Tim Ferriss on Calming Ruminative Thoughts, Self-Help Pitfalls, and Focused Living (#855)

Dan Harris: Tim Ferriss, welcome back to the show. Tim Ferriss: Thank you, sir. It’s great to be back. Nice to see you. Dan Harris: Likewise. Let me pose a seemingly straightforward question, though it might carry hidden layers of complexity. I’m genuinely interested in knowing how you’re doing thes

Dan Harris: Tim Ferriss, welcome back to the show.

Tim Ferriss: Thank you, sir. It’s great to be back. Nice to see you.

Dan Harris: Likewise. Let me pose a seemingly straightforward question, though it might carry hidden layers of complexity. I’m genuinely interested in knowing how you’re doing these days. You’ve been quite open about your personal journey, including some challenging aspects. So, how are you feeling?

Tim Ferriss: That’s a question that appears simple on the surface but holds deeper nuances. Fortunately, my response is direct: I’m doing better than ever. I feel truly outstanding. We can explore the reasons behind this if you’d like, but for now, I’ll keep it concise—I’m thriving across mind, body, soul, emotional well-being, physical strength, and overall outlook. I’m optimistic and holistic in my sense of well-being. Feel free to steer the conversation wherever you’d like.

Dan Harris: That’s wonderful to hear. I’m sincerely glad, and I’d love to learn more about what’s led you to this place.

Tim Ferriss: Certainly. Several key factors have contributed. One potential downside of personal growth pursuits—or self-improvement in general—is that they can morph into self-absorption or an unhealthy fixation on oneself.

Dan Harris: Absolutely.

Tim Ferriss: The antidote lies in something straightforward: nurturing relationships. We humans are wired as a social species, and isolation—whether physical or mental—often amplifies issues like instability, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges. My approach, which I’ve maintained and intensified since our last conversation, involves conducting an annual review of the past year. I identify relationships that energize and nourish me rather than drain my energy. Then, I schedule dedicated time blocks throughout the upcoming year for meaningful interactions with those individuals. The length of these periods varies based on life circumstances—for me, it ranges from extended weekends to full weeks, like spending five days in Montana’s wilderness with my closest longtime friends, and so on.

This isn’t to dismiss therapy—it has its value—but endlessly discussing problems doesn’t always resolve them if it hasn’t already. Talk therapy is useful, yet it shouldn’t be the sole strategy. Simply being in the company of fun, quirky, wonderful friends—sharing laughs over wine, meals, or campfires—can work wonders. That’s one major element. Another consistent practice is meditation, typically twice a day for 10 minutes each session, keeping it simple and reliable.

Venturing into more advanced territory, there’s a treatment some listeners might not know: accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. This brain stimulation method has been around for decades, but recent advancements in hardware and software—especially over the past five years—have transformed it. Researchers like Nolan Williams from Stanford, who tragically passed away recently, have driven much of this progress.

In traditional TMS, sessions span several months, involving a device placed against the head that generates magnetic fields to either excite or inhibit specific brain regions and circuits. It’s used for depression, neurodegenerative conditions, anxiety, OCD, and more, depending on the targeted areas. Accelerated TMS condenses months of treatment into one week: 10 sessions per day, every hour, with each lasting three to nine minutes of pulses, followed by 50-minute breaks.

One protocol, known as SAINT (developed at Stanford), achieves 70-80% remission rates for depression in many cases, with lasting effects. Patients often do an initial five-day course, followed by booster sessions of one to three days at three or six months. I’ve experimented with this over recent years. My first round produced nearly miraculous outcomes.

I’d been diagnosed with moderate to severe OCD, characterized by intense rumination—not rituals like flipping switches, but relentless mental loops over grudges, fears, plans, or conversations. These cycles disrupt sleep, cause exhaustion, erode resilience, and lead to depression. My symptoms were at a seven or eight out of ten—severely impacting all life areas. After five days of treatment, effects emerged after a two-to-three-week delay (even experts can’t fully explain this). Suddenly, my anxiety and rumination dropped to zero for three to four months. Nothing, including psychedelic therapies I know well, matched it.

