LEADERSHIP LIBRARY

IN BRIEF

This book is really a compilation of highlights from interviews Tim Ferriss has done—as such, there’s no overarching theme. That said, it is an interesting read and can be fodder for new ideas and approaches to help one be successful. 

Quotables

Arnold Schwarzenegger: 

“How can I carve myself out a niche that only I have?” (p. 180)

Derek Sivers: 

“Every time people contact me, they say, ‘Look, I know you must be incredibly busy…’ and I always think, ‘No, I’m not.’ Because I’m in control of my time. I’m on top of it.” (p. 189)

“I believe you shouldn’t start a business unless people are asking you to.” (p. 191)

Reid Hoffman: 

“I have come to learn that part of the business strategy is to solve the simplest, easiest, and most valuable problem.” (p. 230)

Peter Thiel: 

“So if you’re planning to do something with your life, if you have a 10-year plan of how to get there, you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 months?” (p. 233)

Seth Godin, on testing new ideas: 

“…tell ten people, show ten people, share it with ten people; ten people who already trust you and already like you. If they don’t tell anybody else, it’s not that good and you should start over. If they do tell other people, you’re on your way.” (p. 240)

Scott Adams:

 “…if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one specific thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. …The second strategy is fairly easy.” (p. 269)

Chase Jarvis: 

“Amplify your strengths rather than fix your weaknesses.” (p. 283)

Chris Young: 

“I distinctly remember him [his dad] saying not to worry about what I was going to do because the job I was going to do hadn’t even been invented yet….The interesting jobs are the ones that you make up.” (pp. 319-20)

Peter Diamandis: 

“First of all, when you’re going 10% bigger, you’re competing against everybody. Everybody’s trying to go 10% bigger. When you’re trying to go 10 times bigger, you’re there by yourself…. The second thing is, when you are trying to go 10 times bigger, you have to start with a clean sheet of paper, and you approach the problem completely differently…. The third thing is when you try to go 10 times bigger versus 10% bigger, it’s typically not 100 times harder, but the reward is 100 times more.” (p. 374)

Jocko Willink: 

“I’m up and getting after it by 4:45. I like to have that psychological win over the enemy. For me, when I wake up in the morning—and I don’t know why—I’m thinking about the enemy and what they’re doing. I know I’m not on active duty anymore, but it’s still in my head: that there’s a guy in a cave somewhere, he’s rocking back and forth, and he’s got a machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other. He’s waiting for me, and we’re going to meet. When I wake up in the morning, I’m thinking to myself: What can I do to be ready for that moment, which is coming? That propels me out of bed.” (p. 415)

General Stanley McChrystal: 

“…sometimes a plan can end up being a string of miracles, and that’s not a real solid plan.” (p. 436)

Bryan Callen: 

“There are three things you can’t really face: one is fighting, the second is sex, and the third is comedy. It doesn’t matter who your publicist is or how famous you are, man—if you don’t bring the money, it gets quiet in that room fast.” (p. 484)

Eric Weinstein:

“General fame is overrated. You want to be famous to 2,000 to 3,000 people you handpick.” (p. 524)