I’ve just finished the podcast episode of The James Altucher Show featuring Matt Mullenweg (Insta: @photomatt; TW: @photomatt). I was made aware of who Matt was through Tim Ferriss. Tim has also interviewed Matt on his podcast, and had an entire chapter devoted to him in his book, Tools of Titans.
Things I’ve learned about Matt:
- He programmed and launched WordPress at 19 years old in 2003, it now runs 25% of the internet and gets more traffic than Amazon.com
- He is the CEO of Automatic, which is valued at greater than $1 billion. It only has around 500 employees and is fully distributed across more than 50 countries, there is no ‘head office’
- He was named one of Business Week’s 25 Most Influential People on the Web
- He lost a cheque worth $400,000 for month because he was using it as a bookmark
- He abscent-mindedly ate 104 Chicken McNuggets watching the 2004 Super Bowl
- He has quite the timid voice and never swears/curses
- His spirit animal is the mantis shrimp
Things I learnt from Matt:
‘Uberman’ Sleep Routine
No this isn’t the sleep pattern of Uber cab drivers, though it may well be. This is ‘polyphasic’ sleep: cycles of 4 hours awake then 20 minutes ‘power nap’. This means that you only sleep 60 minutes per day, leading to 23 hours per day of productivity. Matt wrote most of the code for WordPress over a year using this method.
I have known about the rejuvenating benefits of naps since the turn of the millenium. I was taught by my undergraduate lecturer at University of Sydney, Chin Moi Chow, one of the early researchers into the importance of sleep in athletes, that a 20 minutes ‘power nap’ was equivalent to 3 hours sleep but any longer than that was deleterious.
I haven’t used this method (yet?) because I, 1) have a job that prevents me sleeping every four hours; 2) have a social life. Why did Matt stop? “I got a girlfriend”. If I ever decide to quit my job, ignore my friends and bang out hundreds of hours of online work, I may consider it.
What Gets Measured Get Managed
This is an adage of Tim Ferriss. Something he likely learned from Matt, they are good friends and regularly travel together.
Matt writes a birthday blog each year to measure what’s changed. It lists how many books he’s read over the past year, countries he traveled to and so on. It gives him an idea of his personal freedom; where he spent his time and how much of it was of his choice.
You cannot change what you don’t measure
“If you are not measuring, you are guessing” is a principle often repeated in the sports science and medicine community. You don’t need all the bells and whistles that elite sports clubs have but you can use simple enough tools to monitor your health. FitBit and other companies make wearable tackers that measure sleep hours, physical activity and other markers of healthy living. Some of them are so nice that they look like jewelry.
If you are willing to try something a little more invasive, here are some blood tests worth getting done, as recommended by Dr Peter Attia (TW: @peterattiamd). Of course these depend on the individual and what risks each person faces.
- APOE Genotype
This gives you an indication of a person’s risk for Alzheimer’s disease, though the apoE phenotype (how much lipoprotein in the blood) is a better predictor than the gene and worth tracking but a test is not commercially available. - Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Particle Number
LDL is the dominant particle that carries cholesterol in the body to and from the heart and liver. The highre the number of LDL particles, the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). - Lp(a)
The Lp(a) partcile is the most atherogenic (blood vessel blocking) particle in the body. It is an LDL so is included in the LDL count but it’s worth knowing their levels because it alone, without an elevated LDL, is a big indicator of CVD risk. - Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT)
Takes a look at your insulin response to a bolbus of sugar; how well your deals with glucose/sugar. Gives you an indication of your insulin sensitivity that shows your diabetes and metabolic syndrome risk. - IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor)
This is a pretty strong driver of cancer but also increased by resistance training to help you grow muscle.
Think ‘What If?’: Plan For Both Success and Failure
The following is a quote from Matt when he was on The Tim Ferriss Show but he told a similar story to James and used the same metaphor:
From the early days of WordPress, we would always think: ‘Okay, if we do X today, what does that result in tomorrow, a year from now, ten years from now?‘ The metaphor I think of the most…is the dog chasing the car. What does the dog do if he catches the car? He doesn’t have a plan for it… People don’t plan for success
The dog probably does not really want to catch the car, he is just chasing it because he think he should.
Are you chasing any cars? Do you want to catch it? If yes, what is your plan for when you do?
You Need To Be An Owner
This does not just refer to property, real estate or cars. But also your time, work and your online presence.
Other sites provide space. They provide distribution in exchange for owning all of your stuff. You can’t leave Facebook or Twitter and take all of your followers with you.. It’s not like these big sites are going anywhere. They’re fantastic. I use all of them, but you want balance. You need your own site that belongs to you… like your own home on the Internet.
That’s why Matt recommends having your own website. You own it. You are not just ‘renting’ space from Facebook, Business Insider’s or Huffington Post. This obviously serves very well a guy who runs a blogging software, but it is good advice.
When I first started this site, I bought a hosting service within a few clicks, picked a template, customised it, posted a blog, shared a link on Facebook and I had traffic. It was my mum, but still… 😉
I started this blog because I wanted my own space where I could share information that I have previously used Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to do. I wanted somewhere that I had full creative control and to build a community around this knowledge. That is why it is .club, I wanted people to have somewhere they could go with like minded people.
This concept also applies to how you spend your time and make money. You are never gonna get rich by working for a salary; selling your time for money. Matt touches on this in the James Altucher podcast
He worked at the same company for 26 or 27 years. He more than doubled his salary when he left. It made me so sad. I never want anyone to be in the situation my dad was in. He gave the loyalty of decades and they didn’t return that loyalty…
To earn the big bucks, and have time to do the things you want, you need to own what you produce; own shares in the company (Tony Robbins discussed this in The School of Greatness episode that I wrote about in a previous post) or the licensing fees or the copyright.
These will give you ‘residual income’ so that you are getting paid for other people’s work or repeatedly for the same piece of work.
Population will peak in 2040s – 2050s
I hadn’t though about it until Matt mentioned it but it makes total sense. People are having less babies.
The current economic system are set up for continuing and exponential growth, and when that does not happen, we get things such as the 2008 Global Economic Crisis. I wonder how business will cope with a falling customer base.
If you want to listen to the The James Altucher Show podcast, you can do so by
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.
- Listen to it on iTunes
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.
If you want to listen The Tim Ferriss Show episode with Matt, you can do so with the links below.
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.
Enjoy!
Scott
Links and Resources mentioned:
- Read Matt’s blog Unlucky In Cards and check out his birthday post from turning 33
- Follow Matt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Also Mentioned:
- Automattic.com
- WordPress.org
- “Rebirth” by Kamal Ravikant
- “The Art of Stillness” by Pico Iyer