{"id":13836,"date":"2026-10-04T01:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T05:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-how-to-simplify-your-life-tips-from-oliver-burkeman-chip-conley-elizabeth-gilbert-and-more-885\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T01:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T05:27:59","slug":"the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-how-to-simplify-your-life-tips-from-oliver-burkeman-chip-conley-elizabeth-gilbert-and-more-885","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/the-tim-ferriss-show-transcripts-how-to-simplify-your-life-tips-from-oliver-burkeman-chip-conley-elizabeth-gilbert-and-more-885\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: How to Simplify Your Life \u2014 Tips from Oliver Burkeman, Chip Conley, Elizabeth Gilbert, and More (#885)"},"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 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please enjoy this transcript of <a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2026\/10\/01\/how-to-simplify-your-life-4\/\">a special compilation episode<\/a> on how to simplify your life. It features wisdom and advice from Chip Conley, Greg McKeown, David Allen, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Oliver Burkeman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2026\/10\/01\/how-to-simplify-your-life-4\/\">More about this episode<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2026\/10\/01\/how-to-simplify-your-life-4\/#:~:text=All%20episodes-,Show%20Notes,-Connect%20with%20Chip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Books, people, tools, and resources mentioned in the interview<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/2026\/10\/03\/how-to-simplify-your-life-4-transcript\/#how-to-simplify-your-life-4-legal-conditions\">Legal conditions\/copyright information<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"podcast-player\">\n<div class=\"podcast-player-inner-wrap\">\n<p>How to Simplify Your Life \u2014 Tips from Oliver Burkeman, Chip Conley, Elizabeth Gilbert, and More<\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.art19.com\/shows\/58dacbdc-646e-4585-9914-19c3de11d1ba\/episodes\/3f4a3a80-d25a-4f6f-b5f6-fe67aad2a607\/embed?type=micro\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 30px; border: 0 none;\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional podcast platforms<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Listen to this episode on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/885-how-to-simplify-your-life-tips-from-oliver-burkeman\/id863897795?i=1000792667782\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/6VxRwuHc7GWT5XwfEhOSbb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/+AAKebvBqeYU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overcast<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcastaddict.com\/podcast\/2031148#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Podcast Addict<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pca.st\/timferriss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pocket Casts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/castbox.fm\/channel\/id1059468?country=us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Castbox<\/a>,\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/music.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLuu6fDad2eJyWPm9dQfuorm2uuYHBZDCB\">YouTube Music<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/9814f3cc-1dc5-4003-b816-44a8eb6bf666\/the-tim-ferriss-show\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amazon Music<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/podcast\/The-Tim-Ferriss-Show\/B08K58QX5W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Audible<\/a>, or on your favorite podcast platform.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes running 2+ hours, it can be difficult to catch minor errors.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>CHIP CONLEY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hi, I\u2019m Chip Conley, the founder and executive chair of MEA, and also formerly the modern elder of Airbnb and the founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre, the second largest boutique hotel company in the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tim asked me to talk about simplifying life. My God, I don\u2019t know why he would ask me because I tend to complicate my life, but I can say that I\u2019ve had two experiences in my life where my health forced me to simplify my life. And then I could\u2014I learned some new tools and practices. So let me, let me give a little storytelling. When I was in my late 40s, I had this boutique hotel company, Joie de Vivre, which means joy of life, that I\u2019d started in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultimately, we had 52 hotels around California. We were the second largest boutique hotelier in the US. But in my late 40s, my life was really complicated. We were going through the dot-com bust and 9\/11, and then we were going through the Great Recession, and I didn\u2019t want to be doing this anymore. And I ended up having an NDE, a near-death experience. And NDE happened because I had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I was giving a speech on stage in St. Louis and I went flatline. And I ended up in the hospital for three days because they were trying to figure out what went wrong. Yeah, why did I go flatline nine times over 90 minutes? Bottom line was that experience woke me up. The hotelier needed a wake-up call. And the wake-up call was this. I had started that company because I wanted creativity and freedom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But with 3,500 employees and going through our second once-in-a-lifetime downturn in the same decade, I realized that the identity that I was attached to\u2014being the founder and CEO and the VIP status I had\u2014it was less important to me than my health. And while it wasn\u2019t\u2014I didn\u2019t have a heart attack. It was an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. It might as well have been a heart attack because I was living my life that was a very complicated life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so I decided to do something that I call mindful decoupling. Mindful decoupling. This is not unconscious or conscious uncoupling. This is not a Gwyneth Paltrow thing. Mindful decoupling means I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m