by

Tim Ferriss

What I Learned in 2016 (#212)

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Year in Review

“If you’re having trouble thinking bigger, just think stranger.”

This episode is a review of the past year, as well as a look at how I plan for new years.

I haven’t written New Year’s resolutions for roughly six years. Instead, I do a post-game analysis with a series of exercises and odd questions.  This episode describes that, as well as a few lessons I’ve learned.

All of the links and resources I mention in the audio can be found below.

Thank you for listening, and wishing you and yours all the best in 2017!

#212: 2016 – What I've Learned

Want to hear another podcast with an end-of-year review?  — Listen to my last podcast of 2015. In this episode, I share 25 of my favorite learnings from 2015: tips, gadgets, and quotes from podcast guests that I’ve incorporated into my own life. (stream below or right-click here to download):

#126: 25 Things I've Learned from Podcast Guests in 2015

This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.

People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement right now — this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.

This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.

Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you for free exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

Show Notes

  • What I took away from a documentary about Oprah Winfrey. [07:29]
  • There are only two emotions: love and fear. [08:18]
  • Are you attempting to be a force of good in the world, or are you representing darkness? [09:44]
  • Book, podcast, and knife recommendations from Seth Godin. [10:36]
  • “If you delight them, you’ll never lose them.” [11:39]
  • If I had to charge two times more for my product or service and couldn’t do any paid advertising, what would I do instead? [12:50]
  • 80/20 analysis: 20 percent of activities, experiences, or people who produced 80 percent or more of my most positive emotions and outcomes. [14:21]
  • Should I go on a podcast tour? [19:14]
  • I need to see more sunrises and spend fewer days in big cities. [20:34]
  • If it is not on the calendar, it is not real. [21:12]
  • Can money buy happiness? [22:20]
  • Using my journal to spot patterns. [24:14]
  • Thinking in threes: three things to add and three things to remove from life. [26:57]
  • Matchmaking? [27:21]
  • The solution to cleaning up dog hair without anyone moving my stuff. [27:50]
  • Can I pay for every possible VR demonstration? [28:38]
  • Coming up with absurd ideas for experiments. [30:17]
  • 10x vs. 10% [33:16]
  • The importance of scheduling the fun stuff. [34:54]
  • I’m taking suggestions for potential 30-day challenges and experiments (remember NOBNOM?). [36:59]
  • A virtual hug and legitimate gratitude to all of you and best wishes for the new year! [38:58]

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