The 4-Hour Chef - by Timothy Ferriss

Two simple lenses through which I viewed language-learning methods, and learning in general: * Is the method effective? * Have you narrowed down your material to the highest frequency? * Is the method sustainable? * Have you chosen a schedule and subject matter that you can stick with (or at least put up with) until reaching fluency? * Will you actually swallow the pill you’ve prescribed yourself?

Freelance write for a blog, newsletter, or local newspaper and do a piece on this person and his/her methods, or to quote him/her on a related topic as an expert (“Expert Predictions for Winter Olympics,” for instance). Once you’re in the door, ask your expert all the questions you’d like.

Fire: Put the largest logs at the bottom, ensuring there is no space between them whatsoever. Lay a second perpendicular layer of smaller logs on top of the largest, again ensuring there are no spaces between them. Repeat with perpendicular layers until you get to the top, where you will put strips of crumpled paper and—at the very top—3–5 fire-starter squares (my preference) or fire-starter oil sticks. From bottom to top, I like to use large logs (unsplit), split logs, sapling wood, cedar shingle wood, then paper and fire-starting squares. Some things to keep in mind: The upside-down fire won’t look like much for about 20 minutes. Be patient. The goal is to create embers that then fall to the layer below, which is why there cannot be any spaces between logs. Real flames take a while. Ensure that the paper strips are bent or otherwise prop up the fire-starting squares/sticks so they don’t lie flat on the shingles or the layer below. If you don’t have this slight spacing for the fire-starting material to catch, you will have trouble lighting the fire and get frustrated. This is the only place where a little space is good.

Minimal effective dose (MED): * Fat loss MED = consume 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Dozens of readers have lost 100+ lbs each; thousands more have lost 10–100 lbs. * To gain 10–30 lbs of lean tissue in one month, MED = 90–120 seconds of tension for most muscles. Slow-cadence lifting (five seconds up, five seconds down) with these parameters helped me add 34 lbs of lean mass in 28 days. * Master conversational fluency in any language, MED = learn 1,200 words, focusing on highest frequency. * The marketing MED = Read Kevin Kelly’s article “1,000 True Fans.”

George Carlin categorized his jokes and ideas.

“It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.” —SENECA

To sum up the last 50 years of behavioral psychology in two words, it would be: “logic fails.”

Create positive constraints: put up walls that dramatically restrict whatever it is that you’re trying to do.