#165: The Canvas Strategy -- What Ben Franklin and Bill Belichick Have in Common

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 how I built my network, how my first book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0307465357/offsitoftimfe-20 hit the tipping point, how I became successful at angel investing, and the list goes on. Of course, if you're interested in the networking part of it, you can also read the blog post and listen to the episode, How to Build a World-Class Network in Record Time http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/08/26/how-to-build-a-world-class-network-in-record-time/. But that is additional credit. The secret to all of the above is the "canvas strategy." And in this episode, Ryan Holiday, author of the new book, Ego Is the Enemy http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591847818/offsitoftimfe-20, will teach you how to apply canvas strategy to your life. (The book is also the newest addition to my book club, which can be found at audible.com/timsbooks http://www.audible.com/timsbooks.) Please enjoy this excerpt with Ryan Holiday from Ego Is the Enemy http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591847818/offsitoftimfe-20. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront https://wealthfront.com/tim. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. 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 http://wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you -- for free ñ†exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim. This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs http://99designs.com/tim, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover http://99designs.com/tim for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service http://99designs.com/tim. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link http://www.99designs.com/tim and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question?

• 0:07Speaker 01

  No, we're just seeing an appropriate time.

• 0:11Speaker 02

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:21Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront, and this is a very unique sponsor. 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 two years, and they now have more than $2.5 billion under management. In fact, some of my very good friends, investors in Silicon Valley, have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. So the question is, why? Why is it so popular? Why is it unique? Because you can get services previously reserved for the ultra wealthy, but only pay pennies on the dollar for them. And this is because they use smarter software instead of retail locations, bloated sales teams, etc. And I'll come back to that in a second. I suggest you check out wealthfront.com/tim.

• 1:06Tim Ferriss?

  Take the risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you for free exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. And if you just want to take their advice, run with it, do it yourself, you can do that. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. And here's why. The value of Wealthfront is in the automation of habits and strategies that investors should be using on a regular basis, but normally aren't. Great investing is a marathon, not a sprint, and little things that you may or may not be familiar with, like automatic tax loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolio across more than 10 asset classes, and dividend reinvestment add up to very large amounts of money over longer periods of time. Wealthfront, as I mentioned, since it's using software instead of retail locations, etc., can offer all of this at low costs that were previously completely impossible.

• 1:52Tim Ferriss?

  Right off the bat, you never pay commissions or account fees. For everything, they charge 0.25% per year on assets above the first $15,000, which is managed for free if you use my link, wealthfront.com/tim. That is less than $5 a month to invest a $30,000 account, for instance. Normally, when I have a sponsor on the show, it's because I use them and recommend them. In this case, it's a little different. I don't use Wealthfront yet because I'm not allowed to. Here's the deal. They wanted to sponsor this podcast, but because of SEC regulations, companies that invest your money are not allowed to use client testimonials. So I couldn't be a user and have them on the podcast. But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me,

• 2:36Tim Ferriss?

  in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account. But just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free. There's no downside that I can think of. This episode is brought to you by 99designs. 99designs is a great partner for creating and growing your business. It's a one-stop shop for all of your graphic design needs, whether that's a logo, website, business card, or anything else. I use 99designs to get book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become a number one

• 3:20Tim Ferriss?

  New York Times bestseller. I also use them for banner ads, illustrations, and other things. With 99designs, designers around the world compete to create the best design for you. You give feedback and then pick your favorite. You end up happy, or you get your money back. It's very simple. You can check out a few of my own designs and those of yours, meaning Tim Ferriss Show listeners, at 99designs.com/tim. And right now, my listeners, you guys, will get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. That's 99designs.com/tim. Check it out. Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. I'm sitting outside on a beautiful summer day, listening to the birds. And my

• 4:04Tim Ferriss?

  job is usually to deconstruct world-class performers, to tease out the routines, habits, and so on that you can use from people at the top of whatever field they happen to be a part of: military, entertainment, politics, chess, athletics.

• 4:20Tim Ferriss?

