It’s wasting time to listen to music when you go outside because there are so many interesting noises. For example, every time it rains, I open the window and put the recorder outside. I should always be ready to be surprised, like by the siren of a patrol car in Barcelona and other cities. I hit things, on the street or anywhere, to check the sound—until I find the perfect idea of sound. I haven’t found it yet and am always searching.
What small daily thing do you do that most people would consider a waste of time?
Question
What is the most overrated virtue?
Values & belief
Question
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months?
Money & investment
I’ve been told that because I like to make up silly songs and then sing them in all sorts of absurd situations and occurrences, that I am trying to turn my life into a Hollywood musical. Since I was first told that, I’ve come to completely agree with that, and I think that is awesome. But I have songs for everything.
Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, 26 June 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
Composer, pianist and record producer
Roddy Doyle
Novelist, dramatist and screenwriter
Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It’s research.
Larry King
Broadcaster; host of Larry King Live on CNN, 1985–2010
I have a habit of – thought habits. I try to total up words in a phrase or a sentence and then divide it to see if I get an even number. Like true love divided by two is four. There’s four words in each things, four and four. ... So, I don’t want an odd number, I want an even number. I do that a lot in my head.
Eliud Kipchoge
Kenyan marathon runner
When you become a boss, you don't think straight. It's better to be a leader than a boss. That is why I do my share of the cleaning. That is how to show the way to young people. I am trusting that I am leading them in a good way.
Recorded
Global Sports Communication training camp, Kaptagat, Kenya, BBC Sport, 24 April 2020
source ↗
More from Debbie Millman
View profile →one of the things that I learned from doing Design Matters from my guest Danny Shapiro, and I think I mentioned this in part one of my interview with Tim; confidence is overrated. Danny Shapiro has said that what is more important than confidence is courage.
Well, the purchase that has influenced me over the last six months is the Apple pencil. I do so much of my artwork by hand and now there is a device that draws and feels like a real pencil that I can use electronically. It’s changed the way I work.
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Ryuichi Sakamoto, Roddy Doyle, Eliud Kipchoge, Soman Chainani, Larry King, Graham Duncan
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