supposed to do next, but I know I\u2019m not supposed to do this anymore. I don\u2019t know what my next identity is going to be, but I know that the identity that I have been so reliant upon, the VIP status, and now I may be a PIP, a previously important person. I know that that is what I need to move toward. I need to move toward this fertile ground, this chrysalis space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You know, between caterpillar and butterfly, there is a chrysalis. In the chrysalis, the transformation happens. And what I learned by selling my company at the bottom of the Great Recession, by actually changing a lot of my habits and even changing friendships and ending a romantic relationship that wasn\u2019t working anymore, but I wasn\u2019t willing to leave it because I felt like it was my life preserver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was holding on to it at a difficult time. I made space in my life. And what I wanted to say is if you are a talented person, create space in your life, especially in midlife. I have become sort of an expert on midlife. And midlife is where we actually have to let go of who we\u2019ve been in order to allow something else to emerge. But in the meantime, in between, the decoupling that has to happen is you have to be willing to let go of the identity and the roles in order for something new to emerge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I spent two years from age 50 to 52 in what I would call, or Mary Catherine Bateson, Margaret Mead\u2019s daughter, would call the midlife atrium. So what we know about an atrium is that an atrium is a very simple space. An atrium has light and air and all kinds of beauty that allows you to see what\u2019s going to actually emerge from that space. During\u2014between age [unclear], I spent a lot of time in a hammock in my backyard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I did a lot of reading. I got really curious. Curious\u2014curiosity is not something you do when you\u2019re really busy. So I got curious about hot springs. So I went around the world exploring hot springs and learning about the geothermal properties of hot springs. I got interested in emotions because when I was struggling through my emotions in my late 40s, I didn\u2019t feel like I was emotionally fluent. And ultimately I wrote a book called Emotional Equations, which became a New York Times bestseller.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the thing that was the most fun was I decided I wanted to go around the world and become the world\u2019s leading expert on festivals. I was the first board member of Burning Man. Who knew Burning Man had a board? But the six founders of Burning Man came to me and said, \u201cChip, we\u2019re going to take our non\u2014our for-profit and turn it into a nonprofit. We want you to be part of the board.\u201d So I spent two years, you know, going around the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I went to 36 festivals in 16 countries just in one year. I brought Tim, Tim Ferriss, to my 50th birthday party at Burning Man. And I learned an awful lot about the cultural curiosity that happens in festivals around the world. And then at age 52, in the midst of all that, I got asked by the three founders of Airbnb, a company nobody had heard of, but was also based in San Francisco like I was, to join them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so I created this space, I simplified my life. I went out and had fun. I got curious. And out of that fertile ground, that good soil, came this Airbnb opportunity, which was quite beautiful. I loved it. And I spent seven and a half years there helping the founders of Airbnb turn that little tech startup into the world\u2019s most valuable hospitality company. So that\u2019s one experience about simplifying life. And from that simplified life, something beautiful grew.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The more recent experience that I\u2019m going to talk about, I talked with Tim about it in 2019 when I was on his show. Tim surprised me. He showed up in Austin and we were going to have lunch before we did the show. And I was talking about the fact that I had found out I had cancer, prostate cancer. At that point, it was stage one. And we talked a lot about it on the show. So over the course of the last seven years, since that time, seven and a half years, my cancer\u2019s moved from stage one to stage two to stage three.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I have learned that I\u2019ve done what I\u2019ve always done. I\u2019ve made my life more complicated, but it\u2019s not so much just being complicated. It\u2019s like I have such a sense of calling in what I\u2019m doing that I take on a lot. And when I have the sense\u2014I\u2019m now at stage three with my cancer\u2014I have this thing called holy urgency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I call it holy urgency. The sense like I have a calling and I\u2019m supposed to pursue it because I don\u2019t know how much time I have left. But it actually makes me a little bit manic. And the thing I\u2019m learning right now is, how do I turn manic into magic? It\u2019s just changing one letter to go from manic to magic. And so the kinds of things I\u2019m doing to simplify my life, to try to actually be more magical in my approach to my calling: Number one is I do a Sunday sabbatical as much as I can.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I try to take Sundays off. And I try to do that, and I try to actually not look at my\u2014I go offline for the day. And I do that partly because it\u2019s great for my nervous system. It\u2019s great for my creativity. It gives me time to meditate for an extended time. It gives me time to take long walks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m also doing something this coming February that I\u2019m really excited about. I call it the month I died. You know, I think one of the things that\u2019s really interesting about our lives is we do a very poor job of telling people how much we love them while they\u2019re living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the funeral, we do the eulogies, but we don\u2019t do that while we\u2019re living. And so I call this the social eulogy. So in February, I\u2019m going to take the whole month off. Sabbatical, but I\u2019m gonna do it in a sort of a radical kind of way. I\u2019m gonna actually do the following. I\u2019m gonna act\u2014I\u2019m gonna wake up one day, the first day of February, and say, \u201cWho am I?\u201d And my real name, you know, on my passport is Steve, and chip off the old block from Steve Jr. I am gonna be Steve for the month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have nothing on my calendar. I\u2019m not gonna use my phone. I\u2019m gonna have a burner phone. I am gonna simplify my life by not checking email for the whole month. I am going to just almost disappear. But what I\u2019m going to do before I actually take this month off, that month off where no one will know where I am except for a couple of friends in case there\u2019s an emergency\u2014is, and I have no idea where I\u2019m going to be, by the way. I\u2019m going to wake up and just say, like, \u201cWhere do I want to be?\u201d But what I\u2019m going to do is I\u2019m going to do these social eulogies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m going to simplify my social life down to having three social eulogies. One in San Francisco, I have a lot of friends. One in Santa Fe, where MEA, the Modern Elder Academy, has a campus and I have a lot of friends. And the last one in Baja, where MEA also has another campus, where I have groups of friends. And with small groups of friends, we\u2019re gonna actually come together, have a dinner, and we\u2019re gonna give the eulogy for each other that we would give if we were to die tomorrow. Because when you have stage three cancer, and I don\u2019t know how much longer I\u2019m gonna live, I wanna hear that while I\u2019m still living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because one of the things that\u2019s beautiful about the experience I had when I was 47 years old and I had my flatline experience is what I experienced was I saw birds. During my time in that liminal space between life and death, I was in this 40-foot tall ceilinged living room and I had the capacity and ability to fly. And there were all these small birds in there and I could talk bird talk and they could talk to me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so they were saying to me, \u201cSlow down. You can\u2019t see beauty [unclear] awe unless you slow down.\u201d So my life today in terms of simplifying my life is learning how to fuse or alchemize slowing down with holy urgency. Slowing down because often when I slow down, I have my best ideas. I have my best conversations. I feel a sense of spaciousness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I do love my Sundays. I love my silent retreats that I do, often with MEA at one of our MEA campuses. Um, but I also have that holy urgency, that sense of purpose, that sense that what I\u2019m supposed to do in my\u2014with my life, I\u2019m doing, and I feel very passionately about it. Um, so my biggest, uh, lesson in life right now is, how do you alchemize two things that sound opposites?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slow down, holy urgency. And most importantly, I think what\u2019s true of many people as they get closer to death\u2014and Laura Carstensen at Stanford has proven this at the Stanford Center on Longevity\u2014is the less perceived time you have left in your life, the more you focus on what\u2019s important. You don\u2019t focus on the future or the past, you focus on the present moment. And in focusing on the present moment, you often are happier. So how could you go out and focus on the present moment? How could you go out and get curious and create the space for something to emerge? I hope this was helpful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simplifying is something that is really bounded in wisdom. MEA is the world\u2019s first midlife wisdom school dedicated to helping people in midlife get wiser. And the difference between knowledge and wisdom is knowledge is something you accumulate, you add. Wisdom is something you distill, you simplify. It\u2019s like the difference between a plus sign and a division sign and the square root of something. So simplification is what wisdom is all about. Thanks so much, Tim, for letting me share this and wishing you all the best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>GREG MCKEOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> I write very long-winded books and I\u2019ve done them over a long period of time. So every once in a while, I get quoted and I feel lost. So if that happens, let me know. I have everything in front of me. Could you talk about the Endowment Effect and how you turn around questions people might ask themselves about certain things, whether that is something they own or an opportunity that gets presented to them? I think this is really important.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Greg McKeown:<\/strong> Well, let\u2019s use a metaphor to get to the Endowment Effect. Our closet is a pretty good metaphor for the problem and what to do about it. So for a lot of people listening, even, as you say, they don\u2019t feel incredibly successful financially, incredibly successful in all the things in their life. Right. They probably still have more things in their closet than they actually can use usefully. It\u2019s a bit cluttered. Maybe it\u2019s a lot more than a bit cluttered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I talked to somebody not too long ago and they said, \u201cOh, Greg, my closet \u2013 you\u2019ve identified the pain point.\u201d They said, \u201cI have my closet organized by decade.\u201d So they had organized it. I said, \u201cYou don\u2019t have a closet, you have a museum.\u201d They have the \u201870s and the \u201880s. She\u2019s not using any of these things. She just has them. That\u2019s an organized version of the problem, which is we just have so much stuff. Now that is true in the physical stuff. It\u2019s literally true in the closet. But in the closet of our lives, it is equally true.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now just staying with this metaphor for a moment, almost everybody has had a moment where they said, \u201cI\u2019ve had enough. I\u2019m going to organize my closet.\u201d They begin the process and they take an item off the shelf, off the floor, and they say, \u201cIt\u2019s time to just get rid of this item.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the moment of picking it up and reflecting on it, as if to give it away, something mysterious, almost magical seems to happen to many of us, which is that in that moment, we think, \u201cI\u2019m not sure I want to get rid of it. I can use it some time in the future. So-and-so give it to me.