The Tim Ferriss Show - #185: Practicing What You Preach

Episode Date: September 14, 2016

My job is usually to deconstruct world-class performers and tease out their routines and habits you can use. But in this in-betweenisode, I'm going to present some short nuggets of practical, tactical philosophy about practicing what you preach. This is a letter from Stoic heavyweight Seneca the Younger -- who lived a mere 2,000 years or so ago -- to his friend Lucilius. It's from a collection of letters that comprise, effectively, my favorite book of all time. I've read it dozens of times, and I loved it so much that I turned it into The Tao of Seneca, a three-volume set of audiobooks. This is a letter you've not heard on the podcast before; it's worth the listen just for the definition of wisdom, alone. Then you have some incredible quotes from Epicurus, and it also discusses how you can have riches without riches having you. Enjoy! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This episode is brought to you by Headspace, the world's most popular meditation app (with more than 4,000,000 users). It's used in more than 150 countries, and many of my closest friends swear by it. Try Headspace's free Take10 program, 10 minutes of guided meditation a day for 10 days. It's like a warm bath for your mind. Meditation doesnít need to be complicated or expensive, and it's had a huge impact on my life. Try Headspace for free for a few days and see what I mean. 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.

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Show, where it is usually my job to deconstruct world-class performers, tease out the habits, routines, favorite books, et cetera, that you can apply, test in your own life. This episode is an in-between episode, a little bit different, but some of my most popular episodes have been these short nuggets of practical, tactical philosophy. And what I'm going to present to you is on practicing what you preach. This is a letter from Seneca the Younger, who lived a mere 2,000 or so years ago, and his letters to Lucilius are, or comprise, effectively my favorite book of all time that I have read dozens of times, The Moral Letters to Lucilius, which I loved so much, as a labor of love, I turned them into the Tao of Seneca, a three-volume set of audio so that I could listen to one letter every day

when I walked to the coffee shop. So Tao of Seneca is where you can find all of it. But this is a letter you have not heard on the podcast before on practicing what you preach. It is worth the listen just for the definition of wisdom alone. Then you have some incredible quotes from Epicurus, and it also discusses how you can have riches without riches having you. So if you want to listen to more of this, you can go to audible.com forward slash Tim's books and check out Tau Seneca. But otherwise, this is standalone, very useful on its own. Please enjoy on practicing what you preach. Letter 20 on practicing what you preach. Letter 20 On Practicing What You Preach If you are in good health, and if

you think yourself worthy of becoming at last your own master, I am glad. For the credit will be mine if I can drag you from the floods in which you are being buffeted without hope of emerging. This, however, my dear Lucilius, I ask and beg of you, on your part, that you let wisdom sink into your soul and test your progress

not by mere speech or writings, but by stoutness of heart and decrease of desire. Prove your words by your deeds. Far different is the purpose of those who are speech-making, and trying to win the approbation of a throng of hearers. Far different that of those who allure the ears of young men and idlers by many-sided or fluent argumentation. Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak. It exacts of every man that he should live according to his own standards, that his life should not be out of harmony with his words, and that, further, his inner life should be of one hue and not out of harmony with all his activities. This, I say, is the highest duty and the highest proof of wisdom,

that deed and word should be in accord, that a man should be equal to himself under all conditions and always the same. But, you reply, who can maintain this standard? Very few, to be sure, but there are some. It is indeed a hard undertaking, and I do not say that the philosopher can always keep the same pace, but he can always travel the same path. Observe yourself, then, and see whether your dress and your house are inconsistent, whether you treat yourself lavishly and your family meanly, whether you eat frugal dinners and yet build luxurious houses. You should lay hold,

once for all, upon a single norm to live by, and should regulate your whole life according to this norm. Some men restrict themselves at home, but strut with swelling port before the public. Such discordance is a fault, and it indicates a wavering mind which cannot yet keep its balance. And I can tell you, further, whence arise this unsteadiness and disagreement of action and purpose. It is because no man resolves upon what he wishes, and, even if he has done so, he does not persist in it, but jumps the track. Not only does he change, but he returns and slips back to the conduct which he has abandoned and abjured. Therefore, to omit the ancient definitions of wisdom, and to include the whole manner of human life, I can be satisfied with the following.

What is wisdom? Always desiring the same things, and always refusing the same things. You may be excused from adding the little proviso that what you wish should be right, since no man can always be satisfied with the same thing, unless it is right. For this reason men do not know what they wish, except at the actual moment of wishing. No man ever decided once and for all to desire or to refuse. Judgment varies from day to day, and changes to the opposite, making many a man pass his life in a kind of game. Press on, therefore,

as you have begun. Perhaps you will be led to perfection, or to a point which you alone understand is still short of perfection. But what, you say, will become of my crowded household without a household income? If you stop supporting that crowd, it will support itself. Or perhaps you will learn by the bounty of poverty what you cannot learn by your own bounty. Poverty will keep for you your true and tried friends. You will be rid of the men who are not seeking you for yourself, but for something which you have. Is it not true, however, that you should love poverty, if only for this single reason, that it will show you those by whom you are loved?

Oh, when will that time come when no one shall tell lies to compliment you? Accordingly, let your thoughts, your efforts, your desires, help to make you content with your own self, and with the goods that spring from yourself, and commit all your other prayers to God's keeping. What happiness could come closer home to you? Bring yourself down to humble conditions, from which you cannot be ejected, and in order that you may do so with greater alacrity. The contribution contained in this letter shall refer to that subject. I shall bestow it upon you forthwith. Although you may look askance,

Epicurus will once again be glad to settle my indebtedness. Believe me, your words will be more imposing if you sleep on a cot and wear rags, for in that case you will not be merely saying them, you will be demonstrating their truth. I, at any rate, listen in a different spirit to the utterances of our friend Demetrius, after I have seen him reclining without even a cloak to cover him, and, more than this, without rugs to lie upon. He is not only a teacher of the truth, but a witness to the truth. May not a man, however, despise wealth when it lies in his very pocket? Of course. He is also great-souled, who sees riches heaped up round him,

and, after wondering long and deeply because they have come into his possession, smiles and hears rather than feels that they are his. It means much not to be spoiled by intimacy with riches, and he is truly great who is poor amidst riches. Yes, but I do not know, you say, how the man you speak of will endure poverty if he falls into it suddenly. Nor do I, Epicurus, know whether the poor man you speak of will despise riches should he suddenly fall into them.

Accordingly, in the case of both, it is the mind that must be appraised, and we must investigate whether your man is pleased with his poverty, and whether my man is displeased with his riches. Otherwise, the cotbed and the rags are slight proof of his good intentions, if it has not been made clear that the person concerned endures these trials not from necessity, but from preference. It is the mark, however, of a noble spirit not to precipitate oneself into such things on the ground that they are better, but to practice for them on the ground that they are thus easy to endure. And they are easy to endure, Lucilius, when, however, you come to them after long rehearsal,

they are even pleasant, for they contain a sense of freedom from care, and without this, nothing is pleasant. I hold it essential, therefore, to do as I have told you in a letter that great men have often done, to reserve a few days in which we may prepare ourselves for real poverty by means of fancied poverty. There is all the more reason for doing this, because we have been steeped in luxury and regard all duties as hard and onerous.

Rather, let the soul be roused from its sleep and be prodded, and let it be reminded that nature has prescribed very little for us. No man is born rich. Every man, when he first sees light, is commanded to be content with milk and rags. Such is our beginning, and yet kingdoms are all too small for us. Farewell. before you take off. Number one, this is Five Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend? And Five Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new

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