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Tim Ferriss Experiment — Tim Ferriss' new digital series "Mythbusters meets Jackass"
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@sacca Thank you so much for the incredibly kind words. You've taught me so much over the years. Swimming and investing are just the tip of the iceberg. Watching you grow as a dad and family man -- while continuing to slay it -- has been a huge inspiration and made me think about kids again. This is a big deal for me. Thanks for doing what you do.
@sacca Agreed. I'd love to hear more about how you figured out licensing / ownership of the content to finally get it released.
@tferriss Same for me and I don't know him on a personal level. He has inspired more than he realizes I'm sure. Exact same for you also Tim Tim (using @kevinrose pet names for you makes me feel more a part of your circle).
@kevinace Spoke to soon. Tim speaks to this on The @jaltucher Show - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podc...
Two part question:
1. Who's the coolest #1 best selling author you know? (If it's not me, please ignore this question)
2. Seriously though, I think a lot of people will be interested in this: if I was in my 20s and looking for a really promising area to focus on, what should I pick? Not to invest, but to work in? In other words, if you were to start again today, what fields would you focus in and why? (I get this question all the time, I think it's a really good one)
@tuckermax
#1) 100% Tucker Max, obviously. He's also 10x the man I'll ever be :)
#2) I've thought about this. I would say any 15-25-person startup that is growing super quickly, where you'd be able to observe (or ideally report to) the principal dealmakers (CEO, COO, VP biz dev, VP sales, etc.). The "hot" sectors change so quickly in tech, and you can definitely choose a great industry but a bad company with bad leadership. I prefer to focus on size and growth rate. That will max out your learning and skill acquisition, even if it's a waste disposal company.
Note: Tim will be doing an AMA at 730 AM PST. If you have a question, start your comment with "AMA:”
AMA: 1) Congrats on the launch Tim! You touch upon a bit in our podcast that you hope this launch serves as an example for other artists & creatives — who’ve similarly had projects shelved — to launch in novel and groundbreaking ways. What advice/recommendations would you give to those people? What are some of the biggest principles you abide by when launching?
2) For this show, what does success look like for you?
For those who want to hear more about the show and get deep inside @tferriss mind, we have a deep chat here: https://soundcloud.com/product-h...
@eriktorenberg
For #1 and launching) I think Change.org and Kickstarter can be used respectively to petition larger companies with public pressure and raise funds (e.g. for licensing rights) to get deals done. I didn't do this, but it was a backup plan. Separately, read "1,000 True Fans" ten times before planning your launch.
#2) Success for me with this show is getting it to as many people as humanly possible. 25% of all launch week profits for the TV show go to After-School All-Stars (http://www.afterschoolallstars.org/), which supports after-school programs for at-risk youth who need mentors. They do amazing work, and I recognize how a few mentors steered me from disaster early in my life. I want everyone to have that opportunity.
@Jason @rrhoover @tferriss I'm curious who you spoke with regarding wing suits. Are you specifically talking about the crazies that jump off cliffs and mountain flying? If you are interested in learning to fly a wing suit out of a normal plane, I could get you in contact with the right people. My girlfriend was a Golden Knight for 4 years and I see many of the active team regularly as they train a few miles away from me. They're the best skydivers in the world and I can guarantee they'd teach you whatever you wanted to learn.
@tferriss My email address is my last name at gmail dot com. Send me some contact info for you or an assistant and I'll pass it along to the GK Tandem Team (they are the ones that jump the President). Many of those guys fly wing suits and you can take it from there!
Congrats on the launch @tferriss!
AMA:
1. Why did you choose to go the TV route and not release this series on YouTube/vimeo/iTunes from the start on?
2. If Tim Ferriss was an unknown guy in 2015, which platform would you focus on, to build your audience?
@freshfey
1. Why did you choose to go the TV route and not release this series on YouTube/vimeo/iTunes from the start on?
TIM: I wanted to give broadcast a shot, as it was always a fantasy, but I've changed my tune. Too many things outside of my control. Going digital is the only smart option with my core audience being tech-savvy 20-40-year olds.
2. If Tim Ferriss was an unknown guy in 2015, which platform would you focus on, to build your audience?
TIM: Hard to say, but I'm inclined to still focus on long-form content. The world of short-form (Snapchat, Twitter, FB, IG, etc.) is too competitive and not my forte. The blog (fourhourblog.com) is the heartbeat of everything that I do, and some of the posts are 5-15 pages. I try and zig when everyone is zagging. Right now, "zagging" is short-form content.
AMA: There seems to be a bit of a cabal between yourself, Neil Strauss, Tucker Max, Ryan Holiday and (I think) Robert Greene - who am I missing and how often do you all actually work together or catch up? Is there a Slack group I can get in on?
@rossdcurrie Haha... we're friends. No Slack group, but we trade learning a lot (via email, text, etc.), and Ryan has helped me with my last two book launches, as he's a good strategist.
