Counselors in Missoula are always looking for ways in which we can improve our lives. Even the silly ones. With this said, let’s look at today’s blog, which is from “Tools of Titans” by Tim Ferris.
14 more great ideas from the book:
#1 Author Seth Godin says he learned from chef Chris Schlesinger that when you’re cooking you should taste the food as you go. I started doing this and it’s made cooking so much more fun! But you gotta sneak the food. Don’t get caught. He didn’t say that part.
#2 Seth also says that “the way to teach your kids to solve interesting problems is to give them interesting problems to solve. And then, don’t criticize them when they fail.”
He spends a lot of time with kids and listening to what they have to say and whether they have something to say. I also like to keep “stations” around the house. A drawing station. A piano station. A toy station.
#3 James Altucher (all-tuh-cher) author of The Power of No, recommends the habit of writing down 10 ideas each morning to develop your “idea muscle”. And if you can’t come up with 10? Come up with 20! Perfectionism is the enemy of the idea muscle he says. This works especially great when you’re trying to come up with a name for something. Then come back in a month or 3.
#4 “Losers have goals. Winners have systems.” –Scott Adams. I think about this a lot. That’s why we have in schools – “oh I gotta meet this deadline.”
Or like the guys in South Park they have to have a video out by next week! Beethoven would be composing right as they were still going on!
I would actually get a lot of reading done in my youth by forcing myself to take the bus to my job. That’s a solid hour a day … !
#5 Affirmations! Scott Adams says you should pick a goal and write it down 15 times a day in some specific form, like, ‘I, Scott Adams, will become an astronaut’ for example. And then you do that every day!
He says this will make it seem as if the universe just starts spitting up opportunities and that it may look like there are coincidences, and then he says “whether or not they are is less relevant than the fact that they seem to pop up.” I’m going to try to try this.
#6 Dan Carlin at Hardcore History, what a great podcast, says “Don’t be afraid to do something you’re not qualified to do.” That is a mantra to live by!
This reminds me of the last blog we did where it said “If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn’t plan your mission properly.”
#7 If you have a podcast or a Youtube channel or a blog shoot for 1,000 fans. There are 1,000 people on the planet that you resonate with. So Tim says instead of trying for platinum best seller heights and hits and celebrity status you can aim for direction connection with 1,000 fans. On your way, no matter how many fans you actually succeed in gaining, you’ll be surrounded not by faddish infatuation, but by genuine and true appreciation. It’s kind of like building a family might I add.
#8 Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, says you should start with “suck”. And their films to begin with, suck. The final film bears no relationship to what they started off with. In others words, the first version always sucks. You should probably write a giant note so you don’t forget.
#9 Daymond John at Shark Tank says “5 days a week, I read my goals before I go to sleep and when I wake up. There are 10 goals around health, family, business, etc. with expiration dates, and I update them every 6 months.”
Some people even make vision boards and put them on their ceiling or by their beds so they can see where they are going.
#10 You should invest in the best router you can get because this is going to save you time in the long run says Noah Kagan, the #30 employee at Facebook. He currently uses the ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless-AC2400 dual band gigabit router. Tim adds that Kevin Rose and others use Eero technology to improve WiFi throughout their homes. Noah says he turns off his Wi-Fi when he has blocked out time for creating things or writing.
#11 Nutribullet. Noah likes this better than the Vitamix. I got one.
It’s pretty good. Especially if you’re on the run. No cleaning. You got the cup right there. With that said I notice that I use the Vitamix the most.
#12 Neil Strauss recommends the Freedom app. It’ll lock you off the internet for as many minutes as you specify so you don’t get caught in the clickbait hole.
I’m getting this. I’ll actually turn off my monitors if I need to focus.
#13 Health is number one, says Tim Ferris. This means if he sleeps poorly and has an early morning meeting, he’ll cancel the meeting last-minute and catch up on sleep. He does this 100% of the time. So if it’s his best friend’s birthday, he’s not staying up late unless he can sleep in. I agree I’m not going to go and get wasted and ruin my weekend because that’s going to ruin the next few days.
If I have a meeting and I didn’t get enough sleep I will usually cancel that meeting.
#14. Kerry Heffelfinger says you should make mix tapes for people on Spotify. There is hardly a better gift to give someone that to send them than to say, “Songs for Jen.” Bring back the mixtape! Spotify should make a special function called “Mixtape” where you get to write the songs in blue ink and it looks like a cassette. If you take my idea please split the money with me. Oh Kerry is not in the book. He is the writer of today’s blog.