I love exploring and try new things. Here: failing my Maid Cafe audition in Akihabara, Tokyo. (Photo: David West)
Never before have I appeared on the cover of The New York Times, and never before have I seen such an incredible response to a single announcement involving me. From the serious (WSJ, New York Observer, Reuters, Guardian UK, etc.) to the hilarious (Gawker’s piece), it’s been a whirlwind.
In this post, I’ll shed some light on my next project, which is a first on many levels.
To start with the obvious, I couldn’t be more excited: Amazon Publishing has acquired my next book, The 4-Hour Chef, to launch its New York-based imprint.
Looking forward — and I have every intention of making this the biggest thing I’ve ever done — if you would like to contribute to The 4-Hour Chef (experiments, guest sidebars, recipes, etc.), please let me know here… Read More
Banksy grafitti close to the Roundhouse, Camden Town, London (Photo: CanonSnapper)
Just two quick housekeeping items, then back to our regular programming — some fun content coming — next post.
First, how you can get your product or service in front of 200 influencers this week; second, an update on the overwhelmingly successful school campaign.
First
The “Opening the Kimono” event is fully booked, and — my goodness — what an audience it will be! Top bloggers, highest-followed Twitter users, authors of 20 or so New York Times bestsellers, the team that engineered virality for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, top executives from huge companies that are household names, and many more.
If you have a product or service you’d like to get in a gift bag for this 200-person group, please fill out this form ASAP. First responders get priority. Note that, if you’d like to do this, all physical products would need to be shipped to Napa, California to arrive no later than this Friday, August 19th… Read More
34. I’m turning a glorious 34 this year, right about now.
It’s going to be a great natal year–-I can already feel it. Perhaps it will be good luck for you, too: in this post, I’m giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world.
But back to that strange birthday gift…
Much to the chagrin of my momma-san, I’ve become quite difficult to buy presents for. Some friends even think I’m impossible to find presents for.
It’s not entirely true. I love handwritten letters, home-made brownies (like Fred Wilson), girlfriends dressed in next to nothing, and–-most of all-–when people do something nice for others.
In lieu of gifts this year, my birthday wish is to help the poorest kids in the world learn to read. I believe literacy, and the self-determinism it allows, is fundamental to solving the problems of this world. Want an alternative to extremist terrorist schools, to have fewer welfare states, or to prosper with better economies? Teach people to read and help themselves… Read More
Well, perhaps. But problems do crop up, even with the venerated Macintosh. Not long ago, I went to use Spotlight (cmd + spacebar) and, well, it looked a little off.
It displayed “Indexing Spotlight,” with an estimated finish time of several MILLION hours.
I’m no computer scientist, but that seemed like an abnormally long time. Alas, “ruh-roh” realizations alone do not diagnose problems, let alone fix them. Much of the world has felt the same at one point or another: “My [fill in the blank] is screwed, but I don’t even know where to start.” Cars? Computers? Health? We’re all ignorant of something, as mastering everything just isn’t an option.
So, I put a notice out on the Internets asking for help and learned a lot about Macs in the process. First and foremost: It need not be complicated to bulletproof (or unf*ck) your Mac.
But what if your Mac crashes or is stolen? Does that goddamn spinning beachball mean that my computer’s going to implode? Is there a simple way to sleep soundly at night?
My hope is that this post somehow helps you to do exactly that. It won’t be fancy, and it won’t impress the Carnegie Mellon CS crowd, but it will get the job done with minimal headache and paradox of choice. Here’s what I’ve learned so far… Read More
For previous episodes of The Random Show, click here.
Last but not least, The Random Show is now on iTunes! If you simply want audio-only, or if you’d like to watch the episodes on your iPhone or iPad, here you go:
Just a few weeks ago, I received the following from Ryan Holiday:
“…in the last 6 months, I’ve lost 15 lbs and am in the best shape of my life. From adding in sprinting to my running regime, using kettle bells once a week, using a weighted vest while taking long walks, and the cat vomit exercise, I now have abs and — like I said — lost weight in places I didn’t know I was storing fat. It was all from your book and keeping to the slow-carb diet. Here’s the part I really have to thank you for: by changing the way I thought about running, I ran the fastest mile in my life, and that’s after four years of cross country and track in high school. Last Friday, I ran a 4:55 mile. A month before my 24th birthday, I shattered my all time best from track: 5:02. Being that close to breaking five minutes had always haunted me.”
Those of you who’ve read this blog for a while know that Ryan is 24-years old and works directly with Dov Charney as his online strategist for American Apparel. He takes more heat, makes more high-stakes decisions, and takes more risks in a given week than most people experience in any given quarter… and he does so with an unusual calm. Unbeknownst to most, he largely credits this ability to his study of Stoicism, among other practical philosophies.
How did this philosophical bent accelerate his physical changes?… Read More
Hello lads and lasses. This post is intended as a morsel, a sugar high and respite. Life is serious enough, so this post will require zero calories of brain power.
Not to worry, of course, as we’ll be back to our regular content with the next how-to post.
In the meantime, some goodies: the “Kimono” winners and a $1,000 travel voucher giveaway.
KIMONO SPOTS
Congratulations, after much tallying and consideration, to the winners of the $10,000 spots to the “Opening the Kimono” event! Please keep an eye on your inbox for follow-up details:
First, sincere thanks to all who submitted video case studies, even those who re-submitted old videos and therefore weren’t eligible. Second, HUGE thanks to Dustin “America’s Trainer to the Moms” Maher for making the “wild card” scholarship possible — you rock!
Three honorable mentions for the “wild card” seat are below (out of dozens of great videos), and one includes a pic of me drunk at my London book launch. Oh, Internet, you hurt so good T_T
Two of them highlight post-4-Hour Workweek (now 2,172 reviews!) travel adventures:
I wanted to have some fun and get people traveling. “But I can’t travel… it costs too much!” is a common refrain. Partnering with a new start-up called PunchTab, I wanted to remove this barrier.
Here’s how it will work, as PunchTab explains:
Entering the giveaway is simple and takes only 30 seconds. Register by connecting to the giveaway widget below using Facebook. For each step you complete, you’ll earn a giveaway entry:
1. Like this blog post by clicking on the Facebook Like button (+1 entry).
2. Become a fan of Tim Ferriss on Facebook (+1 entry).
3. Leave a comment telling me where you’ll go and what you’ll do there (+1 entry).
4. Tweet about the giveaway (+1 entry).
5. Unlimited bonus entries by pasting your invite link everywhere you can. For example:
- For every friend who clicks the invite link you Tweeted in step 4, you’ll earn +1 entries.
- For every friend who then joins the giveaway, you’ll earn +5 entries.
Giveaway ends June 30, 2011 at midnight PST. Open to residents of North America.
For the last two years, one name has come up again and again when talking with A-class start-up investors: Pivotal Labs.
See, Pivotal Labs quietly helps dozens of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world, including freight trains like Groupon and Twitter. If your start-up needs to get good coding done quickly, as in lightning fast — or if new hires need to get good at coding quickly — top venture capitalists are likely to look over their shoulder and confide: “Call Pivotal Labs.”
I first met the Founder of Pivotal Labs, Rob Mee, when one of the start-ups I advise, TaskRabbit, began working with them.
One thing is immediately clear: Rob is obsessed with how to get obscenely high output. But that’s nothing new. Here’s the differentiator: he’s obsessed with how to get obscenely high output with sustainable effort. One of his first remarks to me was “3am with Jolt and pizza can be fun, but it’s a myth that it’s the fuel behind scalable success…” Read More
There are nine contenders, listed in no particular order. Please watch the videos and vote on your single favorite at the bottom of this post. Two important things to note — achtung!
1) Voting ends next Thursday, June 9, at 11pm PST.
2) Because there were so many outstanding videos, I’m offering a second “wild card” scholarship. That’s right — another $10,000 spot, though you’ll need to cover flights and hotel, just like the other scholarship. Here’s how it works… Read More
This short presentation, delivered in Berlin at the NEXT Conference, covers the four key principles of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Body. It also includes an interview with the fantastic David Rowan, editor of Wired Magazine in the UK.
The Q&A covers smart drugs, Ambien, measurement of “thoughts” (prefrontal cortex activity), and more.
All speaker videos from NEXT can be found here, and include some gems, like the inimitable CTO of Amazon, Dr. Werner Vogels.
