Darren Aronofsky (@DarrenAronofsky) is the founder and head of production company Protozoa Pictures. He is the acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker behind both cult classics and blockbusters, including Pi (which earned him a Best Director award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival), Requiem For a Dream, The Wrestler (the third U.S. film in history to win the esteemed Golden Lion award), Black Swan (which won Natalie Portman the Academy Award for Best Actress and garnered four other Oscar nominations), Noah (His biblically inspired epic that opened at number at the box office and grossed more than $362,000,000 worldwide), and his latest, mother!, a psychological horror-thriller film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

In this episode, we explore a wide range of topics, including:

• His creative process and "nomadic writing"
• Work environment and highly unusual desks
• The "Month of Fury"
• How to navigate tough conversations over creativity and control
• Psychedelics
• Dealing with critics
• And much more...

Many thanks to Peter Attia for making the introduction -- check out his three previous appearances on this show here.

Please enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by WordPress, my go-to platform for 24/7-supported, zero downtime blogging, writing online, creating websites -- everything! I love it to bits, and the lead developer, Matt Mullenweg, has appeared on this podcast many times.

Whether for personal use or business, you're in good company with WordPress -- used by The New Yorker, Jay Z, Beyonce, FiveThirtyEight, TechCrunch, TED, CNN, and Time, just to name a few. A source at Google told me that WordPress offers "the best out-of-the-box SEO imaginable," which is probably why it runs nearly 30% of the Internet. Go to WordPress.com/Tim to get 15% off your website today!

This podcast is also brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have two to recommend:

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
2. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is visit Audible.com/Tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose any of the endless options they offer. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It's that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim and get started today. Enjoy.

Stewart Copeland (@copelandmusic) is a Grammy Award-winning musician, considered by Rolling Stone Magazine to be one of the top ten drummers of all time. He's a founding member of The Police, and an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In this conversation, we delve into lessons for surviving the music industry, why entrepreneurs (and self-directed artists) never get a day off, how The Police developed their unique sound, the decision that changed everything, and much more.

This episode comes from my new television show Fear(less), where I interview world-class performers about how they've overcome doubt, conquered fear, and made their toughest decisions. You can watch the entire first episode with illusionist David Blaine for free at att.net/fearless. (To watch all episodes, please visit DIRECTV NOW).

We recorded three hours of material and only one hour was used for the TV show. This podcast episode is almost entirely new content that didn't appear on TV.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Mizzen + Main. These are the only "dress" shirts I now travel with -- fancy enough for important dinners but made from athletic, sweat-wicking material. No more ironing, no more steaming, no more hassle. They are a personal favorite of NFL phenom J.J. Watt, alongside many professional athletes. Click here for the exact shirts I wear most often.

Don't forget to use the code "TIM" at checkout for free shipping!

This podcast is also brought to you by Kettle & Fire, the first shelf-stable (never frozen) bone broth that uses 100 percent grass-fed, organically grazed animals. Recommended by past guests like Dom D'Agostino and Amelia Boone, Kettle & Fire is slow-simmered for 20+ hours so the bone broth is packed with collagen -- 19 times more than its closest competitor -- and other key proteins and amino acids.

Need that slow carb diet boost? Take a look at kettleandfire.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) is one of the best tennis players in the world. She is the winner of five Grand Slam titles (two at the French Open and one each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open) and an Olympic silver medalist.

Forbes named Maria the highest-paid female athlete of all-time in 2005 -- a title she's held for 12 years. Off the court, she's an ambassador for many of the world's top luxury brands and a number of Fortune 500 companies including Porsche, Nike, Evian, and Head. In 2007, she became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and has made significant contributions to Chernobyl-related projects. Her first book, Unstoppable: My Life So Far, comes out this year.

In this conversation, we went deep into tactics of training, mental performance, mental toughness, and much more. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Kettle & Fire, the first shelf-stable (never frozen) bone broth that uses 100 percent grass-fed, organically grazed animals. Recommended by past guests like Dom D'Agostino and Amelia Boone, Kettle & Fire is slow-simmered for 20+ hours so the bone broth is packed with collagen -- 19 times more than its closest competitor -- and other key proteins and amino acids.

