This episode is a little different. I visited the Googleplex — the Mountain View-based headquarters of Google — and had a public chat. I was interviewed and made sure that we covered some ground that has not been discussed before. There were questions such as:
What has been the most important Stoic teaching that I’ve come across?
How do I manage the many requests I receive?
What are the factors or elements that have led to the success of the podcast?
Where do I see myself in five years?
If I could pick three people — alive or dead — to be in my personal board of directors, who would they be?
How do I experiment with my dog training?
What are my recommendations for longevity?
How do I fight insomnia?
And much, much more…
If you only have 5 minutes, here’s how I cage my monkey mind.
As always, I hope you enjoy this episode and find it useful.
Listen to it on iTunes.
Stream by clicking here.
Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast packed full of actionable tips that I use in my own life? — Listen to this short episode on the magic of mindfulness. In this episode, I discuss how to complain less, appreciate more, and live a better life (stream below or right-click here to download):
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This episode is also brought to you by Headspace, the world’s most popular meditation app (with more than 4,000,000 users). It’s used in more than 150 countries, and many of my closest friends swear by it. Try Headspace’s free Take10 program — 10 minutes of guided meditation a day for 10 days. It’s like a warm bath for your mind. Meditation doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, and it’s had a huge impact on my life. Try Headspace for free for a few days and see what I mean.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: 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 Episode
The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Moral Letters to Lucilius XVIII: On Festivals and Fasting by Seneca
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
The Porn-stache
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.” –Archilochus
Caging the Monkey Mind
The Five Minute Journal
The Magic of Mindfulness
Understanding the Dangers of “Ego-Depletion”
Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Reality Check by Tom Foster, Inc.
Memento mori: “Remember that you must die.”
Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris: “Remember, man, dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech
ScheduleOnce
Let’s Get Drinks by Kelly Stout, The New Yorker
Adulthood tweet by Marissa Miller
Boomerang for Gmail
Don’t Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor
Gmail offline mode
5 Tips for E-mailing Busy People
Scratch your own itch
Freakonomics Radio
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
Arnold Schwarzenegger on meditation
“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” – W. H. Auden
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan
Narcos trailer
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Dom D’Agostino on Fasting, Ketosis, and the End of Cancer
Jocko Willink: The Scariest Navy SEAL Imaginable…And What He Taught Me
Kuato in Total Recall
BJ Miller: The Man Who Studied 1,000 Deaths to Learn How to Live
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton
Bridge Troll
Crate Training and Clicker Training for Dogs
The Whole Dog Journal’s Guides to Optimum Dog Care: Command Performance
Kikopup’s YouTube Channel
Flux
Jim Fadiman: The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide — Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More
“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” – Gautama Buddha
“After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.” – Italian proverb
Sebastian Junger: Lessons from War, Tribal Societies, and a Non-Fiction Life
Matt Mullenweg on Polyphasic Sleep, Tequila, and Building Billion-Dollar Companies
Rise Of The Sufferfests
Show Notes
What stoic teaching has been most important to my life? [06:40]
What is the monkey brain (and how do I cage it)? [10:36]
How can we stay humble? [15:15]
How do I manage the numerous requests I receive? [20:09]
What drives the success of the Tim Ferriss Show? [26:57]
Based on my interviews, what do I think drives success? [31:29]
Am I planning to write a book about my interviews? [41:22]
Where do I see myself in five years? [45:08]
If I could pick three people — alive or dead — to be in my personal board of directors, who would they be and why? [50:28]
How do I experiment with my dog’s training? [53:02]
There is a lot of talk and focus on human longevity. What would I actually recommend for people as they approach their forties and beyond? [58:11]
How did I conquer insomnia? [1:01:18]
How does 2016 Tim react to 2007’s The 4-Hour Workweek pitch and asks? [1:04:57]
What is my vision for my life? [1:07:22]
I have experimented with the interview structure of the podcast a few times (see: sharing a bottle of wine with Astro Teller). What has worked best? [1:12:50]
If I had an adult bootcamp with 20 people, what would I have them do? [1:16:40]
People Mentioned
Jordan Thibodeau
Seneca
Cato
Archilochus
Marcus Aurelius
Julius Caesar
Neil Gaiman
Kevin Rose
Sam Harris
Tara Brach
Amelia Boone
Arnold Schwarzenegger
General Stanley McChrystal
Pavel Tsatsouline
Jocko Willink
W. H. Auden
Pablo Escobar
Dom D’Agostino
BJ Miller
Benjamin Franklin
Richard Feynman
Musashi Miyamoto
Molly
Sebastian Junger
Astro Teller
Neil Strauss
Maria Popova
Matt Mullenweg