  You name it. 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, it includes legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick, and many, many more. It is also how I built my network, how my first book hit the tipping point, how I became successful at angel investing, and the list goes on. Of course, if you're interested in the networking part of it, you can also read a blog post and listen to an episode titled "How to Build a World Class Network in Record Time." But that is additional credit. This time, we're going to talk about the Canvas Strategy. There is some Latin pronunciation, just a few words in this episode, and I'm sure people

• 5:01Tim Ferriss?

  will get their knickers in a twist about how to say things properly, but it could be anteambulo, it could be something else, and Ryan has done his homework. And I say Ryan because this is from the brand-new book by Ryan Holiday, "Ego is the Enemy." And you might recall that Ryan wrote "The Obstacle is the Way," a collection of Stoic wisdom and principles and stories that was embraced by people at the highest levels of athletics, the Seahawks, the Patriots, managers, players. It just turned into a phenomenon that was covered by Sports Illustrated. I think "Ego is the Enemy" is just as good, if not better. I saw early, early editions of the manuscript and provided feedback. It is therefore the newest book in my book club.

• 5:44Tim Ferriss?

  And there are only eight or nine books over the last few years that I've selected for this, and you can see all of them at audible.com/timsbooks. That's audible.com/timsbooks. But this episode is very much self-sufficient, and I think it's a lesson that more and more people need to learn, or at least embrace, revisit in their lives, and that is the Canvas Strategy. So please enjoy this description and this meandering exploration with Ryan Holiday from "Ego is the Enemy."

• 6:19Ryan Holiday?

  Follow the canvas strategy. Great men have almost always shown themselves as ready to obey as they afterwards proved able to command. Lord Maon. In the Roman system of art and science, there existed a concept for which we have only a partial analog. Successful businessmen, politicians, or rich playboys would subsidize a number of writers, thinkers, artists, and performers. More than just being paid to produce works of art, these artists performed a number of tasks in exchange for protection, food, and gifts. One of the roles was that of an anthembulo, literally meaning "one who clears the path."

• 7:01Ryan Holiday?

  An anthembulo proceeded in front of his patron anywhere they traveled in Rome, making way, communicating messages, and generally making the patron's life easier. The famous epigramist Marshall fulfilled this role for many years, serving for a time under the patron Mailla, a wealthy businessman and brother of the Stoic philosopher and political adviser Seneca. Born without a rich family, Marshall also served under another businessman named Petulius. As a young writer, he spent most of his day traveling from the home of one rich patron to another, providing services, paying his respects, and receiving small token payments and favors in return. Here's the problem: like most of us with our internships and entry-level positions,

• 7:46Ryan Holiday?

  or later on, publishers, or bosses, or clients, Marshall absolutely hated every minute of it. He seemed to believe that this system somehow made him a slave. Aspiring to live like some country squire, like the patrons he serviced, Marshall wanted money and an estate that was all his own. There, he dreamed, he could finally produce his works in peace and independence. As a result, his writing often drags with a hatred and bitterness about Rome's upper crust, from which he believed he was cruelly shunted aside. For all his impotent rage, what Marshall couldn't see was that it was his unique position as an outsider to society that gave him such a fascinating insight into Roman culture that it survives to this day.

• 8:30Ryan Holiday?

  Instead of being pained by such a system, what if he'd been able to come to terms with it? What if, gasp, he could have appreciated the opportunities it offered? Nope. It seemed to eat him up inside instead.

• 8:45Ryan Holiday?

  It's a common attitude that transcends generations and societies. The angry, underappreciated genius is forced to do stuff she doesn't like, for people she doesn't respect, as she makes her way in the world. "How dare they force me to grapple like this? The injustice, the waste." We see it in recent lawsuits in which interns sue their employers for pay. We see it in kids more willing to live at home with their parents than submit to something they're "overqualified for." We see it in an inability to meet anyone else on their terms, an unwillingness to take a step back in order to potentially take several steps forward. "I will not let them get one over on me. I'd rather we both have nothing instead."

• 9:28Ryan Holiday?

  It's worth taking a look at the supposed indignities of serving someone else, because in reality, not only is the apprentice model responsible for some of the greatest art in the history of the world, everyone from Michelangelo to Leonardo da Vinci to Benjamin Franklin has been forced to navigate such a system. But if you're going to be the big deal you think you're going to be, isn't this a rather trivial imposition? When someone first gets a job or joins a new organization, he's often given this advice: "Make other people look good, and you will do well. Keep your head down," they say, "and serve your boss." Naturally, this is not what the kid who was chosen over all the other kids for the position wants to hear. It's not what a Harvard grad expects.

• 10:12Ryan Holiday?

