The Tim Ferriss Show - #147: How to Avoid the Busy Trap (And Other Misuses of Your Time)

Episode Date: March 18, 2016

Today's episode is a bite-sized morsel for your brain and for your life. This is an excerpt from my favorite writing of all time. This letter is #22, "On the Futility of Halfway Measures." As usual, Seneca takes a little time in his preamble to get warmed up. That is his style. He seems to enjoy feeling out the recipient of his letter before jumping into the details. I love this letter because it addresses how we spend our time, which is one of the biggest stresses for all people, and especially entrepreneurs. My favorite portion is: "Hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance." I encourage you to listen to this and think of ways that you can adapt Seneca's wisdom to your own life. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim. This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run. ***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

optimal minimal at this altitude i can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking can i answer your personal questions now what is your name i'm a cybernetic organism living tissue over metal endoskeleton this episode is brought to you by ag1, the daily foundational nutritional supplement that supports whole body health. I do get asked a lot what I would take if I could only take one supplement, and the true answer is invariably AG1. It simply covers a ton of bases. I usually drink it in the mornings and frequently take their travel packs with me on the road. So what is AG1? AG1 is a science-driven

formulation of vitamins, probiotics, and whole food sourced nutrients. In a single scoop, AG1 gives you support for the brain, gut, and immune system. So take ownership of your health and try AG1 today. You will get a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free AG1 travel packs with your first subscription purchase. So learn more, check it out. Go to drinkag1.com slash Tim. That's drinkag1, the number one, drinkag1.com slash Tim. Last time, drinkag1.com slash Tim. Check it out. This episode is brought to you by Five Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter. It's become one of the most popular email newsletters in the world with millions of subscribers. And it's super, super simple. It does not clog up your inbox. 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 podcast, 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 forward slash Friday. That's Tim.blog forward slash 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. Five Bullet Friday is only available if you subscribe via email. I do not publish the content on the blog or anywhere else. Also, if I'm doing small in-person meetups, offering early access to startups, beta testing, special deals, or anything else that's very

limited, I share it first with Five Bullet Friday subscribers. So check it out, tim.blog forward slash Friday. If you listen to this podcast, it's very likely that you'd dig it a lot and you can, of course, easily subscribe any time. So easy peasy. Again, that's tim.blog forward slash Friday. And thanks for checking it out. If the spirit moves you. Hello, my gorgeous little groundhogs. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. This is not a long-form interview. In fact, it is a bite-sized morsel for your brain and for your life. And this is an excerpt from my favorite writing of all time that I review at least once a quarter, the letters to Lucilius, moral letters to Lucilius by Seneca, the younger, roughly 2000 years old. And this letter is number 22 on the futility of

halfway measures. And as usual, Seneca takes a little time in his preamble to get warmed up. That is a style kind of feeling out the opponent, i.e. the recipient of his letter as if in a boxing match, and then he jumps right into it. And there's some really valuable takeaways here. My favorite portion begins with, hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance. And it is a gem. I really encourage you to listen to this over and over again, particularly the passages beginning with, hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance. And you can find all of these letters. I think they're about 120 in three volumes as part of my book club. If you're interested, the Tao of Seneca is the compilation and I created it because I wanted to listen to this

in audio and couldn't find it. And all of that and more can be found at audible.com forward slash Tim's books. So please enjoy Seneca on the futility of halfway measures. Letter 22 on the futility of halfway measures. You understand by this time that you must withdraw yourself from those showy and depraved pursuits. But you still wish to know how this may be accomplished. There are certain things which can be pointed out only by someone who is present. The physician cannot prescribe by letter the proper time for eating or bathing.

He must feel the pulse. There is an old adage about gladiators, that they plan their fight in the ring as they intently watch. Something in the adversary's glance, some movement of his hand, even some slight bending of his body, gives a warning. We can formulate general rules and commit them to writing, as to what is usually done, or ought to be done. Such advice may be given, not only to our absent friends, but also to succeeding generations. In regard, however, to that second question, when or how your plan is to be carried out, no one will advise at long range. We must take counsel in the presence of the actual situation. You must be

not only present in the body, but watchful in mind, if you would avail yourself of the fleeting opportunity. Accordingly, look about you for the opportunity. If you see it, grasp it, and with all your energy and with all your strength devote yourself to this task, to rid yourself of those business duties. Now, listen carefully to the opinion which I shall offer. It is my opinion that you should withdraw either from that kind of existence or else from existence altogether. But I likewise maintain that you should take a gentle path, that you may loosen rather than cut the knot which you have bungled so badly in tying, provided that if there shall be no other way of loosening it, you may actually cut it.

No man is so faint-hearted that he would rather hang in suspense forever than drop once for all. Meanwhile, and this is of first importance, do not hamper yourself. Be content with the business into which you have lowered yourself, or, as you prefer to have people think, have tumbled. There is no reason why you should be struggling on to something further. If you do, you will lose all grounds of excuse, and men will see that it was not a tumble. The usual explanation which men offer is wrong. I was compelled to do it. Suppose it was against my will.

