The Tim Ferriss Show - podcast cover

The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pigtim.blog
Tim Ferriss is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been translated into 40+ languages. Newsweek calls him "the world's best human guinea pig," and The New York Times calls him "a cross between Jack Welch and a Buddhist monk." In this show, he deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, chess, pro sports, etc.), digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can use.

Episodes

#236: The Alien of Extraordinary Ability

Murray Carter (@CarterCutlery) is a Canadian craftsman like no other. At eighteen, he fell into an apprenticeship with a sixteenth generation Yoshimoto bladesmith that lasted six years -- and was asked to take the position of number seventeen in the Sakemoto family tradition (perhaps the only Caucasian ever to have had the honor and privilege of this position). Murray continued forging blades in Japan for twelve more years and in June 2001, he was awarded the rating of Mastersmith by the America...

Apr 22, 20172 hr 34 min

#235: Dorian Yates on High Intensity Training, Injury Prevention, and Building Maximum Muscle

Dorian Yates (@dorian_yates) is a six-time Mr. Olympia who has taken the already extreme sport of bodybuilding to a new level. He's one of my adolescent heroes whose innovations in training (e.g., Occam's protocol) influenced what I later put into The 4-Hour Body. In this particular conversation, we dig into all sorts of topics that I've been dying to ask Dorian since I was a teenager. We discuss his relationship to pain, specific workouts, how he warms up, common mistakes and misconceptions, se...

Apr 21, 20172 hr 44 min

#234: Marie Kondo -- The Japanese Tidying Master

Marie Kondo (@MarieKondo, also known as "KonMari") is a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and entrepreneur. She developed a revolutionary method of organizing known as the KonMari Method, which consists of gathering together everything you own, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" -- as well as choosing a dedicated place to store them. Going far beyond a typical tidying how-to, her method is a way of life and a state of mind. Marie captured the findin...

Apr 16, 20171 hr 10 min

#233: Cory Booker -- Street Fights, 10-Day Hunger Strikes, and Creative Problem-Solving

Cory Booker (@corybooker) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from New Jersey. I generally have an allergy to politics, but Cory's story is endlessly fascinating (e.g., he's faced down death threats from gangs, run into burning buildings, and much more), and we have a few years of history together. We cover a lot in this wide-ranging catch-up conversation, including his diet, lessons from early mentors and athletics, routines, books that have had an impact, learning ho...

Apr 10, 20172 hr 3 min

#232: The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour: Controlling Stress, Nutrition Upgrades, and Improved Health

Welcome to the second installment of The Tim Ferriss Radio Hour. After more than 200 conversations with the world's top performers, you start to spot certain patterns. These are the shared habits, hacks, philosophies, and tools that are the common threads of success, happiness, health, and wealth. These commonalities were the premise of my most recent book, The New York Times #1 bestseller Tools of Titans -- a compilation of my favorite lessons, routines, and tips of many of my guests. In t...

Apr 06, 20171 hr 14 min

#231: How to Be Creative Like a Motherf*cker -- Cheryl Strayed

If you’re interested in the creative process of a famed author, jumpstarting your own creation, note taking, list making, or simply handling hard emotions, this episode is for you. Recorded in front of a 2,000-plus person crowd at SXSW in Austin, Texas, this one was a blast. My guest is Cheryl Strayed (@CherylStrayed), author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, the New York Times bestsellers Tiny Beautiful Things and Brave Enough, and the novel Torch. Her books have been trans...

Mar 31, 20172 hr 39 min

#230: The Secrets, Tactics, and Creative Processes of High Performers and Achievers -- Debbie Millman

This is round two for Debbie Millman, whose first interview on this show quickly became one of the most downloaded episodes of all time (listen to it here). Graphic Design USA has named Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman) "one of the most influential designers working today." She is also the founder and host of Design Matters, the world's first and longest-running podcast about design, where she's interviewed nearly 300 design luminaries and cultural commentators including Massimo Vignelli and ...

