The big night has come: the premiere of The Tim Ferriss Experiment!
Starting now (3pm PT, 6pm ET) and ending around 8pm PT/11pm ET on December 1st, I’ll be doing everything possible to get #TFX to trend high on Twitter. If you’re seeing this the day after, it’s still important!
This is a new critical metric that TV show execs are using to determine success or failure. Traditional Nielsen rankings aren’t enough.
Want to see my attempts to deconstruct parkour, professional poker, guns, language learning, and much more? Please help me ensure this first episode does well!
See below for how you can best help…
FIRST, WHAT I’LL BE DOING
– Live Twitter Q&A from 4:30pm PT (7:30pm ET) to at least 6pm PT (9pm ET). Ask me anything, but you must include #TFX.
– Giveaways! I’ll be giving away super cool stuff, including:
- Subscriptions to my Quarterly packages
- Merrell shoes
- Signed books, including mine and Vagabonding.
- Sonos Playbars ($700 sound system)
- Goodies related to the drumming episode
- And much more…
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
If you’re up for it (and it’d mean the world to me), here are the things you can do to help. This TV show has been years in the making…
- If you have cable, tune in to “The Tim Ferriss Experiment” on HLN at 5pm PT (8pm ET). If you can’t make it today, please DVR it and watch in the next few days. It counts.
- If you don’t have cable, please watch the show online starting at exactly 5pm PT (8pm ET). YouTube is here, and iTunes is here. I’ll offer play-by-play commentary and live Twitter Q&A on what you’re seeing.
- In any case, please participate in the live Twitter Q&A and giveaways! Use #TFX as much as possible. Original tweets are worth more than retweets of other people.
- Do whatever you can to get people to use #TFX on Twitter between now and midnight! Rally the troops, your friends, your mailing lists, your Facebook friends, your imaginary friends… Offer giveaways of your own using #TFX, reuse your most popular tweets using #TFX, etc.In short, as Gary Oldman in The Professional would say:
IMAGES OF QUOTES & ANIMATED GIFS
Special thanks to Brendan Gahan, who helped organized the below materials.
Sharing any of the below helps ensure I can film more episodes for y’all. Thank you in advance! Much more content coming (about Jony Ive, actually) soon. Here goes…
If you feel so inclined, below are some images with quotes from the show as well as a few fun animated gifs for you to easily share. Please note, if you download the images and upload any of them your Twitter account directly, it will take up a bit more real estate in the newsfeed (and lead to more exposure for the show). Have fun and enjoy.
IMAGES
One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes #TFX (IMAGE )
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2) (IMAGE 3)
D.I.S.S. Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing & Stakes #TFX (IMAGE 1)
What’s up now David Lee Roth? #TFX (IMAGE 1)
M.E.D. The Minimum Effective Dose to unlock this song #TFX (IMAGE 1)
GIFS
Swewart showing me the ‘annoying things guitarists do’ (GIF)
That annoying thing guitarists really do, do #TFX (GIF)
The pressure. The pressure. (GIF)
The 80/20 rule (GIF)
Stewart drumming like he lives in The Matrix #TFX (GIF)
QUOTES TO TWEET
I’ve pulled some of my all time favorite quotes, as well as some memorable lines from the show. You can simply click to tweet.
Some of my all time favorites:
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw #TFX (Click To Tweet)
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”#TFX – Winston Churchill (Click To Tweet)
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” #TFX – George Bernard Shaw (Click To Tweet)
“Worrying is like praying for what you don’t want.” #TFX via Aileen Norton Swift (Click To Tweet)
“A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.” #TFX – Bruce Lee (Click To Tweet)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)
Memorable lines from the show:
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)
What’s up now David Lee Roth #TFX (Click To Tweet)
I need to figure out the minimum effective dose to learning this song, the smallest piece I can focus on to pull this off #TFX (Click To Tweet)
One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes. #TFX (Click To Tweet)
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (Click To Tweet)
Thank you in advance for your support. It’s what keeps me going.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with over 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Look forward to seeing how fast you break the internet… #TFX
You mean 5pm PT, 8pm ET?
Corrected! Thanks for the catch.
Good Luck Tim! I can’t wait!
Good luck Tim! I’ll be watching.
Good “luck” Tim! Don’t forget to put your game day tshirt on: “HOPE is not a strategy, LUCK is not a factor, FEAR is not an option.”
I have it printed on my wall and read it everyday to inspire me!
Tim I want to watch the second one, I am studying your learning method to apply it in my life, because I love learn too, but in several times I did not reach all the results I want. Go ahead, Adelante Tim.
Tim: hyperlink URL for “live Twitter Q&A and giveaways!” should be https://twitter.com/search?q=%23TFX
nevermind
It’s already available on demand on comcast/xfinity.
