Episode 002 Josh Waitzkin

Summary

• Josh Waitzkin wrote The Art of Learning after transitioning from chess to studying East Asian philosophy and martial arts.
• He experienced a translation of principles from one art to another and wrote the book to deconstruct what he had been doing intuitively.
• Playing multiple boards simultaneously in chess is different for every player, but Josh experienced it as a feeling of riding the energetic wave of the game.
• Josh currently runs a nonprofit educational foundation, owns a martial arts school, and runs a consulting business for people in the finance world.
• His work focuses on the last 1 or .1% of the learning process, which includes idea generation, creativity, performance psychology, and resilience.
• Marcelo Garcia is a worldrenowned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and Josh Waitzkin's training partner.
• Marcelo is kinesthetically overdeveloped and has an incredible physical intelligence.
• Josh has learned the importance of allowing people to find their own paths to greatness.
• Marcelo's training style is to always be in transition and to let opponents move.
• Josh has learned that Marcelo's approach to martial arts is similar to Maurice Ashley's approach to chess.
• Josh Waitzkin explains that martial arts is about playing in the transition between positions, or the “space between the notes”.
• Tim Ferriss and Josh Waitzkin discuss how successful traders and people in finance have mastered the art of deep introspection and turning the results into training systems and a way of life.
• They discuss how to maximize creative processes by aligning peak energy periods with peak creativity work and building a daily architecture that is relentlessly proactive.
• Cognitive biases are discussed as an example of how to get out of one’s own way and reduce friction.
• Cognitive biases are mental addictions, thought constructs, or false constructs that people hold to be true, but are no longer actually true.
• Tim Ferriss and Josh Waitzkin have complimentary approaches to learning, with Tim focusing on the 80/20 analysis to get people up and off the ground quickly, and Josh focusing on the final leap to become the best.
• Tim suggests asking questions such as "What rules are people following that are not required?" and "Who's good at this, who shouldn't be?" to unearth cognitive biases.
• Josh recommends meditation as a powerful tool to observe mental dictions, deepen the creative process, expand energetic relationships, and gain insight.
• Other habits and rituals of successful finance people include waking up and turning the mind to creative work first thing in the morning, and avoiding reactive input such as checking email.
• Josh Waitzkin discusses the importance of ending the workday with quality and precision.
• He uses the example of skiing, where the last three turns before the lift are the most important.
• He suggests that people practice stress and recovery workouts, interval training, and meditation to cultivate the art of turning on and off intense intellectual energy.
• He recommends simple sitting meditation, focusing on the breath, and embracing imperfection.
• Over time, the mind can be tamed and the return to breath becomes easier.
• Tim Ferriss and Josh Waitzkin discuss the concept of grit and resilience.
• World class performers have learned to reorient their relationship to suffering and resistance and embrace it.
• Meditation is a vehicle to observe addictive relationships and transform them.
• Tim Ferriss found success with meditation when he kept it short, leaned against a wall, listened to one song, and focused on being an observer of his thoughts.
• Josh Waitzkin's favorite time of day is holding his son in his arms after a 2030 minute journaling session.
• Tim Ferriss is endlessly fascinated by morning routines and Josh Waitzkin's routine includes rolling out of bed, brushing his teeth, journaling, getting his son, having breakfast, and having a cup of coffee.
• Josh Waitzkin believes that following one's heart and dreams is the key to happiness.
• He structures his life around quality and not quantity, and depth and not breadth.
• He works with people who are ethically aligned and have a good energy.
• He keeps empty space in his life and rarely has more than one or two meetings a day.
• He has learned to stay true to himself by avoiding the limelight and living a private life.
• Josh Waitzkin recommends books such as On the Road and Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, and For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway.
• Josh Waitzkin wanted to be a professional baseball player when he was a kid.
• He now wants to focus on helping children express themselves artistically and joyfully.
• He is building the groundwork to do something important in education in the next four or five years.
• If he had a committee of three people to help him make decisions, he would choose Dave, Gandhi, Lao Tzu, Buddha, and his mother.
• Josh Waitzkin's mother is his hero for embracing his decisions to leave the top of his field and follow his inner calling.
• His parting advice is to listen deeply to the core of one's being and build a lifestyle around that.
• He encourages people to trust their intuition and cultivate a passion for the little moments, not just the big ones.
• He advises to not forget about the love when striving for excellence.
• He encourages people to study the artists themselves, not just the people who study them.