Chris Sacca — How to Succeed by Living on Your Own Terms and Getting into Good Trouble (#790)

Loved this episode. Thank you.

Okay, this merits a comment: When you guys were talking about mullet wigs, I first thought I heard “Mullenwig” as in Matt Mullenweg. Someone should patent this. And the ad should include the words “Wherever fine wigs are sold.” You’re welcome.

Now I understand why Chris receives “legend” status. He has great insights, is so down to earth and loves his life and family. Thanks for another great episode. I’ve learned a lot.

glad to see this episode

This was a fun one. In Chris’s “raw dog” challenge, I am acknowledging that I usually spend any or most flight time with no screens or inputs. The longest I did this was from US to Australia and back. Everyone thought I was completely nuts. I was so happy to have total peace. ✌🏼✨🤍

Thanks for this podcast. I was using it to procrastinate, but it was so insipid and insulting that I turned it off and got to work on what I had been avoiding. Just what I needed.

Love the episode and what you do! I think Joel Salatin from Polyface Farm would be a great guest for the show. Some of the environmental discussions with Chris reminded me of his work.

Beautiful conversation. Thank you both very much.

Why is Chris pushing so hard for folks to have kids when he's despairing about what kind of lives/careers will be there for these same kids when they're grown? Bit of a contradiction here. I'm in Tim's boat, a couple years older, never married (10 yr relationship), no kids, wanting both, but am 100% torn about bringing a child into a world where AI rules and unless you're already in the top 1%, you're most likely going to be f'd. Tim's kids will survive if they can't find employment one day. Mine may not be as lucky. I'd love for Chris to explain why he wants us to be having children (other than it's been a cool ride for him and that they're his best friends – also not sure I agree with having your kids be your best friends, although sure, bonus) and how are these kids going to survive in an AI world? Government handouts?

I thought this was going to be really good and it wasn't. The podcast meanders all over the place. Not in a good way. Chris seems to dodge most of Tim's questions and redirects. As a conversation between two friends it's easy to listen to. I like Chris as a speaker. Maybe 15-20 mins of useful meaningful conversation.

Tim, all of the “fucks” were so exhausting that I couldn’t hear the information he was sharing. I listened to the whole podcast, but the language wore me out. It distracted from what he was saying. Less “fucks”, more engagement. A comment for good. Love your show!

The whole episode was fantastic. One of your best! "Hustle Culture" was my favorite. He is spot on and his approach to life and how he is raising his kids was super refreshing! Thanks

I like hearing from Chris Sacca and thanks for making this podcast—BUT let him know he has to be factual. The claim that Sierra Club fights controlled burns and promotion of defensible space was off. They conducted public info events about both after the 2018 fires in Northern California. It would have been so easy to check that. And so that clouds his other comments.

Kids these days right? Obviously, we need the one-button phone with an AI assistant that can look things up, manage a calendar, take dictation for text/email, and a maps feature, that's it, I can track my kid, and he can dictate a text to me. Everyone (not just kids) needs to get off these damn social apps and this is a brilliant solution. Hopefully, this would help resolve some of the isolation issues, get people interacting with each other, which then leads to skill-building through old-school conflict resolution (a punch in the face?) Then I think Chris is right, the standards the left imposes on people to understand so many complex topics and behave accordingly is destroying everything. We need a platform for more inclusive leftist ideology where the discourse is respectful and mostly about caring for each other as a society on a planet. How are we supposed to sell being kind and open-minded when we are running around being the opposite toward anyone who thinks differently (even if it's because they're dumb) Overall great episode, so relatable, I feel like I just went for drinks with old friends. 5 starssss

Great discussion; thank you both! Did you see these two items? Why kids need to take more risks: science reveals the benefits of wild, free play Studies reveal how risky play can benefit child development. But encouraging it can be a challenge for parents. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04215-2?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20250109 And from Phil Knight's excellent book, "Shoe Dog." "I hadn't smoked a cigarette, hadn't tried a drug. I hadn't broken a rule, let alone a low. The 1960s were just under way, the age of rebellion, and I was the only person in America who hasn't yet rebelled."

Been looking forward to this since I listened to the first collab (I was late to the TimTim party, found the OG episode around 2019). Chris, if you're looking for a great book on rabblerousing, consider reading Bill Buford's Among the Thugs. I enjoyed raising my hand to each degenerate experience you mentioned. I loved your comment on discussing politics in a Bozeman bar without getting popped. Keep fighting the good fight, reaching across barriers, and staying true to your roots – not a lot of blue collar mentality on the podcast, awesome to have you in the mix.

