Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice From the Best in the World

The author, Timothy Ferriss, is a podcaster, entrepreneur and investor who's written several bestselling self-help books, including "The Four-Hour" series, and "Tools of Titans." His books encourage readers to develop new skills and interests in the most time-efficient way possible, and his aim is to help people escape the constraints of long working days and to achieve real self-development.

As an entrepreneur, Ferriss has invested in innovative, technology-based start-ups such as StumbleUpon, Evernote and Shopify, apps that make potentially difficult tasks and decisions simpler.

So keep listening to discover what Ferriss set out to achieve in writing this book, how valuable the advice it contains actually is, and how to use its insights to your best advantage.

In 2017, Ferriss was asking himself some tough questions. Several of his close friends had died in quick succession, and then he turned 40. This reinforced his awareness that time was his most precious resource – in fact, everyone's most precious resource.

At this crossroads in his life, he was pondering the direction he was going to take. He felt he needed to reassess his priorities, and think about his purpose in life.

Ferriss wrote out a list of honest but difficult questions about his future and what to do with it. He asked whether his goals were actually his own, or just what he thought he should want. He wondered how much of his life he'd missed by under-planning or over-planning, and whether he could be kinder to himself.

As Ferriss reviewed these questions, he realized how tough they were. So he found himself wondering what they would look like if they were easy. How could he make it more straightforward for himself, and for others, to get answers to these fundamental questions, and what if he had a resource to help him that was drawn from the experiences of inspirational people who'd already made tough decisions in their lives?

Ferriss set out to create such a resource, using a disarmingly simple approach and his formidable network of contacts. He drew up a long list of creative, high-achieving people whom he admired. He then sent each of them the same 11 questions, asking that they answer as many as they wished, and preferably at least three.

Some of his questions were fairly conventional, such as, "What advice would you give to a recent college graduate?" or, "How has a failure set you up for a later success?" But peppered between these questions are more unusual ones. For example, Ferriss asks which book each correspondent gives most often as a gift, and what they would choose to see written on a gigantic billboard in a location of their choice.

After choosing his questions and sending them out, the author simply waited for the responses to come rolling in. His targets were people he describes as "dream interviewees," and the list he drew up was as eclectic as he could make it. The wait was an anxious one, beginning with silence but gradually developing into a torrent of responses. The result is a thick storehouse of wisdom, experience and wit.

In the book's Introduction, Ferriss explains his thoughts behind each of the questions he chose to ask. Each was intended to give an insight into the thinking, motivation and decision-making processes of the people he selected to answer them.

He also designed them to turn this book into a call to action, inspiring readers to make tough life decisions they might have been postponing or avoiding altogether. To this end, the book contains a number of blank pages at the end, where readers can jot down ideas, quotes, and possible actions to help them improve their own lives. You'll find blank pages at the back of many books, of course, but few authors encourage their readers to put them to good use. Ferriss is different. He makes clear that these pages are there to be used as a reader-created index. He even puts this in the table of contents to emphasize the point.

Dipping into the book at random reveals some fascinating stories, and some startling admissions. Take Kyle Maynard, a quadruple amputee who became a mountaineer, wrestler, and champion mixed martial artist. When asked, "What is an unusual habit or absurd thing you love?" he replied, "Suffering." He immediately explains this, noting that suffering is the greatest teacher he's ever had. It's taught him self-reliance and determination. Nonetheless, his is a startling response that will make most readers pause and reflect.

Here's another surprising answer, this time from entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. When Vaynerchuk feels overwhelmed, he pretends that his family has died in a horrific accident. He takes a moment to experience the sense of loss and grief as fully as he can. That way, anything that actually happens to him, however bad it is, becomes a source of gratitude. It's a lesson that when we imagine the worst thing possible, real-life bad things lose their power to overwhelm.

In a book based on the repetition of questions, it's not surprising that patterns emerge from the replies. Several of the world's busiest entrepreneurs make time to meditate or practice mindfulness, for example. They say this helps them develop focus, self-discipline, and decision-making skills. Others choose to clear their heads with physical exercise.

The books that the mentors gift to other people tend to deal with big subjects. They often focus on the way people think and behave, in specific circumstances and generally, throughout human history. They're also notably upbeat and optimistic, and would make an excellent reading list for anyone struggling to make sense of their own life.

For example, six mentors – including the comedian and chat-show host Jimmy Fallon and sport psychologist Michael Gervais – recommend "Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor E. Frankl, the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor. Other popular picks include Yuval Harari's "Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind," recommended by actor and investor Ashton Kutcher and internet entrepreneur Ryan Shea.

