Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — July 24, 2020

5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

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

What I’m listening to —
“Una Rosa Blanca” (YouTube, Spotify) by Ibrahim Maalouf (@ibrahimmaaloufofficial). Ibrahim is widely regarded as one of the most gifted trumpeters of his generation. He is also a pioneer in fusing pop, soul, electro, hip-hop, and French chansons with the music of his Lebanese roots.

Exercise I’m doing once per week —
Single-arm kettlebell swings. Here is a great two-minute tutorial on this exercise from Karen Smith, Master SFG. If kettlebell (KB) swings are totally foreign to you, I suggest starting with this two-handed swing tutorial. I also suggest starting with light weight. This exercise forces you to do counter-rotational work and is incredible for the core and posterior chain. Put more simply, KB swings hit just about everything besides your pectorals. Add some pushups to your routine (more aggressive for pushups: add a weight vest or Rucksack, or perform ring turn-out (RTO) pushups), and you’ve checked the boxes for simple all-body stimulus. These days, I keep my “workout” (seems a little short for such a dignified term) simple and do less than possible to avoid injury. Here’s what it looks like with a 24 kg (53 lb) kettlebell: 20 two-handed swings, followed by 25–50 single-arm swings with each arm, which are all done as one unbroken set. P.S. A few notes on RTO pushups for those interested: watch the video and note that (1) the knuckles are parallel with each other except for at the top, where there should be a rather extreme external rotation; (2) the shoulders are very protracted (note the rounded thoracic/mid-back), except for in the bottom position; (3) you are going as low as is safely possible; and (4) I recommend performing RTO pushups with a four-second lowering (negative).

Interview I’m reading —
“From Productivity to Psychedelics: Tim Ferriss Has Changed His Mind About Success” in GQ (@GQMagazine). It might seem strange that I’m reading an interview with myself, but it’s only 90% narcissism. I seldom do interviews these days, and I was very curious to see how this one would turn out. Why? There are rare times when I feel “on,” and this conversation with Clay Skipper (@SkipperClay) was one of them. In the end product, we discuss rethinking productivity, my quarantine philosophy, why not everything that is meaningful can be measured, and how the success I set out to find 13 years ago looks quite different from the success I’m focused on now. The article only includes ~15% of what we covered over a 1–2-hour call, so perhaps we’ll do something with the full audio later. Thanks for plumbing the depths, Clay.

Related collaboration that I’m excited to launch today —
Supporting MAPS via Every.org. MDMA-assisted psychotherapy holds incredible promise for not only treating patients—including many veterans, first-responders, and victims of sexual abuse—with treatment-resistant PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) but curing them of PTSD altogether. PTSD is notoriously difficult to treat, but early trials with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy showed that with just 2–3 sessions, 67% of participants were no longer diagnosable with PTSD 12 months later. This is all the more impressive when you consider that many of the patients had suffered for 15+ years beforehand. Now, there is finally a clear path—completing Phase 3 studies—for making MDMA a legal medicine for millions of people who are suffering. I’ve pledged $1M, we are close to the target finish line of $30M total, and every dollar matters. If the spirit moves you, please consider donating what you can at every.org/TIM25. The first 2,000 people who support the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) with my link will get a free $25 giving credit that you can then apply to MAPS or to any US 501(c)(3) nonprofit that you like on Every.org. All funds raised for MAPS go directly towards the Capstone Challenge, and I will have some big news to share about it very soon.

Short apocryphal story I’ve read several times this week —
The below is mostly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi but alternately attributed to Mullah Nasrudin/Nasreddin, a Sufi philosopher who died in present-day Turkey in the thirteenth century. I adapted the following from this page.

There is a story of a woman in India who was upset that her son was eating too much sugar. No matter how much she chided him, he continued to satisfy his sweet tooth. Totally frustrated, she decided to take her son to see his great hero, Mahatma Gandhi.

She approached the great leader respectfully and said,

“Sir, my son eats too much sugar. It is not good for his health. Would you please advise him to stop eating it?”

Gandhi listened to the woman carefully, turned, and spoke to her son,

“Go home and come back in two weeks.”

The woman was perplexed. She took the boy by the hand and went home.

Two weeks later, she returned, boy in hand. Gandhi motioned for them to come forward. He looked directly at the boy and said,

“Boy, you should stop eating sugar. It is not good for your health.”

The boy nodded and promised he would not continue this habit any longer.

The boy’s mother turned to Gandhi and asked,

“Why didn’t you tell him that two weeks ago when I brought him here to see you?”

Gandhi smiled and said,

“Mother, two weeks ago, I was still eating sugar myself.”

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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.

Have a wonderful weekend, all.

Much love to you and yours,

Tim

P.S. Deal of the Week — UCAN. I was introduced to UCAN by Dr. Peter Attia, who said there is no carb in the world like it. I was amazed to see his results with glucometer readings and endurance reports. I now use UCAN’s powders to power my workouts, and I use the low-calorie bars throughout the day to stay sharp longer. Controlling blood sugar is a key component of achieving metabolic health, and UCAN’s patented ingredient, SuperStarch, has the remarkable ability to provide a steady release of energy without spiking blood sugar levels. This helps me focus through long days and last longer in training. It’s amazing to keep hunger in check—avoiding fatigue and loss of focus—without making metabolic compromises. I love it. You can try a variety of different products and flavors at ucan.co/tim. If you’re looking for a place to start, I love their chocolate energy bars and their lemon energy powder. Save 20% when you use code TIM at checkout. Offer valid until August 7th, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. PST.

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