The Tim Ferriss Experiment Cometh! All 13 Episodes At Once, House of Cards-Style

Let’s get this party started!

For months now, I’ve wanted show you all of my TV episodes.

Over the last year, the team at ZPZ (the production company behind Anthony Bourdain) and Turner Broadcasting have helped me capture incredible footage and characters all over the country. I’m thrilled with every episode.

Alas, for reasons I won’t bore you with, the TV broadcasting puzzle piece is taking ages to sort out. I’ve been fighting hard behind the scenes, and it’s been a sumnabitch process for an impatient Long Island boy (me).

The waiting has driven me absolutely insane. I’ve felt a lot like this:

But…no más waiting already!

Enough. While the entertainment folks are sussing out cable details, I’d like to give you everything — and I mean EVERYTHING — digitally.

Turner’s all for it. This world is a changin’, and distribution is changing with it.

ON MAY 27, ALL 13 EPISODES WILL BE RELEASED ON ITUNES SIMULTANEOUSLY.

In each episode, I team up with world-class teachers to “hack” a different skill….then I get thrown through a gauntlet of tests. Sometimes I do well, othertimes I face-plant and decimate myself. You get to see all the struggles, nervous breakdowns, and little breakthroughs. It ain’t always pretty, but it’s real.

Here are some of the topics I jump into:

Music and drummingRally car racingLanguage learningBrazilian jiu-jitsu (and chess) — ouch.Parkour — super, double ouch.High-stakes poker (with real money)Tactical gun fightingDating and the pick-up gameBuilding a business in one week (I co-teach a student)GolfLong-distance swimming (I co-teach a student)SurfingAnd the mysterious finale episode…

And another thing…

One of the things that bugs me most about TV is that five days of shooting gets cut down to 30 minutes. In reality, it’s around 21:30 after subtracting commercials. Whaaaa?! “Isn’t that a waste?” you ask. Yes, it’s a maddening amount of great footage that ends up on the cutting room floor.

I want to give you more.

So…

If you’ve bought — or buy — an iTunes season pass (click “View in iTunes” here to purchase), more good news: you’ll get a ton of bonus footage. Current estimates are 10+ minutes of extras per episode, and I’m fighting to release much more footage into the wild, hopefully hours and hours.

If you can’t use iTunes or can’t afford to pay, here’s the solution: Each week after the May 27th launch, one episode will be released on YouTube for free viewing. It won’t contain bonus footage, and you’ll have to wait 3+ months to see the whole season, but you’ll be able to see them all.

If you’d like a sneak peek, the first episode can be watched here for free.

Much more coming soon, and thank you for your patience! It’s been a long road for everyone. Phew.

View the original article here

Premiere! The Tim Ferriss Experiment – Live Tweeting, Giveaways, Q&A, Behind-The-Scenes, and More

The big night has come: the premiere of The Tim Ferriss Experiment!

Starting now (3pm PT, 6pm ET) and ending around 8pm PT/11pm ET on December 1st, I’ll be doing everything possible to get #TFX to trend high on Twitter. If you’re seeing this the day after, it’s still important!

This is a new critical metric that TV show execs are using to determine success or failure. Traditional Nielsen rankings aren’t enough.

Want to see my attempts to deconstruct parkour, professional poker, guns, language learning, and much more? Please help me ensure this first episode does well!

See below for how you can best help…

FIRST, WHAT I’LL BE DOING

- Live Twitter Q&A from 4:30pm PT (7:30pm ET) to at least 6pm PT (9pm ET). Ask me anything, but you must include #TFX.
- Giveaways! I’ll be giving away super cool stuff, including:

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you’re up for it (and it’d mean the world to me), here are the things you can do to help. This TV show has been years in the making…

If you have cable, tune in to “The Tim Ferriss Experiment” on HLN at 5pm PT (8pm ET). If you can’t make it today, please DVR it and watch in the next few days. It counts.If you don’t have cable, please watch the show online starting at exactly 5pm PT (8pm ET). YouTube is here, and iTunes is here.  I’ll offer play-by-play commentary and live Twitter Q&A on what you’re seeing.In any case, please participate in the live Twitter Q&A and giveaways! Use #TFX as much as possible. Original tweets are worth more than retweets of other people.Do whatever you can to get people to use #TFX on Twitter between now and midnight!  Rally the troops, your friends, your mailing lists, your Facebook friends, your imaginary friends… Offer giveaways of your own using #TFX, reuse your most popular tweets using #TFX, etc.In short, as Gary Oldman in The Professional would say:

IMAGES OF QUOTES & ANIMATED GIFS

Special thanks to Brendan Gahan, who helped organized the below materials.