\u201d Something somehow in the act of giving it away, it\u2019s harder to give it away than it was before we picked it up to give it away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what\u2019s going on? It turns out there\u2019s a heuristic, a brain heuristic pre-disposition that we have to all physical objects in our life and also all of the opportunities that we have in our life too. It is this \u2013 we value things more because we have them. That\u2019s a good thing in certain situations. That\u2019s why essentially owning a home is generally a good thing. People look after the home better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It explains the phenomenon of why nobody in the history of the whole world has washed their own rental car. It\u2019s a positive phenomenon until and unless we over-value something that we really ought not to have in the closet at all. It ought to go. It is actually not useful to us. It\u2019s not valuable to us, but we are overvaluing it and therefore keeping it. So it\u2019s over-valuing because we own it or it\u2019s endowed to us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So in our life, that is an incredibly real problem. I\u2019ll give you an illustration. It\u2019s not in the book but it\u2019s something that happened to me that really hit a chord. It happened when I was staring at myself in the mirror dressed from head to toe in a stormtrooper outfit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Where all good epiphanies start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Greg McKeown:<\/strong> And I\u2019m looking at myself and I realize two things. I realize that I have been thinking of this moment in some small degree for 30 years. This is true. I\u2019m standing there staring. I\u2019m in the Halloween store. This is not a cheap suit that I\u2019m trying on. I remember that this goes back to like when I\u2019m 10 years old. Maybe <em>Return of the Jedi<\/em> had come out or one of the <em>Star Wars<\/em> movies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of my older brothers had said to me in passing but with quite a lot of enthusiasm, \u201cWouldn\u2019t it be a great to own a stormtrooper outfit just like from the movies, like the real thing?\u201d Somehow, that got lodged in me, \u201cThat\u2019s an idea. That\u2019s something you should pursue. That would be so cool. My older brother thinks so, so it must be so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Somehow in the back of my mind, there it lives unquestioned for 30 years. Finally, I\u2019m in the store thinking about whether to buy this. In that moment, I actually did have a eureka moment, which was: \u201cThere is no part of me that wants this. It\u2019s stayed with me, but my 40-year old self doesn\u2019t need this. This is ridiculous. Why are you in this suit right now?\u201d I was able to sort of separate myself from the moment. That\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m advocating here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m saying that for a lot of us, we have a lot of \u2013 it became a shortcut phrase. My wife will say it sometimes to me now: \u201cIs that a stormtrooper that you\u2019re pursuing? Is that a stormtrooper opportunity?\u201d You used to think this was the thing, but you\u2019re pursuing it because you caught on to it. You feel a sense of this Endowment Effect, this sense of, \u201cIt\u2019s my opportunity. It\u2019s my thing. It\u2019s my goal. It\u2019s not serving me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think a lot of people have a lot of stormtroopers in their life. So it\u2019s not about the closet. It\u2019s not about the stormtrooper outfit. It\u2019s about the stuff that really we need to get past and let go so that we can pursue the right things now, not just the things we are pursuing because at one time, we wanted to pursue them or one time, they came into our life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> And it seems like there are a number of ways to identify these, whether they\u2019re stormtroopers or items, opportunities that we are endowing with greater value because we have them. We either own them or are being presented with them, right? You can take let\u2019s just say that sweater from Aunt Mildred or whatever it is. Rather than asking, \u201cHow much do I value this item?\u201d You turn it around and ask, \u201cIf I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?\u201d That turnaround seems really important to me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or in the case of opportunities \u2013 and I\u2019m quoting directly from you here \u2013 \u201cHow will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?\u201d instead of that, \u201cIf I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?\u201d That strikes me as a very powerful reframe. I think it was Andy Grove at Intel who also used this. There are many other business examples, but, \u201cIf we were not already in this line of business, how much would we pay to pursue it or would we pursue it in the first place?\u201d as a way of pruning activities and conserving resources so they could be applied to the most important things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Greg McKeown:<\/strong> Yes. The idea is to trick your brain, putting it in the position where you don\u2019t own the thing, where you don\u2019t have the opportunity. You have to reflect on it fresh. You have to say, \u201cStarting now, do I want this thing now? How hard would I go after this now if I didn\u2019t own it, if I didn\u2019t have it.\u201d It helps us to evaluate things without this inflation of the fact that we own it, which is, of course, the Endowment Effect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DAVID ALLEN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> What are the first questions you ask, or exercises you do, when you sit down with high-functioning but, nonetheless, overwhelmed people, to work with them? What are some of the first things that you do with them?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>David Allen:<\/strong> Well, aside from establishing rapport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>David Allen:<\/strong> Which is, \u201cHi,\u201d and, \u201cWhy did you bring me in here? And what is your presenting issue, as best you can describe it?