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The Tim Ferriss Show

#389: Neil deGrasse Tyson — How to Dream Big, Think Scientifically, and Get More Done

The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig

Lifestyle Design, Business, The 4-hour Workweek, Productivity, Timothy Ferriss Show, Startups, Tim Ferris, Entrepreneurship, Longform Interviews, Tools Of Titans, Timothy Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show, Tim Ferriss

4.617.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2019

⏱️ 110 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“What matters is: Are you a good problem solver? Are you moral? Are you a hard worker? Are you a good leader? Do you have insights into the field? These are the questions that matter.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) was appointed the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium in 1996. Dr. Tyson’s professional research interests are primarily related to the structure of the Milky Way galaxy, and the formation of stars, supernovas, and dwarf galaxies.

Dr. Tyson graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, received his BA from Harvard, and earned his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia University in 1991. In 2001 he was appointed by President Bush to serve on the 12-member Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. In 2004 Dr. Tyson received a second appointment from President Bush, this time to the nine-member President’s Commission on the Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy (dubbed the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission). In 2016 he was appointed by the US secretary of defense to be an advisor to the DoD on the future of sci-tech innovation.

Dr. Tyson has been awarded 21 honorary degrees as well as the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and he has authored multiple books on the universe, including Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate FrontierDeath by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, chronicling his experience at the center of the controversy over Pluto’s planetary status.

His newest book is Letters from an Astrophysicist, a companion to his 2017 bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

Since 2006 Dr. Tyson has appeared as the on-camera host of PBS-NOVA’s spinoff program NOVA ScienceNOW. He also hosts a popular radio show and podcast called StarTalk in addition to the Emmy-nominated StarTalk TV show on National Geographic.

In 2014 Dr. Tyson hosted a reboot of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep. I recently moved into a new home and needed new beds, and I purchased mattresses from Helix Sleep. It offers mattresses personalized to your preferences and sleeping style without costing thousands of dollars. Visit HelixSleep.com/TIM and take the simple 2-3 minute sleep quiz to get started, and the team there will match you to a mattress you’ll love.

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This episode is also brought to you by ShipStation. Do you sell stuff online? Then you know what a pain the shipping process is. Whether you’re selling on eBay, Amazon, Shopify, or over 100 other popular selling channels, ShipStation was created to make your life easier. ShipStation lets you access all of your orders from one simple dashboard, it works with all of the major shipping carriers, locally and globally, including FedEx, UPS, and USPS.

Tim Ferriss Show listeners get to try ShipStation free for 60 days by using promo code TIM. There’s no risk and you can start your free trial without even entering your credit card info. Just visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, and type in TIM!

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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, and many more.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

optimal minimal

0:02.0

at this altitude i can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking

0:06.3

can i also request a question?

0:08.4

now i just sit in the perfect time

0:10.6

what if i did the eye test?

0:12.1

i must have a nettie organism living this show on metal impulse go up

0:15.8

lead to ferris show

0:24.3

this episode is brought to you by helix sleep

0:27.0

last year i focused on dramatically improving a few things

0:29.7

surprise surprise most notably the quality of my sleep which seems to affect

0:34.2

just about everything this led me to revisit

0:37.4

you name it my daily routine morning routine exercise

0:41.2

diet all the way to what i slept on and i ended up getting all new beds

0:44.9

here in austin texas including mattresses

0:47.6

from helix sleep he looks as built a sleep quiz that takes two minutes to

0:52.1

complete and they use the answers to match your body type and sleep preferences

0:55.7

to the perfect

0:57.6

whether you're a side sleeper hot sleeper cold sleeper you like plus you like

1:01.1

firm with helix there's no more guessing or confusion just go to helix sleep

1:07.1

dot com forward slash tim take their two minute sleep quiz and they'll match you

1:11.3

to a mattress that will give you the best sleep of your life

1:14.3

that is their promise for couples helix can even split the mattress down the

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