Tools of Titans

by Timothy Ferriss

  TF: The “and I’m going to go home, and my family’s there” is a line he adopted from Andre Agassi, one of his mentors. Shaun and I both love and recommend Andre’s autobiography, Open.

  Overcoming Peer Pressure, Plus the Value of “Stupid” Goals

  “There was an amazing situation where I was in Japan at this competition called the Toyota Big Air, and I was a wild-card entry. I was paying my travel to get there. My mom flew out with me. We’re paying for the hotel, we’re paying for the food, all these things. All the other riders were invited [and had flights and hotels covered]. When they got there, they got paid per diem [daily compensation] money to show up, and then there’s a big prize purse of $50K.

  “Everyone went out that night and partied like crazy, and I was a kid, so I was at the hotel with my mom. They show up hungover to the event, and they’re like, ‘You know, the jump’s just lame’—because they’re snowboarders, so—‘It’s not cool, and we don’t want to compete today. We’re just gonna do a demo, and we’re all going to split the money.’ I’m doing the quick math and I think, ‘Man, this doesn’t even cover our flights out.’ And so I said, ‘I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to split the money.’

  “They hazed me and said, ‘Oh, you’re all about the money . . .’ and I just sat there: ‘I’m riding really well today. I’m not doing it.’ They had a big picture of all the riders’ faces and they’re drawing dollar signs on my eyes. I was like 15. That was intimidating. My heroes making jabs at me, and man, I won. . . . It was $50K and a car. I was like, ‘Oh my God! What do we do?’”

  TIM: “What were the sources of that strength in the face of that type of peer pressure? That’s unusual for a 15-year-old, especially when you’re being faced by your idols who are suddenly throwing darts at you. Did that come from your parents? Or is it just something that you’ve always had, or is there a different answer?”

  SHAUN: “I’d put in the work, I’d put in the time, I felt like I was the best rider, and these guys had their travel paid to get there. . . . I just thought, you know what? This is my day, and I’m not going to let them ruin it. I’d worked toward this goal. You know, I usually set goals. Every single season I set a goal . . . it’s usually two goals. It’s something very serious and something funny, something stupid.”

  TIM: “Like what? What would be an example of each?”

  SHAUN: “You’re going to [laugh]—it’s ridiculous. One of them was to win the Olympics, and then one of them was to see how many cars I could win. Because, at the time, the automotive industries were just handing out cars. I was on a roll, and I think by the end of the run I had nine cars. There was a Suzuki Sidekick and this Volvo, and a Jeep, and these random cars. . . . I ended up donating them at the end, because I would’ve had to pay taxes on them and all these things.”

  TIM: “Do you still set goals like that?”

  SHAUN: “I do, yeah. They’re always random, man. The Vancouver Olympics—I can’t believe I’m telling you this—my goals were, again, to win the Olympics, and then the other goal was to wear [some] pants, and the pants that I had made were American flag pants. Just follow me . . . I saw this photo of Axl Rose wearing something similar. They were probably a little snugger and shorter. I was like, ‘I can’t pull that off, but I can make some pants like that.’ It was just this stupid goal, like, ‘Man, if I won, maybe I can get on the cover of Rolling Stone or something like that. . . .’

  “But that’s what’s fun, as it takes a lot of the pressure off. Winning the Olympics is a very big goal, it’s a very stressful goal to have. So it’s nice to have something else to offset it. Everything was so serious at the time and that was just my way of dealing with it.”

  TF: Shaun got the Rolling Stone cover wearing the American flag pants.

  On Being an “Outlier”

  Sometimes, being outside of the known hotspots is a huge advantage—something Malcolm Gladwell (page 572) explores in his book Outliers. The following story from Shaun also reminded me of Richard Betts’s logic for choosing restaurants on page 565:

  “I was reading [Outliers] and I was amazed by the story about the hockey players and this kind of anomaly in the system. I started applying that to my own life and thought, ‘Well, people would think I was at a disadvantage growing up in Southern California. Well, I don’t find that a disadvantage at all. It was probably sunny and nice out the majority of the year or the winter season.’ Our winters aren’t like somewhere in Colorado or Vermont. So the number of days I could actually go ride was probably, I don’t know, double or triple the amount of someone growing up somewhere else.

  “Then, at the same time, the person who was building the parks at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit Resort [in Southern California]—it was this small mountain—so [the management] was like, ‘Oh, yeah, do what you want,’ and this guy was building these amazing jumps, this amazing half pipe. He now builds all of the courses for the world’s best events. That’s where he got his start, at these mountains.

  “You know they weren’t going to let him go to Aspen and tear up the groomer trail or whatever. Also, the half pipe had a T-bar, like a tow rope, on it. So I was thinking, ‘Wow, the number of days now that I’m riding because it’s sunny, and the number of runs I’m getting because I don’t have to unstrap and hike back up.’ I would just do my trick, get back on the chair, and go back up. I realized, ‘I’m packing in months of training in these small windows, compared to someone else who lives in Vermont or something, where it’s well below freezing and they are hiking the pike. They’re tired.’

