15 Takeaways from The Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris


The Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris has something for everyone. I skipped the health section and read the wealthy and wise sections. They were excellent. If you have not followed his podcast this would be a real eye opener. However like me if you have listened to some of the podcasts it is great to have all the information in one place. This is not an easy book to review but I have just jotted down few of the things I learned. Here they are.
  1. Push yourself harder than you thought possible. Push towards fear and handle it. This advice is from Stanley Allen McChrystal the retired Army General.
  2. Affirmations have them today and this advice is from Scott Adams. The main point is having affirmations that work for your situation. Today is going to be a great day is a wonderful affirmation to start the day with. Also have systems instead of goals. I also liked his advice where he says most of us are not going to be good in one specific thing. For example most of us will not get into the MBA. However we can be in the top 25% in 2 or 3 skills. For example if you are a great programmer and you also have good public speaking skills then you will enjoy greater success.
  3. This advice is from Seth Godin. Dance with fear and you should generate enough bad ideas to come up with good ones. We are great in tracking all the things that are not working in our lives however we should keep track of all the things that work. Become a meaningful specific instead of a wandering generality. Read his books Linchpin and Icarus Deception. I enjoyed both of those books.
  4. This advice is from Brene Brown. Be brave when you are in the arena be prepared to kick ass and lean into discomfort. Read her books Daring Greatly and Rising Strong which are wonderful.
  5.  Engage in long term thinking. This advice is from Derek Sivers. He has some great ones like who is the third successful person that comes to mind instead of the first person. Define success on your own terms.
  6. This is from Peter Diamandis. What is the one big thing you are going to solve? If I give you 10 billion dollars what would you do to make the world better? This is indeed a great question.
  7. What one truth do you know that everyone disagrees with? This is from Peter Thiel. Read his book Zero to One wonderful take on the world. He also suggests that if you have a goal for 10 years why you can’t achieve in 6 months.
  8. If you can’t generate 10 ideas generate 20. This is from James Altucher.
  9. Set a vision of what you want to achieve and go for it. This is from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He achieved everything by first creating a compelling vision of his victory.
  10. What is on the other side of fear? There is usually nothing. This advice is from Jamie Foxx. BTW listen to this podcast as well wonderful.
  11. What’s the big deal if it works great if not I still have a family to fall back on. This great sage advice is from Shawn White who was an Olympian and two time gold medalist. I think this is a wonderful way to scale down expectations.
  12. Get up at 4:45 as discipline is freedom. To become tougher act tougher. This is from Jocko Willink and read the book Extreme Ownership it is amazing. I do get up at 4:56 am on weekdays and it does give a great mental edge. He also said if you want toughness then be tough.
  13. Some great advice from Tim Ferris interspersed between interviews. Every day write your three things that are of concern. Out of this select which is most important and work only on that first without distraction. Then take the next one and so on. Be prepared for the worst should it happen and you can win better. Also once you have defined the worst possible outcome take action to make sure it doesn't happen. This is stoicism in action.
  14. I plan time for empty space where I don’t do anything where there is no social media. This is from Josh Waitzkin.
  15. Naval Ravikant says you have three options for anything in your life. You can decide to accept it, you can decide to change it or you can decide to leave it. The only thing you should not do is inaction. Also we are all here for a very short time in our lives there is no point in being unhappy during our short stay in the world. His line for the billboard is "Desire is a contract you make to be unhappy until you get what you want." This just means if we have too many conditions for happiness we are never going to be happy.
As you can see this is a rich buffet of ideas from all the masters across fields. Don’t be distracted by the size of the book. Just read the ones that appeal to you. I am surely going to keep coming back to this. I hope you enjoyed the review. The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization..

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