Podcast: Tim Ferris on Super Learning and Pushing the Limits
Tim Ferris is an American author best known for his book, The 4-Hour Workweek – the hustle bible for many aspired entrepreneurs. Tim is recognized for many things: his award-winning podcast, his many speaking engagements, and his Tim.blog. But, arguably, he’s best known for is his concept of the book ‘The 4-Hour Workweek.’
In this Impact Theory episode with Tom Bilyeu, Tim shares many of the lessons and strategies he’s learned over the years from his world-class guests and countless self-experimentation.
Tim Ferris: Outcompete Anyone by Pushing Your Limits & The Ability To Suffer
Tim starts with what he considers his superpower – the ability to suffer. He tells about his willingness to suffer and how he can outcompete anyone. Tim also says there’s excitement in finding out what people’s reactions would be if an impossible task is overcome and how his ability to suffer plays into difficult situations. He shares his story about how he wasn’t able to learn swimming until the age of 30 and relates this to another swimmer’s story, and why it’s never too late to be a learner of anything.
Tim also shares his experience in technical sales, and the things he did to increase his sales. He calls this a stress test and how it’s important to act on your assumptions to see results. This was part of the beginnings of his methods to work smarter, and working towards your goals. He also stresses the importance of achieving long-term goals, and why it’s not so bad to see it half-done in the journey towards accomplishing them.
He discusses how entrepreneurs can make use of radical approaches to solve a problem. He cites Uber’s success as an example and gives opinions on why their business strategy was brilliant. In addition to radical approaches, he makes use of the red team-blue team tactics in the military, with more emphasis on red-teaming, or an aggressive approach towards existing problems.
Tim also talks about creativity and starting with low expectations. He also shares his writing advice and how consistency can achieve great things in the long run. He explains how writer’s block doesn’t exist and its source. Tim and Tom exchange examples of low expectations and high results, and how the two components are essentially a risky gamble, but Tim further explains how this can be possible.
He discusses how creativity can also come from a reassessment of weakness, or “copywriting your faults”. He gives an example of a writer being able to make his weakness his distinctive style and voice. Tim shares a lot more about methods from different people, and how these can be effective.
