Here at Sunflower Counseling, we love great ideas that can improve our lives. With this said, here are 5 great ideas from “Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss – let’s do a countdown:
#5
Terry Crews, former NFL player, actor and writer told Tim that his favorite book is “The Master Key System” by Charles F. Haanel.
He said: “I have read hundreds of personal development books, but this is the one that clearly showed me how to visualize, contemplate, and focus on what it was I truly wanted. It revealed to me that we only get what we desire most, and to apply myself with a laser-like focus upon a goal, task, or project. That in order to ‘have’ you must ‘do’, and in order to ‘do’ you must ‘be’ – and this process is immediate. Although it takes time for these desires to manifest in our material world, you must see the thing you desire as completed, finished, and real, now. The better you can do this, the more you can accomplish. I have bought several copies of this book and distributed it to family and friends. I also reread it probably once a month to keep my vision clear.”
#4
Tim then asked him: “If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?”
Upon which he responded: “God will not have his work made manifest by cowards.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
He then says, “I love this quote because it is all about defeating fear. Every great and extraordinary accomplishment in this world was done through courage. Hell, you don’t even get to be born unless your mother has the courage to have you. I repeat this phrase when I’m anxious or nervous about something. I ask myself, what’s the worst that can happen. Usually, the answer is, ‘You can die.’ Then I answer back, ‘I’d rather die doing something I feel is great and amazing rather than be safe and comfortable living a life I hate.’
#3
I would like engrain this quote on my wall: “Ignore any advice that tells you you are going to miss something. Every mistake I have ever made in business, marriage, and personal conduct was because I thought if I didn’t do or get this now, it was never going to happen. It’s like most clubs in L.A. The trick is to keep the line long at the door, while the club itself is empty. The ‘aura of exclusivity’ is really code for ‘bad atmosphere’. To do what you desire to do, you have all you need.”
#2
DEBBIE MILLMAN has been called “one of the most influential designers working today” by Graphic Design USA. She is also the founder and host of Design Matters, the world’s first and longest-running podcast.
I love her response to Tim’s favorite question. Is it tim’s favorite question? Tim asked her:
“If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?”
She responded: “My billboard would say this: ‘Busy is a decision.'”
She then continued: “Here’s why: Of the many, many excuses people use to rationalize why they can’t do something, the excuse ‘I am too busy’ is not only the most inauthentic, it is also the laziest. I don’t believe in ‘too busy.’ Like I said, busy is a decision. We do the things we want to do, period. If we say we are too busy, it is shorthand for ‘not important enough.’ It means you would rather be doing something else that you consider more important. That ‘thing’ could be sleep, it could be sex, or it could be watching Game of Thrones. If we use busy as an excuse for not doing something what we are really, really saying is that it’s not a priority. Simply put: You don’t find the time to do something; you make the time to do things. We are now living in a society that sees busy as a badge. It has become cultural cachet to use the excuse ‘I am too busy,’ as a reason for not doing anything we don’t feel like doing. The problem is this: if you let yourself off the hook for not doing something for any reason, you won’t ever do it. If you want to do something, you can’t let being busy stand in the way, even if you are busy. Make the time to do the things you want to do and then do them.”
So go make that series for Netflix. What are you waiting for?
#1
What’s one of the best investments you have ever made Tim asked her? And she said “psychotherapy”.
You guys I totally agree with this. This is something we don’t talk about. But every psychotherapy experience I have had has been like a trip to Dagobah and it’s like I just visited Yoda or some wizard from Lord of the Rings.
Put it this way – decades ago, before therapy, I was driving around like some artist for hours every night wasting time and escaping into some existential dread.
And now look – I’m making blogs!
Bonus: NAVAL RAVIKANT is the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. And he’s an active angel investor in more than 100 companies.
The gift he’s given most often as a gift is TOTAL FREEDOM by Jiddu Krishnamurti because this is the “spiritual” book that he keeps returning to. He also loves everything by Matt Ridley. “Genome”, “The Red Queen”, “The Origins of Virtue”, “The Rational Optimist”—they’re all great, he says.
Tim asked him: How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
Upon which he responded: Suffering is a moment of clarity, when you can no longer deny the truth of a situation and are forced into uncomfortable change.
I think of all the terrible times I have had in my life – and we just had a baby. And it’s amazing. And not to get too weird but if that one person didn’t dump me way back then, and if I didn’t lose that job way back then – then I wouldn’t be here having this exact baby. Because of the butterfly effect!
All of my failures have led me to this moment. For this exact child to be born, I had to do the good and the bad! The algorithm for their life depended on me making the mistakes in my life that I did! And if I had bought another house or moved somewhere else – anything could have thrown off the timing and I wouldn’t have the best thing in my life!
So I often think about this and how it gets me by through the dark times.
Check out this “Tribe of Mentors” book! I like to put it on Audible and just listen to it as I’m going to bed sometimes.