Wisdom and Glenn Beck should not belong in the same sentence... or so I thought. I first heard of the name Glenn Beck in high school where my impression was that he was a crazy man with backwards views. Maybe he actually is, but that doesn't matter. (I've never watched or listened to any of his stuff.) The point is that wisdom can be extracted from anyone, even Glenn Beck, when you're a master of wisdom extraction like Tim Ferriss. He was featured in the Wisdom section of the book.
In his latest book, Tools of Titans (released yesterday), Tim deconstructed the tactics, routines, and habits of world-class performers in various fields. Glenn Beck was one such person he interviewed. After skimming over Beck's Wikipedia article, I don't think I agree with him on much, but I can't deny that he had an interesting life story that we could all learn from. In fact, an old friend of Tim, who was mixed-race, Brown University educated, and very liberal recommended him to interview Beck without hesitation.
One day while hosting a radio show, Beck had an insanity attack where he brutally criticized himself for being a dumbass for 15 minutes. He expected that his career was ruined due to his tantrum, but instead, his popularity skyrocketed. He learned that in a world where everything was engineered to perfection, sometimes people appreciated authenticity.
This closely parallels how Trump ran his campaign. Perhaps Beck was anti-Trump because he saw Trump as a threat stealing his own spotlight. Beck wanted to be the center of attention being the crazy maniac and he was starting to have nightmares of Trump gently whispering in his ear, "You're fired!"
Tim ended the chapter with Beck's guiding quote, which you probably won't expect:
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson
The lessons I learned here:
- It's possible to learn wisdom from a lunatic.
- Maybe the lunatic isn't as stupid as your friends claim him to be.
- Be authentic.
- It's always possible to succeed no matter how much you think you have failed.
- Question the perceptions of yourself, your friends, and authorities. Everyone is full of bullshit no matter how much they claim to be guided by rational thought.
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Also buy Tim's book, Tools of Titans! (click here)
