Jerry Seinfeld and Maria Popova (#746)

This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited. The episode features segments from episode #485 “Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success” and episode #39 “Maria Popova on Writing, Workflow, and Workarounds.”

Please enjoy!

Bios of guests may be found at tim.blog/combo.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

This episode is brought to you by 1Password easy-to-use and secure password manager for individuals, families, and businesses, LMNT electrolyte supplement, and Momentous high-quality supplements.

Transcript of the full Jerry Seinfeld episode | Transcript of the full Maria Popova episode | Transcripts of all episodes

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SHOW NOTES

• [05:16] Notes about this supercombo format.
• [06:19] Enter Jerry Seinfeld.
• [06:46] Jerry’s writing process for survival in the comedy ecosystem.
• [15:43] Lessons Jerry would teach in a writing class and how they relate to his fitness methods.
• [15:43] Soliciting creative feedback while preserving pride over doing the work.
• [20:33] Routines essential to Jerry’s well-being and their frequency and duration.
• [24:50] How nurturing creativity is like parenting, and Jerry’s belief about pain and knowledge.
• [26:17] Additional ways Jerry mitigates depressive episodes.
• [27:27] A resilience-building failure.
• [32:05] The importance of playing the game well.
• [33:42] “Survival is the new success.”
• [36:12] Jerry’s billboard.
• [39:06] Enter Maria Popova.
• [39:30] Are you correctly pronouncing names you’ve only read but never heard?
• [41:13] What does Maria do?
• [41:50] What is Brain Pickings (now The Marginalian)?
• [42:31] What percentage of New York Times best sellers are a result of Maria’s coverage?
• [47:55] The common denominator that guides Maria’s reading list.
• [49:16] The importance of writing for an audience of one.
• [52:07] Contending with the temptation to create BuzzFeed-like content.
• [59:44] The daily discipline required for Maria’s well-being.
• [1:07:10] Maria’s note-taking system.
• [1:12:53] Seneca and the time-tested challenge of presence vs. productivity.
• [1:16:08] Start-up opportunity? Build a note-taking tool for heavy readers/highlighters.
• [1:22:52] About the team behind [The Marginalian].
• [1:24:28] Collaborative proofreading and copyediting.
• [1:27:21] Self-reliance pathology and how to overcome it.
• [1:29:56] Finding a professional personal assistant and learning to delegate.
• [1:34:36] Maria’s weightlifting regimen and favorite bodyweight-only exercise.
• [1:37:22] Designing content infrastructure to be evergreen.
• [1:39:28] Cutting out the commentary contrarians.
• [1:46:13] Scheduling social media.
• [1:48:25] Coping with email — and sometimes snail mail.
• [1:50:31] How to cultivate a personal inner circle and pre-screen book review requests.
• [1:54:54] What donation model works best for site revenue?
• [2:01:22] Recommended reading from [The Marginalian] and parting thoughts.

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Jerry Seinfeld:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Connect with Maria Popova:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Threads

• Becoming the Marginalian: After 15 Years, Brain Pickings Reborn | The Marginalian
• How to Make Sure Your Readers Pronounce Words and Names Correctly? | r/Fantasywriters
• Blog | Sam Harris
• Neuroscientist Sam Harris on Happiness, Spirituality Without Religion, and How to Cultivate the Art of Presence | The Marginalian
• Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris | Amazon
• Vino Sans Snobbery: A Charming Illustrated Scratch-and-Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert | The Marginalian
• The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert: Take a Whiff of That by Richard Betts, Wendy MacNaughton, and Crystal English Sacca | Amazon
• The Science and Philosophy of Friendship: Lessons from Aristotle on the Art of Connection | The Marginalian
• The Man Who Hated Semicolons | The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
• Cool It, Vonnegut: Rethinking the Semicolon | Litro Magazine
• 29 Dumb Things People Posted Online This Month | BuzzFeed
• Oscar Wilde on Art and Cultivating the Crucial Temperament of Receptivity | The Marginalian
• Werner Herzog on Creativity, Self-Reliance, and How to Make a Living Doing What You Love | The Marginalian
• Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin by Werner Herzog and Paul Cronin | Amazon
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | Amazon
• What is Malbec Wine? Plus Four Amazing Facts | Wine Folly
• What Actually Happens While You Sleep and How It Affects Your Every Waking Moment | The Marginalian
• Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall | Amazon
• Famous Writers’ Sleep Habits vs. Literary Productivity, Visualized | The Marginalian
• Tara Brach on Meditation and Overcoming FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) | The Tim Ferriss Show #94
• Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach | Amazon
• Five Ways to Boost Productivity While on an Elliptical | CalorieBee
• Kindle Paperwhite, Oasis, Scribe, and More E Readers | Amazon
• I’m Maria Popova, and This Is How I Work | Lifehacker
• How to Build Your Own Index of Notes and Ideas When Reading Books | The Focus Course
• Maria’s Literary Jukebox | Tumblr
• On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It by Seneca | Amazon
• Good Will Hunting | Prime Video
• Stoicism Resources and Recommendations | Tim Ferriss
• The Tao of Seneca: Letters from a Stoic Master (aka The Moral Letters to Lucilius) | Tim Ferriss
• Tame Your Work, Organize Your Life | Evernote
• Best 10 Evernote Alternatives in 2024 | Toolfinder
• TextWrangler Is Now BBEdit | Bare Bones Software
• The Art of Timing: Alan Watts on the Perils of Hurrying and the Pleasures of Presence | The Marginalian
• Learn to Proofread Your Own Work | California Coast University
• Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS | WordPress
• Corpus Callosum | 2-Minute Neuroscience
• Share a Draft WordPress Plugin | WordPress
• Stop Hating Your CMS | WordPress VIP
• Google Docs | Google Workspace
• How to Delegate Effectively: Nine Tips for Managers | Harvard Business School Online
• 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) | Investopedia
• Project Management Software, Online Collaboration | Basecamp
• Manage Your Team’s Work, Projects, & Tasks Online | Asana
• The Pull-Up | CrossFit
• Elevated Push-Up | CrossFit
• Bent-Knee Inverted Row | Fitness AI
• Plyometrics: Three Explosive Exercises Even Beginners Can Try | Harvard Health
• Suspension Weight Training | TRX
• Weighted Jump Ropes | Amazon
• Bulgaria in Weightlifting | Olympedia
• Sam Harris, PhD, on Spirituality, Neuroscience, Meditation, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #14
• Social Media Toolkit | Buffer
• A Manifesto for Digital Humanity | The Email Charter
• Finding the One Decision That Removes 100 Decisions (or, Why I’m Reading No New Books in 2020) | Tim Ferriss
• William Gibson on Cultivating a “Personal Micro-Culture” | The Marginalian
• Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson | Amazon
• The Four Buddhist Mantras for Turning Fear into Love | The Marginalian
• Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh | Amazon
• Henry Miller on the Beautiful Balance of Giving and Receiving | The Marginalian
• Weekly Conversations with Non-Fiction Writers | Longform Podcast
• Showcasing and Discovering Creative Work | Behance
• How to Find Your Purpose and Do What You Love | The Marginalian
• The Shortness of Life: Seneca on Busyness and the Art of Living Wide Rather Than Living Long | The Marginalian
• Happy Birthday, Brain Pickings: 7 Things I Learned in 7 Years of Reading, Writing, and Living | The Marginalian
• Reads Tagged with “Alan Watts” | The Marginalian

PEOPLE MENTIONED

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The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it’s been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.