Tim ferriss quotes

Most people are good at a handful of things and utterly miserable at most.

I'm often asked how I define "success." It's an overused term, but I fundamentally view this elusive beast as a combination of two things - achievement and appreciation. One isn't enough: Achievement without appreciation makes you ambitious but miserable. Appreciation without achievement makes you unambitious but happy.

Fun things happen when you earn dollars, live on pesos, and compensate in rupees.

Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small.

If someone's criticism is completely unfounded on data, then I don't want to hear it. It doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

As far as income goes, there are three currencies in the world; most people ignore two. The three currencies are time, income and mobility, in descending order of importance. Most people focus exclusively on income.

If you don't have time, you don't have priorities.

Pacifists become militants. Freedom fighters become tyrants. Blessings become curses. Help becomes hindrance. More becomes less.

The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect.

People are fond of using the its not what you know, its who you know adage as an excuse for inaction, as if all successful people are born with powerful friends. Nonsense.

The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you.

A goal without real consequences is wishful thinking. Good follow-through doesn't depend on the right intentions. It depends on the right incentives.

There are tons of things in your home and life that you don't use, need, or even particularly want. They just came into your life as impulsive flotsam and jetsam and never found a good exit. Whether you're aware of it or not, this clutter creates indecision and distractions.

I'm not a fan of idleness, except in small doses.

Everyone is going to binge on a diet, for instance, so plan for it, schedule it, and contain the damage.

Believe it or not, it is not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, it is mandatory. Enter the world of elimination.

People don't want to be millionaires - they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy.

You can lose money and make it back, you can't do that with time.

Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers. Keep calm and carry on!

Just as modern man consumes both too many calories and calories of no nutritional value, information workers eat data both in excess and from the wrong sources.

I'm not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.

It isn't enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.

Compile your to-do list for tomorrow no later than this evening.

There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth.

It's amazing how someone's IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.

The goal is not to simply eliminate the bad, which does nothing more than leave you with a vacuum, but to pursue and experience the best in the world.

Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!

For uncommon solutions, you have to look in uncommon places.

Lacking an external focus, the mind turns inward on itself and creates problems to solve, even if the problems are undefined or unimportant. If you find a focus, an ambitious goal that seems impossible and forces you to grow, these doubts disappear.

Most inputs are useless and time is wasted in proportion to the amount that is available.

Reality is negotiable.

When you try to do something big its hard to fail completely.

One can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion.

Massive elimination is the most important step and the most neglected step for entrepreneurs.

An entrepreneur isn't someone who owns a business, it's someone who makes things happen.

Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you're still living the consequences of bad decisions made 5, 10, 20 years ago shouldn't stop you from making good decisions now. If you let pride stop you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from now for the same reasons.

Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.

Learn to ask, "If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?"

Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.

At least three time per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following question: Am I being productive or just active? Charney captured the essence of this with less-abstract wording: Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important? He eliminated all of the activities he used as crutches and began to focus on demonstrating results instead of showing dedication. Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise. Be ruthless and cut the fat.

Age doesn't matter. An open mind does.

What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it.

Three ingredients of luxury lifestyle design are time, income, and mobility.

I'll repeat something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress—stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.

Personally, I now aim for one month of overseas relocation or high-intensity learning (tango, fighting, whatever) for every two months of work projects.

Many a false step was made by standing still.

Luxury, to me, is not owning a lot of stuff. Luxury, to me, is feeling unrushed.

Having a size 9 foot is fantastic because almost all of the shoe companies do their prototyping in size 9, so if you visit a place like Nike headquarters, you can try every sort of wacky, out-there model.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.

A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.

Don't suffer fools or you'll become one.

Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitate to get in the way if you're moving.

Money doesn't change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.

The benefits of becoming fluent in a foreign tongue are as underestimated as the difficulty is overestimated. Thousands of theoretical linguists will disagree, but I know from research and personal experimentation with more than a dozen languages that (1) adults can learn languages much faster than children when constant 9-5 work is removed and that (2) it is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in six months or less. At four hours per day, six months can be whittled down to less than three months.

There are no statues erected to critics.

If only I had more money is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment - now and not later.

Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

If you don't have time, the truth is, you don't have priorities. Think harder; don't work harder.

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too.

Dreamlining is so named because it applies timelines to what most would consider dreams.

But if it's tolerable mediocrity, and you're like, 'Well, you know it could be worse. At least I'm getting paid.' Then you wind up in a job that is slowly killing your soul and you're allowing that to happen. Comfort can be a very, very dangerous thing.