Mar 25, 201744 min

#229: Ricardo Semler -- The Seven-Day Weekend and How to Break the Rules

Ricardo Semler (@ricardosemler) is the former CEO of Semco Partners, a Brazilian company best known perhaps for its radical form of industrial democracy and corporate re-engineering. During his leadership, Semco grew from four million in 1982 to two hundred and twelve million in 2003. His innovative -- but very controversial -- business management policies have attracted widespread interest from all over the world. He is the best-selling author of Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's M...

Mar 19, 20172 hr 8 min

#228: The Lion of Olympic Weightlifting, 62-Year-Old Jerzy Gregorek (Also Featuring: Naval Ravikant)

Jerzy Gregorek (@TheHappyBody) immigrated from Poland to the United States with his wife, Aniela, in 1986 as political refugees. He subsequently won four World Weightlifting Championships and established one world record. In 2000, Jerzy and Aniela founded UCLA's weightlifting team. As co-creator of The Happy Body Program, Jerzy has been mentoring people for more than 30 years. In 1998, Jerzy earned an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His poems and translations have appeared ...

Mar 16, 20173 hr 46 min

#227: Conquering Fear and Reducing Anxiety - Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul (@carowriter) returns to the podcast by popular demand for a round 2 Q&A. (You can catch her first appearance here.) Caroline is the author of four published books. Her latest is the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure. Once a young scaredy-cat, Caroline decided that fear got in the way of excitement, confidence, and self-reliance. She has since flown planes, climbed tall mountains, and fought fires as one of the first female...

Mar 12, 201753 min

#226: How to Not Be Evil - Dr. Phil Zimbardo

Dr. Philip Zimbardo (@PhilZimbardo) is one of the most distinguished psychologists in the world and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He is arguably best known for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which students were turned into mock prisoners and guards for a continuous 24-hour-a-day study. The experiment was planned for two weeks but terminated after just six days. In this podcast, we explore how we -- as humans -- can do less evil, how you can be a "deviant for day," mindful...

Mar 08, 20171 hr 6 min

#225: John Crowley -- The Real-Life Captain America and Bruce Banner (Seriously)

John F. Crowley is the Chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotechnology company, which he helped to found in 2005 and is now a 300+ person company in 22 countries. John's involvement with biotechnology stems from the 1998 diagnosis of two of his children with Pompe disease -- a severe and often fatal neuromuscular disorder. In his drive to find a cure for them, he left his job and became an entrepreneur as the Co-founder, President, and CEO of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals in ...

Feb 28, 20172 hr 57 min

#224: The Random Show - Drinking Urine, Exploring Japan, and Figuring Out Life

Coming to you from a late night in rural Japan, this is a special edition of The Random Show. Per usual for The Random Show, I am joined by Kevin Rose (@KevinRose), serial entrepreneur, world-class investor, and all around wild and crazy guy. We discuss Japan and how to do it cheaply, building apps, urine drinking, love and marriage, beauty and absurdity in 2017, why Kevin doesn't have New Year's resolutions, favorite books, and much more. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be foun...

Feb 26, 20172 hr 40 min

#223: Calming Philosophies for Chaotic Times -- Krista Tippett

Krista Tippett (@KristaTippett) is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author. She created and hosts the public radio program and podcast On Being and curates The Civil Conversations Project, an emergent approach to the differences of our age. She received a National Humanities Medal in 2013 from President Barack Obama at the White House for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On the air and in print, Ms. Tippett avoids easy answers, embrac...

Feb 21, 20172 hr 59 min

#222: Jerrod Carmichael - Uber-Productivity and Dangerous Comedy

Jerrod Carmichael (@NotoriousROD) is pushing the boundaries of comedy with his groundbreaking work in stand-up, television, and film. Now just 29 years old, what this driven North Carolina native has accomplished is mind-boggling, and 2017 is going to be his biggest year yet. Jerrod stars in the hit NBC series The Carmichael Show, which he also writes and executive produces. The third season of the show premieres in 2017. In March of 2017, Jerrod will star in his second stand-up comedy special o...

