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

This interview originally aired in 2016. You can find the show notes here: https://tim.blog/2016/02/10/seth-godin/

“We can’t out-obedience the competition.” – Seth Godin

I expected this episode to be amazing, and Seth 10x’d expectations. He’s incredible.

Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog) is the author of 17 bestselling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. He writes about the way ideas spread, marketing, strategic quitting, leadership, and — most of all — challenging the status quo in all areas. His books include Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, and What to Do When it’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn).

Seth has founded several companies, including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. His blog (which you can find by typing “Seth” into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. In 2013, Godin was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. Recently, Godin turned the book publishing world on its ear by launching a series of four books via Kickstarter. The campaign reached its goal in just three hours and became the most successful book project in Kickstarter history.

In this episode, we cover dozens of topics and stories, including some he’s never discussed publicly before. Here’s a small sample:

• A list of the audiobooks he listens to repeatedly, some once per month
• His morning routine, breakfast, dietary habits, and email processing
• Meditative practices
• Why he’s fixated on and mastered coffee and vodka, despite the fact that he consumes neither
• Suggestions for going from “wantrepreneur” to entrepreneur
• How to determine if you’re better off a “freelancer” or “entrepreneur,” and the differences in his mind
• Why he has the most impressive cookbook collection our mutual chef friends have ever seen
• His rules for saying “no” to opportunities, how he thinks about public speaking, etc.
• His recipe for honey oatmeal vodka, and his favorite chocolates in the world
• Thoughts on improving how parents educate their children
• General philosophies and guidelines he uses for life management

Enjoy!

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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,