Andrew Huberman's secret to being productive | Lex Fridman Podcast Clips

Okay, you've. You're one of the most productive people I know what. What's the secret to your productivity? How do you maximize the number of productive hours in a day? Your scientist, your teacher. You're a very prolific educator. Show more

Well, thanks for the kind words. I struggle like everybody else, but I I'm pretty Relentless about meeting deadlines. Oh, I miss them sometimes, but sometimes that means cramming, sometimes that means starting early. But has that been hard? Show more

It's hard to interrupt with the podcast you. There's certain episodes. I mean you're like taking just incredibly difficult topics and you know they're going to be. There's going to be a lot of really good scientists listening to those with a very skeptical and careful eye like: how hard do you struggle meeting that deadline sometimes, yes, we've pushed out episodes because I want more time with them. I also- I haven't advertised this, but I have another of fully tenured professor that's started checking my my podcasts and helping me find papers. He's a close friend of mine. He's an incredible expert in neuroplasticity and that's been helpful. But I researched all my all. I do all the primary research for the episodes myself, although my niece has been doing a summer internship with me and finding amazing papers- she did last summer as well. She's really good at it. Just stick that kid on the internet and she gets great stuff. Just going on tangents here. Show more

What's the hardest? Finding the papers or understanding what a paper is saying, or finding finding the best papers? Yeah, because you have to. You know you read a bunch of reviews, figure out who's getting cited, call people in a field, make sure that this is the stuff I mean. You know I did this episode recently on ketamine, about ketamine. I wasn't on ketamine and and you know, there's this whole debate about s versus our kid. I mean srk, I mean, and I called two clinical experts at Stanford. I had a researcher at UCLA helped me. Even then, you know, a few people had gripes about it that I don't think they understood a section that I was perhaps could have been clear about. But yeah, you, you're always concerned that people won't either won't get it or I won't be clear. So that the researching is mainly about finding the best papers. And then I'm looking for papers that establish thoroughness of understanding, that are interesting. Obviously it's fun to get occasionally. Look at some of the odd or more Progressive papers that are, you know what's new in a field, and then, where there are actionable takeaways to, to Really export those with, with a lot of thoughtfulness, I mean, I think that, going back to the productivity thing, you know I, I do. I get up, I look at the sun. I I don't stare at the Sun, but I get my sunshine I. It all starts with a really good night's sleep. I think that's really important to understand, so much so that if I wake up and I don't feel rested enough, I'll often do a non-sleep, depressed Yoga Nidra or go back to sleep for a little bit. Get up, really prioritize one. You know the big block of work for the thing that I'm researching. Show more

I think a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of concern about deadline helps. Turning the phone off helps, um, realizing that those peak hours, whenever they are, for you, you, you do not allow those hours to be invaded unless there's a. You know a nuclear bomb goes off and and nuclear bomb is just a you know a phraseology for you know it could be- family crisis would be and you know would be a good justification if there's an emergency, obviously. Show more

But it's all about Focus. It's all about focus in the moment. It's not even so much about how many hours you log. It's really about focusing about how much total focus can you give to something. And then I like to take walks and think about things and sometimes talk about them in my voice recorder, so I'm just always churning on it all the time. And and then, of course, learning to turn it off and engage with people socially and, you know, not not be podcasting 24 hours a day in your head is key, but I think I love learning and researching and finding that those papers and the information and I love teaching it and these days I use a whiteboard before I start. I don't have any notes, no teleprompter, then the white board that I use beforehand is to really sculpt out the different elements and and the flow, get the flow right and move things around. Show more

The. The Whiteboard is such a valuable tool. Then take a couple pictures of that when I'm happy with it, put it down on the desk and these are just bullet points- and then just churn through and just turn through and nothing feels better than you know, researching and sharing information and and I- and as you did, you know, grew up writing papers and it it's hard and I like the friction of like can't you know, I want to get up when he's about, when I was in College I was trying to make up deficiencies from my lack of attendance in high school, so much so that I I would set a timer. I wouldn't let myself get up to use the bathroom- even never had an accident, but I was, you know. Show more