I think Chris is a Prophet.

I wish you had included the people Chris Sacca mentions he follows/reads in the show notes. "No Opinion" I'm assuming is Noahpinion, pretty sure Tyler Cowen is the guy writing on Marginal Revolution. "DK Thompson" I'm having trouble finding

Loved this episode and the one with Seth Godin I just listened to. I am 99% engaged and appreciative of what they and you are sharing. That makes sense considering I am the 99%. Like when Chris talked about buying land in climate safe areas… guys, we can't work at your hospitals and schools and utility companies and restaurants if you're buying it up. The Seth Godin moment was somewhat similar. Anyhow, you are an insightful interviewer, have a great laugh, and seem like an actually nice guy. Your team is perfection. There was one other podcast I listened to regularly until one day he made a brief, dismissive comment and punched down. Either you don't do that or you have excellent editors.

PS I used to follow you on Twitter but got kicked off. I guess that's for the best. Join us at BlueSky!

I actually enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I do think Chris is being hypocritical when he loves to talk about all the data, he has to back up his climate change agenda, and he simply ignores the data when it comes to living together before marriage and how the statistics are clear that the divorce rate is higher than those who do not live together. I think he has a lot of insight, but it is hard to take him seriously when he doesn't look at everything honestly and objectively.

I would be very curious to know Chris and Tim's thoughts on WHY people should be having kids. It came up specifically related to Japan and Korea. Obviously, there is the cultural preservation component to ensure your entire country doesn't cease to exist. However, with Chris's focus on the environment, couldn't there be an argument that not having children could be better for the planet by reducing the strain placed on all its resources?

In regards to Bourdain, always liked his TV and writing, but man, did he screw when it came to that Asia woman, I wrote on Medium, he should have put the Stones Let It Loose on repeat, great song about heartache and pain when a woman screws you, got plastered, woke up the next morning, shined her out of his life and got on with living.. cheers David

In this episode you made a couple references to Dune. I am rereading the series now and thinking alot about why the Duncan Idaho is brought to the forefront, in particular because he represents unpredictability and free-choice. That is what the Tyrant needed to retain humanity and what Chris recommends to retain innovation in the investment and innovation spaces. I couldn't agree more and heard it over and over in this conversation. Thank you – was very interesting and a healthy dose of impertinence with a push forward with personal drive is exactly the right combination. Thanks as always to you both.

This show is the great oasis I crave, and this episode is yet another massive rehydration at that oasis. Sorry for the clumsy metaphor. I admire Tim Ferriss so much. He just steers the path, and it's a miracle he's protected himself from being siloed in the culture war that's gobbled up so many other podcasters. (Tim is much more than a podcaster obviously). Anyway, what absolutely seals the deal for me is the quality of the show notes. They are peerless. But then again, so is Tim. Yes I love this show.

I'm adding one more specific comment. I am considering a move from London to rural Switzerland. And everything Chris says about community, smartphones etc rings true to me. Nagging question for me is what is going to fund me (I am a screenwriter and director) if the robots take over. I know I may have to reskill. I'll never, ever stop writing, but to put bread on the table, I may have to pivot. But to what?

Hopefully I'm going to get myself into the "good trouble" with this comment.. I’ve been working on something that might be right up your alley—a bit futuristic, a bit absurd, and just this side of illegal 😅 It’s an experiment in AI authorship and creativity. I spent the past year refining a project that takes what GPT knows and pushes it to places it probably shouldn’t go. Would love to hear your thoughts—want to see what AI you had to say?

Chris needs to read your book, The 4-Hour Workweek! It will give him 66 extra hours every week.

