Tools of Titans Notes

So I read and reviewed Tools of Titans book back in 2016 but realized I hadn’t put all my extensive notes on it (I wrote a ton of notes) here on the blog – what the heck? So I hope you enjoy these, they are notes – but been helpful for me to glance over as well through the years.

It goes without saying I recommend reading this book! A bible for sure!

Here is a list of the main parts:

Diet
Fasting – for anti-cancer
Sauna – for endurance
Cold showers / ice baths
J-curl – Jefferson curl
Food / travel
Ketogenic diet
MAGNESIUM
Blood tests
Lithium
Slow Carb Diet recap
Gym in a bag
Reboot
Sleep
Sleep supplement
5 morning rituals
Work / Mindset
8 steps to do the right thing
Tony Robbins – priming
Podcast questions –
How to say no when it matters most
Kevin Kelly
Alain De Botton
8 tactics for dealing with haters

Diet
Fasting – for anti-cancer
3 day fast – once per month
5-7 day fast – once per quarter
Dom says – 5 day fast 2-3 times per year)
TF = longest fast he did was 10 days

Sauna – for endurance
Training in rain for endurance

Cold showers / ice baths
Finish last 30-60 seconds of pure cold on.
J-curl – jefferson curl
Relax muscles with hitachi magic wand
Furniture sliders – for traveling – use in hotel hallways

Food / travel
Sardines 2. Oysters 3. Macadamia nuts
Vegetables are fat delivery systems

Ketogenic diet
MAGNESIUM

Magnesium citrate powder – natural calm – 600 – 800 mg per day
Magnesium threonate – for sleep – 2 g at last meal, GABA inducer
Magnesium glycinate – liver and muscle tissue
Magnesium orotate – vascular system
Different chelates.

Guy recommends this supplement
Magnesium glycerophosphate from GabaMag – Trilogy Nurition Supplements https://www.trilogynutrition.com.au/product/gaba-mag/ 43usd for 120 pills (plus 30 usd for shipping)

Blood tests
APOE genotype – alzheimer’s disease
LDL Particle Number via NMR – cholesterol
LP (a) (“l-p-little a”) via NMR – natural / hereditary
OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) insulin resistance
IGF-I – cancer – low = good – use ketogenic diet, caloric restriction, intermittent fasting.

Another guy’s tests recommended to take, every 8 weeks
Morning (fasting) insulin
Morning (fasting) glucose – 12 hours after last bite
Reactive insulin test – like OGTT above
HbA1C (hemoglobin A1C) – you age at the rate you produce insulin. Magnesium is the best anti-aging mineral.

4 main causes of non smokers
Heart disease
Cerebrovascular disease
Cancer
Neurodegenerative disease

Supplements to AVOID
Multi-vitamin
Vitamin a and e
Vitamin K
Vitamin C

Lithium
Take Lithium orotate – 5 mg
NYT article – should we all take a bit of lithium? In the water systems. Brain and good mood. 7 up soda had it.

Slow Carb Diet recap
Avoid all white carbs
Repeat some meals – esp breakfast and lunch (⅓ veggie, ⅓ protein, ⅓ beans/legumes)
Don’t drink calories
Don’t eat fruit (tomatoes and avocados OK)
Measure body fat percentage, not total weight.

Gym in a bag
Voodoo Floss
Furniture sliders
Rumble roller
Bed of needles – nayoya acupressure mat – 5-10 min in the morning
Tera’s whey goat protein
Mini parallettes – vita vibe mp12

Reboot
moderate/high dose of psilocybin with supervision (lasts 3-6 months)
Floating in isolation tank
5-MeO-DMT – TF says its too convenient for him to take so he skips it

Sleep
Softest mattress you can find.
Have jet lag? Go to the gym for 3-5 minutes immediately.