A friend of mine, Derek Simmons, who's been on the podcast, said, "If more information were the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect dads." It comes down to motivation and incentives. If it isn't a punishment or a reward, then it's just talk.

Someday is a dis-ease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.

There are two components that are fundamental to enjoy life and feel good about yourself: continual learning and service.

This is not my phrase, but if you're stuck in the past, then you're depressed. If you're stuck in the future, then you're anxious.

I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.

Are you better off than you were one year ago, one month ago, or one week ago? If not, things will not improve by themselves.

Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.

I always point people to the article '1,000 True Fans' by Kevin Kelly. If you choose your thousand ideal customers or readers properly and find the single author blog that targets that audience, you never have to do any more marketing. You're done. That is a lesson that very few product developers and marketers have learned, and it's unfortunate.

People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

One of the bigger misconceptions of learning is that many skills take a lifetime to get world-class at, or 10,000 hours to become world-class at.

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. As I have heard said, a person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear. I got into this habit by attempting to contact celebrities and famous businesspeople for advice.

Being able to quit things that don't work is integral to being a winner

If we define risk as 'the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,' inaction is the greatest risk of all.

Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses.

For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.

I have plenty of money to do what I want to do, and I have the relationships.

Learn to be difficult when it counts. In school as in life, having a reputation for being assertive will help you receive preferential treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time.

The most important actions are never comfortable.

If the challenge we face doesn't scare us, then it's probably not that important.

Luxury is feeling unrushed. It is designing a life that allows you to do what you want with high leverage, with many options, all while feeling unrushed.

Nothing can match the wonderment that comes from staring up into the star-filled canopy above and realizing that you are a part of that creation.

The way that you become world-class is... by asking good questions.

Learn to be difficult when it counts

Creating demand is hard. Filling demand is easier. Don't create a product, then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market - define your customers - then find or develop a product for them.

People really do think they have to choose between high stress and high reward jobs, and low stress and low reward jobs.

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually," just do it and correct course along the way.

The question you should be asking isn't, "What do I want?" or "What are my goals?" but "What would excite me?

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

The commonsense rules of the "real world" are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions.

The fishing is best where the fewest go. There is just less competition for bigger goals.

To enjoy life, you don't need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren't as serious as you make them out to be.

If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually', just do it and correct course along the way.

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.

The best way to improve mental performance, is to improve physical performance

Sometimes you need to go on a low-information diet.

Being selective-doing less-is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.

Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.

But you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn't making you stronger, they're making you weaker.

Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of mental laziness-lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

That's precisely the question everyone should be asking-why the hell not? - Why not you, why not now.

To have an uncommon lifestyle, you need to develop the uncommon habit of making decisions, both for yourself and for others.

It is predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life. This is a nonstarter—nothing can justify that sacrifice.

Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.

The biggest misconception about work is that you need to spend the majority of your time doing it.

In all cases where doubt crops up, ask yourself, "If I had a gun to my head and had to do it, how would I do it?" It's not as hard as you think.

Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.

Everything that works in sales has been done already. Just keep track of the crap that you buy, or the awesome stuff that you buy, and decide what was the trigger, and then just sell to people like you. It's really that easy - and that's what I do.

Poisonous people do not deserve your time. To think otherwise is masochistic.

The best results I have had in my life; the most enjoyable times, have all come from asking the simple question: 'What is the worst that could happen?'

Information is useless if it is not applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a chance to apply it.

The key to having more time is doing less, and there are two paths to get there, both of which should be used together: (1) Define a short to-do list and (2) define a not-to-do list.

The first thing I would do for anyone who's trying to lose body fat, for instance, would be to remove foods from the house that he or she would consume during lapses of self-control.

The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.

Simplicity requires ruthlessness.

Uncertainty and the prospect of failure can be very scary noises in the shadows. Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

To do the impossible, you need to ignore the popular.

The best entrepreneurs I've ever met are all good communicators. It's perhaps one of the very few unifying factors.

There is always more information than attention

Never check email first thing in the morning. Instead, complete your most important task before 11:00 A.M. to avoid using lunch or reading email as a postponement excuse.

Just a few words on time management: forget all about it.

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Resveratrol is fascinating stuff. One of the best sources of information about it is the Immortality Institute. They have a forum where some people are in the 500 Club, as they call it. They've been taking 500 milligrams for years. It's a really great source of data.