{"id":10652,"date":"2025-05-08T16:36:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T20:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/what-might-this-look-like-if-it-were-easy-a-conversation-at-harvard-business-school\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:36:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T20:36:23","slug":"what-might-this-look-like-if-it-were-easy-a-conversation-at-harvard-business-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/what-might-this-look-like-if-it-were-easy-a-conversation-at-harvard-business-school\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;What might this look like if it were easy?&#8221; \u2014 A Conversation at Harvard Business School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Harvard\u00a0Business School (HBS) reached out last year to create a case study on my entrepreneurial journey, which tracks me from childhood to the current day. The case study, titled \u201c<strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/store.hbr.org\/product\/tim-ferriss-what-might-this-look-like-if-it-were-easy\/825091\">Tim Ferriss: What Might This Look Like If It Were Easy?<\/a><\/strong>\u201d is roughly 40 pages, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/store.hbr.org\/product\/tim-ferriss-what-might-this-look-like-if-it-were-easy\/825091\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">you can buy it for $11.95 here<\/a>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t earn a penny. The whole experience culminated in two classes at HBS in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/reza-satchu_an-exciting-past-week-harvard-business-school-activity-7269383582966595585-jYD-\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Professor Satchu\u2019s \u201cFounder Mindset\u201d course<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-l29a35813\">Following one of the classes, student <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jay-bhandari-profile\/\">Jay Bhandari<\/a> interviewed me for the \u201cBetween Two Classes\u201d series at <em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harbus.org\/\">The Harbus<\/a><\/em>, a publication by Harvard Business School students, who kindly gave permission to share it with you here. <\/p>\n<p>I hope you find something below useful.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:cover\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/aeff35_5293c467da3740cb89daec0b9027a78a~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_700%2Ch_466%2Cal_c%2Cq_80%2Cusm_0.66_1.00_0.01%2Cenc_avif%2Cquality_auto\/aeff35_5293c467da3740cb89daec0b9027a78a~mv2.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/aeff35_5293c467da3740cb89daec0b9027a78a~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_700%2Ch_466%2Cal_c%2Cq_80%2Cusm_0.66_1.00_0.01%2Cenc_avif%2Cquality_auto\/aeff35_5293c467da3740cb89daec0b9027a78a~mv2.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:cover\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p id=\"viewer-ceem99523\"><strong>In a Q&amp;A with your fans, you talked about the value of identity diversification. This approach is antithetical to advice we often get to commit and focus on a domain. How do you reconcile those two competing philosophies?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-fjkc65824\">I think they complement each other rather than compete. Identity diversification simply means cultivating multiple, independent areas of growth in your life where you can chart progress. This is engineered so that your self-worth isn\u2019t entirely dependent on one thing, such as the regular ups and downs of your own startup. Being overinvested gets a lot of media play and X threads, but there\u2019s a nasty survivorship bias at work. I\u2019ve seen dozens of founders implode because their \u201cstartup as self-worth\u201d metrics went sideways for a few months. I prefer an approach with more margin of safety, and it\u2019s entirely compatible with domain mastery. For instance, you could very well spend 40 to 80 hours per week on your startup, but if you supplement that with indoor rock climbing, weight training, chess club, or something else that has its own metrics for growth, even if new regulations or a competitor tank your startup for a short stretch, you can still offset the blow with progress outside of the office. It\u2019s cheap psychological insurance. I think of identity diversification as a huge competitive advantage in games that depend on endurance. At the highest levels, that\u2019s pretty much everything. If Michael Jordan could afford to play copious amounts of golf and poker, you can afford to have side interests.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-fjkc65824\"><strong>Is there anything about your life you wish you had focused on sooner? If you could spend time with 28-year-old you, what would you tell him?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-f1zco5831\">To my younger self: meditate twice daily\u201410 minutes is plenty\u2014and get\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UO7IgQ_x-Qg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>accelerated TMS<\/u><\/a>\u00a0as soon as it\u2019s ready for showtime. See my other answers for elaboration. I\u2019d probably also share an embroidered quote I\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DGyZj8sPe9J\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>bought at a thrift shop<\/u><\/a>\u00a0in Marfa, Texas: \u201cToday is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-f1zco5831\"><strong>What do you think young ambitious people are over- and under-indexed on?