Quotes from Timothy Ferriss

Busy is a decision." 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.

Seeing progress in changing numbers makes the repetitive fascinating and creates a positive feedback loop. Once again, the act of measuring is often more important than what you measure. To quote the industrial statistician George Box: "Every model is wrong, but some are useful.

I eventually learned to cook by focusing on two principles. Both of them apply to all learning and will be your constant companions throughout this book: failure points and the margin of safety.

Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

sometimes having no experience is a huge advantage. Age doesn't matter; an open mind does.

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. —BENJAMIN DISRAELI, former British Prime Minister

Sometimes, you think you have to figure out your life's purpose, but you really just need some macadamia nuts and a cold fucking shower.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days." –Annie Dillard

True Films On TrueFilms.com, Kevin has reviewed the best documentaries he's seen over decades. The counterpart book series, True Films 3.0, contains the 200 documentaries he feels you should see before you die, and it is available as a PDF on kk.org. Three docs we both love are The King of Kong, Man on Wire, and A State of Mind.

Losing makes you think in ways victories can't. You begin asking questions instead of feeling like you have the answers. Questions open up the doors to so many possibilities.

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 [see Adam Robinson, for a description]. It's remarkable how the mind follows the body.

Too much, too many, and too often of what you want becomes what you don't want.

Lose an hour in the morning, chase it all day."—a Yiddish saying, author unknown

Time is wasted because there is so much time available.

Out of clutter, find simplicity. —Albert Einstein

Ravikant, Naval: "'Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want' (paraphrased

The worst that could happen wasn't crashing and burning, it was accepting terminal boredom as a tolerable status quo.

Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them. —BILL COSBY

Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate. —DAVE BARRY, Pulitzer

The genuine love for reading itself, when cultivated, is a superpower. We live in the age of Alexandria, when every book and every piece of knowledge ever written down is a fingertip away. The means of learning are abundant—it's the desire to learn that's scarce. Cultivate that desire by reading what you want, not what you're "supposed to.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. —PABLO PICASSO

Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness.

REMEMBER: it is impossible to evaluate, or even understand, anything that you cannot measure." 80

The great majority of that which gives you angst never happens, so you must evict it. Don't let it live rent-free in your brain.