  “You know, when you’re cold, it’s frightening to go, ‘Okay, I’m going to try this flip.’ No, you’re not. It’s super-intimidating now, it’s cold, and you want to go home and get warm. I was in these conditions where the snow was soft, I had some guy building the best terrain around, and so . . . a lot of fun things that I was able to apply to my life from that book.”

  Take the Gig and Look for Other Doors to Open

  “Music was a strange one, just because no one else in my family is musical in the slightest. . . . I won a guitar at a snowboard contest and I thought, ‘Wow, what if I could just be at a party somewhere and play one song?’ and one song turned into ‘Okay, I’m now training to be a guitar player. . . .’

  “I play lead guitar in a band called Bad Things. It’s composed of mostly friends of mine from the neighborhood I grew up in and some amazingly talented guys I met in L.A. We started making our own songs, and we got offered some gigs, and there was one moment where we got invited to go to Lollapalooza. And I was like, ‘Man, this will be heavy.’”

  [TF: At this point in the story, I said “Wow . . .” in a hushed tone.]

  “Just wait . . . it was for the kids’ stage. So I said, ‘You know what would be so punk rock? If we just go and play that kids’ stage.’ Because I don’t think I should be on the main stage. Just because I’m in the group does not mean that we should be given those scenarios. So we show up, and we did our thing. We had a really great show for the kids. Then the most amazing thing happened. It was like out of a movie. The main act on the Grove stage at Lollapalooza decided they weren’t going to play. They put a big sign out that said, ‘Our art will not be displayed here.’ Their fans completely demolished their gear and all this craziness ensued.

  “They [the organizers] looked around, like, ‘We need a band to play the main stage.’ And I said, ‘We’re a band.’ Literally, ‘We’re a band.’ It was crazy. They said, ‘You, come with us.’ I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is our moment, we gotta do this.’ And so we played one of the most incredible sets we’ve ever had. We rose to the occasion. We had this amazing set, and just like anyone who picks up a guitar and dreams of being on stage, you dream of that moment you’re walking off stage and everyone is cheering for one more song. And the best moment of that—I look at my buddies, and they’re just like, ‘Do we even have another song? We don’t have another one.’ [The organizer] said, ‘Play the first one again.�
��”

  Fifty Shades of Chicken

  That’s the title of Shaun’s “most-gifted” book. Totally serious. I assumed it would be a complete joke, but it has nearly 700 reviews on Amazon and a 4.8-star average.

  The Law of Category

  “In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue.”

  —Thomas L. Friedman

  I constantly recommend that entrepreneurs read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, whether they are first-time founders or serial home-run hitters launching a new product. “The Law of the Category” is the chapter I revisit most often, and I’ve included a condensed version below. It was originally published in 1993, so some of the “today” references are dated, but the principles are timeless.

  The Law of the Category

  * * *

  What’s the name of the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo?

  If you didn’t know that Bert Hinkler was the second person to fly the Atlantic, you might figure you had no chance at all to know the name of the third person. But you do. It’s Amelia Earhart.

  Now, is Amelia known as the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo, or as the first woman to do so?

  After Heineken became a big success, the people at Anheuser-Busch could have said, “We should bring in an imported beer, too.” But they didn’t. Instead they said, “If there’s a market for a high-priced imported beer, maybe there’s a market for a high-priced domestic beer.” And so they started to promote Michelob, the first high-priced domestic beer, which shortly thereafter out-sold Heineken two to one. (Actually, Anheuser-Busch also brought in an imported beer, Carlsberg, which has a very good reputation in Europe. In the United States, however, the me-too Carlsberg never went anywhere.)

  Miller Lite was the first domestic light. It took an importer 5 years to say, “If there’s a market for a domestic light beer, maybe there’s a market for an imported light beer.” The result was Amstel Light, which became the largest-selling imported light beer.

  If you didn’t get into the prospect’s mind first, don’t give up hope. Find a new category you can be first in. It’s not as difficult as you might think.

  After IBM became a big success in computers, everybody and his brother jumped into the field. Burroughs, Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, Sperry. Snow White and the seven dwarfs, they were called.

  Which dwarf grew up to become a worldwide powerhouse, with 126,000 employees and sales of $14 billion, a company often dubbed “the second largest computer company in the world”? None of them. The most successful computer company of the seventies and eighties, next to IBM, was Digital Equipment Corporation. IBM was first in computers. DEC was first in minicomputers.

  Many other computer companies (and their entrepreneurial owners) became rich and famous by following a simple principle: If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.

  Tandem was first in fault-tolerant computers and built a $1.9 billion business. So Stratus stepped down with the first fault-tolerant minicomputer.

  Are the laws of marketing difficult? No, they are quite simple. Working things out in practice is another matter, however.

  Cray Research went over the top with the first supercomputer. So Convex put two and two together and launched the first mini supercomputer.

