In Tools of Titans, author Tim Ferriss aggregates tips, tricks, and keys to success from some of the most influential and successful individuals in the world. Much like Tribe of Mentors, the sections are broken out into short interviews from Tim’s podcast. They’re easily digestible and packed with useful information. I’ve had this book for a long time, and I never picked it up until I enjoyed Tribe of Mentors. My favorite quotes and takeaways are below.
“A master chief, the senior enlisted rank in the Navy…told us he was giving us an invaluable piece of advice that he’d learned from another master chief during the Vietnam War…he told us that when you’re a leader, people are going to mimic your behavior, at a minimum…It’s a guarantee. So here’s the key piece of advice, this is all he said: ‘Calm is contagious.'” – Pavel Tsatsouline
“I would say to have no fear. I mean, you’ve got one chance here to do amazing things, and being afraid of being wrong or making a mistake or fumbling is not how you do something of impact. You have to be fearless.” – Adam Gazzaley on “Advice to your 30-year-old self”
“The secret is to show up,do the work, and go home.” – Coach Sommer
“To do original work: It’s not necessary to know something nobody else knows. It is necessary to believe something few other people believe.” – Marc Andreesen
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin (via Casey Neistat)
“Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix…At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That’s one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that’s the thing you’ll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%.” – Scott Adams
“The biggest mistake you can make is to accept the norms of your time.” – Neil Strauss
“Truth is, young creative minds don’t need more ideas, they need to take more responsibility with the ideas they’ve already got.” – Scott Belsky
“When possible, always give the money to charity as it allows you to interact with people well above your pay grade.” – B.J. Novak
Always have a running list of three people: “Someone senior to you that you want to emulate, a peer who you think is better at the job than you are and who you respect, and someone subordinate who’s doing the job you did…better than you did.” – Chris Fussell
“Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.” – Naval Ravikant