Tim,
Good Luck tonight & thank you for inspiring me to become a better human/person.
#TFX
Thanks,
KD
Fantastic! Good luck Tim! We’ll be watching.
Awesome! Can’t wait!
This show will definately be a success, congrats brotha
This show will be a success for sure. Congrats and thank you for sharing your experiences with us. TFX!!!
Ohhh mannnn, I’ve been wanting to become this person foreeverr!!!!!
It’s as if I dreamed you up and the universe provided!!! Learn drums or anything in 5 days. INCREDIBLE!!!!!
Hey Tim. I love the show! You bring such a great attitude and personality to what you do. I can’t wait to see more!
Cheers Tim – As a high school musician who still plays the piano casually, I appreciated your honest approach and felt the portrayal was effective. I def felt a bit like this building my first iPhone game app.
-Erik van Mechelen
Awesome job Tim. 5 days! I use the MED method in my speaking biz. It’s a game changer. Thanks for all that you do. Removing excuses every day.
Just finished watching the video, Tim. Great stuff. Really enjoyed the 4-hour work week. It totally changed my way of thinking. Thanks.
Dear friend Tim,
Your book and his knowledge are changing my life.
In all my life this was the cheapest investment I made in knowledge.
Have Brazilian students? I am willing to be a “guinea pig”. Put into practice the concepts and test them in difficulties and results in another country, in another culture. You never interested in whether their lessons work in other markets, particularly in countries ‘development’?
I’m ready for anything, even motivated to learn English only to communicate with you (I could never learn other languages, especially English. Inclusive apologize for the horrible translation via “google”, I hope that’s understandable).
Meanwhile Tim, thank you very much.
You hits hard, but it changes my life!
Hug
Guilherme Brod
Hi Tim
What a lovely surprise on my Sunday night! I just finished watching and thought that was such a great first episode – percussion is not an easy feat. My hubby is a major at percussion and is trained in composition – and the art he creates with music is remarkable to me – very brave to get up on stage too!!
I’ve been following what you do (your projects etc.) more closely as of late – I love what you stand for. A new fan I suppose. I’m all for experimentation, and finding the most efficient and “path of least resistance” ways to learn. I’m always teaching my clients and students the art of “Learning How to Learn” – – getting folks to spark up their curiosity, their experimentation sides etc., can be a tough one these days. Especially when past experiences of learning new things often has negative connections with awful and tedious courses in high school and post-secondary education.
Keep it up and thanks for doing what you do.
Have a great rest of your evening. Irene.
Hope all went well last night Tim (your blog broadcast went out late, I didn’t get it until the event was over)
I watched the first episode on YouTube and it was awesome! Would love to have watched it on iTunes, but it’s only available from the US iTunes store, not worldwide as I think you intended.
Good luck and kol hakavod (Hebrew for “all respect/good for you”)
Hi Tim – do you know if your program will be aired in the UK at some point?
Tim, you’re a crazy MOFO! Loved the show, man. I can’t wait to see what you’re getting into next!
Hi Tim,
I just finished a blog post about TFX on my blog (cinnamonontop.com) to make people in Germany aware of the show. I hope it is ok to also use the IMAGES above to post a few of them on the blog too!?
The show is great fun! Keep going..
Sascha
Hey Tim, I have a suggestion in order to multiple your YouTube views to something around 4 to 8 times.
Get to someone to write down Subtitles in the top 5 most spoken Languages in the internet (not in the word). English itself included, for there are a lot of people who can read English but can’t understand it listening to it.
World*
That was Awesome, Tim. Hanging up Stuart Copeland looks like best part.
I loved the episode, it has inspired me to go out and try and do some rapid learning of my own. I am interested to see what all the next episodes will be about. You should do one on survival skills or something of that nature!
Anyway to watch oversees?
Great episode Tim, I love all the lifehacking, bodyhacking and mindhacking your doing. This is another example that serves as a great role model for all the entrepreneurs out there that wonder what do you do after you have been successful. I know that in you make it sound like single 20 something year olds should have it easy as far as becoming an entrepreneur and everything, however I think one big question that has always been on my mind is how do I fill all my free time once I “make it”. This show helps to answer that question, learn stuff and do cool things in a rapid way.
I do not know if you finished shooting all the episodes but you should have voting on what skills you will learn for some episodes.
Hey Tim. I saw the video on youtube as soon as you posted it. It was last week as far as I remember. I’m really curious to see what are you gonna learn next. 🙂
Loved the first episode! Very excited to see the rest of the season. Keep up the great work! Thank you so much.
Reid
This was nothing short of inspiring. Bye, bye comfort zone. Here I come with courage over fear! This show will be one of my top priorities. Thank you, Tim! You’re a beast!!! One day I will be taking you to lunch, brother. That’ll be my stretch! 🙂
Cool! How was your approach different from your “Trial by Fire” attempt?