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think HBS students are over-indexed on buying the implicit investment banking and management consulting pitch of something like \u201cget broad exposure to industries and then you can pick your lane and do anything!\u201d If you\u2019re non-technical and stay in either of those for more than a few years, the odds of you leaving to start your own startup (outside of finance or consulting) is roughly the same as the likelihood of a five- to 10-year entrepreneur joining investment banking or consulting. In other words, low. I\u2019ve seen this play out 100+ times. Sure, there are some exceptions, but I wouldn\u2019t bet on being one of them unless you\u2019ve committed to an exit plan before you enter those games. And if you want to be an edge case, find and study at least five to 10 edge cases you could emulate before you accept the job. If you can\u2019t find them, that tells you something.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:cover\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/aeff35_00bfd2b580154ece9102fc39958b19df~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_700%2Ch_466%2Cal_c%2Cq_80%2Cusm_0.66_1.00_0.01%2Cenc_avif%2Cquality_auto\/aeff35_00bfd2b580154ece9102fc39958b19df~mv2.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/aeff35_00bfd2b580154ece9102fc39958b19df~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_700%2Ch_466%2Cal_c%2Cq_80%2Cusm_0.66_1.00_0.01%2Cenc_avif%2Cquality_auto\/aeff35_00bfd2b580154ece9102fc39958b19df~mv2.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:cover\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p id=\"viewer-cynfb10473\"><strong>Many in the HBS, Type-A crowd are no stranger to stress, anxiety, and depression. What are tips, mantras, and systems you\u2019ve developed for managing your mental health when you\u2019re actively in a dark place?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-ock4d5847\">To be clear, I\u2019m not a doctor and don\u2019t play one on the internet. The \u201cactively in a dark place\u201d makes this a very dicey question. That said, having spent some time in dark places, especially in college, I\u2019ll share a few things that I\u2019ve seen work. Please do your own homework and speak with your medical professionals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-ock4d5847\">For acute suicidal ideation, I would call the 988 helpline first and potentially consider a series of ketamine infusions\/injections per the protocols suggested by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1igJRZlqy70\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>John Krystal, MD<\/u><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at Yale University. Ketamine can be very addictive, and I\u2019ve seen people unravel their lives with it, but in dangerous self-harm circumstances, it can be a life-saving intervention. It effectively pauses the incessant thought loops driving the desperation. For more of my thoughts on suicide, including my description of a close brush in 1999, read\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2015\/05\/06\/how-to-commit-suicide\/#content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>tim.blog\/suicide<\/u>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-ock4d5847\">If we\u2019re talking about general prevention and self-care, I would highly suggest daily cold exposure (e.g., I do 3\u20135 minutes in a 40\u201345\u00b0 F bath daily) and short meditation sessions 2x\/daily (e.g.,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Transcendental Meditation<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for 20 minutes twice a day or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewayapp.com\/tim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>The Way App with Henry Shukman<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for two 10-minute sessions). I typically meditate immediately upon waking and then again before dinner or bed. This is less than 30 minutes a day. Do your pre-hab, and you\u2019ll need less rehab.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-ock4d5847\">If you have a history of trauma, see\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2020\/09\/14\/how-to-heal-trauma\/#content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>tim.blog\/trauma<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for a list of resources that I and designer Debbie Millman have found effective. Trigger warning: it\u2019s not a fun read, but it might be helpful for some. Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-ock4d5847\">For treatment-resistant depression, I would consider accelerated TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), \u00e0 la the SAINT protocol co-developed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UO7IgQ_x-Qg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Dr. Nolan Williams<\/u><\/a>\u00a0at Stanford University.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brainsway.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>BrainsWay<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/magventure.