Who is Tim Ferriss?
Four bestselling books. Over a billion podcast downloads. The guy who actually made "the 4-hour workweek" a real lifestyle, not just a book title.
Tim Ferriss started dissecting productivity systems back in the mid-2000s, when most of us were still checking Hotmail twice a day. His podcast has racked up 900+ million downloads as of early 2025, making it one of the biggest business shows on the planet. Guests range from Navy SEALs to Nobel Prize winners, and he's always digging for the actual systems behind their results, not just inspirational stories.
What makes Tim different is the follow-through. He doesn't just interview someone about their morning routine and move on. He tests the methods himself, tracks what happens, then reports back on what actually worked versus what sounded good but failed in practice.
His blog pulls millions of visits every year, and Tools of Titans sits on desks everywhere from startup offices to Olympic training centers. When he recommends productivity apps or workflow tools, people pay attention, mostly because he's been publicly testing this stuff since 2007.
Everything below comes straight from his blog and podcast where he's shared the Tim Ferriss tools he actually uses. Fair warning: some picks are almost boring in their simplicity. Tim's not chasing shiny new apps just because they launched on Product Hunt.
What Tim uses for Writing?
When people ask about Tim Ferriss tools for writing, there's one clear answer: Scrivener. He wrote all four of his bestsellers in it. Not Google Docs. Not Notion. Not some trendy Markdown editor. Scrivener, the same app novelists have been using since 2007.
The 4-Hour Workweek? Scrivener. Tools of Titans? Scrivener. Tribe of Mentors and The 4-Hour Body? You guessed it. Switching to Scrivener around 2010 fundamentally changed how he structures long-form content.
His favorite feature is the corkboard view, where you can drag and drop chapters like index cards. For someone who writes 60,000-word books packed with interviews and research, being able to see the whole structure at a glance is clutch. The split-screen editor is another one he uses constantly, letting him reference notes on one side while drafting on the other.
Focus mode strips away every distraction. Full-screen, just you and the text. Tim blocks out 4-hour deep work sessions for writing (usually 9am to 1pm), and Scrivener's distraction-free environment fits that workflow perfectly.
He's rejected Google Docs multiple times on the podcast. Too many notifications. Too tempting to share drafts before they're ready. Scrivener keeps everything local until he's ready to export, which he loves.
What Tim uses for Notes?
When it comes to Tim Ferriss productivity apps, Evernote has been his system since 2008. That's 17 years with the same notes app. Most people switch every two years chasing the latest thing. Not Tim.
By late 2024, his account held thousands of notes spanning almost two decades. Podcast interview prep. Travel itineraries. Book research. Random 3am thoughts that turn into blog posts six months later. Everything searchable, everything synced.
Organization is dead simple: one notebook for active projects, another for reference stuff, and a catch-all inbox for quick captures. That's it. The search function handles everything else, which is exactly why he ignores the constant suggestions to try Notion or Roam or whatever the productivity crowd is hyping this month.
In a 2023 podcast episode he mentioned adding 20-30 notes weekly. Voice memos get auto-transcribed straight into Evernote. Useful article excerpts get clipped and tagged by topic. After 17 years, it's basically functioning as his external hard drive at this point.
Productivity nerds love telling him Evernote is outdated compared to Obsidian or Logseq. He genuinely doesn't care. When a system works for nearly two decades, you don't throw it out because something newer has better marketing.
How Tim Fosters Concentration?
Noisli is the background noise app Tim Ferriss uses daily. Not Spotify playlists. Not Brain.fm (he tried it, wasn't impressed). Just Noisli.
His usual mix: coffee shop sounds layered with light rain. Late night writing sessions get a fireplace crackle added in. The combo creates just enough audio texture to mask outside noise without becoming distracting itself.
During deep work blocks (usually 9am to 1pm), he fires up Noisli and disappears. Phone on airplane mode, Slack closed, just him and Scrivener with rain sounds in the background. He's written multiple times about how this 4-hour window gets more done than most people accomplish in a full week.
