https://medium.com/swlh/tim-ferrisss-assistant-s-sudden-resignation-serves-as-a-warning-for-trying-to-have-it-all-288003e67030
Image Credit-CharlieHoehn via Flickr
Timbo Ferriss got famous for telling us we could work 4-hour workweeks.
I’m not into the digital nomad life, so I’ll leave you to judge his philosophy. Admittedly, he says he’s matured beyond this 4-hour workweek view of the world.
Still, Tim has had plenty of wild success. The truth about influential people like him is they all have assistants.
Tim’s was Charlie Hoehn. This is his story that you’ll learn a lot from.
Tim’s assistant Charlie had a friend named Ramit Sethi (famous for the book “I Will Teach You To Be Rich”).
At Charlie’s request Ramit introduced him to Tim. That led to Charlie getting hired by Tim as a part-time intern. His good work led to him becoming a full-time employee of the Tim Ferriss brand.
One of the biggest projects Charlie silently worked behind the scenes on with Tim was his book “The 4-Hour Body.” Other than the books, Tim had him doing pretty much any task he could come up with.
Some days it was sourcing blog posts, other days it was editing photos, and on one particular day Charlie came up with the wild idea for Tim to swallow 25 pills at once.
Tim says Charlie was obsessed with efficiency and productivity. Like a dog with a bone, he kept asking Tim for more tasks. Charlie became known by Tim’s employees for the catchphrase “What else can I do to help?”
Soon Charlie was juggling lots of Tim’s projects. He began work with Tim in a bubble of comfort. As the relationship between them grew, Charlie’s comfort zone expanded.
Tim got used to day-to-day operations run by Charlie that contained zero disasters. So Tim got addicted to these results.
“My brain felt swollen, like it was pushing against my skull,” says Charlie.
A magic pill had him going for 60 hours straight. A new record. The pill helped Charlie’s body resist the urges to sleep.
Tim had no idea Charlie was coked up on these new pills, typically reserved for fighter pilots. Charlie just wanted to please his boss. He’d do anything for his famous master that’d he’d already given three years of his life to.