Hey, Podcast listeners. Thanks for making a recent batch of self-improvement episodes,

some of the most popular episodes we've ever released. I hope they actually help you

improve something in your life, large or small. If so, why not you help improve our lives

a little bit? How? By making a donation to WNYC, the public radio station that produces

Freakonomics Radio, just go to Freakonomics.com slash donate, or you can text the word freak

to the number 69866 and a link will pop up on your phone that's 69866. Any amount is

appreciated, although I won't lie, the more zero is the better. You can also become a WNYC

sustaining member with a contribution of just $5 or $10 a month. Thanks as always for listening

to Freakonomics Radio. If you don't try hard no matter how much

talent you have, there's always going to be someone else who has a similar amount of

talent who outworks you and therefore outperforms you. It's very easy, I think, in a digital age

easier than ever to confuse being busy with being productive and they're just not the

same thing. Well, what if I did something with some more passion? What if I found something

to be a deeper interest to me? If I thought maybe I should give it a go and see if it was

actually possible to improve. Let's start with in 60 seconds or less what you actually

do in a given day. If you have such a thing as a given day. I would say interviewing experts,

tracking down eccentric weirdos who are really good at one thing or another, formulating

a plan for some type of experiment involving their observations or findings and then recording

it. That is what I do most days. That is Tim Ferris. He is, is he exactly? I am a human

guinea pig and professional dilatant. For our final self-improvement episode, a man

whose entire life and career are one big pile of self-improvement of accelerated self-improvement

as evidenced by his book titles, The Four Hour Work Week, The Four Hour Chef, The Four

...