The Tim Ferriss Show

Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) is one of the best-known and busiest working comedians in the world, both behind and in front of the camera. His standup blends elements of theater, film, storytelling, and comedy. Mike has been deliberate in studying many crafts and tying them together, which is reflected in a diverse string of successes: sold-out tours as a solo theater act, New York Times bestselling b...

This episode is a little different. I visited the Googleplex -- the Mountain View-based headquarters of Google -- and had a public chat. I was interviewed and made sure that we covered some ground that has not been discussed before. There were questions such as: What has been the most important Stoic teaching that I've come across? How do I manage the many requests I receive? What are the factors...

Nicholas McCarthy (@NMcCarthyPiano) was born in 1989 without his right hand and only started to play the piano at the age of 14. He was told he would never succeed as a concert pianist. Fortunately, the doubters were wrong. His graduation from the prestigious Royal College of Music in London in 2012 appeared in press around the world, as he became the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the R...

Chris Young is an obsessive tinkerer, inventor, and innovator. His areas of expertise range from extreme aviation (world-record goals) to mathematics and apocalyptic-scale BBQs. Above all, he is one of the clearest thinkers I know. In this interview, we discuss a great many things, including his wild story and lessons learned from rainmakers like Bill Gates, Gabe Newell, Neal Stephenson, and many...

Dr. Dominic "Dom" D'Agostino (@DominicDAgosti2) is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). He has also deadlifted 500 pounds for 10 reps after a seven-day fast. Many of you sent enthusiastic foll...

This is not going to be a long-form interview where I dissect and deconstruct a world-class performer...at least not in the usual fashion. Instead, this is a special edition of The Random Show. I am joined by Kevin Rose (@KevinRose), serial entrepreneur, world-class investor, and all around wild and crazy guy. We discuss a wide range of topics, including new favorite books, memory training, medita...

Shay Carl (@shaycarl) got his first computer at age 27. He was a manual laborer for ages and uploaded his first YouTube video while on break from a granite counter top job. Flash forward to today: His SHAYTARDS channel now has roughly 2.3 BILLION views. Celebs like Steven Spielberg have appeared alongside Shay and his family. He co-founded Maker Studios, which sold to Disney for nearly $1 billion....

Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) is a strategist and writer. He dropped out of college at 19 to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, and later served as the director of marketing for American Apparel. His company, Brass Check, has advised clients like Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as many prominent bestselling authors. Holiday has written four previous books, including...

Malcolm Gladwell (@gladwell) is the author of five New York Times bestsellers -- The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He has been named one of the 100 most influential people by TIME magazine and one of the Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers. He has explored how ideas spread in the Tipping Point, decision making in Blink, the roots of success in Outliers,...

Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) returns to the show for a special role-reversal where he interviews me for his radio show. For those of you who didn't hear Jamie's first appearance on the podcast, which was voted 2015 Podcast of the Year by Product Hunt, you can check it out here. In this episode, you'll hear many stories and topics that haven't been discussed before -- including Jamie's...

This episode is actually a workshop on negotiating. Out of all the resources out there on how to negotiate, 99 percent of them are piss-poor -- but I guarantee you this isn't one of them. The teacher is Ramit Sethi. These lessons are all taken from a multi-day course Ramit taught on CreativeLive.com, which is one of the fastest growing startups. [Full disclosure: I am an advisor.] If you...

My job is usually to deconstruct world-class performers from business, military, entertainment, politics, or athletics, and then to tease out the routines and habits you can use. In this particular episode, I'm going to share an overarching strategy that has been used by many of the greats. That includes Ben Franklin, legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick, and many, many more. It is also ho...

Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) is back again and, as I've said before, he might be the real-life "Most Interesting Man In The World." Kevin is Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine, which he co-founded in 1993. He also co-founded the All Species Foundation, a non-profit aimed at cataloging and identifying every living species on earth. In his spare time, he writes bestselling books, co-founded the Ro...

Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) is a legendary figure in Silicon Valley -- and worldwide. Even in the epicenter of tech, it's hard to find a more fascinating icon. Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic Internet browser, the first widely used graphical web browser. He also co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. Then he co-founded Loudcloud, which sold as Opsware to Hewlett...

This episode is a role-reversal. I flew to New York City and sat down with Stephen J. Dubner (@freakonomics) of Freakonomics fame. He proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions that I'd never heard before, and we recorded the entire thing. It was a blast. His team did an incredible job with post-production, and I wanted to share the conversation with all of you. You c...

If you want a better understanding of warriors, tribal societies, human nature, and what we can learn from it all, this is for you. My podcast guest is Sebastian Junger (@sebastianjunger), the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont, War, and Tribe. As an award-winning journalist, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and a special corres...

Alex Honnold (@alexhonnold, Facebook: /alexhonnold) is a professional adventure rock climber whose audacious free-solo (no ropes, no partner) ascents of America’s biggest cliffs have made him one of the most recognized and followed climbers in the world. Honnold is distinguished for his uncanny ability to control his fear while scaling cliffs of dizzying heights without a rope to protect him if he...

This episode is a conversation/debate/trading of ideas between Chase Jarvis (@ChaseJarvis) and yours truly. We discuss a little bit of everything, including: Optimizing creative output Systems thinking Quota setting Celebrating the small wins Success for type-A personalities Meditation techniques Absurdity The details of the struggles of creating a high level And much, much more... If you enj...

If you loved the Pavel, Poliquin, or Dom D’Agostino episodes, you'll love this one. My guest this episode isChristopher Sommer (GymnasticBodies on Instagram/Facebook), former US national team gymnastics coach. He is also the founder of GymnasticBodies, a training system that I’m currently testing (and have no affiliation with). As a world-renowned Olympic coach, Sommer is known for building h...

"Just because you love something doesn’t mean you can’t suck at it." - Mike Rowe Mike Rowe (@mikeroweworks) is perhaps the best storyteller and pitchman I've ever had on the show. You may know Mike Rowe as the host of Dirty Jobs. Mike Rowe is a TV host, writer, narrator, producer, actor and spokesman. His performing career began in 1984 when he faked his way into the Baltimore...

"The answer is either yes or no. If it's 'no,' then I have to start over." - Joshua Skenes Joshua Skenes (IG: @jskenes) has become famous for his use of fire. As chef-owner of Saison in San Francisco (three Michelin stars), he has classical training and loves his high-end Japanese Nenohi knives, but nothing captures his imagination quite like the open flame. The back of his business card...

In this episode, we don't have any special guests, unless you count the multiple personalities in my own head. We are not talking to Arnold Schwarzenegger, black-market chemists, Josh Waitzkin, Jamie Foxx or anyone else per our regular interviews. Today, I'll be responding to questions you upvoted on Reddit. This episode includes gems like: My favorite books Learning to take be...

"A successful writing day is the day that I suffer in the morning, and I have fun in the evening." -Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho (@paulocoelho) has long been one of my writing inspirations. His books, of near universal appeal, spans from The Alchemist to the most recent Adultery and has been translated into more than 70 languages. Few people know that The Alchemist, which has sold more than...

At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? And how can knowing this help you live better lives now? BJ Miller, MD (@zenhospice) knows. BJ is a palliative care physician at Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, where he thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. He is an expert in death, but he’s also learned how we can dramatically improve ou...

Whenever I succumb to social pressure to treat time as less valuable than income, that's when I turn to stoicism. In this special episode of the podcast, I'm sharing one of my favorite letters from Seneca, "On Philosophy and Riches." This is a must-listen for anyone obsessed with increasing wealth or material possessions. My favorite portion begins with, "I might close my letter at this point." If...