  After all, they got that degree precisely to avoid this supposed indignity. Let's flip it around so it doesn't seem so demeaning. It's not about kissing ass. It's not about making someone look good. It's about providing the support so that others can be good. The better wording for this advice is then, "find canvases for other people to paint on. Be an anthem bolo." Clear the path for people above you, and you will eventually create a path for yourself. When you're just starting out, we can be sure of a few fundamental realities. One, you're not nearly as good or as important as you think you are. Two, you have an attitude that needs to be readjusted.

• 10:55Ryan Holiday?

  Three, most of what you think you know, or most of what you learn in books or in school, is out of date or wrong. There's one fabulous way to work all of that out of your system. Attach yourself to people and organizations who are already successful, and subsume your identity into theirs, and move both forward simultaneously. It's certainly more glamorous to pursue your own glory, though hardly as effective. Obedience is the way forward. That's the other side of this attitude. It reduces your ego at a critical time in your career, letting you absorb everything you can without the obstructions that block others' vision and progress. No one is endorsing sycophancy.

• 11:37Ryan Holiday?

  Instead, it's about seeing what goes on from the inside and looking for opportunities for someone other than yourself. Remember that anthem bulo means clearing the path, finding the direction someone already intended to head, and helping them pack, freeing them up to focus on their strengths. In fact, making things better rather than simply looking as if you are. Many people know of Benjamin Franklin's famous letters written under names like Silence Dogwood. What a clever young prodigy, they think, and missed the most impressive part entirely. Franklin wrote those letters, submitted them by sliding them under the print shop door, and received absolutely no credit for them till much later in his life. In fact, it was his brother, the owner,

• 12:22Ryan Holiday?

  who profited from their immense popularity, regularly running them on the front page of his newspaper. Franklin was playing the long game, though, learning how public opinion worked, generating awareness of what he believed in, crafting his style and tone and wit. It's a strategy he used time and again over in his career, once even publishing in his competitor's paper in order to undermine a third competitor. For Franklin saw the constant benefit in making other people look good and letting them take credit for your ideas. Bill Belichick, the four-time Super Bowl-winning head coach of the New England Patriots, made his way up the ranks of the NFL by loving and mastering the one part of the job that

• 13:03Ryan Holiday?

  coaches disliked at the time: analyzing film. His first job in professional football for the Baltimore Colts was one he volunteered to take without pay, and his insights, which provided ammunition and critical strategies for the game, were attributed exclusively to the more senior coaches. He thrived on what was considered grunt work, asked for it, and strove to become the best at precisely what others thought they were too good for. "He was like a sponge, taking it all in, listening to everything," one coach said. "You gave him an assignment, and he disappeared into a room, and you didn't see him again until it was done. And then he wanted to do more," said another.

• 13:43Ryan Holiday?

  As you can guess, Belichick started getting paid very soon. Before that, as a young high school player, he was so knowledgeable at the game that he functioned as sort of an assistant coach, even while playing the game. Belichick's father, himself an assistant football coach for Navy, taught him a critical lesson in football politics: that if he wanted to give his coach feedback or question a decision, he needed to do it in private and self-effacingly so as not to offend his superior. He learned how to be a rising star without threatening or alienating anyone. In other words, he'd mastered the canvas strategy. You can see how easily entitlement and a sense of superiority, the trappings of ego,

• 14:25Ryan Holiday?

  would have made the accomplishments of either of these men impossible. Franklin never would have been published if he'd prioritized credit over creative expression. Indeed, when his brother found out, he literally beat him out of jealousy and anger. Belichick would have pissed off his coach and then probably been benched if he'd one-upped him in public. He certainly wouldn't have taken his first job for free, and he wouldn't have sat through thousands of hours of film if he cared about status. Greatness comes from humble beginnings. It comes from grunt work. It means that you're the least important person in the room, and to change that with results. There is an old saying, "Say little, do much." What we really ought to do is update and apply a version of that to our early approach.

• 15:10Ryan Holiday?

  Be lesser, do more. Imagine if for every person you met, you thought of some way to help them, something you could do for them, and you looked at it in a way that entirely benefited them and not you. The cumulative effect this would have over time would be profound. You would learn a great deal by solving diverse problems. You'd develop a reputation for being indispensable. You'd have countless new relationships. You'd have an enormous bank of favors to call upon down the road. That's what the Canvas strategy is about, helping yourself by helping others, making a concerted effort to trade your short-term gratification for a longer-term payoff. Whereas everyone else wants to get credit and be respected, you could forget credit.

• 15:54Ryan Holiday?

