Derek Sivers — The Joys of an Un-Optimized Life, Finding Paths Less Traveled, Creating Tech Independence (and Risks of the Cloud), Taking Giant Leaps, and Picking the Right “Game of Life” (#668)

Illustration via 99designs




“I think that saying ‘good enough’ is a superpower.”
— Derek Sivers



Derek Sivers  ( @sivers ) is an author of philosophy and entrepreneurship, known for his surprising, quotable insights and pithy, succinct writing style. He is a former musician, programmer, TED speaker, and circus clown, who sold his first company, CDBaby for $22 million and gave all the money to charity.



Derek’s books ( How to Live ,   Hell Yeah or No ,   Your Music and People ,   Anything You Want ) and newest projects are at his website:  sive.rs . His upcoming book is  Useful Not True .



Please enjoy!



P.S.  To follow the exact step-by-step “Tech Independence” instructions from Derek, please visit  sive.rs/ti .



Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Overcast , Podcast Addict , Pocket Casts , Castbox , Google Podcasts , Stitcher , Amazon Music ,  or on your favorite podcast platform .



Brought to you by  Allbirds  incredibly comfortable shoes , Wealthfront  high-yield savings account, and  Shopify  global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. 



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#668: Derek Sivers — The Joys of an Un-Optimized Life, Finding Paths Less Traveled, Creating Tech Independence (and Risks of the Cloud), Taking Giant Leaps, and Picking the Right Game of Life







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Want to hear the first time Derek was on the show? Listen to our conversation here , which discussed developing confidence, finding happiness, saying ‘no’ to millions, Derek’s favorite books, and much, much more .


#125: Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying No to Millions



What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments .



SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…







SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE




Connect with Derek Sivers :




Website | Podcast | Twitter | YouTube




Useful Not True: Whatever Works for You by Derek Sivers



How to Live: 27 Conflicting Answers and One Weird Conclusion by Derek Sivers



Hell Yeah or No: What’s Worth Doing by Derek Sivers



Your Music and People: Creative and Considerate Fame by Derek Sivers



Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers



Tools of Titans: Derek Sivers Distilled | The Tim Ferriss Show #202



Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying No to Millions | The Tim Ferriss Show #125



Derek Sivers Reloaded – On Success Habits and Billionaires with Perfect Abs | The Tim Ferriss Show #128



Go Go Goa Loose Leaf Gift Cube Chai | T2 Australia



The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz



Sartorial Talks | YouTube



Suits | The House of Michael Browne



Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier by Kevin Kelly



Thingvellir National Park | Heart of Iceland



PADI 5-Star Dive Center Iceland | DIVE.IS



Wet Suit vs. Dry Suit: What is The Difference? | Boat Safe



Panic Attack | Better Health Channel



Wellington | 100% Pure New Zealand



Tech Independence | Derek Sivers



What is the Cloud? | CNBC Explains



The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss



VPS (Virtual Private Server) Explained | IBM



The Everywhere Cloud | Vultr



Lenovo ThinkPad T400 6475 Notebook | Amazon



A Free, Multi-Platform 4.4BSD-Based Unix-Like Operating System | OpenBSD



What is an SSH Key? | SSH



Helping You Feel Close | Marco Polo



Register Domain Names | BookMyName.com



Domain Name, Web Hosting, Email and SSL Certificate | Netim



An Oddly Satisfying Experience | Porkbun



Language Opens Worlds | Klingon Language Institute



Free and Open-Source CalDAV and CardDAV Server | Radicale



Rsync | Wikipedia



Continuous File Synchronization | Syncthing



Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS | WordPress



Secure E-mail for Private and Business Customers | Mailbox.org



We Respect Your Privacy and Put You in Control | Fastmail



Transactional Email API Service For Developers | Mailgun



Email Delivery, API, Marketing Service | SendGrid



Create Your Online Store Today | Shopify



Compress the Complexity of Modern Web Apps | Ruby on Rails



Apr. 24–Apr. 26, Atlanta | RailsConf 2023



Marylebone: The Underdog Terminus | Jago Hazzard



Wicked the Musical | London



Do ‘Maximisers’ or ‘Satisficers’ Make Better Decisions? | BBC Worklife



Hey Jude by The Beatles | YouTube



Patrick House on Consciousness | EconTalk



The Incredible Reason Why Richard Branson Started Virgin Atlantic | Travel + Leisure



Not Disappointing Myself | Bookbear Express



Moral Relativism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy



Sam Harris: Science Can Answer Moral Questions | TED Talk



The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris | Amazon



What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, From One of the America’s Leading Experts by John L. Esposito



The History of Utilitarianism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy



The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyubomirsky



A Simulation Role-Playing Video Game | Stardew Valley



Somebody That I Used To Know (Feat. Kimbra) by Gotye | YouTube



How to Get Rich: One of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets by Felix Dennis



The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence by Josh Waitzkin



Papaoutai by Stromae | YouTube




SHOW NOTES



Editor’s Note: Timestamps will be added shortly.




The Derek Sivers School of Enough.



Scuba diving in Iceland.



Categories we apply to ourselves and others.



Derek’s people compass.



How to secure your tech independence.



The un-optimized life.



The meaning of Derek’s upcoming book, Useful Not True .



The problem with moral relativism and other -isms.



Giant leaps.



Finding and asking mentors for help.



Games.



The wisdom of quitting when you’re ahead.



Why would Derek — never in need of external validation — seek fame?



What makes Derek so darned interesting?



Has Derek always been a satisficer?



Living on the edge case.



The real question behind “What would you tell your younger self?”



Giving directions in Antarctica.



How do you teach an 11-year-old to act like a 16-year-old?



Parting thoughts.




MORE DEREK SIVERS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW



“If you wonder why I’m so happy, why I’m thriving, why I seem to be doing well, a lot of my happiness comes from this worldview that is radical doubt. It’s skepticism. I’m going to give this the shorthand of calling it ‘Useful Not True.'” — Derek Sivers



“If you set up your business to serve the people that you love being around, even if it makes less money, you’re going to be much happier.” — Derek Sivers



“I think that saying ‘good enough’ is a superpower.” — Derek Sivers



“We spend the first half of our life deferring to authority and thinking that authority has power over us. And at a certain point, you realize that you’re free. You’re liberated from that as long as you don’t break the law.” — Derek Sivers



“The temptation to keep playing, even though the rewards are done, isn’t that the definition of addiction? Continuing a behavior even though it’s not rewarding you anymore?” — Derek Sivers



PEOPLE MENTIONED




Matt Mullenweg



Barry Schwartz



Michael Browne



Kevin Kelly



Tobi Lütke



Harley Finkelstein



David Heinemeier Hansson



Paul McCartney



Neo



Morpheus



Richard Branson



Ava Bookbear



Sam Harris



Sonja Lyubomirsky

The post Derek Sivers — The Joys of an Un-Optimized Life, Finding Paths Less Traveled, Creating Tech Independence (and Risks of the Cloud), Taking Giant Leaps, and Picking the Right “Game of Life” (#668) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss .