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Tim Ferriss's process and strategies for reading books and note-taking. | Take 10 seconds and sign up for my free "5-Bullet Friday" newsletter: https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-yt/ Each Friday, you’ll get a short email from me with five things I've discovered that week, sending you off to your weekend with fun and useful things to ponder and try. 🙌
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Ferriss argues that effective reading requires structured note-taking and systematic review processes that convert passive consumption into actionable insights and behavioral change, not just retention.
- Multiple-pass filtering (starring and circling) identifies which techniques prove useful over time, not just striking on first reading
- Converting highlights into exportable formats and searching for patterns enables rapid synthesis of key lessons
- Connecting disparate books through cross-domain pattern recognition yields unexpected applications (e.g., using Newman's PR tactics for psychedelic research fundraising)
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Allowing yourself permission to produce low-quality work intentionally—e.g., writing two crappy pages per day as a quota—removes the perfectionism barrier and enables consistent creative output.
“allow yourself to be awkward so giving yourself permission to as I might put otherwise say write two crappy pages per day as a quota that's not her language but something I think about”
Consuming information without structure or application—especially just-in-case information rather than just-in-time information—is largely a waste of time; it is recreation, not retention.
“consuming a ton of information especially if it's just in case information instead of just in time information is largely a waste of time its recreation but it's not retention okay”
Puffery—making exaggerated, obviously false claims (e.g., 'restores virginity' on a product)—can be legally defensible if the claim is so absurd as to fall outside the realm of believability and thus not constitute false advertising or structure-function claims subject to FDA regulation.
“one of their claims on one of the products was restores virginity that's what's known as puffery I think that would be considered puffer legally speaking if you buy a shampoo that says volumizing hair volumizing that is no scientific meaning and so it is not a structure or function claim that the FDA would have problems with it's just made-up quackery basically and there's term for that pretty sure they're words puffery so when you make a ridiculous claim like restores virginity it is so beyond the realm of believability that it becomes something you can use that is my understanding not a lawyer so consult your legal counsel before doing anything like that”
Creating multiple indices in physical books—using page numbers with brief descriptions and/or marking phrases for beautiful language—creates a retrievable map of insights without requiring re-reading the entire book.
“I make indices I make an index in each book and I do it in typically one of two ways or I'll combine them here you will notice that I have written down page numbers with brief descriptions of what I found interesting”
Newman's Own succeeded through minimal paid advertising and marketing but instead relied heavily on PR, storytelling, parody, and satire to build brand loyalty and social good simultaneously.
“they did very very little paid advertising or marketing but a lot of PR and a lot of telling good stories the vast majority of which were parodies or satire”
The Pomodoro Technique—time-blocking focused work in short intervals (e.g., 20 minutes)—is an effective method for maintaining writing momentum and preventing perfectionism or procrastination.
“time to exercise fundamental this simply means blocking out almost like the Pomodoro Technique say 20 minutes for writing that's it start to finish you have to keep the pen or keyboard moving”
Restructuring self-critical narratives (e.g., 'my boss always does this') into a framework of personal responsibility and sensory inventory practice—similar to somatic therapy—reduces victim narratives and strengthens adult agency regardless of traumatic history.
“another is to offer the view that whatever happens to us when young if you want to strengthen our sense of being an adult it's important to practice an attitude of complete responsibility for working with our experience regardless of how it might have been shaped by our history and it talks quite a lot about practicing taking inventory of your sensations and feelings much like a Komi therapy when certain stories come up oh my boss always does this oh this that and the other victim narrative that might pop up as an example”
The first dedicated psychedelic and consciousness research center at Johns Hopkins was featured on the cover of The New York Times and in the science section, indicating mainstream legitimacy and media interest in psychedelic research.
“which was a very big deal and was featured on the cover of The New York Times and the cover of the science section”
Newman's Own was the first green food company to use all natural ingredients and remains the most successful, indicating that ethical sourcing and transparency can drive market success rather than hinder it.
“shameless exploitation has never been more fun or done more good for more people than when done by newman's own the first green food company to use all natural ingredients and still the most successful”
Ferriss raised approximately $8-9 million of $17 million total for the first dedicated psychedelic and consciousness research center at Johns Hopkins by directly applying lessons from Newman's Own about charity competitions, annual events, and PR strategy to psychedelic research fundraising.
“this and other books even though seemingly unrelated helped me to fundraise and raise half of so let's just call it eight million nine eight eight million or so dollars out of 17 for the first dedicated psychedelic and consciousness Research Center at Johns Hopkins which was a very big deal and was featured on the cover of The New York Times and the cover of the science section and it's because I am taking notes and planning at least plausible next actions and putting these things together and I liberally will borrow from nonfiction to think about imaginary worlds and fantasy and fiction”
Cross-domain pattern recognition—extracting lessons from seemingly unrelated books (e.g., PR and marketing tactics from a business memoir about Newman's Own) and applying them to different fields (psychedelic research fundraising)—can yield unexpected and high-impact results.
