#306: Discipline, Sex, Psychedelics, and More — The Return of Drunk Dialing

Now it is the end of broken time.

What if I did the opposite?

I'm a cybernetic organism.

Living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

Parisho.

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Every Friday I send out five bullet points super short of the coolest things I've found that week, which sometimes includes apps, books, documentaries, supplements, gadgets, new self experiments, hacks, tricks, and all sorts of weird stuff that I dig up from around the world. You guys, podcast listeners and book readers have asked me for something short and action packed for a very long time. Because after all, the podcasts, the books, they can be quite long. And that's why I created five bullet Friday. It's become one of my favorite things I do every week. It's free. It's always going to be free. And you can learn more at Tim blog Friday. That's Tim blog Friday. I get asked a lot how I meet guests for the podcast, some of the most amazing people I've ever interacted with, and little known fact, I've met probably 25% of them because they first subscribed to five bullet Friday. So you'll be in good company. It's a lot of fun. 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This episode is a rare exception to the rule, and unlike my usual long form interviews, this is a drunk dialing q and a with you guys, my listeners. So what does that mean? I've done this a few times in the past, including for the celebration of the hundredth episode of this podcast. We're at more than 300 now, so it's been a while. And here's how it works. In preparation for this episode, I went on the social media and pointed people to a google form where they could input their phone numbers and so on. And those people are listeners who wanted to receive a call from me. Then I said, hey, from this time to this time, I'm going to be making phone calls. And I started drinking and dialing, answering your questions, and getting a little frisky along the way. Tequila will do that, and we covered a lot in this episode. I cover all sorts of things, including how Jocko Willink has made me more disciplined. My thoughts on sex as a doorway to higher perception. That was not a topic I expected to get into. And you name it, we cover it. We talk about past addiction to stimulants that I've had and how I've weaned myself off of said stimulants, or at least prioritized abstinence from stimulants. How I determine if a project is working or not. Put another way, how do I decide when I should persevere or quit a project, stop something and move on? And after all, the fastest way to complete something is to leave it undone forever. So that is one topic that we dig into, how I think about teaching and much, much more. So I'll leave it at that. Without further ado, please enjoy this tequila fueled q a with you guys. And thanks for being game. Here we go.

Hello?

Hi, is this Brendan?

Is this Tim Ferriss?

It is Tim Ferriss. Good evening.

Why oh my goodness, this is crazy. Oh man.

Where am I finding I'm doing great? Where are you right now?

I'm actually probably about 3 hours north of where I assume you are. I'm in Dallas, Texas.

Oh, nice. It's a fine town. It's a fine town, Dallas.

Yeah. Have you been through here much or here?

I've been here. I've been there. That's the alcohol talking. Excuse me. I have been there a handful of times as well as Fort Worth, but I've always spent more time in the.

Understandably. Understandably. So. It's a fine community. I was just actually down there yesterday.

Very nice for south by or what were you down here for?

No, I just went down to go to the on a academy and then to get a little workout in and synchronistically enough, you released that podcast with Aubrey just yesterday. I listened to that on the drive.

Great. It's a great gym. So I tell you what, I've got a bunch of phone calls to make, a bunch of booze to drink. So how can I attempt to help? What type of questions might I take a stab at?

Good question. Because I know you collect them. So I actually took a little bit of time once I saw that tweet. I was expecting this phone call. So an easy one that I just wanted to ask because it's been one of the biggest things that you've helped me with. Of all the people that you've introduced me to through all your work is Jocko Willink. So I wanted to know just from your perspective, has having him around in your life made you more disciplined?

That is a fine question. Yes. So having Jocko around in my life, which I will say is also virtual, even though I know Jocko very well, I just spoke to him yesterday on the phone. But simply knowing that Jocko exists in the universe exactly makes me feel like I have a very benevolent yet strict guardian angel who will most certainly give me an occasional pat on the back, but more often a kick in the ass to actually do what needs being done. So Jocko, I think, exemplifies, for me at least, the importance of deciding to embody a given attribute as a means to developing that attribute. So, of course, Jaco is well known for saying, if you want to be tougher, be tougher. Simply meaning in that context that if you want to be tougher, it's not a six month plan, it's not a two year plan, it's not a progression. It is. Do I choose the stairs instead of the elevator when I get up from this table and I need to go to another floor? And it can be a small decision, it can be a big decision, but you want to immediately start making decisions that reflect the characteristic you want to develop. And that, I think, is very powerful. And also, quite frankly, the simplicity of Jocko's approach to many things, including physical fitness and training.

Yeah, I got his book after listening to your podcast and some of his. Like, even the beginner workouts in there, they're so simply put together, but difficult to execute with correct form and at the cadence, the proper cadence and everything like that.

Right.

I think that his principle is simple from extreme ownership, it's like just don't overcomplicate things. And I think that in a way, simplicity is know expression of elegance.

It is absolutely. And also the fact that Jocko does not accept excuses in his own life and certainly doesn't accept them from other people. And as one example, if he's traveling, and you know this from having read the last book, but if he's traveling and he wants to do pull ups and he doesn't have any pull up bar nearby, let's say in a hotel, he will take a towel, go to the parking garage, find something