Find The Perfect Morning Routine, Even If You're A Night Owl and Sleep In
A Review: Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
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Review
I can't help but jab at Tim Ferriss.
He talks like a robot, and I've never heard anyone laugh on his podcasts. It's as if the humor setting on the Timmy cyborg was reduced to 10%.
He often starts his books with an homage to his success: "I'm writing from a café in Paris overlooking Boulevard Saint Germain, a few blocks away from my house in the Quartier Latin." Dawg! I'm writing a review of your book from an apartment in Columbus and the A/C just went out again.
He’s unpolished and doesn’t follow conventional wisdom, but I trust Tim Ferris more than any other business influencer save Gary Vaynerchuk. He will push you to be more, and to do better - that’s what you want out of an influencer. Well, it’s better than Jake Paul anyway.
A celebrity in his own right, through his renowned first book “The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim has rubbed shoulders with some of the most successful business leaders, billionaires, comedians, artists, writers, and athletes our world has to offer. But instead of asking these world-class performers questions like "What was it like filming in Greece?" Or, "What actually goes on in the bathroom at the MET Gala?" Tim asks, "What time do you get up in the morning?" "What’s your exercise routine?" "What's your diet?" "How do you come up with ideas?"
The routines, tactics, and habits of Tim’s friends are all compiled into this massive, 600-page book for you to use as a guide and reference. Don’t worry about the size, it’s not meant to be read front to back. Just like the Bible, skip to the ideas that make sense to you. Tim says you will end up liking 50%, loving 25%, and never forgetting 10% of the content.
The book contains lessons from 200 interviews and is divided into 3 categories: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. Each interviewee strongly embodies one of these categories. Here are a few sections that grabbed me, a sample of what you can be ready to learn.
HEALTHY
Dive into this section if you’re interested in the following: Yoga, Meditation, breathing exercises, workout routines, diet, and fasting.
Amelia Boone: One of the greatest obstacle course racers in the world. Won the Spartan World Race Championship, Spartan Race Elite Point Series, and a three-time winner of the World’s Toughest Mudder. And oh yeah, she’s also a full-time attorney at Apple.
Try This:
Amelia’s Training, Stretching and Recovery Techniques: Amelia increases her hamstring flexibility by rolling a golf ball on her foot. Try this, put a towel on the floor underneath the golf ball, and slowly rock the balls of your feet. Be careful night to knock your dogs eye out.
Wim “The Iceman” Hof: This guy is just nuts. He climbed past the “death zone” altitude of Mount Everest (26,000 feet) wearing nothing but shorts and shoes… What? Completed a full marathon above the Arctic Circle in temperatures near -4F… also in just shorts and shoes. And! Ran a full marathon in the Namib Desert without water
Try This:
The Iceman’s Breathing Exercise: Sounds strange but breathing correctly is in vogue right now. New studies are revealing the benefits of mediation and breathing exercises. Here’s a look at “The Iceman’s Breathing Exercise”
Dr. Dominic D’Agostino: Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida. He’s one of the leading experts into the Ketosis and fasting. If you’re interested, this section is a crash course.
WEALTHY
This section talks to people about investing, finance advice, creativity and idea generation, and business development.
Tony Robbins: Probably doesn’t need an introduction. One of the world’s most popular life coaches and public speakers.
Overcoming Stress and Suffering: “The reason your suffering is you’re focused on yourself. Suffering comes from three thought patterns: loss, less, never.”
Tony’s Cold Shower Morning Routine: 1.) Quick 60-second cold shower 2.) Go through a breathing exercise. For example, 4 short inhales through the nose, 4 short exhales through the mouth. 3.) 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation.
Secrets of the World’s Best Investors: Asymmetrical Risks and Rewards. In other words, the best investors obsess over opportunities that offer the least amount of risk to get the max amount of upside. That doesn’t mean you have to take a big risk for a big reward.
Seth Godin: The GOAT of marketing. He’s written over 18 bestselling books, has a very successful blog site, and has founded several companies including Yoyodyne and Squidoo.
How to Generate Ideas: Write out as many ideas as you can, good or bad. “People who have plenty of good ideas, if they’re telling you the truth, will say they have even more bad ideas. So the goal isn’t to get good ideas; the goal is to get bad ideas. Because once you get enough bad ideas, then some good ones will have to show up.”
The Secret to His “first, ten people” Marketing Technique: “Share your idea with 10 people who already like and trust you. If they don’t tell anyone else, it’s not that good and you should start over.”
BJ Novak: He wrote the American version of The Office! He’s a comedic genius. He also plays the role of Ryan on the show.
Creative Writing Routines: As opposed to many successful people, BJ is a night owl. He sleeps in and spends the first few hours of the day “powering up” until he gets in the mood to write which normally occurs around 11 am to 2 pm.
“I find that being in a good mood for creative work is worth the hours it takes to get in a good mood.”
WISE
Dive into this section if you’re interested in the following: Mental toughness, finding your calling, dealing with haters, and self-awareness.
Maria Popova: Awesome writer! She writes articles for the Atlantic and New York Times and also has a blog called Brainpicker that generates 7 million readers per month.
Maria’s Golden Rule of Social Media: “If you don’t have the patience to read something, don’t have hubris to comment on it.”
Note-taking: When reading books, Maria adds her notes in the margins with simple a code like “BL” meaning beautiful language. She then creates indices on a blank page (usually the cover) to record and review later. For example, the indices might say BL: pg. 8, 12, 139.
Writing Tips: “scratch your own itch and not stress over what the masses want.”
Jocko Willink: Navy Seal who commanded SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated special operations unit from the Iraq war. Co-authored New York Times bestseller Extreme Ownership.
Mental Toughness: He’s the best coach you can possibly find for this subject. “If you want to be tougher mentally, it is simple: Be tougher. Don’t meditate on it.”
I think what he’s saying here is that mental toughness is a decision. It’s possible to be mentally strong on your next decision. Having trouble waking up in the morning to exercise – start with the decision to be tougher.
Final Thought
There are several books that compile successful people's routines (Daily Rituals by Mason Currey being the most famous), but the diversity of characters interviewed in Tools of Titans offers a truely unique reading experience.
For example, Jocko Willink and BJ Novak are both uber successful, but they couldn’t be more different. Jocko Wakes Up at 4:30am each morning and works out like he’s a heavyweight title contender. BJ, on the other hand, wakes up when he wakes up, drinks Pike Place coffee from Starbucks until anxiety kicks in, then starts writing when a funny thought pops in his head.
These are Jocko’s and BJ’s most recent instagram posts. This tells you everything you need to know.
The formula for success has never been one size fits all, but we all want to find our sweet spot. The habits that activate an unconscious feeling of flow and calm. A state of being where you're proactive with your actions instead of reactive.
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