This guy! It's so refreshing to hear someone share everything that crosses his mind without any filters. Not even for the fucks he doesn't give! I'm from Europe, we still have some of the "politically incorrect" shit slip. Thank you for letting him talk over 3h! It wasn't an easy one for you Tim, too. To keep him on track and get your questions in, so kudos for that! I sent it to all my friends already, especially the ones with kids. I have very similar observations about kids. Not to mention all the AI stuff – scary but I see it the same. In 2 years the world may change in an unrecognizable way. PS. I just wanted to tell you (hope you read it) that I tried to help you with your family project a couple of times. Inviting you for a coffee when in Austin was one of those intents but of course, not an easy task to get your attention. So, I resorted to calling you an "asshole" and giving up. And then I thought about writing here lol…

As an experiment I am trying to get AI to pull out every book mentioned during this episode – even a few requests deep using the transcript (which I had to go find for it manually). Bots aren’t able to do it yet after testing three major models who should be half decent with research/analysis. So I am going to go back through, manually, with my real honest-to-goodness ears. I’m happy I get to do so. Will be interesting to try again in a year. Great episode, so engaging and thoughtful. Best episode of a podcast I’ve listened to in ages. Thanks!

Another interesting episode, although for me personally it induced anxiety on a scale I haven’t experienced before. I became worried by mention that we as humans are incapable of grasping exponential growth/change and that we’re just a few years before the point where the ‘curve of technological advancements’ starts forming a wall straight up. When researching this further via other media it became apparent that there is a lot of polarisation concerning the topic (which is not surprising). There seems to be little in between a very bright and a very dark future. I don’t want to be catastrophising, as I have experienced that doesn’t contribute to a healthy mind. So I’m interested in ways how we as humans can actively participate in shaping the future for the better, making technology work for all of us, as opposed to just big tech companies or a relatively small group of malicious people. Thank you so much for all your content. Cheers

I hope I'm not too late to the discussion here. I have two questions for Chris and the community: 1) How do you justify your daily chats with GPT while simultaneously emphasizing the need for more humanity and analog human experiences in our day to day life? It's so easy and convenient to strike up a convo with the robot, so inconvenient, messy, and awkward to call up a human. 2) You call out South Korea and other societies with low birth rates to get busy, but simultaneously note that there will likely be serious medical advancements in the near future that could significantly/radically lengthen the human lifespan. Maybe they're onto something?

Awesome episode. At least for Gen Xer's. I literally sat down on the floor during my workout because I was laughing so hard during Chris' riff on our "last feral generation." But some of Chris' comments about the LA fires are misleading. We too knew someone who lost their house in the Eaton fire, so we've been focused on the issue. To paraphrase what Chris said (minus the F-bombs): They're expediting the rebuilding of any of the houses that burned in those areas, but you can't make any changes to them. …we just saw a bunch of tinderboxes burn up and it's a great opportunity to build differently. Maybe different shapes, different ventilation, etc. More concrete, more shrubbery. But no. (And this is a direct quote: "Expedited permitting, if you build the exact same fucking thing you just had. " This just isn't true. The rebuilding limitations are: No larger than 110% of the original house size.Same general foot print. Same general location on the lot.Same usage. (e.g., if it had been residential, it can't now be commercial. Same density. (e.g., If there had been a single house on the lot, you can't rebuild the house plus build 3 ADUs.)I looked, and didn't see anything on the city site saying you were forced to use the same building materials, same roof, etc. Or that you had to have the same ventilation mechanism. And there certainly wasn't anything discussing landscaping. Looks like you could replace a burned down rickety wood shack with a concrete bunker if you wanted. As long as it wasn't a lot bigger. I understand the general frustration with humans not changing building patterns. I live in rural No Cal. Lots of folk are culpable. Home owners, city permits, builders, etc. But misrepresenting the intentions of municipal governments torn between the "FIX IT NOW" cries of folk who lost their homes and the "BUILD SMARTER" cries from us on the sidelines isn't helpful.

ahhh hahaha! I thought he said that too! And then I couldn't stop thinking about what a Matt Mullenwig might look like

+1 🙂 . Tim patiently prodded Chris to try and answer what "Lower Carbon Capital" does. And probably gave up on that pursuit after a few tries. Concur on your point on Tim F — am a huge fan of the show and have gained a lot over the years!

Thanks, Larry. I'll investigate! DK Thompson is Derek Thompson of The Atlantic: https://x.com/DKThomp

Interesting, I loved this conversation. Want to listen to it again. I always find it fascinating that we all have such different experiences with the same content. I think the best podcasts (and I include this one) are when Tim has a relationship with the person. Seth Godwin’s, Derek Sivers, Kevin Rose, and this one come to mind.

I suspect from the political context, Tyler Cohen referred to Brian Tyler Cohen, a popular left-wing YouTuber.

In the notes under "People Mentioned," these are the three droids you're looking for, Larry. 🙂 Tyler CowenNoah SmithDerek Thompson