\u201d And, \u201cHere\u2019s a little bit about who I am and kind of what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d But ideally, and over the years, I discovered the less I tell people about what we\u2019re going to do, the better. You know, \u201cSurprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So if I just walked in cold, the tabula rasa here is, first thing I would do, Tim, with you, would be, \u201cLet\u2019s make sure you have an in-tray.\u201d A physical in-tray. We need some place to throw stuff until we can make decisions about what it means and what you\u2019re going to do about it. But we need to collect a bunch of stuff first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do first is get some sort of a material version of collection, or \u201ccapturing\u201d stuff that has people\u2019s attention. So we just get a big stack of printer paper, a favorite pen or pencil, sit them down and say, \u201cOkay. What\u2019s on your mind? What has your attention?\u201d \u201cOh, I need cat food. Oh, I need a life. Oh, I need a new vice president of marketing. Oh, our next vacation is coming up. Oh God, my cell phone just crapped out. The printer broke.\u201d Yada yada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And we literally start writing, they write, each one of those items that has their attention on a separate piece of paper, and they toss that into their in-tray. You\u2019d be surprised by, first of all, how many people don\u2019t have an in-tray. Or if they do have one, it\u2019s petrified because it\u2019s just been sitting there with crap in it for weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>David Allen:<\/strong> We need to have some sort of clear space to just collect all that stuff to begin with. That process, Tim, takes, usually, in my experience over all these years, for the mid- to senior level professional that we actually coach with this process, it takes one to six hours, just to capture what has their attention. Not to organize it. Not to prioritize it. Not to make decisions about it. Just to identify it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Yeah. It\u2019s so impressive and horrifying at the same time. And I was doing prep for this conversation, I found one paragraph that struck me as important that\u2019s related to this, I think, in some capacity. This is from an older piece in Wired, and it reads as the following.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>At his seminar, Allen asks the audience to try to capture all their stuff by writing a list, and at the end of a few minutes he tells us to look at the list and think about the way it makes us feel. He guesses that our feelings include a mixture of grief and relief. The relief, he suggests, comes from the simple fact of making the list. But where does the grief come from?<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this is the quote that really caught my attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cThese items represent agreements you haven\u2019t kept with yourself,\u201d Allen says. \u201cWhat happens when you break an agreement with yourself is that your self-esteem plummets.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Could you speak to this a bit? Because I would imagine a lot of folks would say, \u201cI feel guilt, perhaps, about all of the things I haven\u2019t done for myself or for other people.\u201d But this grief and agreements that you haven\u2019t kept with yourself struck me as important, and at least got my attention. Could you speak to that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>David Allen:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019m going to reverse engineer a little bit and come back to the fact that your breaking of the agreement is because you\u2019re keeping track of it in your head, and where you keep track of that has no sense of past or future. So that part of you, that little subliminal part of you, thinks you should be buying cat food 24 hours a day, or hiring a vice president 24 hours a day. That\u2019s why it wakes you up at 3:00 in the morning. \u201cOh, shit, cat food. What am I going to do?\u201d Because that thing has no sense of past or future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So because it doesn\u2019t, you can\u2019t do it all. You can\u2019t do more than one thing at a time. And so there\u2019s a part of you that thinks you should be doing all of that all the time. So talk about a ton of broken agreements. But you don\u2019t have to finish the thing to keep your agreement. You do need to get it out of your head.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See, agreements\u2014and this is one of the things I learned back in the old personal growth days. Agreements, there\u2019s an automatic price you pay when you break an agreement, is you disintegrate trust, either with other people or with yourself, or both. So if you don\u2019t want to have a broken agreement, you have three options. One is <em>don\u2019t make the agreement<\/em>, called \u201cNo, not going to do that.\u201d Move it to someday, maybe, or something. <em>Keep the agreement.<\/em> Go buy the cat food. Go hire the VP. Go finish the thing. Or, most importantly for most people, is <em>renegotiate the agreement<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If I made an appointment today, for instance, Tim, as people may hear ambient noise out there. There\u2019s construction going on. If that was too loud, I would probably have to try to renegotiate and reschedule this talk with you. And then I don\u2019t have a broken agreement if I don\u2019t do it, because we\u2019ve renegotiated it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you can only feel good about what you\u2019re not doing when you know what you\u2019re not doing. So most people have just made so many more agreements than they\u2019re aware of. So all we do in our coaching is get people aware of, \u201cWhat are all the agreements you\u2019ve made? What are all the would-, could-, should-, need-tos, ought-tos?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s one of the reasons people feel good when they make a list is they look at it and go, \u201cWell, gee, I can\u2019t do all this right now.\u201d No kidding, right? And so it comes back to externalizing stuff out of your head. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so critical to do that. And most people, I don\u2019t think have really understood or certainly managed themselves with an understanding of that dynamic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ELIZABETH GILBERT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> When you do say an integrity check, and I had read that when Rayya was sick, for instance, you began deleting or archiving emails without responding as a bit of a treat to yourself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> Deleting. Not archiving, deleting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Okay. Deleting, goodbye. When you say now, check in with yourself, and decide to say no to something\u2014let\u2019s just, to make it easier, make it concrete, via email, you get an invitation from a friend you do actually really like with something that could plausibly advance your career or be fun, but you check in with yourself and it\u2019s like, \u201cNope, this isn\u2019t a yes.\u201d How do you phrase your nos or declines? Do you have any particular go-to language that you\u2019d like to use?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> I just want to make sure everybody knows that this is not easy. I didn\u2019t want to have any illusions for anybody that this is simple. And the closer the relationship, the harder it is. The closer and more intimately I\u2019m involved with somebody, the more stakes there are for me and the harder it is for me to tell the truth. That feels like it should be\u2014there\u2019s a paradox, the people you love the most should be the people that you are able to be the most honest with. Well no, because they\u2019re the people who you want to hurt the least. Right? That\u2019s where it\u2019s really, really hard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a couple layers of it, right? So if it\u2019s somebody\u2014I now treat my inbox like it\u2019s my home because I think it\u2019s an extension of my home. So if somebody walks into my home uninvited and announces themselves and doesn\u2019t say how they got a key and asks for something, I delete that email. I will delete that email even if they are a producer for <em>Good Morning America<\/em>. You know, I\u2019m just like, \u201cI didn\u2019t invite you in. There are proper channels, you know what they are. I don\u2019t know how you got my personal email,\u201d and I just, I just delete it. If I feel a sense in my sternum of offense, of feeling like this person has taken a liberty, I don\u2019t believe that I owe them anything. I don\u2019t believe that I owe them anything any more than if I came down to my kitchen and saw people sitting at my table who I didn\u2019t know eating breakfast, I wouldn\u2019t believe that I owed them to make them a cup of coffee. I\u2019d be like, \u201cGet out of my house. You\u2019re not supposed to be here.\u201d I don\u2019t think I even owe them\u2014I don\u2019t even think I owe them a polite response. I owe them nothing. I didn\u2019t ask you to come into my house, I don\u2019t owe you anything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s the easiest. Those are the ones that are easy and I now treat myself to doing that. I mean, I do that every day. I clear my inbox out very quickly that way. Then I\u2019m entertained when they come back later and they\u2019re like, \u201cJust circling back,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah, just deleting you again.\u201d Circle back as many times do you want, you are not coming in. So that\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Just bumping this up because I know you\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> Yeah, I\u2019m just bumping you back\u2014it\u2019s like whack-a-moles. It\u2019s like, I can do this all day. Delete, delete, delete. If it\u2019s somebody who I care about, if it\u2019s something that I\u2019m interested in but I\u2019m just not going to do it because I don\u2019t want to, I will write back and say, \u201cThank you so much and I\u2019m really honored that you invited me to this, but I\u2019m not going to be able to do this at this time.\u201d And I don\u2019t feel the need to give a reason. I think a simple no is really, really good and sometimes the reason it\u2019s good not to give an explanation is that if that person is an expert manipulator, as many of us are, that explanation will not suffice. So it won\u2019t matter what you give as an explanation because they can come back and be like, \u201cWell we can do it by audio,\u201d you know? Or we can do, \u201cOh, well we can do it a different weekend.\u201d Just no.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I learned a lot about this from my teacher Byron Katie, who teaches an amazing thing called <em>The School for The Work<\/em>. That\u2019s a whole, she\u2019s a whole \u2018nother being who\u2019s not at all living by the rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> She\u2019s extraterrestrial, for sure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> She is extraterrestrial. She is the only fully enlightened human being I believe I have ever met. As such, she does not have any trouble saying an honest yes and an honest no to people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Just to underscore that, because I did an in-person training with her. I mean, literally no hesitation\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> No struggle, no conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> It\u2019s bizarre and just mesmerizing to watch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> And she loves you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Yeah. Yeah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> And she loves you. There\u2019s also no hostility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> No offense, no hostility\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> I remember seeing somebody come up to her, somebody came up to her at an event, handed her a book that they\u2019d written, which people do to me all the time too. So I really marveled at this and they said, \u201cI wrote this and I want to share it with you,\u201d and she said, \u201cOh, sweetheart, I\u2019m never going to read that.\u201d True. It\u2019s just true. \u201cI\u2019m never going to read that.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, my God, I didn\u2019t know you could say that.\u201d Right? It\u2019s so\u2014that\u2019s amazing and she said it so lovingly like, \u201cOh. Oh no, I have no interest in reading that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She teaches\u2014I don\u2019t know if you did, when you took her training, did you do where she teaches a simple no and she does training on how to give a simple no?