As one might expect from the author of the “Four Hour Work Week,” Tim Ferriss has a solid, well established routine. He awakes, meditates, exercises, journals, blocks off four hours for creative work, then frees himself for meetings and phone calls. This well balanced approach has taken him far.  When the inevitable drudging task comes around he slogs himself through it by building momentum with “Scooby snacks,” short, fun activities preceding the boring ones.  From the start of this interview it quickly becomes apparent that Ferris is a wellspring of great advice for anyone who is aiming to build a successful business or life.


Lessons:

    1.    Narrow things down to one or two things to focus on daily.
    2.    Volunteer for great organizations then go the extra mile to stand out.
    3.    Find a small but fast growing company to work for and observe the deal makers at work. Note the kind of questions they ask to get ahead. Example: “I know its impossible, but if there was a way to make it work, what would it be?”
    4.    When things start going well in business, to maintain focus, separate the great opportunities from the potentially overwhelming number of good ones. Ask yourself, what it the one step that will make all the others irrelevant.

Forget what your first grade teacher told you, according to Kelly Starrett, owner and cofounder of Mobility WOD, children should never sit still in class. He believes that we learn better, are healthier, and by burning more calories are starting to reverse the obesity epidemic when we are standing. Even healthy adults who work out regularly suffer from the negative affects of too much sitting. Starrett, through his crossfit gym, encourages the type of holistic practice that will prepare an elite athlete, or a normal person, for any situation. In this episode, he describes how in depth.

Lessons:

    1.The benefit of having a good conditioning program is not learning how to suffer but learning how to problem solve in the face of discomfort.
    2.There’s no way to solve the obesity epidemic without tackling sitting and inactivity.
    3.If we can’t use the lessons of elite sport to help the layman, then sport is just folly.

Travis Macy, an avid ultrarunner, wrote The Ultra Mindset after he learned a valuable lesson himself. He was working to become a school principal, a respectable position and by all means a sensible decision, but stopped in his tracks to write the book. Pushing forward in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons would’ve left Macy unfulfilled. Raw perseverance without deep purpose is not enough. Lucky for us, Macy channeled his mental toughness into the right endeavor and he shares a number of strategies for you to do the same in this podcast. 


Lessons:

1.When things get tough it’s helpful to focus on why you’re doing something and not on the drudgery of the task.
2.Training is equally important for developing a strong mind as it is for getting fit.
3.Quitting is okay when you find yourself on a path that doesn’t align with your values, but if you are on the right path, don’t give up.

To be a success, or even to survive, emotional intelligence often trumps raw IQ, as Jordan Harbinger discovered while being detained and interrogated in Serbia. He used his humanity to escape. Similarly, being empathetic and genuine is just as important in finding and keeping friends and lovers as it is in advancing in your chosen field. Harbinger taught this through his Art of Charm podcasts and life coaching, and now on his "Jordan Harbinger Show.". As he describes in this episode, it’s not so much the skills you add that are important, but the bad habits that you subtract in order to expose your best self.

Lessons:
    1.    Unless you are at the top of your field or a workhorse, relationship skills are the key to advancement.
    2.    If you want to present your best self you need to silence the self criticism.
    3.    External sources of validation (fancy cars, houses, etc.) are not as impressive to emotionally healthy people as displaying your true self.
    4.    If you’re not creating good habits you’re creating bad habits, but you’re creating habits no matter what. 

LINKS:

http://www.jordanharbinger.com/podcast/

Adventure race champion Robyn Benincasa delved into her paddling passion by entering and excelling in a kayak ultra endurance race several hundred miles long. Several world records and hip replacements later, she is still going strong. It is her core philosophy that once you find something that you’re good at, pursue  it with every ounce of your being. Since she’s channeled much of her boundless energy into her foundation, Project Athena, that helps women who’ve survived medical setbacks, this is great news for them. Benincasa will describe the transformative power of adventure and persistence in this episode.


Lessons:

    1.    Make the effort to find your strengths and continue down that path.
    2.    To bypass the victim mentality, always be working towards a big goal.
    3.    Success is driven, not by money, but the desire to fully realize what you’re capable of.