Safi Bahcall (@SafiBahcall) is the author of Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, which debuted #3 on Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list. Loonshots describes what an idea from physics tells us about the behavior of groups and how teams, companies, and nations can use that to innovate faster and better. Safi received his PhD in physics from Stanford and his undergrad degree from Harvard. After working as a consultant for McKinsey, Safi co-founded a biotechnology company specializing in developing new drugs for cancer. He led its IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years. In 2008, Safi was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with President Obama’s council of science advisors on the future of national research. You can also listen to my first interview with Safi at tim.blog/safi. Please enjoy! This episode is also brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs, which offers a smarter system for the hiring process. If you’ve ever hired anyone (or attempted to), you know finding the right people can be difficult. If you don’t have a direct referral from someone you trust, you’re left to use job boards that don’t offer any real-world networking approach. LinkedIn, as the world’s largest professional network, which is used by more than 70 percent of the US workforce, has a built-in ecosystem that allows you to not only search for employees, but also interact with them, their connections, and their former employers and colleagues in a way that closely mimics real-life communication. Visit LinkedIn.com/Tim and receive a $50 credit toward your first job post! SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1dSzTkW About Tim Ferriss: Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 300 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running. Connect with Tim Ferriss: Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's email newsletter): https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/ Visit the Tim Ferriss PODCAST: https://tim.blog/podcast/ Visit the Tim Ferriss BLOG: https://tim.blog/ Follow Tim Ferriss on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tferriss/ Follow Tim Ferriss on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/ Like Tim Ferriss on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ Intro [00:00] Where, how, and why did Safi learn about hypnosis? [00:14] Calming down and sleeping better with hypnosis [06:13] Common relaxation trance-induction techniques [11:54] Effective applications of hypnosis and what to try when other tactics aren’t getting through [14:45] On splitting the mind [26:27] Understanding anger as a gift and using it as fuel [29:04] How to ensure these techniques don't "burn you from the inside" [33:20] Safi’s relationship with depression [37:04] My own relationship with depression plus promising treatments [45:15] I haven't had a major depressive episode in the past 5 years. Why not? [53:40] On befriending, rather than fighting, darker thoughts to achieve inner peace [1:00:22] Books and tools I’ve found helpful for fostering my own sense of inner peace [1:11:10] How my default calibration for joy has changed over time [1:14:01] When working with faulty genetics or programming [1:18:03] Where is your calendar for the day? [1:21:52] What is your default question? What might be a better question? [1:24:50] The importance of identifying the two different kinds of anger [1:27:05] Happiness = reality minus expectations [1:32:27] MDMA and rTMS as loonshots for depression [1:34:31] Biochemistry can influence thought patterns, but can thought patterns influence biochemistry? [1:49:23] Position space versus frequency space, new ways of looking at old problems, common paradoxes, and how incentives really drive progress in both science and business [1:53:44] When good ideas really die [2:05:33] What would a Chief Incentives Officer bring to the table? [2:12:21] Problematic compensation structures, and how empowering a Chief Incentives Officer is like bringing a gun to a knife fight [2:17:48] How does company culture relate to company structure? [2:23:59] Will changing a company’s culture or its structure drive more meaningful, quantifiable progress? [2:27:30] Two ways to handle a coveted promotion—one that promotes politics and one that promotes innovation [2:30:35] Parting thoughts [2:36:54]