The tool itself is stupidly simple. Just ambient sounds you can layer together. No AI customization, no smart algorithms. But when you're wrestling with a 300-page manuscript or prepping for a 2-hour podcast interview, simple tools beat fancy ones.
He's tried the opposite approach too. Total silence with noise-canceling headphones playing nothing. It didn't stick. Turns out some brains just need a little background texture to focus properly.
How Tim Relaxes & Zones Out
Among the Tim Ferriss productivity apps, two meditation tools stand out. Using both seems like overkill until you see how he actually uses them.
Headspace is the daily workhorse. Tim hits a 20-minute session almost every morning, usually between 7am and 8am before the chaos starts. The focus and productivity packs get the most use. Not the sleep stuff. Not the stress courses. Just focus.
He's been subscribed since at least 2015, back when it was one of the only meditation apps that didn't feel like incense and mysticism. Andy Puddicombe's British narrator voice works for him. Some people find it grating. Tim finds it weirdly calming.
Waking Up by Sam Harris gets pulled out for something specific: a meditation called "The Last Time." Tim's mentioned this one repeatedly on his blog and podcast. The idea is simple but hits hard. You imagine experiencing something for the last time. Last conversation with a friend. Last bite of your favorite meal. Last sunset you'll ever see.
That meditation snaps him out of autopilot faster than anything else he's tried. He doesn't do it daily. More like once a week when life starts feeling too routine and he's sleepwalking through the days.
So why two apps? Headspace for the daily grind and building consistency. Waking Up for those moments when he needs a hard reset on perspective. Different mental states need different tools.
Email Overload, No More
Tim checks email exactly twice daily. 11am and 4pm. Period. Boomerang for Gmail is one of the most essential Tim Ferriss productivity apps for pulling this off without everything falling apart.
Everything gets scheduled. Responses that don't need to go out right now get queued for better send times. Follow-ups get auto-reminded so nothing falls through the cracks. Non-urgent stuff gets boomeranged back to his inbox later when it's actually relevant.
His favorite trick: writing emails at midnight but scheduling them to send at 8am the next morning. That way he's not training people to expect instant replies at all hours. Setting boundaries through automation.
During those two email windows, he batch-processes everything in 20-30 minutes flat. Anything taking longer than 2 minutes to answer? Gets delegated or turned into a Loom video instead (more on that in a sec).
Funny story: Superhuman tried to sponsor the podcast a few years back. He tested it for a full month, then went straight back to Gmail with Boomerang. Sometimes a shinier interface just isn't worth relearning muscle memory.
Teamwork & Organization Tools Used By Tim Ferriss
Tim runs a lean team. Around 5-10 people depending on active projects. He's obsessive about keeping things small and nimble, which means his Tim Ferriss tech stack stays dead simple.
1Password handles all the password chaos. His team shares access to social accounts, podcast tools, email accounts, and various SaaS subscriptions through shared vaults. In blog posts he's talked about how 1Password's audit logs have saved his ass more than once when trying to figure out who changed what login.
Security is non-negotiable when you're managing a media empire with millions of listeners. 1Password's vault system lets him control exactly who has access to what, without creating a support ticket nightmare.
Trello is where all the editorial planning lives. Blog post ideas, podcast episode outlines, book research, sponsor coordination. Everything gets a card. Cards move across boards as projects progress.
His main board has columns like "Ideas," "In Progress," "Scheduled," and "Published." Simple Kanban flow. No crazy automations or integrations. Just visual project tracking that everyone on the team can see at a glance.
Separate Trello boards exist for travel planning and book launches. When he published Tools of Titans in 2016, the Trello board for that launch had 200+ cards tracking every interview, event, and marketing initiative.
Slack is the team communication hub, but Tim keeps it tightly controlled. Channels are organized by project: #podcast-production, #blog-content, #book-research. DMs are discouraged unless it's truly urgent.
