Pod Insights The Tim Ferriss Show #137: How to Practice Poverty and Reduce Fear About this episode Sometimes mindset is everything. That's why I hope you pay close attention to this episode of the podcast. This two-thousand-year-old letter from Seneca the Younger is a practical guide for constructing world-class habits. The careful listener will find an extremely practical blueprint for optimizing performance in high-stress situations.
Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast.
If you enjoy this lesson, I highly recommend listening to more of these letters. You can find 27 hours of these letters at The Tao of Seneca: Practical Letters from a Stoic Master http://www.audible.com/series?asin=B01AKQ5F1M&source_code=AUDGBWS1110159FHI. If you want to find more audiobooks that I suggest, head over to audible.com/timsbooks http://www.audible.com/mt/TimsBooks.
Enjoy!
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–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 episode is also brought to you by Headspace https://www.headspace.com/tim, the world's most popular meditation app (more than 4,000,000 users). It's used in more than 150 countries, and many of my closest friends swear by it. Try Headspace's free Take10 program https://www.headspace.com/tim — 10 minutes of guided meditation a day for 10 days. It's like a warm bath for your mind. Meditation doesn't need to be complicated or expensive, and it's had a huge impact on my life. Try Headspace for free https://www.headspace.com/tim for a few days and see what I mean.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start to shake. Can I answer your personal question?
0:08 Speaker 01 No, I would assume that's a big time.
0:12 Speaker 00 I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.
0:23 Tim Ferriss? This episode is brought to you by Headspace. More than 80% of the people I have interviewed, world-class performers across the military, entertainment, sports, and beyond, all have some type of meditative practice. I tried for years and years and failed miserably. The key is making it simple, and you can dramatically improve your life in just 10 minutes a day, and technology can help you. This change comes through guided meditation, and Headspace is by far the most popular app for this purpose. More than 4 million users, it's meditation made simple. So what I recommend is that you take this practice, meditation, which is rooted in thousands of years of tradition, supported by thousands of scientific studies, and try
1:06 Tim Ferriss? it for 10 minutes a day for 10 days. That's all you need to do. You could also check out the founder, Andy Puddicombe's TED Talk, which has more than 5.5 million views. His last name is P U D D I C O M B E, if you want to look that up. But otherwise, download the free Headspace app, I have it on my phone, and begin their Take 10 program. For 10 days of guided meditation, completely free, 10 minutes a day, that's all it takes, you should give it a shot. Headspace.com/Tim. Just go to Headspace.com/Tim.
1:42 Tim 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.
2:27 Tim 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.
3:13 Tim 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. Now, 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,
3:56 Tim Ferriss? 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. Now, I do have to read a mandatory disclaimer. Wealthfront Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit wealthfront.com to read their full disclosure. So, check it out, guys. This is one of the hottest, most innovative companies coming out of Silicon Valley, and they're killing it.
4:41 Tim Ferriss? They've become massively popular. Just take a look, see what portfolio they would create for you, and you can use that information however you want. Wealthfront.com/Tim.
4:53 Tim Ferriss? Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. It is usually my job to deconstruct world-class performers of some type, whether they are from sports, military, chess, entertainment, god knows where. They come from everywhere, and you find a lot of commonalities across them. This episode, though, is a special episode. I'm going to hand the mic over to Seneca the Younger. And what you are going to hear is roughly 2,000 years old, and it teaches you how to deconstruct or construct a world-class life. And suffice to say, Seneca and his letters have had an enormous impact on my life. I revisit his writing many dozens of times per year.
5:34 Tim Ferriss? And this particular letter has affected me in myriad of ways. Letter 18 on Festivals and Fasting. And I want you to pay particular attention to a few passages that begin around 2 minutes and 20 seconds in, with the line, "Set aside a certain number of days." And what this will teach you and elucidate is how to practice poverty and reduce fear. Specifically, you can think of it as inoculating yourself against fear by practicing the worst-case scenarios. This is an incredibly powerful concept, that you can rehearse the things that you fear to take the fear away from them and out of yourself.
