.
Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Eight Sleep’s Pod Pro Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating. More on all three below.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#596: Edward O. Thorp, A Man For All Markets — Beating Blackjack and Roulette, Beating the Stock Market, Spotting Bernie Madoff Early, and Knowing When Enough is EnoughThis episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $28 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost.
Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you’ll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life. Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim.
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This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, 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 AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free 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 all-in-one daily greens product.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
Want to hear another episode that touches on the world of investing? Listen to my conversation with Ray Dalio, in which we discussed how Ray thinks about investment decisions, the three books he would give to every graduating high school or college senior, how he might assess cryptocurrency, and much more.
#264: Ray Dalio, The Steve Jobs of InvestingSELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODEConnect with Edward O. Thorp:Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One by Edward O. Thorp | AmazonBeat the Market: A Scientific Stock Market System Edward O. Thorp and Sheen T. Kassouf (PDF) | ResearchGateA Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Edward O. Thorp | AmazonUniversity of CaliforniaHow to Play Blackjack | Vegas How ToBlackjack Basic Strategy Chart by Edward O. Thorp | Chasing the FrogKelly Criterion | InvestopediaA Brief Journey Inside the IBM 704 | Archival History of Computing at MITNational Academy of SciencesA Favorable Strategy for Twenty-One by Edward O. Thorp | ResearchGateAmerican Mathematical SocietyThe Stockpicker’s Burden, and Other Lessons | Barron’sHow a Math Professor Led a Revolution in Las Vegas | RTDHow to Play Roulette | Vegas How To10 of the Best Compound Exercises for Muscle and Strength | OpenfitAerobics Program for Total Well-Being: Exercise, Diet, and Emotional Balance by Kenneth H. Cooper | AmazonYes, Race Walking Is an Olympic Sport. Here’s How It Works. | VoxNew Mexico State UniversityStock Warrants vs. Stock Options | InvestopediaBlack-Scholes Model | InvestopediaCboe Global MarketsHow Warren Buffett Made Berkshire Hathaway a Winner | InvestopediaEquity | InvestopediaMarket Efficiency | InvestopediaRisk | InvestopediaPreventing the Spread of the Coronavirus | Harvard HealthThe 4% Rule | InvestopediaCryogenics | WikipediaMeet the People Who Want to Live — And Keep Their Wealth — Forever | Policy GeniusGlobal Management Consulting | McKinsey & CompanyCollar | InvestopediaThe Card Sharp Who Cottoned onto Madoff’s Fraud in 1991 | ForbesMadoff Investment Scandal | WikipediaBear Stearns | WikipediaNational Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) | InvestopediaWhy Can’t You Go Faster Than Light? | FermilabExternality | InvestopediaSvante Arrhenius, the Man Who Foresaw Climate Change | OpenMindTragedy Of The Commons | InvestopediaElon Musk Thinks Every Child Should Learn About These 50 Cognitive Biases | Inc.Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger | AmazonPsychology of Human Misjudgement According to Charlie Munger | LinkedInFundamental Attribution Error | Ethics UnwrappedThinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman | AmazonCarbon Tax | WikipediaMoral Foundations of Politics by Ian Shapiro | CourseraThe Wolf at the Door: The Menace of Economic Insecurity and How to Fight It by Michael J. Graetz and Ian Shapiro | AmazonWho Lost Biden’s Agenda? Democrats Offer Competing Theories for Failure of ‘Build Back Better’ | NBC NewsPoll Finds 96 Percent Support Social Security | AARPThe Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail by Ray Dalio | AmazonPolitical Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy by Francis Fukuyama | AmazonThe End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama | AmazonA Quantitative Investment Management Company | Renaissance InstitutionalThe Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman | AmazonLeading Global Market Maker | Citadel SecuritiesPrinceton Newport Partners | WikipediaDo What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood by Marsha Sinetar | AmazonIncerto: Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, The Bed of Procrustes, Antifragile, Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | AmazonCatch-22 by Joseph Heller | AmazonKurt Vonnegut on the Secret of Happiness: An Homage to Joseph Heller’s Wisdom | The MarginalianSHOW NOTESEdward fills us in on where he grew up, how he was educated, what made the application of mathematics to gambling such a compelling challenge, and why he rushed to publish his successful system after testing it in the real world. [04:51]What reference material did Edward use in his first trip to the blackjack table in Vegas, and why was Claude Shannon at MIT — a person known to be difficult to reach — willing to spare five minutes to meet with him around this time? [12:01]What method did Edward and Claude devise to beat roulette with the assistance of what MIT considers to be the first wearable computer? [15:11]Edward looks great for a man in his 60s — which is especially incredible when you consider he’s 89! Is it just a case of lucky genetics, or does he follow some kind of mortality-cheating health regimen? Has his approach to remaining in shape changed over the years? [17:13]How did finance and investing enter the picture for Edward? Where did this lead, and who did he meet along the way? [25:19]What was it about Warren Buffett that made Edward come away from their first meeting convinced he’d someday be the richest man in the world? [34:22]If Edward were teaching a seminar in investing to a modern student body (some of whom might not possess an aptitude for math), what frameworks would he impart to get them started? [38:55]What lessons learned from investing are transferable to other areas of life? [43:50]Even at 89, Edward considers himself a long-term thinker. How might those of us who struggle to think beyond the short-term be more like Edward? [45:59]How did Edward suss out that something was fishy about the way the Madoff brothers were doing business 17 years before everybody else finally caught on? [50:58]Exploring the mental models of externalities, the tragedy of the commons, and fundamental attribution errors. [59:15]What you should be reading and listening to if you want to enact positive change in the world right now — politically or evolutionarily. [1:08:29]What investors, aside from Warren Buffett, impress Edward — and why? [1:13:48]How has Edward known where to draw the line between growing a business and withdrawing before it consumed all else in his life? What catalyzed his decision to wind things down? [1:17:48]What does independence mean to Edward and how did he spend his time after winding down the investment side of things? [1:22:52]Is there anything Edward’s particularly curious about learning right now? [1:24:27]Pondering a conversation between Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut and other parting thoughts. [1:26:37]MORE EDWARD O. THORP QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW“If you’re a long-term investor, you should just buy and hold equities. And the best place to have bought and hold equities has been the US for the last couple of hundred years.”