I mean, it's like I listened to music- classical music, rancid, a few other things, some Bob Dylan maybe- thrown in there and just study and and it felt, and then you know, hit the two hour mark and you're in pain and then you get up, yeah, like use the bathroom, like that felt so good. There's something about the human brain that likes these kind of friction points and working through them, and you just have to work through them. So, yeah, I'm productive and and my life has arranged around it- and you know that's been a bit of a barrier to personal life at times, but my life's been arranged around it. I've set up everything so that I can learn more, teach more, including, you know, some of my home life- and but I do, you know, still watch chimp Empire. Still got time to watch Jim Bob, look the great Joe Strummer, all right, Clash. Show more

Or my favorite, mescaleros. He said you know this famous drummer quote: no input, no output. So you need, you need experience, you need outside things in order to Foster the the process. But yeah, just nose to the grindstone, man, I don't know, I don't, I don't know, and that's what and that's what I'm happy to do with my life. I don't think anyone should do that just because. But this is how I'm showing up and you know, if you don't like me, then Scrolls, whether they say swipe left, sorry, right, I don't know, I'm not. On the apps, the dating apps. So that's the other thing I keep waiting for when listens to like Friedman podcast is a check box on like hinge or Bumble or whatever it is, but I don't even know. Are those that are field is? I don't know what? That? What are the apps? Now, I've never used an app and I, I, I, those file Troublesome. Show more

How little information is provided on apps. Well, they're the ones that are like a stocked Lake, like like Raya. You know, it's like that. They like, they sort of like companies will actually fill them with people that look a certain way. And well, soon it'll be filled with AI. Oh yeah, that's the way you said. Oh yeah, that's a hard break within that. Well, I, you know, I'm guilty of liking real human interaction that. Have you tried AI interaction? No, but I have a feeling you're gonna convince me too one day. Show more

Yeah, I've. I've also struggled finishing projects that are new. There are some something new like, for example, some. One of the things I really struggled finishing is something that's in Russian that requires translation and overdub and all that kind of stuff. The other project I've been working on for like over at least a year, off and on, but trying to finish is something we've talked about in the past- is I'm still on it project on Hitler in World War II. I've written so much about it and I just don't know why I can't finish it. I have trouble, like, really, I think I'm terrified being in front of the camera like this, like this or so. Show more

Well, actually, no, no, no, solo. Well, if you want to do solo and seriously, because we've done this before, right, our, our clandestine study missions, I'll I'm happy to sit in the corner and work on my book or do something if you want to, if it feels good, it's just just for the feeling of somebody else. Definitely, what do you? I mean, how do you? You don't seem to. You seem to have been Fearless to just sit in front of the camera by yourself to do the episode. Yeah, it was weird. I mean, the first year of the podcast, it just spilled out of me. It was just I had all that stuff I was so excited about. I've been talking to everyone and who would listen? And anyone, anyone who they run away, I'd keep talking. You know, before there was ever a camera wasn't on social media. 2019, I posted a little bit 2020, as you know, I started going on podcast but yeah, I had. So I just I just the zest and Delight in this stuff. Show more

It's like circadian rhythms. I'm going to tell you about this stuff. I just felt like here's the opportunity and just let it burst. And then, as we've gotten into topics that are a little bit further away from my, my home knowledge, you know it- the, it's like I still get super excited about it. It's music in the Brain Episode. I've been researching for a while now. I'm just so hyped like about it. It's so, so interesting. There's so many facets: singing versus improvation, improvisational- excuse me- music versus I'm listening to music versus learning music. I mean that it just goes on and on. There's just so much that's so interesting. I just can't get enough and and I think, oh, you put a camera in front of me. I sort of forget about it and I'm just trying to just teach. Yes, that's the difference. That's interesting. Show more

I mean, I forget the camera. Maybe I need to find that joy as well. But, like for me, a lot of the joys in the, in the writing and the the camera, there's something. Well, the best lecturers, as you know, and you're in a phenomenal lecturer, so you embody this as well, but the. When I teach at Stanford, I was directing this course in neuroanatomy and Neuroscience and for medical students, and I noticed that the best lecturers would come in and they're teaching the material from a place of deep understanding, but they're also experiencing it as a first-time learner, as at the same time. So it's just sort of embodying the Delight of it but also the authority over them, not Authority, but the, the sort of Mastery of the material, and it's really the Delight in it that the students are linking on to, and of course they need and deserve the best accurate material, so they have to know what they're talking about. But yeah, just tap into that energy of learning and loving it and people are along for the ride. Or you know, I get accused of being long-winded, but you know things get taken out of context. That leads to Greater misunderstanding. And also, I look at, listen- I come from a lineage of three debt advisors, three, all three. Show more

