Top 289 Quotes & Sayings by Tim Ferriss - Page 3

Luxury, to me, is not owning a lot of stuff. Luxury, to me, is feeling unrushed.

Are you better off than you were one year ago, one month ago, or one week ago? If not, things will not improve by themselves.

If the challenge we face doesn't scare us, then it's probably not that important.

The question you should be asking isn't, "What do I want?" or "What are my goals?" but "What would excite me?

At least three time per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following question: Am I being productive or just active? Charney captured the essence of this with less-abstract wording: Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important? He eliminated all of the activities he used as crutches and began to focus on demonstrating results instead of showing dedication. Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise. Be ruthless and cut the fat.

That's precisely the question everyone should be asking-why the hell not? - Why not you, why not now.

Uncertainty and the prospect of failure can be very scary noises in the shadows. Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of mental laziness-lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers. Keep calm and carry on!

The key to having more time is doing less, and there are two paths to get there, both of which should be used together: (1) Define a short to-do list and (2) define a not-to-do list.

Reality is negotiable.

The best way to improve mental performance, is to improve physical performance

Creating demand is hard. Filling demand is easier. Don't create a product, then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market - define your customers - then find or develop a product for them.

The fishing is best where the fewest go. There is just less competition for bigger goals.

There are tons of things in your home and life that you don't use, need, or even particularly want. They just came into your life as impulsive flotsam and jetsam and never found a good exit. Whether you're aware of it or not, this clutter creates indecision and distractions.

Being able to quit things that don't work is integral to being a winner

People are fond of using the its not what you know, its who you know adage as an excuse for inaction, as if all successful people are born with powerful friends. Nonsense.

Sometimes you need to go on a low-information diet.

When you try to do something big its hard to fail completely.

Think big and don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done. Life's too short to think small.

If you don't have time, you don't have priorities.

Learn to be difficult when it counts

Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses.

I'll repeat something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.

Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.

Age doesn't matter. An open mind does.

Believe it or not, it is not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, it is mandatory. Enter the world of elimination.

To enjoy life, you don't need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren't as serious as you make them out to be.

Being selective-doing less-is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.

Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.

Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitate to get in the way if you're moving.

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually," just do it and correct course along the way.

Pacifists become militants. Freedom fighters become tyrants. Blessings become curses. Help becomes hindrance. More becomes less.

Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.

This is not my phrase, but if you're stuck in the past, then you're depressed. If you're stuck in the future, then you're anxious.

Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress—stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.

Simplicity requires ruthlessness.

Three ingredients of luxury lifestyle design are time, income, and mobility.

Poisonous people do not deserve your time. To think otherwise is masochistic.

Luxury is feeling unrushed. It is designing a life that allows you to do what you want with high leverage, with many options, all while feeling unrushed.

Many a false step was made by standing still.

Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

For uncommon solutions, you have to look in uncommon places.

If only I had more money is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment - now and not later.

People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

The only rules and limits are those we set for ourselves

The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.

For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from.

A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.

Dreamlining is so named because it applies timelines to what most would consider dreams.

Never check email first thing in the morning. Instead, complete your most important task before 11:00 A.M. to avoid using lunch or reading email as a postponement excuse.

Learn to be difficult when it counts. In school as in life, having a reputation for being assertive will help you receive preferential treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time.

If we define risk as 'the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,' inaction is the greatest risk of all.

Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

Just a few words on time management: forget all about it.

Most inputs are useless and time is wasted in proportion to the amount that is available.

But if it's tolerable mediocrity, and you're like, 'Well, you know it could be worse. At least I'm getting paid.' Then you wind up in a job that is slowly killing your soul and you're allowing that to happen. Comfort can be a very, very dangerous thing.

There is always more information than attention

There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth.