Top 100 Tim Ferriss Quotes
#1. I'm not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.
Tim Ferriss
#2. I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.
Tim Ferriss
#3. One can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion.
Tim Ferriss
#4. Compile your to-do list for tomorrow no later than this evening.
Tim Ferriss
#5. Being called a huckster and a charlatan started several years ago, so that's something I'm accustomed to. In most cases, it doesn't bother me.
Tim Ferriss
#7. Just a few words on time management: forget all about it.
Tim Ferriss
#8. The way that you become world-class is ... by asking good questions.
Tim Ferriss
#9. Changing the world doesn't require much money. Again, think in terms of empowerment and not charity. How much were Gandhi's teachers paid? How much did it cost to give Dr. Martin Luther King the books that catalyzed his mind and actions?
Tim Ferriss
#10. Personally, I now aim for one month of overseas relocation or high-intensity learning (tango, fighting, whatever) for every two months of work projects.
Tim Ferriss
#11. Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small.
Tim Ferriss
#12. With a decrease in the number of pirates, there has been an increase in global warming over the same period. Therefore, global warming is caused by a lack of pirates. Even more compelling: Somalia has the highest number of Pirates AND the lowest Carbon emissions of any country. Coincidence?
Tim Ferriss
#14. $1,000,000 in the bank isn't the fantasy. The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows.
Tim Ferriss
#15. Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you're still living the consequences of bad decisions made 5, 10, 20 years ago shouldn't stop you from making good decisions now. If you let pride stop you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from now for the same reasons.
Tim Ferriss
#16. The best entrepreneurs I've ever met are all good communicators. It's perhaps one of the very few unifying factors.
Tim Ferriss
#17. The only rules and limits are those we set for ourselves
Tim Ferriss
#18. Three ingredients of luxury lifestyle design are time, income, and mobility.
Tim Ferriss
#19. Writing is thought crystalized on a piece of paper, which can then be reviewed.
Tim Ferriss
#20. If you take a strong stance and have a clear opinion or statement on any subject online, you're going to polarize people. And without that polarity, there's no discussion. Discussion is what I want, which means that I'm fine with the consequences.
Tim Ferriss
#21. To have an uncommon lifestyle, you need to develop the uncommon habit of making decisions, both for yourself and for others.
Tim Ferriss
#22. I've seen the promised land, and there is good news. You can have it all.
Tim Ferriss
#23. Creating demand is hard. Filling demand is easier. Don't create a product, then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market - define your customers - then find or develop a product for them.
Tim Ferriss
#24. It isn't enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
Tim Ferriss
#25. Being selective-doing less-is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.
Tim Ferriss
#26. Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.
Tim Ferriss
#27. Pacifists become militants. Freedom fighters become tyrants. Blessings become curses. Help becomes hindrance. More becomes less.
Tim Ferriss
#28. Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers. Keep calm and carry on!
Tim Ferriss
#29. The goal is not to simply eliminate the bad, which does nothing more than leave you with a vacuum, but to pursue and experience the best in the world.
Tim Ferriss
#30. Personal branding is about managing your name - even if you don't own a business - in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records. Going on a date? Chances are that your "blind" date has Googled your name. Going to a job interview? Ditto.
Tim Ferriss
#31. The key to having more time is doing less, and there are two paths to get there, both of which should be used together: (1) Define a short to-do list and (2) define a not-to-do list.
Tim Ferriss
#32. Most people can do absolutely awe-inspiring things. Sometimes they just need a little nudge.
Tim Ferriss
#33. Companies that start by redesigning the economics of an industry often finish by redesigning the whole industry-and owning it.
Tim Ferriss
#34. Awareness, even at a subconscious level, beats fancy checklists without it, track or you will fail.
Tim Ferriss
#35. People who avoid all criticism fail. It's destructive criticism we need to avoid, not criticism in all forms.
Tim Ferriss
#36. I think time management as a label encourages people to view each 24-hour period as a slot in which they should pack as much as possible.
Tim Ferriss
#37. Just because something has been a lot of work or consumed a lot of time doesn't make it productive or worthwhile.
Tim Ferriss
#38. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?
Tim Ferriss
#39. You and your friends could plan the trip of a lifetime in 6-18 months to visit the completed school, teeming with dozens or hundreds of students who greet you with smiles and thank you letters. You'll know it's your school because your names will be on the door.
Tim Ferriss
#40. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up
Tim Ferriss
#41. It's not enough to have the right answers. You have to have the right questions.
Tim Ferriss
#42. If you don't have time, the truth is, you don't have priorities. Think harder; don't work harder.
Tim Ferriss
#43. I encourage active skepticism - when people are being skeptical because they're trying to identify the best course of action. They're trying to identify the next step for themselves or other people.
Tim Ferriss
#44. What do you want?' is too imprecise to produce a meaningful and actionable answer.
Tim Ferriss
#45. Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.
Tim Ferriss
#46. Information is useless if it is not applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a chance to apply it.
Tim Ferriss
#47. Reality is negotiable. Outside of science and law, all rules can be bent or broken, and it doesn't require being unethical.
Tim Ferriss
#48. Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress - stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.
