Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — January 20, 2023

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of 5-Bullet Friday, a list of what I’m pondering and exploring. Please feel free to forward this along to friends.

What I’m rereading

“A Pickpocket’s Tale: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins” by Adam Green (@Adam___Green) (The New Yorker). This was sent to me by Jeffrey Zurofsky (“JZ” from The 4-Hour Chef). Here’s one paragraph to give you a taste:
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​When Robbins hits his stride, it starts to seem as if the only possible explanation is an ability to start and stop time. At the Rio, a man’s cell phone disappeared from his jacket and was replaced by a piece of fried chicken; the cigarettes from a pack in one man’s breast pocket materialized loose in the side pocket of another; a woman’s engagement ring vanished and reappeared attached to a key ring in her husband’s pants; a man’s driver’s license disappeared from his wallet and turned up inside a sealed bag of M&M’s in his wife’s purse.

Song I’m listening to

“Waffle” (Tom Lord-Alge Mix) (Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music) by Sevendust (@Sevendust). Sevendust is one of my favorite bands, especially for exercise, and they are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. I only experienced the latter for the first time in fall of 2021 with Dave Elitch.

Comedy I’m watching

​Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy. I saw Sheng Wang (@shengwangtime) open for Ali Wong (@aliwong) in NYC a few years ago, and I laughed my ass off. He’s dry like Mitch Hedberg and takes on the tough task of clean comedy like Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan). Here’s the description: “Sheng Wang delivers a laid-back set on juicing, mammograms, how snoring is an evolutionary mistake, and the existential angst of buying pants from Costco.” I’m omitting links to trailers on purpose, as I don’t think they do the special justice.

​​Lecture I’m watching

“Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love.” This speech focuses on one topic: finding your dream path, where what’s easy for you is hard for others and what’s fun for you is work for others. Delivered by former basketball player and legendary venture capitalist Bill Gurley (@bgurley), it contains good reminders for people in all stages of life.

The below quotes are all from one of his case studies, Bobby Knight…

Quotes I'm pondering

“You don’t play against opponents; you play against the game of basketball.”​
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“If I came in to recruit your son, I would tell you, your wife, and your son that I will be the most demanding coach your son can play for.”
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​“When my time on earth is gone and my activities here are past, I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!”
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​— Bobby Knight​
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You can complement this edition of 5-Bullet Friday with this short clip of magical phenom Richard Turner and his mind-bending card mechanics; my interview with cohost of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, the amazing Penn Jillette; and my conversation with the incredible magician and endurance artist David Blaine.
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And, as always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.
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Have a wonderful weekend, all.
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Much love to you and yours,
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Tim

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P.P.S.

​The tenth episode of The Legend of CØCKPUNCH podcast dropped this week. Since we’ve now covered the eight greater houses, things are about to get interesting…