So I don't know when the reaper is coming for me. I'm doing my best to stay alive a long time, but whether or not it's a bullet or a bus, or cancer or whatever, or just old age, I mean I'm trying to get it all out there as best I can and if it means you have to hit pause and come back a day or two later, like that seems like a reasonable compromise to me. I'm not gonna go go longer than I need to and I'm trying to shorten them up. But again, that's that's kind of how I show up. It's like Tim Armstrong would say about writing songs. I asked him: do you write? How often? You write every day, every day. Was Rick ever stop creating? No, is Joe ever stop preparing for comedy? Are you ever stopping to think about world issues and and technology and who you can talk to? I mean, it seems to me you've always got a plan: the inside, the. The thing I love about your podcast the most, to be honest, these days, is the surprise of like I don't know who the hell is going to be there. It's almost like like I get a little nervously excited about when a new episode comes because I have no idea, no idea, and you know, I mean I have some guesses based on what you told me during the break. Show more

I mean, yeah, you've got someone, people where it's just like whoa, Lexus went there. Awesome, can't wait, click, you know there. You know, I think that's really cool. Like you're constantly surprising people, so you're doing it so well, like it's such a high level, and I think it's also important for people to understand that what you're doing- relax, there's no precedent for it. Sure, there have been interviews before, there have been podcasts before their discussions before, but it's not like how many of your peers can you look to to find out how best to do the content? Like yours, zero. There's one peer- you- and so you know that should give you great peace and great excitement, because you're you're a Pioneer, you're the, you're literally the tip of the spear. Show more

I- I don't want to take an unnecessary tangent, but I think this might thread together two of the things that we've been talking about, which are, I think, of pretty key importance. One is romantic relationships and the other is creative process and work, and this, again, is something I learned from Rick but that he and I have gone back and forth on and that I think is worth elaborating on- which is earlier we're saying: you know, the best relationship is going to be one where you, where it brings you, peace. I think peace also can be translated to, among other things, lack of distraction. So when you're with your partner, can you really focus on them and the relationship? Can you not be distracted by things that you're upset about from their past or from your past with them or their- and, of course, the same is true for them, right? They ideally will feel that way towards you too. Show more

They can really focus. Also, when you're not with them, can you focus on your work? Can you not be worried about whether or not they're okay, because you trust that they're an adult and they can handle things or they will reach out if they need things. They're going to communicate their needs like an adult, you know, not creating message just to get attention and things like that, or or disappearing, you know, for that matter. Show more

So peace and focus are intimately related and distraction is the enemy of peace and focus. So there's something there, I believe, because with people that have a strong generative drive and and want to, you know, be productive in their home life in the sense, have a rich family life or partner life, whatever that is, and in their work life, you know the ability to really drop into the work and like, okay, you might have that sense like I hope they're okay or, you know, need to check my phone or something, but just know like we're good. Show more

Yeah. So so peace and focus, I think, and present being present, are so key and it's key at every level of romantic relationship from you know, certainly, presence and focus. You know everything from sex to listening to, to, you know, raising a family to tending to the house and in work, it's absolutely critical. So I think that those things are kind of mirror images of the same thing and they're both important reflections of the other. And when you start to just you know when work is not going well, then the relationship, the focus on relationship, can suffer and vice versa. So- and it's crazy how important that is, oh, how incredibly wonderful it could be to have a person in your life that kind of enables that creative Focus, yeah, and you supply the, the peace and focus for their Endeavors, whatever those might be. Show more

I mean that, that symmetry there, because clearly people have different needs, and the need to just really trust. You know, like when Lex is working he's in his generative mode and and, and I know he's good, and so then they, they feel sure they've contributed to that, but then also what you're doing is supporting them in whatever way it happens to be, and I think that sometimes you'll see that people will pair up along creative, creative or Musical, musical or computer scientists. But I think- again, going back to this Conti episode on on relationships, is that the superficial labels are less important, it seems, than just the desire to create that kind of home life in a relationship together and, as a consequence, the, the work mode. And for some people there, both people aren't working and sometimes they are. But I think that's, I think that's the good stuff, you know, and and I think that's the big learning in all of it is that the further along I go with each birthday, I guarantee you're gonna be like what I want is simpler and simpler and harder and harder to to create, but oh, so worth it. Show more

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