As Missoula Counselors, we’re always looking for ways to tap into the beginner’s mind. Starting from scratch and simply studying the art of learning is a great way to overcome life’s many physical, emotional, and spiritual obstacles. With this said, let’s look at some more sections in one of our favorite books: “Tribe of Mentors” by Tim Ferriss.

Tim Ferriss has a great section on Gary Vaynerchuk and Josh Waitzkin in this book that studies great minds.  And it’s amazing.

Josh Waitzkin

Josh Waitzkin tells Tim Ferriss that “life is fucking beautiful”.

Josh was the basis for the book and movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer”. He also wrote the book “the Art of Learning”.

Considered a chess prodigy, he has incredible learning strategies that can be used for anything – including his other loves of Brazilian Jujitsu (he’s a black belt under phenom Marcelo Garcia) and Tai Chi push hands (he’s a world champion). These days, he spends his time coaching the world’s top athletes and investors amongst their pursuits like paddle surfing.

Tim asked Josh: What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are books that have greatly influenced your life? 

“On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, Josh replied.

He also said the “Tao Te Ching, Gia-Fu Feng (Jee-uh)” and make it the Jane English translation: “Inspired my study of softness and receptivity as a counterpoint to my mad passions.”

“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. And Ernest Hemingway “On Writing”: which he says is “The most potent little book of wisdom on the creative process that I have run into.”

What purchase of $ 100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?, Tim asks.

Josh replied: Stay Covered Big Wave SUP leash ($36). “It doesn’t break, which I have been immensely grateful for in some hairy paddle surfing moments way offshore.”

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say? “Life is fucking beautiful.”

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love? “I love rain, storms, inclement conditions, chaos with hidden harmonies. Is that absurd?”

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”?

“Do what you love, do it in a way that you love, and pour your heart and soul into every moment of it. Do not be subject to inertia. Challenge your assumptions and the assumptions of those around you as a way of life. Notice how you are unconsciously fighting to maintain your conceptual scheme even as it mires you in quicksand and immense pain. Harness the body to train the mind. Advice they should ignore: Follow the beaten path. Avoid risk. Play it safe. Wear a suit.”

And I love this one:

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? “I change my physiology. If I am near waves, I go surf them. If not, a short, intense kettlebell workout, a bike ride, a swim, a cold shower or ice plunge, Wim Hof or heart rate variability breathing.  It’s remarkable how the mind follows the body.”

Wim Hof! Make sure to check out my many blogs on Wim!

Now let’s take a look at Gary.

Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia.  Gary is also currently the subject of DailyVee, an online documentary series highlighting what it’s like to be a CEO and public figure in today’s digital world of Youtube-ville.

Tim asks Gary: What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”?

Upon which Gary replied: “Macro patience, micro speed.  They should not care about the next eight years, but they should stress the next eight days. At a macro, I think everybody’s super impatient. I think I’m unbelievably patient in years and decades, and unbelievably sporadic and hyper every minute on a day-to-day basis. I genuinely think everybody’s the reverse. Everybody’s making decisions about, like, ‘What am I going to do at 25? I better do that. . . .’ In years, they’re impatient and making dumb decisions, and then in days, they’re watching fucking Netflix. They’re super worried about 25 when they’re 22, yet they’re drinking every Thursday night at 7 P.M. They’re playing Madden. They’re fucking watching House of Cards. They’re spending four and a half hours on their Instagram feed every single day. This is super important. Everybody’s impatient at a macro, and just so patient at a micro, wasting your days worrying about years. I’m not worried about my years, because I’m squeezing the fuck out of my seconds, let alone my days. It’s going to work out.”

TIM: In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? 

“Everything,” Gary says. “One of the great issues for anybody who starts gaining success is they become crippled by opportunity, and the no’s becoming imperatively important versus the yeses. On the flip side, as Tyler or any of my other assistants will tell you, I still need a healthy balance of 20 percent yeses to things that seem dumb, because I believe in serendipity, and that’s an important balance that people struggle with. I do believe that most people reading this either go too far into one or the other extreme. They become super disciplined and say no to everything, and they think that’s the right use of time, or they’re just saying yes to everything and giving it no thought, no strategy. I want to be closer to the no’s and be good at that, and really value my time. However, I do think that there’s a nice healthy balance of doing things on spec that aren’t obvious ROI on intuition, because one of those things in that 20 percent usually makes the entire investment worth it.”

I like this section.  Tim asks Gary:

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

“I pretend that my family has died in a horrific accident. Honestly, that’s what I do. It’s probably weirder than a lot of people’s answers in this book, but it’s absolutely what drives me. I go to a very dark place, really feel it, feel that pain in my heart, and then realize no matter what I’m dealing with right now, that it’s not even in the same universe of something like that. Then I become grateful for losing that client, missing that opportunity, getting made fun of, etc.”

That’s really beautiful.  Talk about stopping the world – Robinson Crusoe when he was on the island would do some of the same things – thinking about how it could be worse.  And my mom would say that to me, “Well you aren’t in (name the country that is having a war right now).”  Or my mom would say “You’re too concerned with germs. Some people they eat right off the floor.”  “So you think I should do that, Mom?”  Apparently there’s a lot of bacteria in soil, in dirt. There’s a book called “Dirt” isn’t there?  Are there actually people who eat dirt? Anyway.

Side note: My favorite Gary quote: “Document, don’t create.”

Make sure to check out Tim Ferriss’s book: “Tribe of Mentors” – for many more great ideas – available on Amazon.