It is shorter and has far more special effects
Way to go Tim.
Onward and upward.
Playing drums live, yikes!!
Just like bakers and pastry chefs who have to bake and perform in front of a live audience, test kitchen or chefs table, private cooking demos, etc.
Cakes and melting chocolate, things always go wrong live.
you know your craft, you’ve done it a thousand times
but doing it live, those aren’t butterflies in your stomach my friend, they’re BATS!!!
All your skills and know how goes out the window, freaking out fear of being judged.
Doing anything live will always make your better and most anything.
Over time and effort, that goes away as you know.
ex-baker now transportation specialist.
looking forward to some quality TV content.
you and Anthony should do a show together.
just sayin
Can’t wait for the professional poker episode! Loved the premiere on drums. You were amazing. 🙂
Awesome result for sure!
When drumming near the end i noticed what looked like a wrap on your left arm, injury prevention or something fancier 🙂
I’m a 41 year old runner, swimmer, tennis player. I do Crossfit twice a week. 2 days I’m on my own in the gym and I pull from elements of the Prehab, Strength, and Geek to Freak sections of your book. This doesn’t follow the books minimalist approach. Injury prevention, strength, and maintaining muscle mass are most important to me. How do I solve for all 3 with only 2 hours per week of gym time?
Lovely episode, too short though 🙁
Tim,
This is where you twitter link is pointing. https://twitter.com/tfx Looks Chinese.
I am NOT a TV watcher but I plan to turn it on tonight to see your show. Good Luck and thanks for doing it.
Cathy
This will surely be great. I’m excited. The quotes are already empowering me. You continue to inspire people Tim.
Such a good episode Tim–if only it could’ve been about 10 min longer! You looked natural on the drum kit, by the way!
Very cool, saw the t.v. commercial. Viewed about 5 minutes of the premiere, should I say Tim is the next Andrew Zimmern? Congrats Tim!
Loved the show. I caught it today on a HLN rerun. I have DVR’d your series and can’t wait for more.
I really enjoyed your manic ways. You have inspired me and my family. My brother and sister in law and school aged daughters are planning a year long travel/school sail abroad trip.
I have faith we will all meet up along the way. What a joy.
The show was fun and well done.
Thanks.
Shari y mi familia
Hey Tim, TFX season pass is not available on iTunes in Canada? Will it be available later? If not, how can we get it (I don’t have a TV, it’s old technology 😉
Thanks!
Hey Tim,
Hope it went well, what was the final outcome? Did you crack it #TFX?
Can’t wait for it. Expecting there will be fantastic content in there as always Tim. And actually really want to get some insight into the use of Twitter
Dear Tim, I gather that you are too busy to write book endorsements, but will ask (beg) anyway. I am a neurosurgeon who has written a book on back pain that features the use of kettlebells. I have read your books and think you might enjoy my book. I use the wisdom of philosophers, humorous paradoxes, and cutting edge psychology concepts to make my points. The book is called (in all irony) The End of Back Pain and is being published by HarperCollins in April of 2014. An endorsement from you carries enormous weight and would help to get my message heard. If there is anything that I can do to convince you or make it easier please tell. Thx Pat Roth
Awesome stuff! I love the growing movement of rapid skill acquisition, instead of the old “that will take WAY too long to learn” mentality
Tim, awesome show and can’t wait for the rest!! Just one thing – can you make this available on the Australian iTunes store? I’d love to pay for the series and give the feedback you want but it’s not available here…get your team to change this!
First and foremost I have to mention that Tim Ferriss’s blog, writings and videos have been unbelievably inspirational for me over the last few months. I am very excited to watch and share all of the upcoming episodes of the new show. I have been employing a lot of Ferriss’s techniques in my day to day scheduling, music practicing and business approaches and I am eager to share my insights on how these techniques can be used in creative fields and fine arts. On that subject, I would like to offer my thoughts on ‘The Tim Ferriss Experiment Premiere: Rock N’ Roll Drums’
The key to learning an instrument is finding the area that is either your weakest or the area that when worked on gives the biggest return in overall musicianship. You also need to have a fundamental knowledge of the applicable basics in the field you are working in. For example, when leaning a reggae bass line you need to first know the notes of the baseline (that can be quite complex) before you can attempt to learn the essential and subtle nuances of the song or genre. I believe the way the 80-20 principal applies to music practice is, by practicing extremely focused and targeted at the exact weakest point and/or most productive area, you only need to practice small amounts for dramatic improvement. I’m not sure it is possible to sustain a high level of practice very long each day. Sometimes, I practice so focused and so specifically for just a few minutes that my brain feels softened afterward. It’s very hard to describe, but you can practice so efficiently that it leaves you in an unusual head space.
