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30 Days of Genius is a daily interview series hosted by CreativeLive that I’ve been helping organize. It features in-depth video interviews every day during the month of May with some of the world’s top creatives and entrepreneurs. Here’s a preview of our hour-long interview with Tim Ferriss.
Tim Ferriss, author of three bestselling books, creator of a top-ranked podcast, TV show, and business blog, knows a thing or two about shaking up an industry with creative solutions.
“Creativity [is] an asset that grows the more you use it, the more you spend. I think [that’s] a very interesting concept,” he says. Ferriss, more so than other entrepreneurs, is not afraid to regularly push his personal limits on the creative front.
His podcast, which began as an experiment two years ago, has rapidly ascended to the top of the iTunes charts for all business podcasts. Beyond that, he’s launched books solely on Amazon instead of pursuing more traditional publishing outlets, and released a tv show exclusively on
Ferriss credits much of his success to asking the right questions when others won’t and, “seeking out and creating the absurd.” He adds, “I think that there’s so much absurdity in life, and as adults, we’ve inculcated ourselves to be very serious. And I think that’s kryptonite for creativity.”
That seriousness, Ferriss argues, is largely responsible for why many young entrepreneurs, in particular, have such a difficult time thinking outside of the box and going against societal norms when it comes to identifying creative ways to approach a challenging problem.
I couldn’t agree more with this point, because I’ve personally experienced that heavy burden of taking myself too seriously within my first business.
The more seriously you take yourself, the more difficult it becomes to seek out creative solutions to the challenges you face on a daily basis. When it comes to finding those creative solutions, Ferriss challenges himself to, instead, come up with uniquely absurd ideas. As Ferriss explains, “I’ve been trying to seek out absurdity, which I think quite frankly is in many cases a synonym for creativity.”
For more with Tim Ferriss on creativity, podcasting, goal-setting for maximum success and much more, watch the hour-long interview over on 30 Days of Genius on CreativeLive.