6:15 Tim Ferriss? It is extremely practical, and I do this with short-term fasting, which, of course, you shouldn't do without medical supervision. I must say that. I'm not a doctor, don't play one on the internet. I do that with wearing the same clothing, for instance, like a white t-shirt and jeans for... A week or so, or you could do it by eating very cheap food, rice and beans, for instance, two to three dollars a day in total cost for a week. But I will let Seneca get into it because he will do a much better job than I could ever dare to attempt. I implore you to listen to more of these letters. The 27 hours or so of audio that I just put out is in the Tao of Seneca. This is not a big moneymaker for me. It's something I've wanted to do for decades, just to make these letters available to you
6:58 Tim Ferriss? guys in audio format. So you can do it, say, on the way to coffee or on the way to work, once per day in the morning. You can digest one of these letters and they can set you up for optimal performance in high-stress situations, so you don't overly react and hurt yourself and others. So, you can check out the Tao of Seneca at audible.com/timsbooks. Check it out. You can listen to samples. And for those of you who downloaded it a few days ago, there was an issue with the longer "On the Shortness of Life" essay, so you can skip that. We're going to be removing it, but all the other letters should be in fine form. And this is one of my favorites. Like I said, Letter 18, "On Festivals and Fasting." Pay attention, it's changed my life.
7:42 Tim Ferriss? I think it can do the same for you. And if you want additional resources, I will try to include them in the show notes. So, fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. And check out the Tao of Seneca at audible.com/timsbooks. Enjoy.
8:00 Speaker 03 Letter 18. On Festivals and Fasting.
8:08 Speaker 03 It is the month of December, and yet the city is at this very moment in a sweat. License is given to the general merrymaking. Everything resounds with mighty preparations, as if the Saturnalia differed at all from the usual business day. So true it is that the difference is nil, that I regard as correct the remark of the man who said, "Once December was a month, now it is a year."
8:35 Speaker 03 If I had you with me, I should be glad to consult you and find out what you think should be done. Whether we ought to make no change in our daily routine, or whether, in order not to be out of sympathy with the ways of the public, we should dine in gayer fashion and doth the toga. As it is now, we Romans have changed our dress for the sake of pleasure and holiday-making, though in former times that was only customary when the state was disturbed and had fallen on evil days. I am sure that, if I know you are right, playing the part of an umpire, you would have wished that we should be neither like the liberty-capped throng in all ways, nor in all ways unlike them.
9:18 Speaker 03 Unless, perhaps, this is just the season when we ought to lay down the law to the soul and bid it be alone in refraining from pleasures just when the whole mob has let itself go in pleasures. For this is the surest proof which a man can get of his own constancy, if he neither seeks the things which are seductive and allure him to luxury, nor is led into them. It shows much more courage to remain dry and sober when the mob is drunk and vomiting, but it shows greater self-control to refuse to withdraw oneself and to do what the crowd does, but in a different way. Thus neither making oneself conspicuous, nor becoming one of the crowd.
10:00 Speaker 03 For one may keep holiday without extravagance. I am so firmly determined, however, to test the constancy of your mind that, drawing from the teachings of great men, I shall give you also a lesson. Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while, "Is this the condition that I feared?"
10:31 Speaker 03 It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence. In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself by gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil. If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes. Such is the course which those men have followed who, in their imitation of poverty, have every month come almost to want, that they might never recoil from what they had so often rehearsed.
11:16 Speaker 03 You need not suppose that I mean meals like Timon's, or pauper's huts, or any other device which luxurious millionaires use to beguile the tedium of their lives. Let the pallet be a real one, and the coarse cloak. Let the bread be hard and grimy. Endure all this for three or four days at a time, sometimes for more, that it may be a test of yourself instead of a mere hobby. Then, I assure you, my dear Lucilius, you will leap for joy when filled with a pennyworth of food, and you will understand that a man's peace of mind does not depend upon fortune. For, even when angry, she grants enough for our needs.
12:02 Speaker 03 There is no reason, however, why you should think that you are doing anything great, for you will merely be doing what many thousands of slaves and many thousands of poor men are doing every day. But, you may credit yourself with this item, that you will not be doing it under compulsion, and that it will be as easy for you to endure it permanently as to make the experiment from time to time. Let us practise our strokes on the dummy. Let us become intimate with poverty, so that fortune may not catch us off our guard. We shall be rich with all the more comfort if we once learn how far poverty is from being a burden.