Tim Ferriss
#49. I have plenty of money to do what I want to do, and I have the relationships.
Tim Ferriss
#50. Massive elimination is the most important step and the most neglected step for entrepreneurs.
Tim Ferriss
#51. The commonsense rules of the "real world" are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions.
Tim Ferriss
#53. By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable. It's the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too.
Tim Ferriss
#54. Language learning deserves special mention. It is, bar none, the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking.
Tim Ferriss
#55. The downstream effects are unknown. Do your best and hope for the best. If you're improving the world-however you define that-consider your job well done.
Tim Ferriss
#56. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.
Tim Ferriss
#57. Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W's you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the freedom multiplier.
Tim Ferriss
#58. Every time I find myself stressed out, it's because I do things primarily driven by growth.
Tim Ferriss
#59. If we define risk as 'the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,' inaction is the greatest risk of all.
Tim Ferriss
#60. The problem with New Year's resolutions - and resolutions to 'get in better shape' in general, which are very amorphous - is that people try to adopt too many behavioral changes at once. It doesn't work. I don't care if you're a world-class CEO - you'll quit.
Tim Ferriss
#61. Are you better off than you were one year ago, one month ago, or one week ago? If not, things will not improve by themselves.
Tim Ferriss
#62. Luxury is feeling unrushed. It is designing a life that allows you to do what you want with high leverage, with many options, all while feeling unrushed.
Tim Ferriss
#63. Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and has become ambiguous through overuse.
Tim Ferriss
#64. There are two components that are fundamental to enjoy life and feel good about yourself: continual learning and service.
Tim Ferriss
#65. Everyone is going to binge on a diet, for instance, so plan for it, schedule it, and contain the damage.
Tim Ferriss
#66. Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all.
Tim Ferriss
#67. Fun things happen when you earn dollars, live on pesos, and compensate in rupees.
Tim Ferriss
#69. Be bold and don't worry about what people think. They don't do it that often anyway.
Tim Ferriss
#70. There is always more information than attention
Tim Ferriss
#71. The first thing I would do for anyone who's trying to lose body fat, for instance, would be to remove foods from the house that he or she would consume during lapses of self-control.
Tim Ferriss
#72. Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.
Tim Ferriss
#73. Most inputs are useless and time is wasted in proportion to the amount that is available.
Tim Ferriss
#74. There are tons of things in your home and life that you don't use, need, or even particularly want. They just came into your life as impulsive flotsam and jetsam and never found a good exit. Whether you're aware of it or not, this clutter creates indecision and distractions ...
Tim Ferriss
#75. To do the impossible, you need to ignore the popular.
Tim Ferriss
#76. I'm prepared to do battle for a dream that is worth dreaming.
Tim Ferriss
#77. But if it's tolerable mediocrity, and you're like, 'Well, you know it could be worse. At least I'm getting paid.' Then you wind up in a job that is slowly killing your soul and you're allowing that to happen. Comfort can be a very, very dangerous thing.
Tim Ferriss
#78. Most people are good at a handful of things and utterly miserable at most.
Tim Ferriss
#79. If you see distraction externally, you end up creating an internally distracted state.
Tim Ferriss
#80. There are certain things I will automate, but when it comes to quality control, I want to keep a very close eye.
Tim Ferriss
#81. You think you're fatigued, therefore you can't exercise. In fact, you choose not to move, therefore you feel fatigued.
Tim Ferriss
#82. Just as modern man consumes both too many calories and calories of no nutritional value, information workers eat data both in excess and from the wrong sources.
Tim Ferriss
#83. Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane. Plan accordingly.
Tim Ferriss
#84. What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it.
Tim Ferriss
#85. Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.
Tim Ferriss
#87. Nothing can match the wonderment that comes from staring up into the star-filled canopy above and realizing that you are a part of that creation.
Tim Ferriss
#88. In excess, most endeavors and possessions take on the characteristics of their opposite.
Tim Ferriss
#89. Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses.
Tim Ferriss
#90. Learn to ask, If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?
Tim Ferriss
#91. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect.
Tim Ferriss
#92. Sometimes you need to go on a low-information diet.
Tim Ferriss
#93. The best results I have had in my life; the most enjoyable times, have all come from asking the simple question: 'What is the worst that could happen?'
Tim Ferriss
#94. Remember - boredom is the enemy, not some abstract failure.
Tim Ferriss
#95. Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.
Tim Ferriss
#96. Never check email first thing in the morning. Instead, complete your most important task before 11:00 A.M. to avoid using lunch or reading email as a postponement excuse.
Tim Ferriss
#97. I discourage passive skepticism, which is the armchair variety where people sit back and criticize without ever subjecting their theories or themselves to real field testing.
Tim Ferriss
#98. Everything that works in sales has been done already. Just keep track of the crap that you buy, or the awesome stuff that you buy, and decide what was the trigger, and then just sell to people like you. It's really that easy - and that's what I do.
Tim Ferriss
#99. Becoming a member of the NR is not just about working smarter. It's about building a system to replace yourself.
Tim Ferriss
#100. That's precisely the question everyone should be asking-why the hell not? - Why not you, why not now ...
Tim Ferriss
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