@tferriss Yeah - I thought that might be the case. When you read your respective books, there's lots of hints that you help each other out. Some overt, some veiled where your brands don't align.
I just finished Trust Me I'm Lying a couple of days ago. In addition to ruining the Internet for me and instilling a deep fear of where things are headed, I really came to appreciate the way Ryan thinks. I'll definitely be making contact for future product launches.
Keep up the good work Tim. Within a month of reading 4HWW 5 years ago, I was working from home.Within 2 years I'd almost tripled my salary. You were a great intro for me to success hacking... let me know if you guys ever start that Slack group :)
@tferriss @ryanholiday Tomorrow on Gawker: "Tim Ferriss heads mysterious cabal of infamous writers"
2016: @neilstrauss writes tell-all book exposing the secret underground society of writers and how they manipulate their way to #1. Stays at top of NYTimes best selling list for record 6 years
@rossdcurrie @ryanholiday Huge congrats, Ross!!! I'd love to hear your 4HWW story. Can you share with me here? http://fourhourworkweek.com/succ... And I actually serve the coffee in the cabal, but I'm happy with where I am :)
You ruined my life, @tferriss.
I've read your books, followed your blog, and listened to your podcast. And after hours of reading, listening, practicing, re-listening, and experimenting, all I got out of it was a completely new perspective on my life goals, endless inspiration, and a monkey on my back constantly pushing me to challenge the status quo. In tough situations where I might otherwise complain or quit, I find myself asking WWTFD? And the answer is usually something like, "he would fuckin' deal with it immediately and move on." So that's what I do.
But the worst part is the sense of urgency regarding my goals and dreams. It's really hard to concentrate on a 9-5 consulting gig after you realize and truly understand that you can do anything. It sounds cliche, but your work pushed me to reflect and define what I really wanted, and showed me it was entirely possible to attain.
So thank you for that, and looking forward to the show!
@troy_carlson Troy, this made my day. Thank you :) Kia kaha! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia...)
Congrats on the launch @tferriss! Show looks great. Such a shame us Brits can’t watch it just yet. Fingers crossed you manage to get the international rights soon.
Congrats @tferriss! I remember watching a few of these episodes when they were first on TV. I'm glad I get to finish the rest of the season now.
AMA: Any plans for more episodes?
@aschuen I'm taking it one step at a time. If people really love this show and let me know, I might use Kickstarter to raise funds and produce another show on my own. I'm tired of the network machine.
AMA: @tferriss I know you had to do a lot of work to get the digital rights for this in the US only. But, especially given all the comments you got when the podcast was going out, why focus on making it available via iTunes as the lead platform again? And do you have an alternate destination for Android, MS, and other users?
@therealsjr iTunes has been super supportive, and I also want to send a message to Hollywood by crushing the charts. I might do something with the episodes in a few weeks or months, but iTunes will be my focus for now. That said, I'm also putting a lot of bonus footage and extras on Vessel, which people can get for 30 days for free: https://www.vessel.com/timferriss
@tferriss Thanks Tim. I get the 'super supportive' thing - I really do. All I'd add is to remember that your books are accessible to almost 100% of the population (100% if you add in the audiobook editions). By going on iTunes first/only, you're stopping a lot of existing fans from accessing this awesome content. I honestly believe you could crush all the charts, rather than just the one, fruit-flavored chart.
Glad to see this come to fruition -- you mentioned something like this was in the works @ SXSW.
AMA : Considering how much of your time you spend intentionally (or unintentionally) teaching other people, have you thought about creating an online course?
With Gary V, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki all launching online courses recently, it seems like an intuitive next step.
Disclaimer: I'm biased being heavily vested in the online courses space w @UseFedora
@UseFedora @ankurnagpal I'll do a course when I'm super excited to do so, but I'm not there yet. Right now, my learning curve is just steeper with TV and video experiments, so I'm hanging out in that sandbox :)
Over the years I have learned so much from @tferriss. Not only in his practical anecdotes about how to hack life, but also through his life philosophy -- that you should always be learning and growing. I can't think of a better message for everyone in the startup world.
He's one of the most entertaining and fascinating people I know and I'm really excited to see him get to bring his message and humor to even more people through TV.
@rsarver Thanks so much, Ryan! I super stoked about using TV as the Trojan horse to teach powerful learning concepts. Not everyone wants to sit down with a 400+-page book these days, so it's a fun experiment.
One of the things you learn building products/companies is how much you don't know... especially if anything starts to work. It becomes a competitive advantage if you can learn more quickly/efficiently than those around you.
And while on the surface, @tferriss's content appears to be life hacks: how to lose weight, survive a bear attack, etc... if you dig deeper, you'll find he's one of the best meta-learners on the planet, constantly optimizing the process of learning itself. There's no better embodiment of the learning process than his new show Tim Ferriss Experiment.
