The book Tools of Titans is based on interviews with nearly 200 guests on Tim Ferriss’s podcast The Tim Ferriss Show. It is organized into three sections: Health, Wealth, and Wisdom, covering topics such as fitness, time management, investment strategies, decision-making, and cognitive improvement. I have carefully read the Wealth and Wisdom sections and summarized 20 tools that I find most useful.
1. Strong Views, Loosely Held
You want to look for as both a founder and as an investor is things that are out of consensus, something very much opposed to the conventional wisdom.
But what happens when the world changes? What happens when something else happens?
That’s where “loosely held” comes in. People everywhere hate changing their minds, but you need to be able to adapt in light of new information.
2. Don’t Overestimate the People on Pedestals
Everything around you that you call ‘life’ was made up by people that were no smarter than you.
3. Busy = Out of Control
Lack of time is lack of priorities.
If I’m “busy,” it is because I’ve made choices that put me in that position.
4. Four Commonalities Across the Best Investors
- Capping the downside
- Asymmetrical risks and rewards
- Asset allocation
- Contribution
5. “Productivity” Tricks for the Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy
What, if done, will make all of the rest easier or irrelevant?
What you do is more important than how you do everything else, and doing something well does not make it important.
6. On Vetting the Best Employees or Partners
You know it if they don’t just accept the strategy you hand them.
They should suggest modifications to the plan based on their closeness to the details.
7. Systems Versus Goals
You choose options that allow you to inevitably “succeed” over time, as you build assets that carry over to subsequent projects.
Losers have goals. Winners have systems.
8. Double or Triple Threat
If you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:
- Become the best at one specific thing.
- Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. The second strategy is fairly easy.
9. The Law of Category
In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it.
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?
10. 1,000 TRUE FANS
“Success” need not be complicated. Just start with making 1,000 people extremely, extremely happy.
True fans are not only the direct source of your income, but also your chief marketing force for the ordinary fans.
You do not have to sacrifice the integrity of your art for a respectable income. You just need to create a great experience and charge enough.
11. The Canvas Strategy
Great men have almost always shown themselves as ready to obey as they afterwards proved able to command.
Helping yourself by helping others.
The person who clears the path ultimately controls its direction, just as the canvas shapes the painting.
12. Stone Soup
A hungry traveler used a “stone” to coax the villagers into adding ingredients to the pot, and eventually everyone worked together to make a delicious soup.
A children’s story that is the best MBA degree you can read.
13. The Benefits of Thinking 10X Versus 10%
- less competition
- no legacy
- more reward
14. Discipline Equals Freedom
If you want freedom in life—be that financial freedom, more free time, or even freedom from sickness and poor health—you can only achieve these things through discipline.
15. 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
- Someone subordinate who’s doing the job you did—one, two, or three years ago—better than you did it
16. Write to Get Ideas, Not to Express Them
I’d say, ‘I think I have an idea,’ but when I begin to write it, I realize, ‘I have no idea.’
I don’t actually know what I think until I try and write it.
17. “Consensus” Should Set Off Your Spidey Sense
You should learn that people don’t naturally come to high levels of agreement unless something is either absolutely clear, in which case consensus isn’t present, or there’s an implied threat of violence to livelihood or self.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” — Mark Twain.
18. Change Your Words, Change Your World
Ludwig Wittgenstein: “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
19. Naval’s Laws
- Anger is a hot coal that you hold in your hand while waiting to throw it at someone else (Buddhist saying).
- Reading (learning) is the ultimate meta-skill and can be traded for anything else.
- All the real benefits in life come from compound interest.
- Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.
20. “GOOD”
When things are going bad, there’s going to be some good that will come from it:
- Oh, mission got cancelled? Good. We can focus on another one.
- Didn’t get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good. We can keep it simple.
- Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.
- Didn’t get funded? Good. We own more of the company.
- Didn’t get the job you wanted? Good. Go out, gain more experience, and build a better résumé.
- Got injured? Good. Needed a break from training.
- Got tapped out? Good. It’s better to tap out in training than to tap out on the street.
- Got beat? Good. We learned.
- Unexpected problems? Good. We have the opportunity to figure out a solution.
Summary
Tools of Titans is a hefty book of nearly 700 pages, and reading it feels like panning for gold. The entire experience can be summed up by a short review I came across: “The book is full of treasures—you just have to find them yourself.”