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The Tim Ferriss Show

#668: Derek Sivers — The Joys of an Un-Optimized Life, Finding Paths Less Traveled, Creating Tech Independence (and Risks of the Cloud), Taking Giant Leaps, and Picking the Right “Game of Life”

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

🗓️ 21 April 2023

⏱️ 174 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brought to you by Allbirds incredibly comfortable shoes, Wealthfront high-yield savings account, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. 

Derek Sivers (@sivers) is an author of philosophy and entrepreneurship, known for his surprising, quotable insights and pithy, succinct writing style. He is a former musician, programmer, TED speaker, and circus clown, who sold his first company, CDBaby for $22 million and gave all the money to charity.

Derek’s books (How to Live, Hell Yeah or No, Your Music and People, Anything You Want) and newest projects are at his website: sive.rs. His upcoming book is Useful Not True.

Please enjoy!

P.S. To follow the exact step-by-step "Tech Independence" instructions from Derek, please visit sive.rs/ti.

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This episode is brought to you by Allbirds! Allbirds are incredibly comfortable shoes, sustainably made, with design rooted in simplicity. I’ve been wearing Allbirds for the last several months, and I’ve been alternating between two pairs. I started with the Tree Runners (in marine blue, if you’re curious), and now I’m wearing the Tree Dashers, and the Tree Dashers are my current “daily driver.” I stick with the blue hues, and the Dashers are in buoyant blue. The color pops, and I’ve received a ton of compliments.

The Tree Dasher is an everyday running and walking shoe that’s also great for light workouts. It’s super comfortable, and I’ve been testing it on long walks in Austin and New Zealand on both trails and pavement. Find your perfect pair at Allbirds.com today and use code TIM for free socks with a purchase of $48 or more. Just add a pair of socks to your shopping cart and apply code TIM to make the pair free.

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This episode is also brought to you by ShopifyShopify is one of my favorite platforms and one of my favorite companies. Shopify is designed for anyone to sell anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business. In no time flat, you can have a great-looking online store that brings your ideas to life, and you can have the tools to manage your day-to-day and drive sales. No coding or design experience required.

Go to shopify.com/Tim to sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period. It’s a great deal for a great service, so I encourage you to check it out. Take your business to the next level today by visiting shopify.com/Tim.

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This episode is also brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is an app that helps you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn 4.3% APY—that’s the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account. That’s more than eleven times more interest than if you left your money in a savings account at the average bank, according to FDIC.gov. 

It takes just a few minutes to sign up, and then you’ll immediately start earning 4.3% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you’ll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.  Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by Allbirds, incredibly comfortable shoes,

0:03.5

sustainably made with design rooted in simplicity. I am speaking from experience here. I've been

0:08.4

wearing Allbirds for the last several months and I've been alternating between two pairs. I'm

0:12.7

traveling with them right now. I started with the tree runners in marine blue in case you're curious

0:17.6

and now I'm wearing the tree dashers and the tree dashers are my current daily driver. I wear them

0:22.8

for everything. They're easy to slip on, easy to tie. Everything is about them. It's just easy,

0:28.9

simple, simple. I stick with the blue hues and the dashers in this case are in buoyant blue. The

0:34.3

color pops. I've received a ton of compliments, but putting the color aside, the tree dasher is in

0:39.2

everyday running and walking shoe that's also great for light workouts. It's super comfortable,

0:44.1

and I've been testing it on long walks in Austin. I've also been testing it on the trails and

0:48.4

pavement in places like New Zealand. And let's come back to the sustainability. I mentioned that

0:53.2

earlier. In the Allbirds Innovation Lab, they research how to make the most out of sustainable

0:57.7

materials like leather made from plants, sugar cane and tree fibers. In fact, the tree dasher is made

1:03.6

with Eucalyptus tree fiber. That's something also found in New Zealand. Eucalyptus tree fiber to

1:08.8

create a lighter and more responsive shoe. Allbirds is making shoes better than natural. They are

1:14.5

supernatural. Find your perfect pair at allbirds.com today and use code Tim, that's TIM, for free socks

1:21.1

with a purchase of $48 or more. That's allbirds.com using code Tim,

1:26.8

ALL, B-I-R-D-S dot com, one more time, allbirds.com using code Tim.

1:37.0

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Shopify is one of my favorite companies out there,

1:41.4

one of my favorite platforms ever. And let's get into it. Shopify is a platform, as I mentioned,

1:46.7

designed for anyone to sell anything anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserve

1:52.8

for big business. So what does that mean? That means in no time flat, you can have a great looking

...

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