— Edward O. Thorp
“Do what you love and the money may follow. If it does, that’s fine. If it doesn’t, you’re still doing what you love.”
— Edward O. Thorp
“When the Chicago Board Options Exchange opened for business in April 1973, the only people on the floor were my traders. It was like having machine guns against bows and arrows.”
— Edward O. Thorp
“If you really are interested in investing, it’s worth educating yourself and trying to do it because you will learn a lot about investing. You might actually find a way to win, and you’ll learn about how the world works and a lot about life too. The things you learn from what seems like a narrow, specialized field, generalizes very widely to all kinds of things if you’re the kind of person who can take a lesson in one part of life and transport it to another part of life.”
— Edward O. Thorp
“There’s an old saying, ‘Give a person a fish and they eat for a day; teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime.’ And it’s a similar thing for thinking. If you give somebody advice about a problem, they might solve that one problem. If you teach them how to think about problems, they can solve problems for the rest of their life.”
— Edward O. Thorp
DISCLAIMER FROM TIM FERRISS: I am not an investment adviser. There are risks involved in placing any investment in securities or in Bitcoin or in cryptocurrencies or in anything. None of the information presented herein is intended to form the basis of any offer or recommendation or have any regard to the investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of any specific person, and that includes you, my dear listener or reader. Everything you’re going to hear in this interview is for informational entertainment purposes only.
May 20, 2022
In Case You Missed It: April 2022 Recap of “The Tim Ferriss Show” (#595)
Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life.
This is a special inbetweenisode, which serves as a recap of the episodes from last month. It features a short clip from each conversation in one place so you can easily jump around to get a feel for the episode and guest.
See it as a teaser. Something to whet your appetite. If you like what you hear, you can of course find the full episodes at tim.blog/podcast.
Please enjoy!
***
Timestamps:
Terry Crews: 00:01:27
Tony Fadell: 00:11:16
Donald Hoffman: 00:17:57
Kevin Rose: 00:24:20
A.J. Jacobs: 00:35:05
Bo Shao: 00:41:37
Tom Morello: 00:56:07
***
Included episodes:
Terry Crews on Masculinity, True Power, Therapy, and Resisting Cynicism
A.J. Jacobs — How to Be Less Furious and More Curious
Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine Fame — Fear{less} with Tim Ferriss
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.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercastIn Case You Missed It: April 2022 Recap of “The Tim Ferriss Show” (#595)
In Case You Missed It: April 2022 Recap of The Tim Ferriss Show (#595)
Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life.
This is a special inbetweenisode, which serves as a recap of the episodes from last month. It features a short clip from each conversation in one place so you can easily jump around to get a feel for the episode and guest.
See it as a teaser. Something to whet your appetite. If you like what you hear, you can of course find the full episodes at tim.blog/podcast.
Please enjoy!
***
Timestamps:
Terry Crews: 00:01:27
Tony Fadell: 00:11:16
Donald Hoffman: 00:17:57
Kevin Rose: 00:24:20
A.J. Jacobs: 00:35:05
Bo Shao: 00:41:37
Tom Morello: 00:56:07
***
Full episode titles:
Terry Crews on Masculinity, True Power, Therapy, and Resisting Cynicism
A.J. Jacobs — How to Be Less Furious and More Curious
Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine Fame — Fear{less} with Tim Ferriss
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.
Listen onApple Podcasts[image error]Listen onSpotify[image error]Listen onOvercast#595: In Case You Missed It: April 2022 Recap of The Tim Ferriss Show