Sharing any of the below helps ensure I can film more episodes for y’all. Thank you in advance! Much more content coming (about Jony Ive, actually) soon. Here goes…

If you feel so inclined, below are some images with quotes from the show as well as a few fun animated gifs for you to easily share. Please note, if you download the images and upload any of them your Twitter account directly, it will take up a bit more real estate in the newsfeed (and lead to more exposure for the show). Have fun and enjoy.

IMAGES

One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes #TFX (IMAGE )
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2) (IMAGE 3)
D.I.S.S. Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing & Stakes #TFX (IMAGE 1)
What’s up now David Lee Roth? #TFX (IMAGE 1)
M.E.D. The Minimum Effective Dose to unlock this song #TFX (IMAGE 1)

GIFS

Swewart showing me the ‘annoying things guitarists do’ (GIF)
That annoying thing guitarists really do, do #TFX (GIF)
The pressure. The pressure. (GIF)
The 80/20 rule (GIF)
Stewart drumming like he lives in The Matrix #TFX (GIF)

QUOTES TO TWEET

I’ve pulled some of my all time favorite quotes, as well as some memorable lines from the show. You can simply click to tweet.

Some of my all time favorites:

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw #TFX (Click To Tweet)
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”#TFX – Winston Churchill (Click To Tweet)
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” #TFX – George Bernard Shaw (Click To Tweet)
“Worrying is like praying for what you don’t want.” #TFX via Aileen Norton Swift (Click To Tweet)
“A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.” #TFX – Bruce Lee (Click To Tweet)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)

Memorable lines from the show:

What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)
What’s up now David Lee Roth #TFX (Click To Tweet)
I need to figure out the minimum effective dose to learning this song, the smallest piece I can focus on to pull this off #TFX (Click To Tweet)
One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes. #TFX (Click To Tweet)
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (Click To Tweet)

Thank you in advance for your support. It’s what keeps me going.

Posted on December 1st, 2013

View the original article here

Premiere TV Episode! “The Tim Ferriss Experiment” — Online for Free

You asked, and I heard you.

To those outside of the US, and to those of you who don’t own TVs — we’ve done two things:

- All episodes of The Tim Ferriss Experiment will be available on iTunes.
– The first full episode is entirely free and available everywhere online! This includes…

Just for this post, I’ve disabled comments below.  Please let me know what you think of Episode One on this page!  This has been a labor of love, and I hope you enjoy it.

ALSO:  For the TV premiere — 8pm ET (5pm PT) this Sunday on HLN — I will be live tweeting (#TFX) from about 7:30-9pm ET (4:30pm-6pm PT), including Q&A, giveaways, and behind-the-scenes goodies.  Please join me!

Much more to come…

Posted on November 26th, 2013

View the original article here

Announcing: “The Tim Ferriss Experiment” on Primetime TV (And How to Join Me)

After ages of planning, I’m VERY excited to share big news with you all.

Starting this December 1st, I will have my own primetime TV show, airing Sundays at 8pm on HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News. I’m both host and co-executive producer, and I’m currently filming my ass off. It’s all part of a big Turner Broadcasting initiative called Upwave.

Here are the basics:

Name of show: The Tim Ferriss Experiment (TFX)
The premise: Showing viewers how to become superhuman through better tools and tricks, not better genetics.
Easily thought of as: “Anthony Bourdain meets Jason Bourne” or “Jackass meets A Beautiful Mind”
Production company: Zero Point Zero (ZPZ), the team behind Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and Parts Unknown.
Spirit animal: Ocelot.

Synopsis:

In his #1 bestsellers, “The 4-­Hour Workweek,” “The 4­-Hour Body” and “The 4-­Hour Chef,” Tim Ferriss proposes radically counter-­intuitive solutions that take readers from zero to hero in minimal time.

Newsweek calls him “the world’s best human guinea pig,” as he tests the extremes for the rest of us. He believes that nearly any skill can be “hacked” and learned in 1/100th the time most people expect… but can he do it in a matter of days?

The Tim Ferriss Experiment (TFX) will push Ferriss to the breaking point as he attempts just that.

In each episode, Tim will find the world’s most unorthodox teachers and – together — demystify some of the world’s coolest and most dangerous skills. Sometimes he’ll succeed, and other times, he’ll fail spectacularly while risking life and limb.

Tim believes that there is the potential for greatness in every “normal” person, and as he overcomes his own fears each week, he’ll help viewers do the same.

[TIM NOTE: Sorry I can't share exact episodes yet, but just imagine Jason Bourne + my biggest fears + my personal bucket list, all wrapped into one. What would *you* like to see me tackle? Please let me know in the comments, as we still have a few open slots!]

Would you like to join me for a week? Here is one opportunity, which expires tonight (Sorry!) at midnight: Swim with Tim. There will be more fun opportunities if you miss this one.

Next: would you like to interview me about TFX for your TV show, magazine, radio program, podcast, blog, e-mail newsletter, or other? It would mean the world to me, and I have plenty of insider stories and takeaways. If interested in discussing options, please fill out this short form here.

