Episode 042 Rolf Potts Part 2

Summary

• Rolf Potts is the author of Vagabonding and a world traveler extraordinaire
• He teaches writing in various contexts, including a summer writing program in Paris and a class at Yale
• He recommends books on writing craft such as Roy Peters Clarke's Writer's Toolkit and Phillip Lopate's To Show and to Tell
• He believes that understanding the rules of storytelling is important, and recommends classic screenwriting books such as Syd Field's Screenplay and Robert McKee's Story
• He believes that reality can give you present state awareness and that you don't need artificial enhancement to have vivid experiences
• He recommends getting lost as a way to discover things in a vivid way
• Exploring by foot is a major priority for Tim Ferriss when travelling for experiential reflection and exploration.
• Tim seeks out mild discomfort or uncomfortable situations to catalyze learning.
• Rolf Potts talks about the concept of the flâneur, which is walking through a city in search of experience rather than utilitarian purposes.
• Rolf teaches a writing workshop in Paris for people aged 1870.
• Rolf Potts teaches a onemonth travel writing program in Paris.
• The program is open to all types of writing, including poetry, screenwriting, and short stories.
• The program encourages students to explore the city and find their own interests, such as the French skateboarding culture.
• The program is capped at 32 students and usually averages around 24.
• The students who get the most out of the program have an earnest desire to do their best, combined with a beginner's mind humility towards writing.
• They also have a sense of the value of the experience and have saved up for it.
• The program provides a community of writers and a concentrated spark of inspiration, without the need for a twoyear program.
• Rolf Potts is trying to reinfuse youthful energy into his work to combat the doom and gloom of the internet.
• He believes that success is more meaningful when you’re 30 than when you’re 40 because you have a different relationship to it.
• He suggests that to keep yourself fresh, you should try activities that you might fail at.
• When asked who the first person who comes to mind when he thinks of the word successful, he does not have a person in mind, but rather an appreciation for those who have found success and are synthesizing it in a good life kind of way.
• He mentions Steve Wozniak as an example of someone who has found success and is able to savor and love life.
• He is aware of his own inclination to focus on the defense and protection of assets, which he believes is a terrible inclination.
• Rolf Potts comes from a middleclass family and was not expected to attend an Ivy League school
• He was recently a teacher at Yale and was excited to be there in a way that 18yearold students weren't
• He has been researching the stories of Dave Chappelle and John Hughes, who were judged harshly for their decisions to turn away money and fame
• Dave Chappelle turned down $50 million and John Hughes stopped making movies in the 2000s
• Rolf Potts believes they chose to live the lives they wanted to live and be happy, rather than live up to artificial ideas of success
• He is interested in researching the idea of success management
• His drink of choice is whisky, but he is taking a break from it
• Rolf Potts took a two week whisky fast to break his habit of having a nightcap
• Verner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man is an example of a brilliant use of narrative
• Rolf Potts would cook cheese bratwursts for Nick Cage if he came to dinner
• Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass is a book Rolf Potts has gifted to many people, especially those in their young adult to mid30s age range
• Rolf Potts has been gifting poetry books to his writer friends and poets he respects, as one purchase can be meaningful to them
• Poetry is useful for nonpoets as it uses language in a distilled and pure way.
• Rolf Potts recommends Stuart Dischell, Michela Robbins, and Billy Collins as accessible poets.
• Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet that Tim Ferriss has come to appreciate.
• Rolf Potts suggests reading Best American Poetry to find poets that appeal to the reader.
• Major Jackson, Daniel Hall, and Amy Nezhuku Matitil are other poets Rolf Potts recommends.
• Rolf Potts' author website is rolfpotts.com and his Twitter is @rolfpotts.
• His Paris Writing Workshop can be found at pariswritingworkshop.com.