Need that slow carb diet boost? Take a look at kettleandfire.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

This podcast is also brought to you by Ascent Protein, the best protein I've ever tried. Ascent is the only US-based company that offers native proteins -- both whey and micellar casein -- directly to the consumer for improved muscle health and performance. Because the product is sourced from Ascent's parent company, Leprino Foods -- the largest producer of mozzarella cheese in the world -- it's entirely free of artificial ingredients and completely bypasses the bleaching process common to most other whey products on the market.

If you want cleaner, more pure, less processed protein -- which I certainly do -- go to ascentprotein.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

Phil Hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) is an American professional poker player who has won a record fourteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and he is a 2007 inductee of the WSOP's Poker Hall of Fame. Hellmuth is also known for his temperamental "poker brat" personality -- reflected in his new book, Poker Brat: Phil Hellmuth's Autobiography.

This episode comes from my new television show Fear(less), where I interview world-class performers about how they've overcome doubt, conquered fear, and made their toughest decisions. You can watch the entire first episode with illusionist David Blaine for free at att.net/fearless. (To watch all episodes, please visit DIRECTV NOW).

We recorded three hours of material and only one hour was used for the TV show. This podcast episode is almost entirely new content that didn't appear on TV. In this conversation, we examine Phil's morning routine, the importance of goals and blessings, how he became the youngest person to win the World Series of Poker, his prep for high-stakes games, what it takes to compete at the highest level, and much, much more.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by MVMT. The founders are two college dropouts who wanted to wear fancy watches, but couldn't afford them -- so they decided to scratch their own itch and build a company around high-quality but affordable watches in 2013. They've gone from start-up to more than one million watches sold across 160 countries in just a few years -- an awesome success story that makes sense when you check out the product.

MVMT offers classic designs, quality construction, and many different modern styles, so you can pick one that suits you. Get 15 percent off your entire purchase with free shipping (and free returns if you're dissatisfied for any reason) by visiting MVMTwatches.com/tim!

This podcast is also brought to you by Mizzen + Main. These are the only "dress" shirts I now travel with -- fancy enough for important dinners but made from athletic, sweat-wicking material. No more ironing, no more steaming, no more hassle. They are a personal favorite of NFL phenom J.J. Watt, alongside many professional athletes. Click here for the exact shirts I wear most often.

Don't forget to use the code "TIMFERRISS" at checkout for $50 off when you purchase three or more shirts.

Cal Fussman (@calfussman) is a New York Times bestselling author and a writer-at-large for Esquire magazine, where he is best known for being a primary writer of the "What I've Learned" feature. He has transformed oral history into an art form, conducting probing interviews with a long list of icons who've shaped the last 50 years of world history.

I've been trying to get Cal to do his own podcast. Rather than overthinking it, I simply asked Cal to interview a friend who I would also love to have on the podcast: Larry King. This episode is the result of that request.

Larry King (@kingsthings) has been dubbed "The most remarkable talk show host on TV, ever" by TV Guide and "Master of the mic" by Time Magazine. Larry's been described as the Muhammad Ali of the broadcast interview, and he's been inducted into five of the nation's leading broadcasting halls of fame. He's the recipient of the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism, an Emmy, the George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting, ten CableACE awards -- the list goes on.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Shopify. With the help of Shopify, many readers of my blog -- first-time business owners -- have ended up making millions of dollars each with their side gigs. Back in 2009, I helped create Shopify's Build a Business, which is now the world's largest entrepreneurship competition.

The goal of this competition is to entice would-be entrepreneurs to get off the couch and make things happen, and all you have to do to qualify is open a store on Shopify and start selling. Top sellers in each category then have the exclusive opportunity to learn from mentors and experts like Tony Robbins, Daymond John, Seth Godin, Sir Richard Branson, and me a location like Oheka (aka Gatsby's) Castle or Necker Island.

Listeners to this show can go to shopify.com/tim to sign up for a free, 30-day trial and get access to video courses that will help you get started -- including How to Quickly Start a Profitable Dropshipping Store with Corey Ferreira and some goodies from me. Check it out at shopify.com/tim today!