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>MagVenture<\/u><\/a>\u00a0both make compelling devices with different approaches. I firmly believe TMS and other forms of brain stimulation can have near-immediate and durable effects that rival the effects of psychedelics in outcomes. I say that as someone who\u2019s funded a lot of the science related to psychedelics since 2015 through my non-profit,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/saiseifoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Saisei Foundation<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-kum025879\">Once legal, and assuming you have no family history of schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, psychosis, etc., I might suggest investigating various psychedelic-assisted therapies for depression (e.g., psilocybin) on a once-annual cadence, but there are more known risks than with brain stimulation like TMS. For instance, and I\u2019ve seen this firsthand, combining ayahuasca and SSRIs\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/9924842\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>increases the risk<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of serotonin syndrome, which can be life-threatening in severe cases. Regard any of these compounds with the same respect you would treat major neurosurgery. For more education on the science, applications, and possible mechanisms of action, I suggest the research of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2023\/04\/19\/gul-dolen\/#content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Dr. G\u00fcl Dolen<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UO7IgQ_x-Qg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Dr. Nolan Williams<\/u><\/a>, as well as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/80229847\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>the Netflix miniseries<\/u><\/a>\u00a0based on Michael Pollan\u2019s book of the same name,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence\/dp\/0735224153\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em><u>How to Change Your Mind<\/u><\/em><\/a>. The MDMA and psilocybin\/mushroom episodes are particularly strong.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-kum025879\">Last but not least, don\u2019t ignore diet. Read up on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JVl1X0fb1uA?si=OjN615RyNSdXmpAO&amp;t=1498\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>metabolic psychiatry<\/u><\/a>\u201d and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JVl1X0fb1uA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Dr. Chris Palmer<\/u><\/a>, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Ketosis and other interventions can produce nearly miraculous results for a number of psychiatric conditions, including those that are strongly contraindicated with psychedelics, like schizophrenia.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-5kr1h5902\"><strong>If you were starting over today in 2025 and were in your late twenties, what would you be doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-der6r5905\">I would be looking for fast-growing industries that are unsexy and under the radar, and I\u2019d aim to join a startup of fewer than 100 people, where I\u2019d be able to watch deal-makers making deals and making decisions. In contrast, if you\u2019re trying to create an AI startup like everyone else, it\u2019s going to be a crabs in a bucket scenario for 99% of the people involved. Sure, you might be the super crab 1%, but I generally prefer less crowded spaces, where you can typically get more regular interaction with the A+ players.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-jvnpc5909\"><strong>Let\u2019s take luck out of the picture. What skills, habits, mantras, or areas of personal growth would you most attribute your success to?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-hdr7a5911\">Playing the long game and not being in a rush. I choose projects and a lot of investments based on the learning, skill development, and relationships that will transcend them. If you allow such things to snowball over time, eventually the critical mass makes success almost inevitable. This might sound hand-wavy, but you can approach it systematically. Go to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2010\/06\/28\/mba\/#content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>tim.blog\/mba<\/u><\/a>\u00a0or Google \u201cTim Ferriss real-world MBA\u201d for some angel-investing examples of how I\u2019ve applied this. This isn\u2019t the only approach I\u2019ve seen work for \u201csuccess\u201d (dangerous word, that!), but it seems replicable.<\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-x0eli5919\"><strong>If you could put a message on a billboard that reaches HBS students, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"viewer-foymg5922\">I would borrow from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2016\/04\/14\/bj-miller\/#content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>Dr. BJ Miller<\/u><\/a>, a hospice physician who\u2019s helped thousands of people to navigate death, whose answer was \u201cDon\u2019t believe everything that you think.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p id=\"viewer-foymg5922\"><strong><em>Reprinted with permission from The Harbus News Corporation. All rights reserved.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/podcast\"><strong>The Tim Ferriss Show<\/strong><\/a> <\/em><span>is one <\/span>of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for &#8220;Best of Apple Podcasts&#8221; three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it&#8217;s been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/podcast\">this page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard\u00a0Business School (HBS) reached out last year to create a case study on my entrepreneurial journey, which tracks me from childhood to the current day. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}