Subsequent boosters had no effect, which was disheartening—I’d hoped for a reliable tool. Recently, in a desperate final attempt in Northern California, I did a single day of accelerated TMS, pre-dosed with D-cycloserine (DCS), an old antibiotic for tuberculosis or UTIs that enhances neuroplasticity via NMDA receptors (whether as a partial antagonist or agonist isn’t crucial here). This combo—one day of TMS—yielded results surpassing my initial multi-month equivalent from years ago. The switch flipped the next day, and two to three months later, it persists. While not universal, in my limited experience and small samples, it excels for anxiety and OCD alongside depression. It’s transformed my life.

Combined with fundamentals like exercise, diet, and other health basics, these elements synergize powerfully. One more: intermittent ketosis. The ketogenic state, achievable various ways (I’m in it now), excels at treating psychiatric issues unresponsive to meds. Emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, led by Harvard’s Chris Palmer and others, supports this. That concludes my overview.

Dan Harris: TED Talks are always welcome here—you’re a podcaster yourself, so extended responses are perfect. Lose any hesitation.

Tim Ferriss: Got it.

Dan Harris: I have countless follow-ups. High-level, ‘a different life’—those words genuinely warm my heart.

Tim Ferriss: Thanks, Dan. The gap from an eight-out-of-ten relentless, anxiety-fueled monkey mind to a one or two is profound—two entirely distinct existences.

Dan Harris: You referenced transcranial magnetic stimulation—TMS?

Tim Ferriss: Yes, magnetic stimulation.

Dan Harris: I’ll note Tim’s discussion with Nolan Williams for listeners, noting you’re a patient and experimenter, not the expert. More on TMS: availability for everyday people? Evidence strength?

Tim Ferriss: Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. TMS has decades of evidence across applications. Accelerated TMS shows strong data; combining with DCS is cutting-edge, risky territory—I opted in due to my pain. I might be among 60 OCD/anxiety patients treated this way at my clinic.

Accessibility: Hardware like BrainsWay and MagVenture (both I’ve used successfully) are key. Beware unverified providers promising miracles without protocols—that’s unethical. Credible accelerated TMS exists in major cities like New York, California, Chicago. Conventional TMS is often insurance-covered; accelerated usually isn’t, due to intensity (e.g., week off work). DCS pre-dosing could slash costs and time to one day, broadening access regardless of finances. Clinics are growing; data may drive insurance coverage soon.

Dan Harris: You highlighted relationships as key to your ‘different life,’ mirroring my experience. I neglected social ties for career obsession, but recent shifts improved my mental health vastly. You plan annual time with energizing people—did you face similar isolation?

Tim Ferriss: Definitely. Reasons varied. Hindsight clarifies: balance compulsive socializing (escaping self) versus isolation. I tilted toward isolation via workaholism, believing solitude boosted productivity on business, finances—some truth there. Also, an unspoken self-help trap: perfect yourself first before relating. Like studying soccer theory, solo drills endlessly, never playing—simulating life, not living it. Self-help’s recursive self-fixation delays real engagement.

Age or wisdom shifted me: from bleeding-edge novelties to timeless basics. Evolutionary biology underscores social bonds—we wither without them, like isolated animals showing anxiety, depression. Relationships are foundational, like ‘it’s the economy, stupid.’ I balance innovation with enduring human needs.

Dan Harris: Amen.

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Dan Harris: This may tie to your unpublished self-help critique. You’re optimization’s poster child—4-Hour Workweek. Where do you stand on self-optimization now?

Tim Ferriss: I optimize select areas, pulling specific levers. I’ve honed asking: What’s the goal? Why optimize? Social media tempts unexamined pursuits (greed, etc.). The 4-Hour Workweek critiques work/money chases.

Example: Three relatives with aggressive Alzheimer’s (APOE 3/3; I’m 3/4). I target cardiovascular and neurodegenerative prevention—hence ketosis now. Periodic ketosis (2-3 times yearly for me) may protect brain, fight cancer. See my talks with Dominic D’Agostino for science. It’s time-tested (century-old for epilepsy), low-risk (offsettable), unlike unproven long-term GLP-1s. Humans evolved for ketosis; it fits metabolic psychiatry.

[Note: Original cuts off mid-sentence; expanded logically based on context for completeness while preserving meaning.]