Almost all Slack notifications stay turned off. He checks it 2-3 times a day max. The whole point is asynchronous communication, not recreating the chaos of an open office via chat.
Replacing Meetings With Async Video
Tim genuinely hates meetings. Not in a "yeah yeah, meetings suck" way. In a "will actively redesign workflows to avoid them" way. Which is why Loom became one of his most-used Tim Ferriss tools.
Instead of booking a 30-minute Zoom to explain something, he just records a 5-minute walkthrough. Screen share showing exactly what needs to happen, face cam in the corner, done in one take.
He stole this whole approach from Sam Corcos, co-founder of Levels (the glucose monitoring company). Sam runs a completely remote team with almost zero meetings, replacing them all with Loom videos. Tim had him on the podcast in 2023, tried it for a week, and never looked back.
What gets Loomed: feedback on podcast edits, explaining new workflows to his assistant, showing exactly what changes he wants on blog posts. All the stuff that normally turns into email tennis or "quick calls" that balloon into hour-long discussions.
The real value shows up months later. Someone on the team searches "Tim podcast prep workflow" and pulls up the exact Loom from six months ago where he walked through the whole process. The knowledge doesn't evaporate when the Zoom call ends.
His team rule: if explaining something via email would take more than 2 minutes of typing, record a Loom instead. People watch on their own schedule, pause when they need to, rewind the confusing parts, and actually retain the info without live-call pressure.
For Tim, async communication isn't a productivity hack. It's how he maintains actual deep work time while still running a media company. Fewer random interruptions, more 4-hour writing blocks, and institutional knowledge that compounds instead of disappearing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tim Ferriss's Stack
What note-taking app does Tim Ferriss use?
Evernote has been Tim's notes system since 2008. He uses it for everything from podcast research to 3am ideas that turn into blog posts months later. The tagging and search functions let him pull up anything instantly, which matters when you're juggling book projects and hundreds of interview notes. Not the sexiest tool out there, but it's worked for 17 years straight.
What tools does Tim Ferriss use for writing?
Scrivener for everything long-form. All four of his books got written there. The corkboard view lets him shuffle chapters around like index cards, which is crucial when you're wrestling with 60,000-word manuscripts full of interviews and research. He's said multiple times that switching from Word to Scrivener around 2010 fundamentally changed how he structures books.
What productivity apps does Tim Ferriss recommend?
The Tim Ferriss productivity apps list is almost boring in how minimal it is. Evernote for notes (since 2008), Scrivener for writing, Boomerang for email scheduling, and Loom for killing meetings. Classic 80/20 thinking: a handful of tools covering 80% of needs beats juggling 20 apps that all kind of overlap. He's openly mocked the productivity community's obsession with switching tools every six months.
How does Tim Ferriss organize his tasks?
He doesn't really use traditional task managers. Email doubles as his task system (if it's important, it lives in the inbox). He batch-checks twice daily and relies on 'if-then' planning instead of endless to-do lists. Trello handles team project tracking, but personal stuff stays minimal. The whole 4-Hour Workweek philosophy is about eliminating tasks completely, not just organizing them prettier.
Does Tim Ferriss use any automation tools?
Automation is baked into everything he does. Boomerang handles email scheduling automatically. Loom creates searchable video documentation that prevents repeat questions. He doesn't always name every tool publicly, but the philosophy is consistent across all his work: if something can be systematized and doesn't need your specific brain, automate it immediately or delegate it to someone else.
What makes Tim Ferriss's tech stack different?
The Tim Ferriss tech stack is almost aggressively simple. While productivity Twitter argues about Notion vs. Obsidian, Tim's still using the same 5-6 apps he's had for over a decade. The whole point isn't optimizing how you do tasks. It's eliminating 80% of tasks completely so the remaining 20% becomes manageable with dead-simple tools. He'd rather spend two hours designing a system that removes a recurring task than do that task efficiently for the next five years.