Tim Ferris Questions

I surprisingly didn't have any questions come in for the Q&A, but one of my friends asked me the Tim Ferris questions, so I'll answer those here. (By the way, what does everyone think about the Q&A "system" ? Did anyone have trouble finding the "how to submit" a question post? I hate to make it so formal, but it's so I can easily find your email in my inbox)

◆When you think of the word “successful” who’s the first person who comes to mind and why?
The first person that came to mind was David Goggins. I can't think of anyone else who has withstood so much self imposed suffering. There are many people who have been put in incredibly challenging situations and made their way out of it with impressive resolve, but for example, in the 100 mile race that Goggins did - he could have stopped at any point.
Pretty much any endeavor worth pursuing requires some level of control over your own mind (discipline).  The ability execute consistently is what determines your success, and being able to execute requires consistent control over your mind in the face of loads of distractions, self doubts and worries. So, I consider him the most "successful" because he consistently demonstrates ridiculous control over his mind to accomplish these over the top physical feats. (Check out his book "Can't Hurt Me")

◆What is something you believe that other people think is insane? 
Assuming you have access to sufficient quality animal products, (and you don't cook them excessively), vegetables are unnecessary. Uh oh... The cat's out of the bag. Don't worry, I'm not ready to say a carnivore diet will make everyone's lives assuredly better or that you can expect me to blab on about carnivore in all my videos from now on. Also, notice I said I think vegetables are unnecessary, not that they're assuredly detrimental for everyone. If you indeed think I'm insane, check out my video on the carnivore diet where I elaborate on the concept.
I just met an 88 year old on Zamami island in Okinawa prefecture and he eats mostly plants. He looked great for an almost 90 year old, was completely sharp and answered my questions for a whole hour while cracking jokes about Trump and his wife's cooking. Would he have even more vigor had he been eating a lot more animal products the past decade? We'll never know, but his lifestyle and diet seem to be working fantastically for him. 

◆What is the book you’ve given most as a gift?
Whenever I give out a book it's usually because I though that specific book was appropriate for that person, but... a book I think is great and would like more people to read is "Reinventing the Wheel" by Peter Hershock. It's very mentally stimulating and took me a while to read because I kept pausing every 10 pages to reflect and think about what Hershock said. It may feel wordy at first, but I got the impression that Hershock was simply being as precise as he possibly could. 

◆What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last 6 months? I'm pretty minimalist and don't buy too many objects- the last substantial purchase that comes to mind is a cheap sous vide I bought a couple months ago to make yogurt. So, a purchase that positively impacted my life is the movie "Free Solo" starring Alex Honnold - the dude that climbs mountains without a rope. The movie was mind blowing and I wanted to get an idea of just how difficult what he was doing was, so I went and tried out bouldering (indoor climbing) and now I have an actual hobby that I like and can see myself doing long term. 

◆What does the first 60-minutes of your day look like? 
Meditate for 10 minutes, watch or read something online that could inspire ideas for videos (20 mins), HIIT exercise until I'm sweating sufficiently (20min 〜 45 mins), take a shower and head out to my working space. 

◆What is the worst advice you see being dispensed in your field?
A restricted animal product diet for mothers looking to conceive, pregnant mothers, babies or children. The reasoning behind this could cover multiple videos, but for now I'll just say: You can only build a good human once. To build good things, you need good building blocks. 

◆What advice would you give to your 20/ 30/ 40-year-old self?
To my 20 year old self - learn how to control your alcohol intake, and stop eating so much crap. Anything else I'd like to my 20 year old to have done is mostly downstream of those two things. 

◆What have you changed your mind about in the last few years? Why?
See the second question. I came across the carnivore diet about 2 years ago and thought it was insane. Why'd I change my mind? Lots of reading and self experimentation. 

-Joseph