I had to do it. But no one is compelled to pursue prosperity at top speed. It means something to call a halt, even if one does not offer resistance, instead of pressing eagerly after favoring fortune. Shall you then be put out with me, if I not only come to advise you, but also call in others to advise you, wiser heads than my own, men before whom I am wont to lay any problem upon which I am pondering? Read the letter of Epicurus, which appears on this matter. It is addressed to Idomeneus. The writer asks him to hasten as fast as he can, and be to retreat before some stronger influence comes between and takes from him the liberty

to withdraw. But he also adds that one should attempt nothing except at the time when it can be attempted suitably and seasonably. Then, when the long-sought occasion comes, let him be up and doing. Epicurus forbids us to doze when we are meditating escape. He bids us hope for a safe release from even the hardest trials, provided that we are not in too great a hurry before the time, nor too dilatory when the time arrives. Now, I suppose you are looking for a stoic motto also. There is really no reason why anyone should slander that school to you on the ground of its rashness. As a matter of fact, its caution is greater than its courage. You are perhaps

expecting the sect to utter such words as these. It is base to flinch under a burden. Wrestle with the duties which you have once undertaken. No man is brave and earnest if he avoids danger, if his spirit does not grow with the very difficulty of his task. Words like these will indeed be spoken to you, if only your perseverance shall have an object that is worthwhile, if only you will not have to do or to suffer anything unworthy of a good man. Besides, a good man will not waste himself upon mean and discreditable work, or be busy merely for the sake of being busy.

Neither will he, as you imagine, become so involved in ambitious schemes that he will have continually to endure their ebb and flow. Nay, when he sees the dangers, uncertainties, and hazards in which he was formerly tossed about, he will withdraw, not turning his back to the foe, but falling back little by little to a safe position. From business, however, my dear Lucilius, it is easy to escape. If only you will despise the rewards of business. But we are held back and kept from escaping by thoughts like these. What then? Shall I leave behind me these great prospects? Shall I depart at the very time of harvest? Shall I have no slaves at my side? No retinue for my litter? No crowd in my reception room?

Hence men leave such advantages as these with reluctance. They love the reward of their hardships, but curse the hardships themselves. Men complain about their ambitions as they complain about their mistresses. In other words, if you penetrate their real feelings, you will find not hatred, but bickering. Search the minds of those who cry down what they have desired, who talk about escaping from things which they are unable to do without. You will comprehend that they are lingering of their own free will in a situation which they declare they find it hard and wretched to endure. It is so, my dear Lucilius, there are a few men whom slavery holds fast, but there are many more who hold fast to slavery. If, however, you intend to be rid of

this slavery, if freedom is genuinely pleasing in your eyes, and if you seek counsel for this one purpose, that you may have the good fortune to accomplish this purpose without perpetual annoyance, how can the whole company of Stoic thinkers fail to approve your course? Zeno, Chrysippus, and all their kind will give you advice that is temperate, honorable, and suitable. But, if you keep turning round and looking about, in order to see how much you may carry away with you, and how much money you may keep to equip yourself for the life of leisure, you will never find a way out. No man can swim ashore and take his baggage with him. Rise to a higher life, with the favor of the gods,

but let it not be favor of such a kind as the gods give to men, when with kind and genial faces they bestow magnificent ills, justified in so doing by the one fact that the things which irritate and torture have been bestowed in answer to prayer. I was just putting the seal upon this letter, but it must be broken again, in order that it may go to you with its customary contribution, bearing with it some noble word. And lo, here is one that occurs to my mind. I do not know whether its truth, or its nobility of utterance is the greater. Spoken by whom, you ask? By Epicurus, for I am still appropriating other men's belongings. The words are.

Everyone goes out of life just as if he had but lately entered it. Take anyone off his guard, young, old, or middle-aged, you will find that all are equally afraid of death and equally ignorant of life. No one has anything finished, because we have kept putting off into the future all our undertakings. No thought in the quotation given above pleases me more than that it taunts old men with being infants. No one, he says, leaves this world in a different manner from one who has just been born. That is not true, for we are worse when we die than when we were born, but it is our fault, and not that of nature. Nature should scold us, saying, What does this mean? I brought you into the world without desires or fears,

free from superstition, treachery, and the other curses. Go forth as you were when you entered. A man has caught the message of wisdom, if he can die as free from care as he was at birth. But, as it is, we are all aflutter at the approach of the dreaded end. Our courage fails us, our cheeks blanch, our tears fall, though they are unavailing. But what is baser than to fret at the very threshold of peace? The reason, however, is that we are stripped

of all our goods, we have jettisoned our cargo of life, and are in distress, for no part of it has been packed in the hold. It has all been heaved overboard, and has drifted away. Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long. Farewell. Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is

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It's just a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com. That's fourhourworkweek.com all spelled out and just drop in your email and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it. This episode is brought to you by 99designs. When your business needs a logo, website, business card, thumbnail, or any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I use them myself.

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