“this and other books even though seemingly unrelated helped me to fundraise and raise half of so let's just call it eight million nine eight eight million or so dollars out of 17 for the first dedicated psychedelic and consciousness Research Center at Johns Hopkins which was a very big deal and was featured on the cover of The New York Times and the cover of the science section and it's because I am taking notes and planning at least plausible next actions and putting these things together”
The value of reading lies not primarily in enjoyment or information accumulation but in behavioral change, concrete decisions, and measurable impact on oneself and others.
“I love reading but more than just reading I love reading with real behavioral change afterwards with real impact and I certainly read things just for fun the UH Fez I greatly enjoy but there is value even if it's not obvious at the outset so those are a few of the approaches that I use they're not necessarily the best but they work for me for not just reading but taking structured notes to better structure thinking to make better decisions and to have a greater impact on yourself on those you care about and on the world in general”
Tracking revenue numbers alongside specific marketing initiatives in a business memoir can help identify potential causal relationships between actions and financial outcomes, enabling pattern matching across business domains.
“I have tons and tons of notes and this is a page driven index and it goes on and on it goes beyond the two pages but if we look at this page there are negotiating notes importance of terms page 48 you can see 53 plus PR stunts launch make it a joke...I wanted to track their revenue numbers as it corresponded to different types of initiatives to try to correlate in my mind at least what had potential causal effects”
Structuring thinking through note-taking—applying systematic frameworks to books—enables better decision-making and greater impact on oneself, loved ones, and the broader world.
“so those are a few of the approaches that I use they're not necessarily the best but they work for me for not just reading but taking structured notes to better structure thinking to make better decisions and to have a greater impact on yourself on those you care about and on the world in general”
Self-contempt in others manifests as anger or contempt toward external objects; if the external target were removed, the person would have to confront their own self-contempt, which is psychologically difficult to admit.
“it wasn't that this veterinary didn't like animals I think he didn't like himself and when that is though the subject usually must find an area for dislike outside himself else he would have to admit his self contempt I thought that was very interesting”
Reading material can be borrowed cross-domain: fictional tactics and leadership lessons can be extracted from novels and applied to real-world business and organizational contexts.
“I liberally will borrow from nonfiction to think about imaginary worlds and fantasy and fiction I will also borrow liberally from fiction saydoun and try to copy and paste lessons learn about leadership as an example into so-called real life and the non-fiction realm”
Marking certain passages with stars and circles on separate passes (first pass highlights, second pass stars, third pass circles) enables identification of which insights remain salient over time and prove most useful in practice, filtering out initially striking but ultimately less useful ideas.
“a day later a week later I will go through and I will star then I'll go through a week later and circle and in that way I am able to identify which chapters which techniques I have found most useful repeatedly because upon first reading first pass I might find something incredibly striking that later proves to not be terribly useful”
Redefining freedom from 'doing whatever you want' to 'knowing who you are, what you were supposed to be doing on this earth, and then simply doing it' shifts freedom from boundlessness to constraint-based fulfillment through clarity of purpose.
“there's freedom and being a writer and writing it is fulfilling your function I used to think freedom meant doing whatever you want and then I would say in parentheses but instead it means knowing who you are what you were supposed to be doing on this earth and then simply doing it but that there's a lot more to it but the part I found interesting about this was I used to think freedom was doing whatever you want that is common definition it's a definition that I get pulled into much like a riptide because it is conventional it's a definition I've used often myself but there's a lot of freedom and constraints and there is a lot of freedom and focus but it takes a reframing of that word”
Books on poetry (like Hafez) can be genuinely valuable even when their utility is not immediately obvious or when they seem disconnected from practical concerns, suggesting that value in reading extends beyond instrumental use.
“I certainly read things just for fun the UH Fez I greatly enjoy but there is value even if it's not obvious at the outset”
Using humor, puns, and ridiculous product claims as PR vehicles can drive engagement and media coverage more effectively than traditional paid advertising, making the brand memorable and shareable.
“using puns long names ridiculous claims right one of their claims on one of the products was restores virginity...so when you make a ridiculous claim like restores virginity it is so beyond the realm of believability that it becomes something you can use”
Charity competitions and annual recurring events are effective mechanisms for fundraising and donor engagement, making them transferable tactics across different philanthropic domains.
“charity competitions three annual events fake interviews incredible writing hahaha and then in the bottom right here there is something worth noting...all these ideas based on the charity competition and three annual events this is one thirteen plus to copy and paste some of these best practices into the cultivation of scientific funding for psychedelic related research”
Storing prospective next actions in dedicated boxes on the margins of note pages prevents ideas from getting lost in lengthy notes and creates a visible action queue for implementation.
