#837: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 - New Tips from Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck
Tim Ferriss departs from his usual long-form interview format to explore how a few key decisions can dramatically simplify life in the coming year. He frames the episode with the idea of finding single choices that eliminate hundreds of downstream decisions, drawing on lessons from past guests and management thinkers. Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck each share specific philosophies and concrete personal rules they've used to reduce complexity, set boundaries, and orient their lives around simplicity, focus, and deep joy.
#836: The 4-Hour Workweek Principles - 13 Mistakes to Avoid, The Art of Mini-Retirements, and Navigating the Dizziness of Freedom
Tim Ferriss presents an experimental episode featuring three full chapters from the audiobook of his book The 4-Hour Workweek, narrated by Ray Porter. The chapters explore the concept of mini-retirements and mobile living, how to handle the psychological and existential void that can appear once work is removed, and the 13 most common mistakes made by people adopting the New Rich lifestyle. The episode combines parables, case studies, detailed how-to checklists, and philosophical reflections on freedom, meaning, learning, and service.
How fortnite made me a millionaire
Sean walks through roughly a decade of business attempts-from a sushi restaurant and wristband dropshipping to a biotech venture and a series of social and messaging apps-before finally finding success with a high school Fortnite esports league that was acquired by Twitch. He then explains how his approach to project selection, learning, and risk changed, leading to a streak of more straightforward wins and a portfolio doing tens of millions in revenue. The conversation shifts into money, defining "enough," the idea of a second mountain focused on creative work and meaning rather than more wealth, and ends with a light segment about Halloween, parenting, and family traditions.
Most Replayed Moment: Why You're Never Satisfied! The 4 Pillars of Lasting Happiness
The conversation explores the components of happiness, distinguishing between pleasure, enjoyment, and satisfaction, and explaining how social connection and struggle contribute to deeper fulfillment. It examines the hedonic treadmill, the arrival fallacy, and an equation for satisfaction that emphasizes managing desires rather than accumulating more. The discussion then shifts to setting better goals around faith, family, friendship, and work that serves others, using fitness and habits as examples, and concludes with a framework for life meaning based on coherence, purpose, and significance, illustrated through two probing questions about why one is alive and what one is willing to die for.
I Did Nothing For 2 Weeks. It Made Me Better At Everything.
Two co-hosts catch up after one has a new baby and the other returns from his grandfather's funeral, leading into honest reflections on paternity leave, men's emotional experience with newborns, and how much time off is actually useful. They explore Aristotle's concept of flourishing, the value of leisure and dedicated thinking time, and how engineered rest and movement can produce creative breakthroughs, tying into one host's project to write concise "one-hour" books and the discipline required for deep work. The conversation then shifts to Paul Graham's framework for procrastination, the transformative power of a parent or grandparent instilling belief in a child, immigrant family stories, the modern scarcity of belonging versus information abundance, and a fast-growing group travel company that builds community and reduces loneliness.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Figure Out What You Really Want
Mel Robbins guides listeners through a three-question framework called the Odyssey Plan, developed by Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, to rethink their current life trajectory. She uses examples, research, and personal stories to show how visualizing your current path, imagining a forced change, and dreaming without constraints can reveal "unfinished business" and new possibilities. The episode concludes with practical advice on turning these insights into small daily experiments that gradually redesign your life.
#833: Jack Canfield - Selling 600+ Million Books, Success Principles, and How He Made The 4-Hour Workweek Happen
Tim Ferriss interviews Jack Canfield about his life, from a difficult childhood and early teaching career to becoming co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and author of The Success Principles. Jack explains how mentorship from W. Clement Stone shaped his views on responsibility, goal setting, and success, and details the persistence and grassroots marketing that turned Chicken Soup for the Soul into a global phenomenon. He also discusses plant medicine experiences, limiting beliefs, decluttering "messes," aging, and why he is partly retiring to focus on family and creative hobbies.