This podcast is also brought to you by Kettle & Fire, which makes some of the best bone broth I've ever tasted. It came highly recommended by past podcast guests such as Amelia Boone and Dr. Dom D’Agostino. 

Kettle & Fire is the first shelf-stable (i.e. never frozen) bone broth that uses bones from 100% grass-fed, organically raised animals. They use longer cook times (20+ hours), which means more collagen and other nutrients. Visit Kettleandfire.com/tim and you can receive 20% off your entire order. 

Bill Rasmussen (@bill_espn) is the co-founder of ESPN. He turned a massive gamble into an opportunity to create the 24-hour programming cycle used universally by networks today.

This episode comes from my new television show Fear(less), where I interview world-class performers about how they've overcome doubt, conquered fear, and made their toughest decisions. You can watch the entire first episode with illusionist David Blaine for free at att.net/fearless. (To watch all episodes, please visit DIRECTV NOW).

We recorded three hours of material and only one hour was used for the TV show. This podcast episode is almost entirely new content that didn't appear on TV.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Ascent Protein, the only US-based company that offers native proteins -- both whey and micellar casein -- directly to the consumer for improved muscle health and performance.

Because the product is sourced from Ascent's parent company, Leprino Foods -- the largest producer of mozzarella cheese in the world -- it's entirely free of artificial ingredients and completely bypasses the bleaching process common to most other whey products on the market.

If you want cleaner, more pure, less processed protein -- which I certainly do -- go to ascentprotein.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

This podcast is also brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.

People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement, and right now this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.

In this episode, I answer the most upvoted questions from subscribers to 5-Bullet Friday, the newsletter I send out every week. It explores five cool things I've found, including apps, books, gadgets, albums, articles, new hacks or tricks, and -- of course -- all sorts of weird stuff I dig up around the world.

It's free, it's always going to be free, and if you want to check it out, you can go here: tim.blog/friday.

If you're a longtime listener to this podcast, you'll find at least one or two actionable pieces of information here. If you'd like to listen to the last round of questions I answered, it can be found here. This time around, we discuss physical training, interview prep, networking, education reform, and much more. Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by WordPress, my go-to platform for 24/7-supported, zero downtime blogging, writing online, creating websites -- everything! I love it to bits, and the lead developer, Matt Mullenweg, has appeared on this podcast many times.

Whether for personal use or business, you're in good company with WordPress -- used by The New Yorker, Jay Z, FiveThirtyEight, TechCrunch, TED, CNN, and Time, just to name a few. A source at Google told me that WordPress offers "the best out-of-the-box SEO imaginable," which is probably why it runs nearly 30% of the Internet. Go to WordPress.com/Tim to get 15% off your website today!

This podcast is also brought to you by Kettle & Fire, the first shelf-stable (never frozen) bone broth that uses 100 percent grass-fed, organically grazed animals. Recommended by past guests like Dom D'Agostino and Amelia Boone, Kettle & Fire is slow-simmered for 20+ hours, so the bone broth is packed with collagen -- 19 times more than its closest competitor -- and other key proteins and amino acids.

Need that slow carb diet boost? Take a look at kettleandfire.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

Michael Gervais (@michaelgervais) is the performance psychologist elite athletes and coaches turn to when they want to level up or when they're returning from hard times and want to not just get back to where they were, but exceed their previous highest levels of excellence. His clients include Olympic gold medalists, Super Bowl champion NFL coaches, you name it.

In this episode, we discuss how to win the war against anxiety, some of the more effective (and less effective) ways to self-talk, behind-the-scenes stories of Michael's clients, understanding the process to mastery, and much more.

This episode comes from my new television show Fear{less}, where I interview world-class performers on stage about how they've overcome doubt, conquered fear, and made their toughest decisions. You can watch the entire first episode with illusionist David Blaine for free at att.net/fearless. (To watch all episodes, please visit DIRECTV NOW.)

We recorded three hours of material and only one hour was used for the TV show. This podcast episode is almost entirely new content that didn't appear on TV.

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Ascent Protein, the only US-based company that offers native proteins -- both whey and micellar casein -- directly to the consumer for improved muscle health and performance. Because the product is sourced from Ascent's parent company, Leprino Foods -- the largest producer of mozzarella cheese in the world -- it's entirely free of artificial ingredients and completely bypasses the bleaching process common to most other whey products on the market.

