Tim Ferriss Quotations

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.

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

I encourage active skepticism - when people are being skeptical because they're trying to identify the best course of action. They're trying to identify the next step for themselves or other people.

Every time I find myself stressed out, it's because I do things primarily driven by growth.

The problem with New Year's resolutions - and resolutions to 'get in better shape' in general, which are very amorphous - is that people try to adopt too many behavioral changes at once. It doesn't work. I don't care if you're a world-class CEO - you'll quit.

I have scary eyes. I look like the guy in 'American History X,' yes. I remember coming home from school and asking my mum if I could get an eye transplant, and of course she declined.

I think time management as a label encourages people to view each 24-hour period as a slot in which they should pack as much as possible.

I discourage passive skepticism, which is the armchair variety where people sit back and criticize without ever subjecting their theories or themselves to real field testing.

There are certain things I will automate, but when it comes to quality control, I want to keep a very close eye.

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

Learn the art of the pitch and of messaging.

I was an All-American in wrestling in high school, was National Champion in Chinese kickboxing in 1999 and have spent a lot of time around professional athletes, which includes my eight-plus years as CEO of a sports nutrition company.

I'm not averse to making a lot of money. But where does that end? I hang out with people with hundreds of millions of dollars. Is that the standard by which I should measure myself? Where does that take you if you're in my business? I think it takes you to pretty dark, corrupt places.

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.

Writing is thought crystalized on a piece of paper, which can then be reviewed.

Being called a huckster and a charlatan started several years ago, so that's something I'm accustomed to. In most cases, it doesn't bother me.

If you look at the purported dangers of salt or fat, there is no consensus of support in scientific literature. So I would ask first: 'Is it possible to have an informed government that actually follows the science?' From what I've seen, it's not likely.

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

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

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

It's very easy to confuse confident motion with being productive - and they're not the same thing. Productive to me means measurable outcomes that apply to my most important to-dos that positively affect my life. That's it.

I gauge success in years, not weeks. The weekend box-office approach to book launches is short sighted and encourages crappy books.

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

I really feel like knife skills - not just in the kitchen, but in life - are really critical.

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

Converting your own passions into a job is the fastest method for eliminating any passion you once had.

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

I still feel there are much smarter self-promoters out there than me. I am very methodical about my messaging, and I know how to gain attention very quickly.

The least-crowded channel for meeting high profile bloggers is in person. Email is the most difficult, the most crowded... I'm a top 1,000 blogger, not a top 100 blogger, and I get hundreds of pitches by email every week. Most of them I don't even see because my assistant declines them.

The truth is that since the first book, I have wanted to emulate Benjamin Franklin and put together a healthy, wealthy and wise trilogy and so healthy was 'The 4-Hour Body,' wealthy was 'The 4-Hour Workweek' and then wise is 'The 4-Hour Chef.'

There are a lot of things that can be learned from the darker corners of athletics. You have doctors who view bodybuilders as cavalier amateurs of science. And then you have the bodybuilders who view the doctors as too conservative to do anything interesting. So I've tried to become the middleman for putting some of those pieces together.

I started using Twitter about year after its very early adoption and ended up investing in it around that same time. I'm involved with the Tech scene and companies ranging from Facebook, Stumbleupon and Twitter.

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.

Rather than spend my life on data entry and typing, I also take photos on my iPhone of business cards, wine labels, menus, or anything I want to have searchable on-the-run.

What I don't like is snark for snark's sake. If you are going to make fun of me, at least be witty while doing it.

At its core, I don't view Facebook as a social network. I think it could become the driver's license of the Internet. And beyond that, it can become the pipes and the plumbing upon what most of the Internet is built. I think it's very well positioned.

I didn't even like white wine. Then I tasted it and bought a case. It was the first case of any wine I'd ever bought.

Work is an activity that is financially-driven or one that you'd like to do less of.

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.

If you take a strong stance and have a clear opinion or statement on any subject online, you're going to polarize people. And without that polarity, there's no discussion. Discussion is what I want, which means that I'm fine with the consequences.

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.

I work hard, but in spurts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Reality is negotiable.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

I'm prepared to do battle for a dream that is worth dreaming.

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

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

You are who you associate with.

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

I do not equate productivity to happiness. For most people, happiness in life is a massive amount of achievement plus a massive amount of appreciation. And you need both of those things.

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

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

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.

There are no statues erected to critics.

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.

Age doesn't matter. An open mind does.

People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

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.

The blind quest for cash is a fool's errand.

People frequently fail when they try to do everything at once. They approach a massive project and quickly get discouraged. Taking small, but high-value steps takes less time, and you learn more in the long run.

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.

Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses.

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.

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.

Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up

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

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

The most important actions are never comfortable.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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