In this episode, Tim set out to learn the drum parts for a Foreigner song. Being relatively comfortable with the notes, grooves and fills of the song is step one. Once that is accomplished, the two areas I would recommend drummers focus on for maximum gain are; stick swing, and groove manipulation.
1 – Stick swing
Although there are a few different approaches to stick swing, I am going to talk about a full rock stick swing and the ‘Moeller Technique’. To start, a good stick swing needs to have more than a 90 degree stick rotation. Some great groove drummers swing 180 degrees or more, often having their drumstick over their shoulder and pointing down their backs between hits. The grip of the stick needs to be loose enough that it allows the cymbal or drum to resonate. If your grip is too stiff, you may accidentally be ‘choking’ the stick. It’s easy hear when someone is ‘chocking’ the stick because when they hit a drum it sounds harsh or unnatural and they will also break sticks and drum skins frequently. There is an anomaly in the drum world with immaculate stick swing and technique, world famous drum n’ bass drummer Jojo Mayer. He is also the only drummer on the planet that can successfully do a clean drum roll with one hand.
Check out this video of him breaking down the Moeller Technique http://youtu.be/_kH7Q_AtPZY
Also, check out the monster stick swing of Tony Royster Jr.
http://youtu.be/QZI9YvM02L8
2. Groove manipulation
The only way to practice groove manipulation is by recording or taping yourself. When practicing, the act of being behind your instrument skews the objective perception of the music you are making. Meaning, if you were somehow able to detach your observing self from your performing self with %100 objectivity, you would hear all of your mistakes, all the time. Recording and/or taping yourself helps gain this objectivity. Furthermore, to learn groove manipulation you can record yourself trying radical things. From a relaxed state of mind, experiment with your groove and try to get out of your comfort zone. When you listen back to your experimenting every now and then you will say to yourself, “oh what was that, that sounded good”. Then, you can develop some of the ideas and techniques that you ‘stumble’ upon. Another important note, don’t get caught up practicing to a metronome too much. It’s good to have a sense of metronomic time, but recording and experimenting should be done without a metronome.
Check out this video of Chris ‘daddy’ dave really manipulating the groove
http://youtu.be/LtCvi7dfyqU.
These areas are the most important and pay off the most when practiced by drummers. I suggest taking a very small amount of time and setting the goal of recording yourself for 5 minutes, listening to it, and not worrying about practicing for the rest of the day. Make sure that when you are playing and being recorded you are conscientiously trying different things, trying to be relaxed and inventive. When listening back, try and focus hard at where the groove is slipping or locking in and why. Practicing small focused amounts will lead to huge improvements and help to keep the physical association you have with your instrument positive.
I must re-iterate how much I enjoy all things Tim Ferriss and I’m sure the whole series will be amazing.
Thanks for reading and I’d love to answer any questions or hear any ideas on this if anyone has any.
Tom Heuckendorff
Tom, thank you so much for the kind words and thoughtful comment! Very inspiring. Makes me want to get right back to drumming 🙂
Pura vida,
Tim
Hey Tim,
So happy you read my reply and were inspired, that means a ton coming from you. I would honestly love to share some of the information I have on music, or the few other skills that I believe I can break down at a high level, with you and/or your blog. Let me know if you’re interested I’d love to contribute in any way.
Be well
Tom
Loved the premiere ep! Wonder how many will be available online. (Some of us rock a cable-free lifestyle.)
But I would bet that when (if?) the show comes out on DVD there will be some siiiiiiiiiiiiiick extras!
He Tim,
Loved the first episode!
Is it possible to get TFX also in the Dutch iTunes store? I even made a American iTunes account ( I’m just that bad :p) but it somehow doesn’t accept my creditcard. Any possible way I could watch the following episodes in another way?
Keep up the great work,
Bas
How do you access Episode TWO of Tim Ferriss Experiment in Europe? (Doesn’t work: Amazon, iTunes, Youtube, Google Instant, Upwave).
Don’t leave the rest of the world out!
Hey!
Donna or Tim, this is very upsetting! I can’t watch TFX! How is a Canadian suppose to watch the Tim Ferris Experiment when every outlet is catered to only America’s? Is there any way Canadians can watch??
Alex Bakay
from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
Hey Tim!
I managed to see the first episode and I honestly loved it! Since then I’ve tried to see episodes 2 & 3, however they seem to be region locked on Amazon, Youtube, Itunes, and Google Play. I’m Swedish and I’m wondering if there’s any way I can access them from here?
Cheers!
Alex
Wish there was a way to watch TFX without having to bow down to the Apple overlords. Ever thought about releasing your shows on another platform?