Episode
#857: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 — New Tips from Maria Popova, Morgan Housel, Cal Newport, Craig Mod, and Debbie Millman
- Podcast
- The Tim Ferriss Show
- Published
- Mar 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2574
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Summary
Many of us feel like we’re drowning in invisible complexity. So I wanted to hit pause and ask a simple question: What are 1-3 decisions that could dramatically simplify my life in 2026? To explore that, I invited five long-time listener favorites: Maria Popova, Morgan Housel, Cal Newport, Craig Mod, and Debbie Millman. This episode is brought to you by: Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:01:49] Maria Popova [00:02:04] The Cherish Quotient: Stop giving hours to people who rank as “fine.” [00:03:15] When you apologize for your priorities, you’re apologizing for your life. Stop! [00:04:41] Morgan Housel [00:04:50] The do-nothing thesis: Be average long enough and you’ll end up in the top 1%. [00:08:42] Read more history, fewer forecasts — and watch the news lose its power over you. [00:09:32] How Stephen King’s 11/22/63 illustrates the futility of prediction. [00:12:21] Cal Newport [00:12:36] What deserves a “yes” when the default is “no?” [00:16:38] Deep Work sells two million copies and creates a schizophrenic double life. [00:19:07] The unifying insight: Both careers were always about technology and human flourishing. [00:24:07] Craig Mod [00:24:46] How quitting alcohol has been Craig’s highest-ROI decision. [00:27:13] Therapy after a decade of sobriety: The cliché that actually cleared the water. [00:30:27] The compounding interest that comes from committing to one craft. [00:33:09] Debbie Millman [00:34:30] How being offered the CEO seat at her company led to four months of paralysis. [00:36:10] The sente…