Stretch your bank – inversion table or gravity boots
Chilipad
Honey + apple cider vinegar + hot water
Or yogi soothing caramel bedtime tea – no sugar
Or california poppy seed extra – few drops in hot water
Visual overwriting – tetris or escape to river cottage season 1
Sleep master sleep mask and mack’s silicone putty

Sleep supplement
One guy recommended glutamine + probiotics before bed.

5 morning rituals
Make your bed – Noah Kagan
Meditate
Exercise (then cold shower)
Titanium tea (turmeric + ginger shavings + 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
Journal.

Meditation – do TM. training its worth it

Also meditate at night – 3-5 minutes and think of 3 people to wish well – 2 you see often, 1 you haven’t seen in a while

Work / Mindset
Go offensive – Chris Sacca – moved outside of SF – made people come to you.

RED TEAM – Beat each other’s ideas up. Have a group of trusted people to beat your ideas up.

Arnold – meditation after 2 years doesn’t need it anymore – now can focus much more clearly.

8 steps to do the right thing
Wake up at least 1 hour before having to go to a screen – email is the mind killer
Make tea and use pen/paper
Write 3-5 things making you most anxious
For each item, if this was the only thing i accomplished today, will it make all else irrelevant?
Look at yes items
Focus on one of them today for 2-3 hours SOLID
Do that 1 thing
If you lose track, go back to the one thing

BEING BUSY IS A FORM OF LAZINESS. Lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

Tony Robbins – priming
Our brain is 2 million years old – for survival
The reason you are suffering is you are focused on yourself.
3 thought patterns – 1. Loss, 2. Less. 3. Never

STATE – STORY – STRATEGY
Immediate bad – low state – only see problems – bad strategy – self defeating strategy
GOOD – PRIMED state – enabling story – strategy with options.

PRIME STATE
Get exercise
Get sunlight
Different from meditation. It is empowering
Cold water plunge
Or
Deep breathing and arm extending or breath walking.
TO CUE AND PROMPT positive emotions for the day.

** Follow your anger to spark creativity ** Casey Neistat

Sleep on it – what will you go to sleep thinking about to work on for tomorrow? Reid Hoffman / Thomas Edison

Trust and Attention – THOSE ARE THE SCARCE ITEMS OF TODAY. That is what you want.

Teach kids –
How to lead
How to solve interesting problems.

Zig Ziglar’s audio books – goal setting and achieving them on schedule
Seth’s audiobook – Leap first – on Sounds True

** systems vs goals *** build systems instead of goals – like skills – so that even if the project you are working on doesn’t work out – you have a system to apply to other things.

Product launch – FIRST IN WHAT? Schwab didn’t open a better brokerage – he opened the FIRST online discount broker.

Checklists – book – the checklist manifesto

Podcast questions –
Tell me about a time when
Tell me about that day/ moment when
Tell me a story of
Tell me of a day you realized
What steps go you to
Describe the conversation

How to say no when it matters most

Are you doing what you are uniquely capable of?
Are you doing what you are .
HELL YES – or NO
Saying yes to mediocre things will make you a B PLAYER.
You need to grow and maintain your EDGE. Set and defend priorities

RISK = likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome (say no to EVERYTHING)

F**K today’s work ethic – that working long hours and lack of sleep mean you are TOUGH.
But it is actually a total profound lack of self respect and priorities

Look at yourself in 3rd person. Jocko.

Journalism – is about the truth – not improving society.

Failing is HARDEST thing – but do not be cautious – as that is not living

Management – DEVELOPMENT of others who will do the work.

Thoughts – we are talking to ourselves non-stop look at thoughts as objects.

Meditation LOOKING AT THE SKY. Clear sky and horizon.- Sam Harriss

Courage TAKES PRACTICE. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage – Anais Nin

Kevin Kelly
Plan life in 5 year projects.
Death countdown timer on screen.

Alain De Botton
Offence vs DEfence – know what you want – everything else will diminish. Then let people know that direction you are going in.

Don’t expect others to understand you! They don’t even UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES!