More details coming soon!

Thank you all so much for your support. It’s what keeps me going.

Posted on October 13th, 2013

View the original article here

My Standing Desk Experiment

For the past three weeks I’ve been standing while I work, instead of my usual sitting. I have some interesting results to share with you in a moment, but first let me tell you why I’ve been doing all this standing.

It all started after a couple of tweets came across my radar in the same day about the negative health effects of sitting. It turns out that sitting all day every day for work might not be good for your health and wellness. Who would have thought?

The studies and experiments I found really caught my attention, partly because I’ve been sitting through 40- to 60-hour work weeks every week for the better part of 15 years. Now that I’m in my mid-30s, I’m starting to really consider my current health and habits and trying to do a better job of giving myself the best shot at living a long and active life.

Here’s the evidence about what sitting can do to you:

It turns out that some of these studies of how sitting down can negatively affect your health have been around for a while. I seem to remember hearing about them a couple of years ago, but brushed it all off, thinking that my modest exercise regimen was counteracting all the sitting.

These studies seem to show the opposite. No matter if you exercise, sitting too much is dangerous to your health.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. Too much sitting may kill you, but what about too much standing?

A review of 43 studies by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found only a weak correlation between sitting and mortality.

In a Time Magazine report, a researcher on Ergonomics from Cornell noted that “Standing to work has long known to be problematic, it is more tiring, it dramatically increases the risks of carotid atherosclerosis (ninefold) because of the additional load on the circulatory system, and it also increases the risks of varicose veins, so standing all day is unhealthy.”

OK, so it may be a little more complicated than just sitting vs. standing. As always, personally I’m going to assume that too much of either is probably a bad thing.

Given that I was sitting through 100% of my work day, and probably 85% of my total day, after reading all these studies I decided to try doing a lot more standing.

About three weeks ago I rustled up some boxes from around the house, put the boxes on my desk, perched my laptop on top of the boxes and pushed my chair out of the way. I’ve since been standing up for the majority of my work day for the past few weeks.

There are also purpose-built desks you can buy to set up a standing (or even treadmill arrangement), but I’m happy now with my boxes at a height where my arms bend at about 90 degrees while typing.

At first the standing was rather uncomfortable. During the first few days I could only get through a couple of hours at a time before taking a sitting break. Now I can stand most of the day if I decide to, with little breaks to walk around every hour or two.

There’s no question, standing takes more energy and tends to make you sore compared to sitting. For a little foot cushion I’ve folded up a yoga mat and have been standing on that, which is more comfortable for me than just standing on the hard wood floors.

So far, my standing desk experiment has had several positive outcomes, with just a few slight negatives. Here are my results:

This is the most exciting and useful benefit so far: I have more energy during the work day. I haven’t experienced the same mid-afternoon lulls that I used to while sitting. I’m also more energized during phone calls, Skype sessions and while recording video and audio. This is a huge benefit and adds to the energy gains I found after quitting my coffee habit last year. I have lost three pounds over the past three weeks, despite exercising less than usual (due to a cold) and making no changes to my diet. I’m not sure if this is directly related to standing, but keep in mind that an average person will burn 60 more calories an hour when standing versus sitting. That’s 2,400 extra calories a week if you add 8 hours of standing, 5 days a week. A pound of body fat equals about 3,500 calories, so the weight loss actually makes sense. I’m more likely to be working while in front of my laptop as opposed to the occasional stretches of sitting like a zombie I used to fall prey to. It’s harder to nod off or lose focus when standing. On the slightly negative side, I definitely feel fatigued in the legs and back after a long day of standing. On the other hand, it feels great when I do sit down, I don’t have that numb in the rear end and legs feeling anymore, and I can stand without fatigue much longer when at concerts and other standing events.

In all, I’m really happy to have made the change and recommend that people try standing at least a little bit throughout the day. The increased energy and focus is worth the effort, even if the long-term health benefits don’t turn out to be so major.

If you give standing a try, remember that you’ll need to ease into it for about a week before standing becomes more comfortable. Reach out on Twitter and tell me (@CorbettBarr) or Leo (@zen_habits) about your results.

Read more about sitting (and standing) and the associated health implications:

—
Tweet
Corbett Barr writes about lifestyle businesses at CorbettBarr.com and about how to get more visitors for your website or blog at Think Traffic. Follow him on Twitter.

View the original article here

A radical experiment in empathy: Sam Richards at TED.com

By leading the Americans in his audience at TEDxPSU step by step through the thought process, sociologist Sam Richards sets an extraordinary challenge: can they understand — not approve of, but understand — the motivations of an Iraqi insurgent? And by extension, can anyone truly understand and empathize with another? (Recorded at TEDxPSU, October 2010 at Penn State University in University Park, PA. Duration: 18:07)

Watch Sam Richards’ talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 900+ TEDTalks.

View the original article here