Matt Mullenweg has been named one of PC World’s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30, and Business Week’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

In this episode, I attempt to get him drunk on tequila and make him curse.

Matt is most associated with a tool that powers more than 22% of the entire web: WordPress. Even if you aren’t into tech, there are many pages of “holy shit!” tips and resources in this episode.

Matt is a phenom of hyper-productivity and does A LOT with very little. But how? This conversation shares his best tools and tricks. From polyphasic sleep to Dvorak and looping music for flow, there’s something for everyone.

Last but not least, Matt is also the CEO of Automattic, which is valued at $1-billion+ and has a fully distributed team of 300+ employees around the world. I’m honored to be an advisor, and I’ve seen how they use incredibly unorthodox methods for jaw-dropping results.

But… he started off as a BBQ-chomping Texas boy with no aspirations of empire building. How on earth did get here? Just listen and find out. It’s one hell of a story.

Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.

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This episode is sponsored by Onnit. I have used Onnit products for years. If you look in my kitchen or in my garage you will find Alpha BRAIN, chewable melatonin (for resetting my clock while traveling), kettlebells, maces, battle ropes, and steel clubs. It sounds like a torture chamber, and it basically is. A torture chamber for self-improvement! Ah, the lovely pain. To see a list of my favorite pills, potions, and heavy tools, click here.

This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results.  Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade.  Give it a test run..

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What’s the best productivity tip or tool you’ve implemented in the last year? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

Follow Matt on Spotify, where he shares music
Learn more about GLP
History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Learn about Mullenweg’s investors Tiger Global | Insights | True Ventures
Learn more about Automattic.com
Fall in love with Dvorak – DVzine
Learn about an even more efficient keyboard: Colemak
Learn about Automattic’s P2Theme.com, used to replace email
Learn more about Slack for replacing Skype
Casa Dragones – Our favorite sipping tequila
Momentum – A Chrome extension to enhance focus
WunderList – Useful to-do listing
Telegram.org – A fast, free, encrypted messaging app
The 7-Minute Workout – Simplifying exercise goals
Calm – Meditation App
Bikeshed.org – An essay


Stolen Dance by Milky Chance
Check out Matt’s blog and his post on Sam Smith
Who Says by John Mayer
Gorgeous and Power by Kanye West
Rigamortis by Kendrick Lamar
Matt’s EDM working music suggestions, Jane Doze
Though applications have ended, see my post seeking a managing editor for hiring ideas
Hire by Audition | The CEO of Automattic on Holding “Auditions” to Build a Strong Team by Matt Mullenweg on Harvard Business Review
The Year Without Pants by Scott Berkun
How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain De Botton
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
Words That Work by Frank Luntz
Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
The Magus by John Fowles
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
Learn more about Pose Running and Dr. Romanov
Connect with Matt on Twitter
Matt recommends Tom Ford suits
Learn more about GigaOM.com
Read about what is in the carry-on bag of Matt Mullenweg
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
Learn more about Wealthfront
The Black Swan, Fooled By Randomness, Book of Aphorisms and Anti-Fragile by Nassim Taleb
Read Warren Buffett’s Annual Letters
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Larry Phillips
Learn more about TechMeme.com – “The Best Tech Newspaper in the World”
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Zero to One by Peter Thiel (Also read Original Class Notes by Blake Masters)
The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman
OK Computer by Radiohead
Nostalgia Ultra by Frank Ocean
Saxophone Colossus by Sonny Rollins

Show Notes

How WordPress started | The origin story
Defining “open source”
How WordPress beat their competition and how to beat the complicate-to-profit business model
The long term outlook and core product characteristics that has empowered the growth of WordPress
Describing Automattic, and how it was founded with a purpose to kill spam
Experiments in polyphasic sleep, girlfriend complexities, and Dvorak typing
How is Automattic differs from the average tech startup, and challenges of a distributed workforce
Thoughts on where to draw the transparency line when running an open-source company
Delving into the secret benefits of tequila
Matt Mullenweg’s useful laptop and smartphone apps
Turning it around on Tim: Intermittent fasting and distilled water fasting?
Overworking vices, creating “de-loading” phases and saying “no” to meetings
Why we don’t care about the color of the bike shed
Musical skills that support coding and other leadership skills
Why Matt listens to familiar songs on loop when working
Hiring tips: Auditions at Automattic, why use them, and how they work
Matt’s view on top-grading
Most gifted books
Learning to love running
Answering Twitter questions: Bootstrapping vs. seed money if starting in 2015, picking a badass suit and last great purchase for less than $100
Packing tips
The story of losing an investor’s check (nearly a $400,000 mistake)
The story behind eating 104 Chicken McNuggets
First person to come to mind when you think “successful”?
Suggested investing books
The role WordPress will play in online content outside the browser (mobile apps, API, etc.) in the near future
Books and resources for the 20-year old entrepreneur looking to start a company
Stranded on a desert island? Albums and what else?
Advice for your 20-year old self?

People Mentioned

Thucydides
Dvorak
Sam Smith
Milky Chants
Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Chris Sacca
Om Malik
Warren Buffett