Rick Ruben
If he can’t wear t-shirt and flip flops to an event – he won’t go!

General Fame is overrated – be famous to 2,000 to 3,000 targeted people (back to the 1,000 true fans) It has max upside and min downside. Eric Weinstein

Start work with CURSING! Have a 7-10 second to read aloud before working each day.

8 tactics for dealing with haters
Doesn’t matter how many don’t get it, it matters how many get it
10% of people will take things personally it is just MATH – so do the math
When in doubt, starve out of oxygen 90%, 8% promote it, 2% dink wine and engage
If you respond, don’t apologize. “Thanks for feedback. I’m always trying to improve. In the meantime, I hope you find what you are looking for.”
You can’t reason with people who don’t want to
Trying to get everyone to like you is mediocrity
If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid (STOIC)
Living well is the best revenge
BONUS – as their friends/companions with them – how do you deal with a person like this, or is he always like this?

Believe in yourself more deeply. Dream bigger.
Desire is a contract with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.

Who/what you work with is much more important than WORKING HARD.

Tea with Mara – sit down with your vices, your jealousy, your emotions, your anger. Deal with it, don’t block it. Welcome it in, and have tea together.

A PROPHET – documentary Ed norton recommends

SURPRIZE people with unexpected questions – like Obama about how to deal with kids.

MARKETING – don’t waste your time on marketing. Just try to get better, its not about being good – its about being GREAT – Mike Birbiglia.

Lapsang Souchong black tea – Malcolm Gladwell.

Don’t be scared – SPOTLIGHT effect (think that others are watching you) NO ONE IS WATCHING YOU!

Empty Space – maximize input to maximize output. (no sns, no meetings, no calls)
“I cultivate empty space as a way of life for the creative process” Josh Waitzkin

Last 3 turns – end your work/day on a positive with very high quality. Sets the presentent for the next day. Internalize quality output overnight. Hemingway ends writing mid-sentence.

LEARN TO TURN ON/OFF Interval training, and meditation.

Re-listen to the Art of Learning by Josh W.

UNPLUG – search 4 hour reality check.

INBOX is the land of the lost!!!!!!!!!

Create Slack – AS NO ONE ELSE WILL.
Only way to swim forward instead of treading water – is to create slack.

HERO & COWARD – both feel fear – but the hero uses it to project forward.

4HWW – a person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.

Read book 80/20 principle by Richard Koch

2 hours week on my biz – what would I do?

SELLINg – DONT SELL – TELL STORIES. People don’t like being sold, but they like stories.

Make Money back on a loss – do i really need to make money back the same way I lost it? If you lose 1k at blackjack, do you go back? (Tim’s San Jose real estate problem)

SUBTRACT – what should I put on my NOT to-do list?

Luxury – NOT owning a lot of stuff – but – feeling UN-RUSHED. No hurry, no pause.

TEACH CONFIDENCE to kids – what is on the other side of fear NOTHING. No one going to slam you if you act in fear.

Gandalf and Harry Potter – pointing up into the sky looking. Good for his kids. LOOK AT THE STARS. Dream big.

Itch or Burn? Failure is never an option. Burn boats – THIS MUST WORK.

Lack of resources – HELPS you achieve your goal. Jack Ma, Alibaba.

Do so many thing – NO – I live a creative life! Robert Rodriguez

Start with Why – book by Simon Sinek. (robert rodriguez recommended)

Good – Look at the issue, respond to issues with GOOD.

To read / listen to / watch

Books most recommended:
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu
Atlas Shrugged.
Sapiens – Yuval Noah

Zig ziglar – goals – setting and achieving
Leap First – Seth Godin
The Checklist Manifesto
4 hour reality check
80/20 book by Richard Koch
Start with Why – Simon Sinek
Should we all take a little lithium – NY Times.

Listen
Art of learning
Seneca letter 18

Watch
A prophet
Escape to River Cottage

It goes without saying I recommend reading this book! A bible for sure!