Depression Is the Past, Anxiety Is the Future – How to Live in the Present | Tim Ferriss
Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2025
⏱️ 104 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if reframing one simple word, and one simple practice, could reshape how you experience your life?
On today’s episode, we sit down with Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, host of The Tim Ferriss Show, angel investor, and relentless experimenter in human potential. Known for his curiosity and cultural impact, Tim opens up about the intentional practices that support calm, focus, playful awareness, and deep presence in his everyday life.
Tim explores how language shapes experience, why play is essential (not optional), and how to design your days for the states that matter most. He also shares the thinking behind Coyote, his new card game built to spark laughter, sync groups, and unlock connection, not just competition.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- How a single word reframed can shift your nervous system and your day
- Practical ways Tim cultivates calm, focus, and presence
- Why play is essential to performance, creativity, and connection
- Designing for “states” vs. chasing outcomes
- The intention behind Coyote: syncing up, group flow, and joy
Tune in to learn how one of the world’s most prolific thinkers approaches mastery from the inside out—and what that might unlock in your own life.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I do not have any social media apps on my phone. |
| 0:02.0 | Having for two to three years because it feeds the I, I, I, I, me, me, me disease. |
| 0:07.7 | And if you want to experience these slivers of transcendence, you just need to do something |
| 0:13.1 | that takes the focus off of yourself. |
| 0:16.2 | What if reframing one simple word and one simple practice could reshape how you experience your life. |
| 0:21.9 | I think it's common for people to say I have to do X. |
| 0:24.5 | And there's a certain negative emotional valence to it. |
| 0:27.3 | So it's like, okay, instead of I have to, like, I get to. |
| 0:29.9 | Like, this is actually something you get to do. |
| 0:32.9 | And man, does that change your experience of things you might otherwise roll your eyes at, grind your teeth about? |
| 0:39.0 | Welcome back. We're welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast, where we dive into the minds of the world's |
| 0:43.2 | greatest thinkers and doers. I am your host, Dr. Michael Jervais, by trade and training a high-performance |
| 0:48.4 | psychologist. The idea behind these conversations, it's simple. It's to sit with the |
| 0:52.5 | extraordinaries and to learn, to really learn |
| 0:55.4 | how they work from the inside out. Now, this week, |
| 0:58.0 | I got to sit down with someone who's been shaping |
| 0:59.8 | culture and performance for over two decades, |
| 1:02.2 | Tim Ferriss. You likely know him as the best-selling author |
| 1:04.9 | of the four-hour work week, host of the Tim Ferriss show, |
| 1:07.9 | tech angel investor, and a relentless experimenter in human potential. |
| 1:12.6 | So the idea that if I just work 20% harder, I'm going to leave this indelible mark on the universe, |
| 1:19.2 | I find that when it becomes kind of an obsession. Like, I need to change the world and leave my mark |
... |
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