Derek Sivers podcast

For many years, I was a touring musician, performing live on stage every week. But I didn’t like attending concerts. I liked making music more than listening to music. I felt I must be in the wrong line of work, creating something that I don’t consume . I never reconciled this feeling. Since then, I’ve met a: vegetarian cattle farmer masseuse that doesn’t enjoy receiving massage elevator builder t...

Not a new idea, but just another visualization and reminder. Wealth, feeling like you have plenty , is an equation. Wealth = Have ÷ Want If you have nothing, then focus on having some. Once you have some, the easiest way to increase your wealth is to decrease your needs . Have 10 but want 100? You are poor. Have 10 but only want 5? You are wealthy. Have 10 but are happy with 1? You are very wealth...

You know that frustration of reading a book that should have been an article? Me too. So I try to do the opposite — to write so succinctly that you wish I would have said a little more. You complete it with your own thoughts. That’s why I edit the hell out of my writing. I delete every unnecessary sentence and word, then craft the few that remain. It takes more time for me, but saves time for ever...

I’ve asked my favorite musicians if, when they’re done writing a new song, they feel it’s the best song ever. All of them said yes. I’ve asked my favorite authors if, when they’re done writing a new book, they feel it was the best book ever. All of them said no. I don’t know why the two groups are so different. Do you? (Please post your thoughts, below, if so.) As for me? I think the best book eve...

I just got the call from the super-connected Alex Steininger that our mutual friend Ben Kihnel died in his sleep. He was only 48. Ben was employee #2 of CD Baby. (#1 was the great John Steup .) John hired Ben the day we moved the company to Portland, Oregon. I don’t even know how we met Ben. Then all of the early employees at CD Baby were Ben’s friends, so Ben was really the start and the hea...

This is a lukewarm little story with a few connected bits, but it might be interesting or even helpful. Follow the links in it, for full effect. Esperanto start For decades, I’ve wanted the experience of carrying on a conversation in another language. My language-teaching polyglot friend Benny Lewis said that if you’ve never really spoken another language, then the best strategy is to start with t...

Kevin Kelly invited me to walk 100 kilometers (62 miles) through northern Thailand for seven days, ending in Chiang Mai. Walking with us were ten other smart interesting people, including five other authors whose work I’ve loved for years. It’s a “Walk and Talk”. One of the walkers lives in Thailand, speaks Thai, and made all the local arrangements, scoping the track in advance. Two of the walkers...

People search for their passion or purpose. But “purpose” and “passion” are words we use when we’re not working. When we’re actually engaged in the flow of fascinating work, we don’t think in these terms. The task at hand fills our mind. The task itself is what keeps us up all night, not some extracted story of purpose. Imagine you put a GPS tracker on a dog, then you set him free to run in the co...

My band was playing a gig in Oslo, Norway, when I struck up a conversation with a woman who was staring at me. Turns out we had read many of the same books, and we were super-attracted to each other. We talked all night, but just as things got physical in my hotel room, house-keeping came knocking on the door saying we needed to check out now. Right now. Damn. I checked out of my hotel at 10am, bu...

I forbid myself from anything too tempting or addicting. I keep no cookies in my home. To prevent myself from falling off the wagon, I strap myself to the mast. I was born in California, and lived the first forty years of my life in America. But I wanted to challenge myself to live in the rest of the world - to get to know it deeply - so that many countries would feel like home. It was a nice idea...

In 2020, I was about to move to New York City. I wanted to get to know all of its ethnic enclaves, like visiting the whole world in one city. But I know I have a tendency to stay at home, immersed in my work. So I made a rule for myself. If I move to New York, I must not be home between the hours of 9am to 5pm. I would do all of my writing and reading in public places as a way of keeping myself ou...

When you think something nice about someone, you should tell them. People don’t hear enough compliments. Even well-known people. We assume they must hear it too much. But famous people often say the thanks from the public is the best part of the job . They work really hard to spread their creations widely. They could just sit home and keep their thoughts to themselves, but instead they do the hard...

