About this episode
This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited. The episode features segments from episode #485 " Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success " and episode #39 " Maria Popova on Writing, Workflow, and Workarounds ." Please enjoy! Sponsors: 1Password easy-to-use and secure password manager for individuals, families, and businesses: https://1password.com/tim (14-day free trial) LMNT electrolyte supplement: https://drinklmnt.com/Tim (free LMNT sample pack with any drink mix purchase) Momentous high-quality supplements: https://livemomentous.com/tim (code TIM for 20% off) Timestamps: [00:00] Start [05:16] Notes about this supercombo format. [06:19] Enter Jerry Seinfeld. [06:46] Jerry’s writing process for survival in the comedy ecosystem. [15:43] Lessons Jerry would teach in a writing class and how they relate to his fitness methods. [15:43] Soliciting creative feedback while preserving pride over doing the work. [20:33] Routines essential to Jerry’s well-being and their frequency and duration. [24:50] How nurturing creativity is like parenting, and Jerry’s belief about pain and knowledge. [26:17] Additional ways Jerry mitigates depressive episodes. [27:27] A resilience-building failure. [32:05] The importance of playing the game well. [33:42] “Survival is the new success.” [36:12] Jerry’s billboard. [39:06] Enter Maria Popova. [39:30] Are you correctly pronouncing names you’ve only read but never heard? [41:13] What does Maria do? [41:50] What is Brain Pickings (now The Marginalian)? [42:31] What percentage of New York Times best sellers are a result of Maria’s coverage? [47:55] The common denominator that guides Maria’s reading list. [49:16] The importance of writing for an audience of one. [52:07] Contending with the temptation to create BuzzFeed-like content. [59:44] The daily discipline required for Maria’s well-being. [1:07:10] Maria’s note-taking system. [1:12:53] Seneca and the time-tested challenge of presence vs. productivity. [1:16:08] Start-up opportunity? Build a note-taking tool for heavy readers/highlighters. [1:22:52] About the team behind [The Marginalian]. [1:24:28] Collaborative proofreading and copyediting. [1:27:21] Self-reliance pathology and how to overcome it. [1:29:56] Finding a professional personal assistant and learning to delegate. [1:34:36] Maria’s weightlifting regimen and favorite bodyweight-only exercise. [1:37:22] Designing content infrastructure to be evergreen. [1:39:28] Cutting out the commentary contrarians. [1:46:13] Scheduling social media. [1:48:25] Coping with email — and sometimes snail mail. [1:50:31] How to cultivate a personal inner circle and pre-screen book review requests. [1:54:54] What donation model works best for site revenue? [2:01:22] Recommended reading from [The Marginalian] and parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast . For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show , please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter ( 5-Bullet Friday ) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . Follow Tim: Twitter : twitter.com/tferriss Instagram : instagram.com/timferriss YouTube : youtube.com/timferriss Facebook : facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss Past 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 , Margaret Atwood , Mark Zuckerberg , Peter Thiel , Dr. Gabor Maté , Anne Lamott , Sarah Silverman , Dr. Andrew Huberman , 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 .