“so very often when I'm taking notes I'll have these boxes in the bottom right hand page and those are prospective next steps next actions so it doesn't get lost in all of the various notes especially when I'm taking tons of notes”
For Kindle books, exporting highlights to software like Amazon Notebook and then importing into Evernote allows tagging and filtering via search functions (e.g., searching triple-asterisks) to rapidly review the highlights-of-highlights-of-highlights, reducing a 5-10 hour read to a 5-10 minute review of most salient points.
“I will highlight in this device then I will go see my highlights and there are different options for software you can use for this but the most native would be Amazon notebook so you can find your Kindle highlights then when you log in through your account on Amazon notebook and you can then copy and paste those or import them in two different programs I often will web clip that into Evernote where I can then go through my highlights much like the multiple passes and the print books and add three asterisks so three stars so to speak next two things that I find interesting in my highlights interesting I'm loving that adjective today on multiple passes and then I can just use ctrl F and search for those asterisks three asterisks to find the highlights of the highlights of the highlights and in this way I can review books after I've done a few passes of the highlights I can review what are most salient in terms of points and lessons and actions in a few minutes might be a five to ten minute review of a book that took me five to ten hours to read”
The Kindle device allows for easier preservation of notes and highlights compared to physical books, where handwritten notes can be lost if the book is misplaced or damaged.
“I greatly prefer when possible because I have many cases taking copious notes in print books and then lost the print book that is a sad day ladies and gentlemen makes me very very sad”
Hafez's poetry contains humor embedded with profound meaning, using seemingly crude or absurd language to communicate spiritual and existential insights—making poetry a dense, thought-provoking medium superior to prose for certain truths.
“how fast I should say I love for a million different reasons one of which is humor he's hilarious really really hilarious and just to to put this in perspective...I find that a lot of meaning and many interesting oh that's a lazy adjective thought-provoking questions can be embedded densely into poetry”
Hafez (1320–1389), a Persian poet and mystic, is the most beloved poet among Persians and his work remains remarkably accessible to modern readers despite centuries of translation and cultural distance.
“how Fez whose given name was Shaun's would Dean Muhammad I'm sure I'm not pronouncing that right but circa 13 22 1389 is the most beloved poet of Persians 1300s keep that in mind”
Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way popularized the practice of morning pages, a foundational writing practice referenced by subsequent authors like Natalie Goldberg.
“Julia Cameron some of you may recognize that name she wrote a classic called the artists way and popularized the practice of mourning pages”
Marcela with AH (possibly misspelled or unclear pronunciation) is a therapist and runs much of the training for MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies), which is conducting Phase 3 trials on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
“this book already free was recommended to me highly by Marcelo Marcela with AH Laura who is a therapist and also runs much of the training if not all the training for maps the multidisciplinary --ss association of psychedelic studies who is conducting phase 3 trials on mdma-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD”
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck is beautifully written, simply written, and unexpectedly funny—a work of literary merit that was personally recommended by book-loving family members with high standards.
“travels with Charlie in search of America John Steinbeck this is an incredible book beautifully written simply written and hilarious I really did not expect this to be as funny as it was it was recommended to me by my mom my mom and my brother are both book snobs so if they recommend anything it's clear to high hurdle”
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is an excellent how-to guide on writing that was repeatedly recommended by professional writers and serves as a companion to Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way.
“the next book is straight how to this is a how-to book excellent how to book this is writing down the bones freeing the writer with ends was recommended to me many many times by a number of professional writers who are excellent writers and good friends of mine by natalie goldberg foreword by Julia Cameron”
In Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner is a business memoir containing lessons about entrepreneurship, marketing, and social cause alignment, despite its surface topic being a salad dressing company.
“the last book that I'm going to talk about is this one here and it is a hilarious book it is a useful book full of lessons alright in pursuit of the common good 25 years of improving the world one bottle of salad dressing at a time Paul Newman and AE I'm guessing Hotchner but those one of those Ellis Island situations I don't know how to pronounce that in Americanized English nonetheless the back I'll just do give a quick read here shameless exploitation has never been more fun or done more good for more people than when done by newman's own the first green food company to use all natural ingredients and still the most successful”
Already Free by Mark Epstein integrates Western developmental psychotherapy with Buddhist philosophy, specifically useful for reframing trauma and out-of-date survival strategies as health efforts rather than deficits.
“this particular part of the chapter and it actually ties into a bunch in the previous books that I've spoken about in terms of perception stories narratives we tell ourselves and so on here we go and this is in the context of psychotherapy Western developmental psychotherapy combined with Buddhist fruitional view relating to whatever is and that might sound very strange but this book already free was recommended to me highly by Marcelo Marcela with AH Laura who is a therapist”