Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — May 22, 2020

5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Bullet Friday,” a list of what I’m enjoying or pondering.

What I’m reading —
Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir No. 1 in the Paris Review. This is a simply stunning interview of Mary Karr (@marykarrlit) from 2009. I’ve read it multiple times, highlighted nearly every page, and saved my scans to Evernote. That’s how much goodness I think it contains. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny.

What I’m rewatching and sharing —
“How MDMA is being used to treat PTSD” from The Economist. This seven-minute video is beautifully done, and I highly recommend a quick watch. Here’s a portion of the description, edited for length: “The FDA has labeled MDMA a breakthrough treatment…. In a recent study, more than 60% of patients no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD after MDMA treatment. For Jonathan, a suicidal veteran, conventional treatments hadn’t worked. He saw this trial as his last hope, and for him, the treatment was a revelation.”

What I’ve been preparing for you all —
100 free signed copies of Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way! I loved The Obstacle is the Way so much that I actually produced the audiobook version. This book has helped me turn problems upside down, manage fear, and even uncover unique opportunities. It’s a collection of stories and principles about Stoicism, which I consider one of the best “operating systems” for thriving in high-stress environments.

The book is worth reading multiple times, and it’s become popular at the highest ranks of the NFL, military, and beyond. Huge thanks to Ryan (@RyanHoliday) for signing 100 copies so that I can mail them out as surprise gifts.

To throw your hat in the ring, please fill out this form before 11:59 PM PT on Tuesday, May 26th, and my team will select 100 folks at random as lucky winners and make an announcement no later than 5 PM PT that Friday. If you don’t win, I still strongly encourage you to listen to my most recent podcast conversation with Ryan and consider getting a copy.

Board game I’m enjoying —
Splendor. This was recommended to me by my brother, and he put it in the “easy” category. It’s simple to learn, and a game can be finished in 30–45 minutes. If you’re looking for something more involved, check out Terraforming Mars.

Quote I’m pondering —
“I realized that I could lose myself in a character. I could live in a character. It was a choice. And when I finished with that, I took a month to remember who I was. ‘What do I believe? What are my politics? What do I like and dislike?’ It took me a while, and I was depressed going back into my concerns and my politics. But there was a shift that had already happened. And the shift was, ‘Wait a second. If I can put Jim Carrey aside for four months, who is Jim Carrey? Who the hell is that?’ ... I know now he does not really exist. He’s ideas. ... Jim Carrey was an idea my parents gave me. Irish-Scottish-French was an idea I was given. Canadian was an idea that I was given. I had a hockey team and a religion and all of these things that cobble together into this kind of Frankenstein monster, this representation. It’s like an avatar. These are all the things I am. You are not an actor, or a lawyer. No one is a lawyer. There are lawyers, law is practiced, but no one is a lawyer. There is no one, in fact, there.”
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey)

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? Let me know! Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Tim

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