12:43 Speaker 03 Even Epicurus, the teacher of pleasure, used to observe stated intervals, during which he satisfied his hunger in niggardly fashion. He wished to see whether he thereby fell short of full and complete happiness, and if so, by what amount he fell short, and whether this amount was worth purchasing at the price of great effort. At any rate, he makes such a statement in the well-known letter written to Polyainus in the archonship of Carinus. Indeed, he boasts that he himself lived on less than a penny, but that Metrodorus, whose progress was not yet so great, needed a whole penny. Do you think that there can be fullness on such fare?
13:26 Speaker 03 Yes, and there is pleasure also. Not that shifty and fleeting pleasure which needs a fillip now and then, but a pleasure that is steadfast and sure. For though water, barley meal, and crusts of barley bread are not a cheerful diet, yet it is the highest kind of pleasure to be able to derive pleasure from this sort of food, and to have reduced one's needs to that modicum which no unfairness of fortune can snatch away. Even prison fare is more generous, and those who have been set apart for capital punishment are not so meanly fed by the man who is to execute them. Therefore, what a noble soul must one have
14:07 Speaker 03 to descend of one's own free will to a diet which even those who have been sentenced to death have not to fear. This is indeed forestalling the spear thrusts of fortune. So, begin, my dear Lucilius, to follow the custom of these men, and set apart certain days on which you shall withdraw from your business and make yourself at home with the scantiest fare. Establish business relations with poverty.
14:36 Speaker 03 Dare, O my friend, to scorn the sight of wealth, and mould thyself to kinship with thy God; for he alone is in kinship with God, who has scorned wealth. Of course, I do not forbid you to possess it, but I would have you reach the point at which you possess it dauntlessly. This can be accomplished only by persuading yourself that you can live happily without it, as well as with it, and by regarding riches always as likely to elude you. But now, I must begin to fold up my letter. "Settle your debts first," you cry. "Here is a draught on a procuris; he will pay down the sum."
15:21 Speaker 03 Ungoverned anger begets madness. You cannot help knowing the truth of these words, since you have had not only slaves, but also enemies. But indeed, this emotion blazes out against all sorts of persons; it springs from love as much as from hate, and shows itself not less in serious matters than in jest and sport. And it makes no difference how important the provocation may be, but into what kind of soul it penetrates. Similarly, with fire; it does not matter how great is the flame, but what it falls upon; for solid timbers have repelled a very great fire;
16:03 Speaker 03 conversely, dry and easily inflammable stuff nourishes the slightest spark into a conflagration. So it is with anger, my dear Lucilius; the outcome of a mighty anger is madness, and hence anger should be avoided, not merely that we may escape excess, but that we may have a healthy mind. Farewell.
16:32 Tim 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 have read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short.
17:15 Tim 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.
17:36 Tim 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.
18:21 Tim Ferriss? 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 in 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, et cetera,
19:03 Tim Ferriss? 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 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.
19:45 Tim Ferriss? 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. Now, I do have to read a mandatory disclaimer. Wealthfront, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing in securities involves risks, and there is the possibility of losing money. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please visit wealthfront.com to read their full disclosure. So, check it out, guys.
20:30 Tim Ferriss? This is one of the hottest, most innovative companies coming out of Silicon Valley, and they're killing it. They've become massively popular. Just take a look, see what portfolio they would create for you, and you can use that information however you want. Wealthfront.com/tim.
20:51 Tim Ferriss? This episode is brought to you by Headspace. More than 80% of the people I have interviewed, world-class performers across the military, entertainment, sports, and beyond, all have some type of meditative practice. I tried for years and years and failed miserably. The key is making it simple, and you can dramatically improve your life in just 10 minutes a day, and technology can help you. This change comes through guided meditation, and Headspace is by far the most popular app for this purpose. More than 4 million users, it's meditation made simple. So what I recommend is that you take this practice, meditation, which is rooted in thousands of years of tradition, supported by thousands of scientific studies, and try
21:34 Tim Ferriss? it for 10 minutes a day for 10 days. That's all you need to do. You could also check out the founder, Andy Puddicombe's TED Talk, which has more than 5.5 million views. His last name is P U D D I C O M B E, if you want to look that up. But otherwise, download the free Headspace app, I have it on my phone, and begin their Take 10 program. For 10 days of guided meditation, completely free, 10 minutes a day, that's all it takes, you should give it a shot. Headspace.com/Tim. Just go to Headspace.com/Tim. And until next time, thank you for listening.
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