If you want cleaner, more pure, less processed protein -- which I certainly do -- go to ascentprotein.com/tim for 20 percent off your entire order!

This podcast is also brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have two to recommend:

1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
2. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

All you need to do to get your free 30-day Audible trial is visit Audible.com/Tim. Choose one of the above books, or choose any of the endless options they offer. That could be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or even a class. It's that easy. Go to Audible.com/Tim and get started today. Enjoy.

In this episode, we discuss another common request from listeners. I've gathered some of the best advice about coping with frustrations and roadblocks, and -- ultimately -- learning how to turn failure into success.

These conversations are extremely valuable because they show you there is more than one way to achieve your goals. After more than 200 conversations with the world's top performers, you start to spot certain patterns. These are the shared habits, hacks, philosophies, and tools that are the common threads of success, happiness, health, and wealth. Behind each success story is usually a lesson on how to overcome failure. Aside from my own take on the topic, this episode includes conversations with:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Bryan Johnson
• A.J. Jacobs
• Shep Gordon

Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Soothe.com, the world's largest on-demand massage service. Because I've been broken so many times, I have body work done at least twice a week -- so I have a high bar for this stuff. I do not accept mediocrity, and I wouldn't expect you to, either.

After much personal testing, I can affirm that Soothe delivers a hand-selected, licensed, and experienced massage therapist to you in the comfort of your own home, hotel, or office in as little as an hour. I was amazed at the quality of service and convenience. Think of it as Uber for massages, available in fifty cities worldwide. Download the app at Soothe.com and use code TIM to get $20 off each of your first two massages.

This podcast is also brought to you by MeUndies. I've spent the last year wearing underwear from these guys 24/7, and they are the most comfortable and colorful underwear I've ever owned. MeUndies are designed in L.A. and made from sustainably sourced MicroModal -- a fabric three times softer than cotton. Even better, it includes free shipping.

If you don't love your first pair of MeUndies, they'll hook you up with a new pair or a refund. If you love the product, they have three different subscription plans -- so you'll never be bored with the ever-changing selection. Check out MeUndies.com/Tim to see my current faves (some are awesomely ridiculous, like the camo) and get 20 percent off your first pair. That's MeUndies.com/Tim.

I'm very excited to share this episode. It's our first "roundtable" approach to discussing a single topic. This came about when I asked 5-Bullet Friday subscribers (sign up here if you're interested) to send me questions, and one that stuck out was: Where's the line between stubbornly pursuing an idea that isn't working and the patience and persistence needed to actually make it work? In other words -- when should you give up and quit and when should you push on?

Since this is something I myself have struggled with, I came to the conclusion that I should reach out to people who might have a better answer. So, I sent the question to the following entrepreneurs, authors, and innovators:

• Scott Belsky
• Seth Godin
• James Altucher
• Debbie Millman
• Adam Robinson
• Chase Jarvis
• Rhonda Patrick

Their answers are a thorough overview of how to assess your own ideas and opportunities, and determine which ones worth pursuing. Enjoy!

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at tim.blog/podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by Shopify. With the help of Shopify, many readers of my blog -- first-time business owners -- have ended up making millions of dollars each with their side gigs. Back in 2009, I helped create Shopify's Build a Business, which is now the world's largest entrepreneurship competition.

The goal of this competition is to entice would-be entrepreneurs to get off the couch and make things happen, and all you have to do to qualify is open a store on Shopify and start selling. Top sellers in each category then have the exclusive opportunity to learn from mentors and experts like Tony Robbins, Daymond John, Seth Godin, Sir Richard Branson, and me in a location like Necker Island.

Listeners to this show can go to shopify.com/tim to sign up for a free, 30-day trial and gain access to video courses that will help you get started -- including "How to Quickly Start a Profitable Dropshipping Store" with Corey Ferreira and some goodies from me. Check it out at shopify.com/tim today!

This podcast is also brought to you by 99Designs, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs.

I used them to rapid prototype the cover for The Tao of Seneca, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run...