The question about what mentors would most like to see on a billboard draws a wide range of offerings, but many of them are variations on a few inspirational themes. For example, "be yourself," "don't give up," and "just do it anyway" appear in various guises throughout. Perhaps that's to be expected in a book about people who are known for walking the talk.

In our view, though, the briefest billboard statements are the best. Comedian Patton Oswalt, for example, raises a smile by suggesting, "There is no Them," while Kyle Maynard's choice of "Not Dead: Can't Quit" is stark and uncompromising.

The importance of persistence and innovation recur throughout the book. The author's questions draw out replies that stress the value of determination, but also of trying something new.

In between all the responses are a number of entertaining asides. Ferriss includes some messages written to him by people who chose not to answer the questions or be in the book. This reinforces the idea that failure can be a valuable experience. In this case, it's his failure to get these prospective mentors to be part of the book, and we can all learn from the grace and insight with which these mentors decline the opportunity.

This ability to say "no" to certain tasks is a key interest for Ferriss. It underpins the whole idea of streamlining one's life, to leave room for self-development and clear thinking.

The book is organized by contributor, rather than by question or theme. Each mentor's section is introduced by a quote in large print, usually drawn from the text. These indicate the tone of the section, and help readers decide whether they'll likely be interested in it. Many of these quotes are eye-catching. For example, it's hard not to read a section headed, "Skateboarding Can Change the World," while the paradox of "Learn More, Know Less" is intriguing.

There are also lists of quotes that Ferriss thought about while he wrote the book, headed with the dates when he was considering them. These make for thought-provoking and often entertaining diversions from the main part of the text.

The book ends with a section of closing thoughts, in which Ferriss offers some personal reflections on inspiration and persistence. Focus on what's in front of you, he says, and don't try to micro-plan your future. He also stresses the importance of not continuing to make the same mistakes, and of finding new ways of doing things.

He expresses some challenging and counterintuitive thoughts as well – for example, on his experience of learning to play tennis. After a first day of intense training leaves him in agony, he discovers that the secret to success is actually to relax and not try too hard. The point that you sometimes have to find things out the hard way comes across loud and clear.

The concluding sections of the book are similar to appendices. They come after a page that simply says "Breathe…" That's not bad advice after a reading experience that you may have found compulsive and intense.

The back matter itself starts with a list of online resources, drawn from Ferriss's own blog pages, which complement the material in the book. This is followed by a list of the top 25 episodes of Ferriss's popular podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, and a list of extended interviews that he recorded with some of the mentors. All of this enriches and extends the experience of reading the book.

As you heard at the start, the author's previous books aim to simplify life's problems and make it easier for you to acquire new skills. This book is something of a departure from that. Clear-cut advice on specific topics abounds in the text, but because of the format, it's not easy to dig out nuggets of wisdom that you can apply generally. It's a succession of opinions and observations based on the 11 questions. This provides a framework of sorts, but there's no program to the book – no single, unifying argument, or set of tips to follow.

The mentor-based structure is useful if you know whose views you most want to read. There's also an index showing who has answered which question. Again, this is great if you know which specific questions you want the answers to. However, there's no index covering broader areas of interest. For example, if you want to find out about overcoming physical hardship or disability, you need to know which mentors have experienced it.

In the same way, if you're interested in the challenges and motivational tricks involved in setting up a tech business, you need to know which mentors talk about that.

So, to get full value from this book, you probably need to read all of it. And, at around 600 pages, that's not a simple task. This is especially true if you're already struggling to find time in your life to do what you need to do. You might end up returning to the question the author asks himself at the beginning of the book: what if this were easy?

That's not to say that the book is hard to read. The style is conversational and engaging throughout. But finding the information you want to make decisions about your own life needs to be quite a focused activity. And it's all too easy to flick through this book and find sections that are fascinating, but also distracting.

We think it's best to use the book as an interactive experience. This is where creating your own index will come into its own. Browse through a few sections on people who interest you, and look at the questions they've chosen to answer. Then, see who else has answered the same questions. Some may reinforce what you've already taken on board. Others will likely offer something surprising and new. Make notes on the content, wherever the book takes you, and this way you can build an index of resources that fit the problems you're facing. You can develop this index over time.

However you use it, you'll probably return to "Tribe of Mentors" again and again. The sheer volume of insight and experience it contains is huge, and hugely valuable. To get the best from it requires effort, but the more effort you put in, the more likely you'll be rewarded.

"Tribe of Mentors" by Timothy Ferriss is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and by Vermilion.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.