Nuts.com: Jeff Braverman. From Corner Store to Snacktime Powerhouse
Host Guy Raz interviews Jeff Braverman about how he transformed his family's small Newark Nut Company, founded in 1929, into the large e‑commerce brand Nuts.com. Jeff describes growing up in the store, his early experiments putting the business online, and eventually leaving a lucrative finance job to overhaul operations and focus on direct-to-consumer internet sales. He explains key inflection points, including aggressive use of Google Ads, quirky marketing stunts, a major rebrand to Nuts.com, navigating COVID-era challenges, and eventually transitioning from CEO to chairman while keeping the business family-owned.
Magnolia: Chip & Joanna Gaines. From House Flipping to Household Name
Guy Raz interviews Chip and Joanna Gaines about how they built Magnolia from a small Waco, Texas home goods shop and house-flipping operation into a large lifestyle brand. They trace their journeys from childhood and early scrappy businesses through near-bankruptcy during the housing crisis, the rise of Fixer Upper, and the creation of Magnolia Market at the Silos and their media ventures. They also describe hard decisions like closing Joanna's first shop and ending Fixer Upper, how their faith and partnership guided them, and how they're thinking about the next decade of their lives and business.
It's Not Too Late: How to Transform Your Life at Any Moment
Mel Robbins interviews Rich Roll about how he has radically transformed his life multiple times, from a bullied, approval-seeking kid to an alcoholic lawyer, then to a sober, plant-based ultra-endurance athlete and podcaster. Rich details his descent into severe alcoholism, his recovery, his midlife health crisis at 40, and the sequence of small, contrary actions that allowed him to change course. The conversation focuses on addiction as a spectrum, listening to "knocks" from the universe, prioritizing health, and using tiny consistent actions to change at any age.
Try It for 1 Week: 6 Small Ways to Bring Back the Happiness, Energy, and Fun
Mel Robbins talks about the growing sense that life is less fun, more curated, and weighed down by stress, and argues that fun is not a luxury but a necessity for mental and physical health. Drawing on research and personal stories, she explains how micro moments of joy and playfulness build resilience and combat burnout, anxiety, and numbness. She then offers six practical ways listeners can deliberately bring more happiness, energy, and fun back into their daily lives.
How to Build the Life You Want (Even When You Feel Overloaded, Exhausted, & Uncertain)
Mel Robbins interviews astronaut and bioastronautics researcher Kelly Girardi about how she went from a coat check job at the Explorers Club to flying a science mission to space. Kelly explains her mindset around expanding what you believe is possible, intentionally designing your reputation, and balancing motherhood with a demanding and unconventional career. She also shares, in detail, her ongoing IVF journey, recurrent pregnancy loss, and why she chooses to be transparent about her struggles in real time to reduce stigma and help others feel less alone.
How to Get Rich (without luck, talent or a trust fund)
The host lays out four "rules of money" that he used to go from being broke in his twenties to making his first million by 30 and later building a net worth of $30 million. He explains how to pick and master one of four core money-making skills, convert that skill into equity via code, content, or capital instead of renting out time, adopt a long-term perspective that is impatient with action but patient with results, and deliberately move closer to ambitious peers and industry hubs to accelerate progress. Throughout, he illustrates the rules with concrete examples from his own life and from figures like Mr. Biso, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Alex Ramosi, and Steve Martin.
The Side Hustle King: 11 Easy Businesses Anyone Can Start
The hosts bring back their "side hustle king" guest Chris to share a series of concrete, small-business and side-hustle ideas ranging from seasonal porch pumpkin decorating and backyard sport courts to in-ground trampolines, male "dollhouse" building kits, liquidation arbitrage, and mobile fuel delivery. They discuss how these seemingly simple service and niche product ideas generate substantial revenue, how Chris validates demand with short-form content and paid ads, and how he structures operations with subcontractors and partners. Later, Chris describes his RV park investments, his interest in AI automation services for small businesses, and his plans for an AI-enabled QuickBooks competitor.