UPDATE: I moved the conversations to sive.rs/met . February 13 through 21, 2023 , I went to Chennai and Bengaluru, India. My sole purpose was to meet new friends. I’m an “ Overseas Citizen of India ” and my son is half-Indian (Tamil). I will always have ties to India. I wanted to deepen those ties and make new connections. So I scheduled fifty one-hour conversations with fifty interesting people o...

Explorers poke through the unknown, experimenting, trying many little dead-ends. Explorers meander, constantly changing directions based on hunch, mood, and curiosity. Explorers are hard to follow. It’s better to let them wander alone, then hear their tales. Explorers occasionally find a great place that would make a better home for many people. So that makes a job for a leader. Leaders are easy t...

When I was 21, I moved to New York City. An old friend travelled many hours and came to stay with me for a couple days. It was his first time in New York. I said, “Do you want to see the Statue of Liberty? Empire State Building? Central Park? A Broadway show?” He said, “I don’t care what we do. I just came to see you!” I said, “Ha ha. Very sweet, but no, seriously. What would you like to do for th...

Because of my open inbox , I meet a lot of strangers. I love it. Almost everyone tells me who and where they are in the world. If they don’t, I wonder. Am I talking with someone from Australia? Philippines? Brazil? Are they 20 or 60? Male or female? It doesn’t really matter, but the brain can’t help wondering. It’s human nature to want to know who’s speaking. If they don’t say, it creates a myster...

My favorite moments in life are when someone shows me a new perspective — a way of thinking I had never considered. Ideally it’s something I opposed, but they help me understand why it works for them. The sex worker explains why she loves her job. The Singaporean in the three-piece-suit explains why clothing is like the SMTP protocol. The Hindu explains why poverty doesn’t upset her. The Muslim ex...

Tyler Cowen is my favorite interviewer of all-time. His interviewing style has spoiled me for all others. He creates a tasting feast for the mind. First he finds brilliant accomplished people that he wants to learn from — people that are not too famous so they are not too polished in their answers. Then he does a ton of research in advance of each interview, reading all of their books and all of t...

I like going to the source. Like finding musicians’ influences, and getting to know that music too. Same with film, art, philosophy, and technology. I also like doing what people I admire recommend. And a few people I really admire suggest we read the entire Bible. So to go to the source of western culture, and do what the wise people say, last year I read the Bible , start to finish. Every senten...

Kids scream, “Monster in the hallway!”, and hide behind the couch. They stack up cushions for protection, and plan their defense. They know it’s not true — there’s not really a monster in the hallway — but it’s exciting to feel the adrenaline of panic, then make a shelter and feel safe. One kid yells, “The floor is hot lava!” The familiar room transforms into islands among danger. Leaping between...

In my previous post, “ a daily run ” — (please read it first ) — running was a metaphor for whatever actions you take in your life. The story is about how we choose beliefs because they’re useful, not true . Beliefs make emotions. Emotions make actions. Actions come from emotions. Emotions come from beliefs. So choose whatever belief makes you take the action you want. Picturing one future makes y...

Every day you go on a long run through the forest. You picture a pot of gold at the end. It helps you finish when you feel like quitting. One day you pretend there’s a tiger right behind you. It makes you much faster, so you keep using this approach. A running expert suggests you try acting like you’re running on hot coals , to keep you on the front of your feet. You try it, and it improves your s...

We all confabulate without realizing it. To confabulate is to create an explanation that you believe to be true. “Con” means together, and “fabula” means story or fable, so: to put together a story. Confabulate. To fabricate. When you don’t know why you did something, your subconscious invents an explanation that you think is a fact . The clearest example comes from people who have a disconnect be...

Here’s a story about my shortest date, and ketchup. I was dating in New York City, and matched with someone named Kelly. We agreed to meet, so I called her to decide where. She had a miserable voice, creaky and weary, but I tried not to judge. I suggested we meet at a bar at 35th Street and 8th Avenue. Although she’s from New York, she didn’t know where that is. I said, “You really don’t know wher...

In 2011, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello?” “Derek. It’s Seth Godin.” “Wow! Hi Seth!” “I’m starting a new publishing company, so I want you to write a book. Short, like a manifesto. Will you do it?” “Uh, sure!” “Great. I look forward to it.” “Thanks!” Over the next eleven days, I wrote the lessons I’d learned from starting, growing, and selling my company. He liked it, n...