He's an incredible friend that I've learned so much from and I couldn't be happier to see him reclaim and distribute TFE in his own unique way.
おめでとう.
AMA: What skills were the most difficult to learn & why?
@abatalion Thanks so much, Aaron! Getting this puppy made was taihen muzukashii, so I'm thrilled to have it out... finally! The most difficult skill (physically) was definitely parkour. In that episode alone, I tore both ACLs, 6 of my 8 total quadriceps muscles (both legs), my rotator cuff muscles, and all the flexors in one forearm. Doh! :)
I've thought about doing an online course, but I'm just not excited about it yet. If I do get super excited, I'll consider it. Until then, I'll focus on other things like the TV show and related experiments where the learning curve is steep.
AMA: Do you ever experience 'Imposter Syndrome'? What do you do with those thoughts and feelings?
@thomasknoll If you mean feeling insecure in one's abilities, here's how I deal with all sorts of neuroses -- "Productivity" Tricks for the Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy (Like Me)" http://fourhourworkweek.com/2013...
@thomasknoll @tferriss This is my favorite podcast of yours Tim. Thanks for sharing so honestly, it really makes you seem human and what you've accomplished seem attainable to the average Joe (or Jane) with lots of hard and smart work. Thanks!
AMA: @tferris Do you see business opportunity in the future of author/reader interaction as books become more fluid... As the writing process goes from one where an individual dumps a ton of knowledge and then many read it to one where there is a back and forth pre & post release and the content changes over time? Will there be startups/services/software to facilitate this?
@jsneedles People have tried to combine authoring with crowdsourcing and I think you end up with something like the joke "Q: What is a camel? A: A horse designed by committee." I haven't seen it work very well when the crowd directly edits. That said, before and while writing my books, I poll my audience on social media all the time. That works amazing well for fine-tuning direction.
AMA: Congrats on the show Tim! I saw the golf episode on my way to SF last month, as an avid golfer I was surprised about how fast you learned the most important basics, very cool!
Also love you're sharing the "Top 5 reasons to be a Jack of all Trades" doc: what do you think could be the #1 trick/tactic people could use to become a better Jack of all Trades?
@bramk 100% answer: get REALLY good at meta-learning. I've explained the techniques I use most in the TV show, as well as The 4-Hour Chef. Another skill that will help a lot is speed reading (with full comprehension). Here's how I do it: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2009...
In one or sentences - why should I watch the show and what makes it good?
@lordtylerward It will help you 10x your learning speed, and it was filmed/edited by the Emmy award-winning team behind Anthony Bourdain. Here's the trailer -- if it doesn't get you excited, then I've failed :) http://fourhourworkweek.com/tv/
@tferriss Nah good work. Thanks Tim. I started a company that did $10k in revenue the first month (that's where I'm at now) and the month leading up to launch, I spent about 2 hours a day on your blog.
Tim. Been a long time follower and read both Work and Body. Lost more lb's in less time than my goal. So yay and thanks!
Now the question. You recommend that we should learn from people who are world-class in X. In the age of the Internet, it's easy to find those people. But what's hard, and sometimes impossible, is getting access to them. How do we (not you or other famous folks) get access to them? And what do we do if we don't?
@karangoel You don't need access, even though you can almost always find experts to help you on Skype or Skype video for cheap. But regardless, you can use the questions and techniques from both The Tim Ferriss Experiment and The 4-Hour Chef. Keep in mind that I learned to swim in my 30's with a Total Immersion book. I was by myself and simply had it recommended to me by Chris Sacca, (@sacca), who's comment is above.
First of all I just wanted to say, I love the way that you approach life, one experiment at a time. As an artist and an entrepreneur, I know through experience that approach is the least intimidating and most constructive way to live a life that is most times riddled with failure.
One down, one million to go.
AMA:
Given that creating this TV show is another experiment, what advice would you have given yourself (logistically, mentally, or emotionally) prior to starting The Tim Ferris Experiment, with the knowledge you know now 13 episodes deep?
Bonus questions:
1) Did you learn something new about yourself and working with other creatives?
2) Did you find yourself pushing your limits of personal comfortability and did you ever feel a little like you were playing a character?
From one human ginuea pig to another I just wanted to end with, keep up the amazing work Tim.
I know you get haters here and there, but like you said "You gotta focus on the people who "get it" and I am happy to say I'm someone who get's it. All the negativity, will fade away and your legacy will continue. Keep doing you, you are influencing more people than you know!
@angeliatrinidad Thanks so much for the kind words! I never felt like a character, as I try hard to be myself on camera, and it's hard not to be yourself when you're stressing out or focusing 100%. The advice I would have given myself prior to filming 13 episodes: DO NOT film parkour first, you idiot! I was so badly injured in that episode that it made the next 12 episodes 10x harder to complete. My body was a disaster. I suppose the good news is that I got a lot of the injuries on camera for the episode :)
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