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think we actually spent much time on that. So I would love to hear you say more. We worked on the emotional one-pages and the turnarounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> Yeah, the turnarounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> We did a lot on the turnarounds, which is probably, we could do a whole episode just on that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> Everybody look up Byron Katie, she\u2019s amazing. And if you have the means and if you have the chance to ever take her nine-day <em>School for The Work<\/em>, it\u2019s the most important thing I\u2019ve ever done for myself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Oh wow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> I say that quite simply. But she has a whole day in the nine-day <em>School for The Work,<\/em> which is about the simple no. The simple note is ways to say no. It always begins with, \u201cThank you,\u201d and there\u2019s never a \u201cBut,\u201d because she feels that the word but is very cruel. It\u2019s just an \u201cAnd.\u201d So it\u2019s \u201cThank you\u201d and \u201cNo.\u201d That\u2019s it, that\u2019s a simple no. Then if they come back, you can say\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tim Ferriss:<\/strong> Well, hold on, just to pause for a second. Is that literally the phrasing or is it just\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elizabeth Gilbert:<\/strong> Yes. \u201cThank you\u201d and \u201cNo.\u201d Yeah, that\u2019s it. That\u2019s it. It\u2019s a simple no. It still makes my stomach, because I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, my God, you can\u2019t just do that. You\u2019ve got to give, you\u2019ve got to like do the dance,\u201d and she\u2019s like, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do the dance.\u201d And she\u2019s the one who taught me, if the person is a good enough manipulator, it doesn\u2019t matter what you bring, they\u2019re going to manipulate it. Right? And the beautiful thing about a simple no is that it gives\u2014in the jiu jitsu game, it gives somebody no weapon that they can take and bring back at you. They can say you\u2019re being incredibly selfish and you can say, \u201cI hear that and you might be right about that.\u201d That\u2019s another one. She always says, \u201cYou might be right about that. You might be right about that.\u201d And no. And you just keep adding \u201cand no\u201d after the statement. So then there\u2019s, you know, but you know, \u201cI really\u2014I need you to do this. I\u2019m desperate,\u201d and you say, \u201cI see that, I see your desperation, and no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One other thing she\u2019ll add is you can say, \u201cIf I change my mind about this, I\u2019ll let you know. And no.\u201d That\u2019s been a game-changer for me. I just did one last week. Somebody who I have a professional relationship said, \u201cI want you to do this one-hour video interview to promote this thing that I\u2019m doing.\u201d Old Liz would have thought, \u201cI owe her that because she did this other thing for me that time.\u201d I checked in with my inner compass and I was like, \u201cNothing in me wants to do this.\u201d So I just wrote back to her, I said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry and I\u2019m not going to be able to do this at this time,\u201d and she wrote back and pushed in and said, \u201cOh, let me clarify. I wasn\u2019t clear about why we need it. We really need it because right now, it\u2019s really hard for us to sell things because we don\u2019t have, because of COVID-19 and it\u2019s just\u2014you know, that\u2019s why we need it.\u201d I wrote back and said, \u201cI hear you and I understand you and no.\u201d And it goes away. They don\u2019t tend to come back a third time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It really does just stop. And let it sit at the no. The more words you add after that, more entangled you get. But again, I want to make clear, it\u2019s hardest closest to home and it\u2019s hardest with family and. With family, I find if I anticipate that I\u2019m going to be asked something, I really have to practice. I really\u2014because it\u2019s scary and I have to really practice and be like, and just practice saying, \u201cI\u2019m not doing that right now. I\u2019m not coming this year. I\u2019m not doing it.\u201d And I\u2019ll say it a thousand times. I\u2019ll just go for a long walk and I\u2019ll just practice it and practice it and practice it. Because as I say, the closer the people are to you, the more difficult it is.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OLIVER BURKEMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hello, I\u2019m Oliver Burkeman. I\u2019m the author of books including Four Thousand Weeks and Meditations for Mortals and The Imperfectionist newsletter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, I have to answer this question about simplicity and simplifying my life, honestly, I think, and say that I have tried so many ways to simplify my life, only to discover that in subtle ways they\u2019ve actually had the opposite effect. So I\u2019m going to tell you what has truly simplified my life in a moment, but I want to get there by way of explaining what I think the downside is with quite a lot of simplification advice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s just that pretty much any system, as we all know, creates overheads to maintain. So it becomes all too easy for some supposedly pro-simplicity practice to make things more complicated. One random example I like: famously, Barack Obama only wore, I think, two shades of suit in order to reduce decision fatigue. He didn\u2019t have to worry about what range of suits he was going to choose from so that he could make more important decisions later in the day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I always loved this example, but of course Barack Obama was the president and he had a team of people to keep his wardrobe of suits in perfect condition. Whereas for me, for most of us, you know, maintaining a wardrobe full of clean iterations of a work uniform, making sure that I always had everything I needed in order to only make a small number of choices, that\u2019s actually going to be quite likely to add to my overheads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It might be a good idea for other reasons, but I\u2019m going to have to think about it, going to have to put in the upfront work to setting it up, and then a lot of maintenance work to make sure that it\u2019s always ready. And actually, for me, it\u2019s probably easier and simpler to just look inside my wardrobe and pick something that\u2019s\u2014that\u2019s there and that\u2019s clean and that basically works. There are some other systems I can think of that are equally kind of great in a way, but I do question if they make life simpler.