Feb 18, 20171 hr 26 min

#221: Mr. Money Mustache — Living Beautifully on $25-27K Per Year

Mr. Money Mustache (@mrmoneymustache -- Pete Adeney in real life) grew up in Canada in a family of mostly eccentric musicians. He worked in various tech companies before retiring at age 30. Pete, his wife, and their now eleven-year-old son live near Boulder, Colorado, and have not had real jobs since 2005. This begs the question of "How?" In essence, they accomplished this early retirement by optimizing all aspects of their lifestyle for maximal fun at minimal expense, and by using basic index-f...

Feb 13, 20172 hr 48 min

#220: Soman Chainani — The School for Good and Evil

Soman Chainani (@SomanChainani) is a detailed planner, filmmaker, and New York Times best selling author. Soman's debut fiction series, The School for Good and Evil, has sold more than a million copies, has been translated into more than twenty languages across six continents, and will soon be a film from Universal Pictures. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University's MFA Film Program, Soman began his career as a screenwriter and director, with his films playing at over 150 f...

Feb 08, 20172 hr 56 min

#219: Lessons from Warren Buffett, Bobby Fischer, and Other Outliers

Adam Robinson (@IAmAdamRobinson) first appeared on this podcast in the "Becoming the Best Version of You" episode (#210) alongside Josh Waitzkin (chess, jiu-jitsu, investing) and Ramit Sethi (personal finance, entrepreneurship). By popular demand, this is a dedicated episode of Adam's stories and life lessons. Adam Robinson has made a lifelong study of outflanking and outsmarting the competition. He is a rated chess master who was awarded a Life Title by the United States Chess Federation. As a ...

Feb 02, 20172 hr 55 min

#218: The Most Feared and Well-Liked Journalist in Silicon Valley - Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) has been called "Silicon Valley's most feared and well-liked journalist" by New York Magazine. Here's just one example: you can graph the impact on Yahoo's stock price by various posts by Kara. That's just the tip of the iceberg. She attended Georgetown's School of Foreign Service prior to changing course to journalism. It turns out many of the skills that would make a good spy are those that make a good journalist: developing sources, asking good questions, scenario ...

Jan 26, 20172 hr 43 min

#217: The One-Minute Workout Designed by Scientists -- Dr. Martin Gibala

Martin Gibala, Ph.D. (@gibalam) is a professor and chair of the kinesiology department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His research on the physiological and health benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has attracted immense scientific attention and worldwide media coverage. Martin has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed articles, is frequently invited to speak at international scientific meetings, and has received multiple awards for teaching excellence. He is ...

Jan 23, 20172 hr 34 min

#216: Arnold Schwarzenegger Part 2! Bodybuilding, Investing, and Online Battles

Arnold Schwarzenegger (@Schwarzenegger) told you he'd be back. In our first conversation (episode 60), the former Mr. Olympia, Terminator, and Governator shared lessons learned, daily routines, psychological warfare tactics, favorite books, early entrepreneurial ventures (and tips), meditation, and many stories no one had heard before. This time around, the new host of the Celebrity Apprentice answered your most popular and upvoted questions, including some controversial ones. He does not shy aw...

Jan 18, 20171 hr 13 min

#215: The Return of the Money Shot

Whitney Cummings (@whitneycummings) is a Los Angeles-based comedian, actor, writer, and producer. She is the executive producer and, along with Michael Patrick King, co-creator of the Emmy-nominated CBS comedy 2 Broke Girls. She has headlined with comics including Sarah Silverman, Louis C.K., Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, and others. Her first one-hour stand-up special, Money Shot, premiered on Comedy Central in 2010 and was nominated for an American Comedy Award. Her second stand-up special, I Love...

