After two years of I’ve finally caught up to the latest Tim Ferriss show podcast Favorite Books, Supplements, Simple Technologies, and More and ordered Tony Robbins’s book, Money, Master The Game.

Now, the reason for this is that I recently heard another good podcast on Freakonomics, The Stupidest Thing You Can Do With Your Money and I looked up what my Kiwisaver scheme is and I’m looking for a passive rather than indexed fund and a lot less in fees. I also need to know how the money systems work before I get actively involved. Otherwise in the words of Tim Ferriss in his podcast The 5 Things I Did To Become a Better Investor , I’ll get my face ripped off.

How all this came about goes back to 2015 while listening to a Glenn Beck Radio Show where he mentioned being on the Tim Ferriss show. I didn’t think much about this but subscribed to the Tim Ferriss show on iTunes and kept listening to my usual selection, noting that there was a lot of episodes banking up.

One day with nothing else to listened to, I tapped on the interview Tim Ferriss did with Glenn Beck. It was very good, so the next step while picking apricots in January 2015, was the famous Jamie Foxx episode. That got me hooked and picking slowed down.

I heard a couple more episodes during which Tim refers back to previous interviews. I decided to go all the way back to the first show and listen to the lot, so I could put things in context and see how good they all were. At that time there was only about 150 of them and some are two hours long so catching up was going to take a while. The trouble, if that is the right word, is that the Tim Ferriss show comes out at least once a week. I’ve had to listen to at least two a week to make a dent in the pile!

Just as an aside, Steven Dubner from Freakonmics has appeared on the Tim Ferriss Show and Tim Ferriss has appeard on Freakonomics so it is good to see how they reciprocate to grow each other’s audiences, not that either need to do that in this case.

For me podcasts are like listening to cricket commentary on the radio: Something done while doing something mundane. I can’t read anything and listen to the podcast at the same time which removes a big chunk of podcast time during the week. Walking on the other hand is fine, as is housework (particularly ironing), gardening, mowing the lawn. Driving is a good listening time too, I’m 15 minutes from work at most so there is half an hour a day.

The Tim Ferris Show is fabulous however, information without action is pretty pointless so here is a few things I’ve done and didn’t think I would do this past year or so:

Routine – I get up earlier, 5:30am to get things done without distractions and when I’m at my best.

Meditation – I use Headspace to take time out and not think (minimum 10 minutes per morning).

Five Minute Journal – Getting things down in short for at the start of the day on how I feel, what I’m grateful for and what I’m going to do. Another few minutes at the end of the day on how things went.

Diet – Probably the biggest single change I’ve made. The Slow Carb Diet from the Four Hour Body and not a moment too soon. This area also links to routine as I don’t have to even think about what I’m going to eat, it is the same six days a week.

Exercise – Invested in a 16kg kettle bell to try and get stronger. I hate exercise but it’s got to be done and kettle bell swings help with waking up.

Testing items of the Four Hour Work Week with Indulgescents, my wife’s idea, which is going really well.

Fearing Less – Giving more things a go if they feel like a “hell yes” experience. Using “Fear Setting” now and then to put things into perspective.

Tim Ferriss interviews famous people and some of the most interesting people most have never heard of. This was particularly noticeable when Peter Theil starting popping up in the news here in New Zealand due to how he gained citizenship, though I think it was actually more to do with support for President Trump. When people started asking who Peter Theil is, I already knew as I’d heard him being interviewed already and others talking about him on the Tim Ferriss show. The same thing happened recently with Jacko Willink regarding North Korea. By the way, Willink’s Ted Talk is excellent.

I think Cal Fussman on his interview with Larry King summed up Tim Ferriss’s audience best as, and I’m paraphrasing: “people that want to make their lives better”. Take some time to listen to the podcast and find out for yourself. Meanwhile, I see there is another episode waiting and more things to learn. Thanks to Tim and the folks interviewed for all the great information and stories.

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