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, for example, I try to nominate specific time boxes during the week for calls and doing podcasts and things in order to safeguard time for writing. This is often described as a way of simplifying your life, a decision filter. And it\u2019s true, it stops me having to think so much maybe about whether I can fit in another call outside of those predetermined boxes. But in fact, it actually makes for many more tough moments where I either have to tell someone no because I can\u2019t fit them in, or alternatively have that time where I\u2019m thinking, \u201cWell, [unclear] an exception? This guy\u2019s quite a big deal. I should probably alter my rules to make time for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it doesn\u2019t actually end up simplifying my life to try to impose this alleged simplicity on it. You know, I think about the image of the obsessive minimalist in interior design who lives in a sort of perfectly simple apartment, all clean lines and stark bare surfaces. So that might be your idea of beauty and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think I can really see the appeal. But it\u2019s not actually very simple in the psychological sense of reducing the thought and cogitation and stress that has to go into keeping it that way. It\u2019s actually pretty high maintenance, which, in the important sense here, I think is the opposite of simple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So to stop being so negative and say something practical and positive instead, I think what all this is leading up to\u2014and this is something that I\u2019ve really taken from Zen Buddhism especially\u2014is that I think true simplicity, the simplicity that actually practically helped me in life, is not a question of techniques; it is an attitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a kind of a relationship between me and my reality. It\u2019s the kind of relationship in which I\u2019m just not so attached and clinging to how things are in the external world in which I can pass through my days less bothered by whether things are one way or another. So, you know, for example, it\u2019s less about keeping a really minimalist home and more about not being made anxious because the home is a bit messy, not feeling that I can\u2019t get down to work or to something else important until I\u2019ve done every little bit of clearing up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s less a case of rigidly time-boxing my day in order to reduce interruptions, though again I think that can have a role, and maybe more about being able more fluidly to drop back into work and to focus after an interruption has happened. I\u2019ve seen this attitude described variously as entrusting everything to nature, entrusting everything to reality, letting go of the idea that reality needs me to help operate it, just sort of unclenching, withdrawing my claws from things and learning, as Krishnamurti put it rather wonderfully, to not mind what happens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don\u2019t think that means to be a doormat or a pushover or to be passive. Far from it, the opposite. I think it is to be able to say, okay, look, well, reality is as it is, and that\u2019s fine. I mean, it better be fine because it\u2019s the truth of the matter. And now I can just be okay with that situation and take action, vigorous, bold action on the things I really want to do. So that is, after many learning experiences, what simplicity has come to mean for me. I hope it\u2019s useful. Thanks.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h3 id=\"how-to-simplify-your-life-4-legal-conditions\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">DUE TO SOME HEADACHES IN THE PAST, PLEASE NOTE LEGAL CONDITIONS:<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Tim Ferriss owns the copyright in and to all content in and transcripts of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, with all rights reserved, as well as his right of publicity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>WHAT YOU\u2019RE WELCOME TO DO:<\/em>\u00a0<em>You are welcome to share the below transcript (up to 500 words but not more) in media articles (e.g.,\u00a0<\/em>The New York Times<em>,\u00a0<\/em>LA Times<em>,\u00a0<\/em>The Guardian<em>), on your personal website, in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., Medium), and\/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include attribution to \u201cThe Tim Ferriss Show\u201d and link back to the tim.blog\/podcast URL. For the sake of clarity, media outlets with advertising models are permitted to use excerpts from the transcript per the above.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>WHAT IS NOT ALLOWED:<\/em>\u00a0<em>No one is authorized to copy any portion of the podcast content or use Tim Ferriss\u2019 name, image or likeness for any commercial purpose or use, including without limitation inclusion in any books, e-books, book summaries or synopses, or on a commercial website or social media site (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) that offers or promotes your or another\u2019s products or services. For the sake of clarity, media outlets are permitted to use photos of Tim Ferriss from\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>the media room on tim.blog<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0or (obviously) license photos of Tim Ferriss from Getty Images, etc.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<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 \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please enjoy this transcript of a special compilation episode on how to simplify your life. It features wisdom and advice from Chip Conley, Greg McKeown, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13836","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\/13836","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=13836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}