#376: How Seth Godin Manages His Life — Rules, Principles, and Obsessions (Repost)

Tim Ferriss (0:22)

Hello, ladies and germs, this is Tim Ferris, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferris Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers, whether they are from chess, sports, military, entertainment or otherwise.

I tease out the routines, the habits, the favorite books, et cetera, that you can use. At least that's the goal. And this episode was a massive success because the guest, Seth Godin, tenaced my expectations. And I already expected him to be incredible, which of course he was. Seth Godin is probably the best-known marketing mind in the world, the author of 17 best-selling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. He writes about the way ideas spread, marketing, of course, strategic quitting, leadership, and most of all, challenging the status quo in all areas. And he does this personally in his own life in many different ways. His books include Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, Your Turn and many others. He's also founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog, which is easy to find, just type Seth into Google, is one of the most popular in the world. He's been inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. He's done all sorts of amazing things. And generally speaking, Seth doesn't get into his personal life, his personal habits.

This interview is an exception. He tells a lot of stories he's never told before. We get into a lot of details that he's never disclosed or shared before. And we cover a ton and we had a blast.

His favorite list of audiobooks that he listens to repeatedly, some of them once per month, his morning routine, breakfast, dietary habits, how he processes email, meditative practices, why he's fixated on, among other things, coffee and vodka, despite the fact that he consumes neither of them. How to go from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur. And it goes on and on. We really had a great time. I hope that you also have a great time listening to it. So without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with none other than Seth Godin.

Seth, welcome to the show.

Seth Godin (2:28)

Tim, it's a pleasure. What a thrill to talk to you.

Tim Ferriss (2:31)

I have, over the years, just become more and more fascinated by your entire life. And I really admire not only the work you've put out, but the entire life you've crafted for yourself. And since day one, I think my fans have been asking me to not will I, but when will you have Seth on the podcast? So it's really fun to set aside the time, and I really appreciate it.

And we've also ended up having quite a few mutual friends. And I thought perhaps a fun place to start would be with something I only learned recently. And I guess the best way to approach this would be to just ask you to talk about maybe your, how do you prepare coffee or vodka?

Seth Godin (3:21)

The coffee thing will start there. I don't drink coffee. I wish I did. I need a vice, but I like making it. I like the act of trying without being one of those people who's like measuring everything, because that's not my schtick, to have an intuitive sense of what makes a good pull of espresso.

I used to have a fancy Slayer machine, which is this super digital hunk of a device that did not belong in anyone's kitchen, particularly mine. When it started acting up, I was able to sell it for a fair price and switched in the completely opposite direction to a Swiss-made 17-year-old totally manual machine. You got to pull a handle.

I roast my own beans, which is key. Marco Armit taught me that. Roasting your own beans is more important than any other thing you can do if you want to make coffee. I think there's a metaphor there. I know there's a metaphor there, which is you can spend a lot of time trying to fix stuff later, but starting with the right raw materials makes a huge difference.

Tim Ferriss (4:26)

Garbage in, garbage out.

Seth Godin (4:27)

There you go.

Tim Ferriss (4:28)

Marco, just for context for folks, that's Marco and I don't know why I'm having this mental blank right now. Of course, Tumblr and now Overcast, which is a great podcast player that I use myself. Really fascinating guy in his own right.

Why don't you drink coffee?

Seth Godin (4:44)

It hurts my stomach. Some people, here's the thing, some people are gluten intolerant. I'm just intolerant.

Tim Ferriss (4:52)

And intolerant of, we're talking about food products.

Seth Godin (4:56)

Food, not humans. I'm really good with humans. And if you have to pick one, it's better to be tolerant of humans.