#746: Jerry Seinfeld and Maria Popova

This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited. The episode features segments from episode #485 "Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success" and episode #39 "Maria Popova on Writing, Workflow, and Workarounds." Please enjoy! Sponsors: 1Password easy-to-use and secure password manager for individuals, families, and businesses: https://1password.com/tim (14-day free trial) LMNT electrolyte supplement: https://drinklmnt.com/Tim (free LMNT sample pack with any drink mix purchase) Momentous high-quality supplements: https://livemomentous.com/tim (code TIM for 20% off) Timestamps: [00:00] Start [05:16] Notes about this supercombo format. [06:19] Enter Jerry Seinfeld. [06:46] Jerry’s writing process for survival in the comedy ecosystem. [15:43] Lessons Jerry would teach in a writing class and how they relate to his fitness methods. [15:43] Soliciting creative feedback while preserving pride over doing the work. [20:33] Routines essential to Jerry’s well-being and their frequency and duration. [24:50] How nurturing creativity is like parenting, and Jerry’s belief about pain and knowledge. [26:17] Additional ways Jerry mitigates depressive episodes. [27:27] A resilience-building failure. [32:05] The importance of playing the game well. [33:42] “Survival is the new success.” [36:12] Jerry’s billboard. [39:06] Enter Maria Popova. [39:30] Are you correctly pronouncing names you’ve only read but never heard? [41:13] What does Maria do? [41:50] What is Brain Pickings (now The Marginalian)? [42:31] What percentage of New York Times best sellers are a result of Maria’s coverage? [47:55] The common denominator that guides Maria’s reading list. [49:16] The importance of writing for an audience of one. [52:07] Contending with the temptation to create BuzzFeed-like content. [59:44] The daily discipline required for Maria’s well-being. [1:07:10] Maria’s note-taking system. [1:12:53] Seneca and the time-tested challenge of presence vs. productivity. [1:16:08] Start-up opportunity? Build a note-taking tool for heavy readers/highlighters. [1:22:52] About the team behind [The Marginalian]. [1:24:28] Collaborative proofreading and copyediting. [1:27:21] Self-reliance pathology and how to overcome it. [1:29:56] Finding a professional personal assistant and learning to delegate. [1:34:36] Maria’s weightlifting regimen and favorite bodyweight-only exercise. [1:37:22] Designing content infrastructure to be evergreen. [1:39:28] Cutting out the commentary contrarians. [1:46:13] Scheduling social media. [1:48:25] Coping with email — and sometimes snail mail. [1:50:31] How to cultivate a personal inner circle and pre-screen book review requests. [1:54:54] What donation model works best for site revenue? [2:01:22] Recommended reading from [The Marginalian] and parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss 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, Madelein