  You can forget it so hard that you're glad when others get it instead of you. That was your aim after all. Let others take their credit on credit while you defer and earn interest on the principal. The strategy part of it is the hardest. It's easy to be bitter, like Marshall, to hate even the thought of subservience, to despise those who have more means, more experience, more status than you, to tell yourself that every second not spent doing your work or working on yourself is a waste of your gift, to insist, "I will not be demeaned like this." Once we fight this emotional and egotistical impulse, the Canvas strategy is easy. The iterations are endless.

• 16:38Ryan Holiday?

  Maybe it's coming up with ideas to hand over to your boss. Find people, thinkers, up-and-comers to introduce them to each other, crosswires to create new sparks. Find what nobody else wants to do and do it. Find inefficiencies and wastes and redundancies. Identify leaks and patches to free up resources for new areas. Produce more than everyone else and give your ideas away. In other words, discover opportunities to promote their creativity, find outlets and people for collaboration, and eliminate distractions that hinder their progress and focus. It's a rewarding and infinitely scalable power strategy. Consider each one an investment in relationships and in your own development.

• 17:21Ryan Holiday?

  The canvas strategy is there for you at any time. There's no expiration date on it either. It's one of the few that age does not limit. On either side, young or old, you can start at any time, before you have a job, before you're hired, and while you're doing something else, or if you're starting something new or find yourself inside an organization without strong allies or support. You may even find that there's no reason to ever stop doing it, even once you've graduated to heading your own projects. Let it become natural and permanent. Let others apply it to you while you're too busy applying it to those above you. Because if you pick up this mantle once, you'll see what most people's egos prevent them from appreciating. The person who clears the path

• 18:05Ryan Holiday?

  ultimately controls its direction, just as the canvas shapes the painting.

• 18:11Tim Ferriss?

  Hey, guys. This is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is Five Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend? And Five Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new albums that I've discovered. It could include gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of weird shit that I've somehow dug up in the world of the esoteric, as I do. It could include favorite articles that I've read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short.

• 18:54Tim Ferriss?

  It's just a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com. That's fourhourworkweek.com, all spelled out, and just drop in your email, and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it.

• 19:13Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by 99designs. 99designs is a great partner for creating and growing your business. It's a one-stop shop for all of your graphic design needs, whether that's a logo, website, business card, or anything else. I used 99designs to get book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. I also use them for banner ads, illustrations, and other things. With 99designs, designers around the world compete to create the best design for you. You give feedback and then pick your favorite. You end up happy, or you get your money back. It's very simple. You can check out a few of my own designs and those of yours, meaning Tim Ferriss Show listeners, at 99designs.com/tim.

• 19:55Tim Ferriss?

  And right now, my listeners, you guys, will get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. That's 99designs.com/tim. Check it out. This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront, and this is a very unique sponsor. 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 two years, and they now have more than $2.5 billion under management. In fact, some of my very good friends, investors in Silicon Valley, have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. So the question is, why? Why is it so popular? Why is it unique? Because you can get services previously reserved for the ultra-wealthy, but only pay pennies

• 20:40Tim Ferriss?

  on the dollar for them. And this is because they use smarter software instead of retail locations, bloated sales teams, etc. And I'll come back to that in a second. I suggest you check out wealthfront.com/tim. Take the risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you for free exactly the portfolio they put you in. And if you just want to take their advice, run with it, do it yourself, you can do that. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. And here's why. The value of Wealthfront is in the automation of habits and strategies that investors should be using on a regular basis but normally aren't. Great investing is a marathon, not a sprint, and little things that you may or may not be familiar with, like automatic tax-loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolio, cross

• 21:22Tim Ferriss?

  More than 10 asset classes and dividend reinvestment add up to very large amounts of money over longer periods of time. Wealthfront, as I mentioned, since it's using software instead of retail locations, et cetera, can offer all of this at low costs that were previously completely impossible. Right off the bat, you never pay commissions or account fees. For everything, they charge 0.25% per year on assets above the first 15,000, which is managed for free if you use my link, wealthfront.com/tim. That is less than $5 a month to invest a $30,000 account, for instance. Now, normally, when I have a sponsor on this show, it's because I use them and recommend them. In this case, it's a little different. I don't use Wealthfront yet because I'm

• 22:03Tim Ferriss?

  not allowed to. Here's the deal. They wanted to sponsor this podcast, but because of SEC regulations, companies that invest your money are not allowed to use client testimonials. So I couldn't be a user and have them on the podcast. But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me, in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account. But just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free. There's no downside that I can think of.