Jan 16, 20172 hr 54 min

#214: How to Design a Life - Debbie Millman

For some of you, this may be most important podcast episode you ever listen to. I don't say that lightly. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with my guest, who walks us through gripping stories, tactical details, humor, pain, and emotional redemption. We cover some sensitive and extremely important ground. Thank you, Debbie. Graphic Design USA has named Debbie Millman (@debbiemillman) "one of the most influential designers working today." She is also ...

Jan 12, 20172 hr 52 min

#213: Fasting vs. Slow-Carb Diet, Top $150 Purchases, Balancing Productivity and Relaxation, and More

We're going to kick off the year with an in-betweenisode where I answer the most popular questions you've submitted. If you're wondering what you can do to ask a question that gets answered in the future, these are good criteria to follow: I can answer it in a few minutes or less. It will help more than the one person asking. It will not immediately be irrelevant. In contrast, here are some examples of questions that don't generally get answered: "If you had $100 and six months, how wo...

Jan 04, 20171 hr 2 min

#212: 2016 - What I've Learned

This episode is a review of the past year. Since it's been a common request, I thought I'd run through what I do at the end of a year. For the last 6 years, I no longer write resolutions. Instead, I do a post-game analysis where I really look back at the year behind, including what I've learned and what tips and recommendations had the biggest impact on my life. Thank you for all of your support, and I sincerely hope you enjoy my biggest lessons and takeaways from 2016! Show notes and links for ...

Dec 29, 201638 min

#211: A.J. Jacobs: Self-Experimenter Extraordinaire

A.J. Jacobs (@ajjacobs) is a kindred guinea pig of self-experimentation who chronicles his shenanigans in books that seem to keep winding up as New York Times best sellers. The Know-It-All was about his quest to learn everything in the world. In The Year of Living Biblically, he tried to follow all the rules of the Bible as literally as possible. Drop Dead Healthy followed his well- (and ill-) advised experiments to become the healthiest person alive. My Life as an Experiment is about exactly wh...

Dec 24, 20162 hr 10 min

#210: Becoming the Best Version of You

This is a special episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. The audio is from a live conversation with not one, not two, but three guests: Josh Waitzkin, Ramit Sethi, and Adam Robinson. Josh Waitzkin is an endlessly fascinating person who gets mentioned a lot on this show for good reason. For the uninitiated, Josh was the basis for the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. He's perfected the techniques that made him into a chess prodigy and a jiu-jitsu black belt, and he shared them in his book The...

Dec 20, 20162 hr 33 min

#209: The Random Show Threesome -- Tim Ferriss, Kevin Rose, and Matt Mullenweg

My first live podcast in New York City was recorded at the 92nd Street Y to a sold-out crowd of about 900 people. This episode comes from The Random Show segment of the evening when I took the stage with Kevin Rose and Matt Mullenweg. Kevin Rose (@KevinRose) has been my partner in crime for many things. He's one of the best stock pickers in the startup world, the co-founder of Digg and Milk, a general partner at Google Ventures, and CEO of Hodinkee. Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) is most associated...

Dec 16, 201651 min

#208: Ezra Klein -- From College Blogger to Political Powerhouse

Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) is founder and editor-in-chief of Vox, an explanatory news organization that now reaches more than 100 million people each month through articles, videos, newsletters, and podcasts. Previously, he was a columnist and editor at The Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg. He was named one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington by GQ. He's written for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, and his primary podcast, The ...

Dec 13, 20162 hr 37 min

#207: Tools of Titans: Brené Brown Distilled and Other Goodies

Dr. Brené Brown (@BreneBrown) is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Brené's 2010 TEDx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, has been viewed more than 31 million times and is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world. She has spent the past 13 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Brené is the author of three #1 New York Times bestsellers: Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection, and ...

Dec 10, 201638 min