Popular Tim Ferriss Quotes

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Life

Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.

People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

Reality is negotiable.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Success

When you try to do something big its hard to fail completely.

Life is too short to be small.

To do the impossible, you need to ignore the popular.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Marketing

I always point people to the article ‘1,000 True Fans’ by Kevin Kelly. If you choose your thousand ideal customers or readers properly and find the single author blog that targets that audience, you never have to do any more marketing. You’re done. That is a lesson that very few product developers and marketers have learned, and it’s unfortunate.

Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.

To make a bestseller, there are more customers than just your customers: Selling to the end-user is just one piece of the puzzle. In my case, I needed to first sell myself to the publisher to get marketing support and national retail distribution.

Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Dreams

For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.

I’m not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dream lines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.

Someday is a dis-ease that will take your dreams to the grave with you

Life is too short to be small.

Tim Ferriss Motivational Quotes

Slowing down doesn’t mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.

It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.

Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner

The most important actions are never comfortable.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Goals

For the employee, the goal is to have full access to necessary information and as much independent decision-making ability as possible. For the entrepreneur, the goal is to grant as much information and independent decision-making ability to employees or contractors as possible.

I’m not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.

A goal without real consequences is wishful thinking. Good follow-through doesn’t depend on the right intentions. It depends on the right incentives.

The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Writing

I do my best writing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. Almost every friend I have who is a consistently productive writer, does their best writing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. My quota is two crappy pages per day. I keep it really low so I’m not so intimidated that I never get started. I will do the gathering of interviews and research throughout the day. I’ll get all my notes and materials together and then I’ll do the synthesis between 10 p.m. to bed, which is usually 4 or 5 a.m.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.

Writing is thought crystalized on a piece of paper, which can then be reviewed.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Time Management

Just a few words on time management: forget all about it.

The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.

I think time management as a label encourages people to view each 24-hour period as a slot in which they should pack as much as possible.

Inspirational Tim Ferriss Quotes

A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.

What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Life is too short to be small.

It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Books

Changing the world doesn’t require much money. Again, think in terms of empowerment and not charity. How much were Gandhi’s teachers paid? How much did it cost to give Dr. Martin Luther King the books that catalyzed his mind and actions?

I gauge success in years, not weeks. The weekend box-office approach to book launches is short sighted and encourages crappy books.

The book is first and foremost something I made for myself.

The reason I was successful in launching my first book with bloggers is this: I assumed that I should spend as much time on a blogger with a million-person readership as I would pitching an editor of a publication with a million person subscription-base.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Reality

I open each class with an explanation of the singular importance of being a “dealmaker.” The manifesto of the dealmaker is simple: Reality is negotiable.

Reality is negotiable.

The manifesto of the dealmaker is simple: Reality is negotiable.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Decisions

For the employee, the goal is to have full access to necessary information and as much independent decision-making ability as possible. For the entrepreneur, the goal is to grant as much information and independent decision-making ability to employees or contractors as possible.

If only I had more money is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment – now and not later.

To have an uncommon lifestyle, you need to develop the uncommon habit of making decisions, both for yourself and for others.

Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you’re still living the consequences of bad decisions made 5, 10, 20 years ago shouldn’t stop you from making good decisions now. If you let pride stop you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from now for the same reasons.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Competition

The fishing is best where the fewest go. There is just less competition for bigger goals.

Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

It’s lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for “realistic” goals, paradoxically making them the most time-consuming and energy consuming. It is easier to raise $10,000,000 than it is $1,000,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s.

A recession is very bad for publicly traded companies, but it’s the best time for startups. When you have massive layoffs, there’s more competition for available jobs, which means that an entrepreneur can hire freelancers at a lower cost.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Passion

Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all. When people suggest you follow your “passion” or your “bliss,” I propose that they are, in fact, referring to the same singular concept: excitement. This brings us full circle. The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”

One can steal ideas, but no one can steal execution or passion.

Converting your own passions into a job is the fastest method for eliminating any passion you once had.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Focus

As far as income goes, there are three currencies in the world; most people ignore two. The three currencies are time, income and mobility, in descending order of importance. Most people focus exclusively on income.

Being selective-doing less-is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.

Avoid results-by volume approach, instead focus on few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

Focus on being productive instead of busy.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Giving

Changing the world doesn’t require much money. Again, think in terms of empowerment and not charity. How much were Gandhi’s teachers paid? How much did it cost to give Dr. Martin Luther King the books that catalyzed his mind and actions?

That’s precisely the question everyone should be asking-why the hell not? – Why not you, why not now.

Doing less is not being lazy. Don’t give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.

People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Learning

Age doesn’t matter. An open mind does.

Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can’t do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.

Personally, I now aim for one month of overseas relocation or high-intensity learning (tango, fighting, whatever) for every two months of work projects.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on School

I was an All-American in wrestling in high school, was National Champion in Chinese kickboxing in 1999 and have spent a lot of time around professional athletes, which includes my eight-plus years as CEO of a sports nutrition company.

Learn to be difficult when it counts. In school as in life, having a reputation for being assertive will help you receive preferential treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time.

You and your friends could plan the trip of a lifetime in 6-18 months to visit the completed school, teeming with dozens or hundreds of students who greet you with smiles and thank you letters. You’ll know it’s your school because your names will be on the door.

I have scary eyes. I look like the guy in ‘American History X,’ yes. I remember coming home from school and asking my mum if I could get an eye transplant, and of course she declined.

Tim Ferriss Quotes on Universe

Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way.

The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect.

Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.

Tim Ferriss Quotes Don’t Work Harder

If you don’t have time, the truth is, you don’t have priorities. Think harder; don’t work harder.

Tim Ferriss Quotes about Work

Fun things happen when you earn dollars, live on pesos, and compensate in rupees.

Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should Work is not all of life. Your co-workers shouldn’t be your only friends. Schedule life and defend it just as you would an important business meeting. Never tell yourself “I’ll just get it done this weekend.”

 

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