  Sometimes you can also turn an also-ran into a winner by inventing a new category. Commodore was just another manufacturer of home personal computers that wasn’t going anywhere until it positioned the Amiga as the first multimedia computer.

  There are many different ways to be first. Dell got into the crowded personal computer field by being the first to sell computers by phone.

  When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competition?” but “First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in?

  Charles Schwab didn’t open a better brokerage firm. He opened the first discount broker.

  This is counter to classic marketing thinking, which is brand oriented: How do I get people to prefer my brand? Forget the brand. Think categories. Prospects are on the defensive when it comes to brands. Everyone talks about why their brand is better. But prospects have an open mind when it comes to categories. Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.

  When you’re the first in a new category, promote the category. In essence, you have no competition. DEC told its prospects why they ought to buy a minicomputer, not a DEC minicomputer.

  In the early days, Hertz sold rent-a-car service. Coca-Cola sold refreshment. Marketing programs of both companies were more effective back then.

  * * *

  TF: Much like DEC and “minicomputers,” I created the term “lifestyle design” and debuted it in The 4-Hour Workweek. Here’s how it first appeared, with a few paragraphs removed:

  The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan [save and retire after 20–40 years] and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD). . . . $1,000,000 in the bank isn’t the fantasy. The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows. The question is then, How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?

  Tools and principles follow, like geoarbitrage, email triage, luxury travel workaround, and “mini-retirements” (another term I created), etc.

  “Lifestyle design” represented a new and concise label for something that previously required a few sentences. I made no attempt to trademark or protect it. Instead, I propagated it as widely as possible as quickly as possible, seeded it in media interviews, conference keynotes, articles, and elsewhere. I wanted it to enter the popular vernacular, and to have organic communities of “lifestyle designers” sprout up online and all over the world. Once The 4-Hour Workweek was parodied by Jay Leno and The Office, it had arrived. The side effect was that—at least for the first year—whenever “lifestyle design” was used or defined by someone, my name or The 4-Hour Workweek were mentioned as well. This was because I owned the mindshare, the mental “category,” not the trademark. Now, of course, it’s out in the wild, all grown up, and has taken on a life of its own. At the time of this writing, there are ~14.6 million or ~585K Google search results for “lifestyle design,” depending on whether you omit or use quotation marks.

  “I don’t create art to get high-dollar projects, I do high-dollar projects so I can create more art.”

  Spirit animal: Dragonfly

  * * *

  Chase Jarvis

  Chase Jarvis (TW/FB/IG: @chasejarvis, CreativeLive.com) is the CEO of CreativeLive and one of the most commercially successful photographers in the world. He is the youngest person ever to be named a Hasselblad Master, Nikon Master, and ASMP Master. Chase has photographed for Nike, Apple, Columbia Sportswear, REI, Honda, Subaru, Polaroid, Lady Gaga, Red Bull, and many more. He is known for a hyper-kinetic style and emphasis on sports and portraiture. CreativeLive is an online learning platform that broadcasts live, high-definition classes to more than 2 million students in 200 countries. All classes are free to watch live and can be purchased for later viewing. Teachers include Pulitzer Prize winners and business luminaries.

  Behind the Scenes

  Chase and Rick Rubin (page 502) were the two people who first got me to meditate consistently.

  Chase is also the first person to introduce me to a Moscow Mule (spicy ginger beer, vodka, lime juice).

  On our first visit to the White House, he was repeatedly yelled off the lawn by security, as he was finding optimal angles for selfies. I legitimately thought he was going to get Tasered. For the rest of the day, I would shout “GET OFF THE GRASS!�
� whenever he stepped on grass around D.C., and he’d jump like a cat seeing a cucumber (Google it. Worth the price of this book).

  “Creativity is an infinite resource. The more you spend,the more you have.”

  This was Chase paraphrasing a quote from Maya Angelou and discussing how creativity and meditation are similar.

  On His First Sale

  “The first sale came about because I grew up skiing and snowboarding, and I was very familiar with the subject. I got in with a good crowd [of athletes] and had photographs of people on next year’s equipment, because I knew the manufacturers and reps. If you have the right pictures of the right people on the right equipment, then the manufacturers come knocking. . . . The manufacturers saw my work, got in touch, and I ended up licensing—not selling outright—but licensing an image for $500 and a pair of skis.

  “I think I was probably making $10 an hour at the time. I thought to myself, ‘Wait a minute. I just sold that for $500 from going skiing for a couple of days with my buddies. I’d like to replicate that, so what did I do? What worked and what didn’t?’ . . . I just started doing that over and over, and upping the ante every time.”

  On Going Premium from Day One

  “The way that I hacked the system was setting my first hired, day-rate gig at several thousand dollars a day. I pushed myself to a point that was incredibly uncomfortable and required myself to deliver at the highest level. I charged accordingly because I had done the work, done the research, and knew what the top guys and gals were getting. I put myself in that caliber right away. . . . I set it at $2,000 to $2,500 a day.