That’s a great question. Coconut oil. ... Everything. You can take a bath with it. You can put it in a smoothie. You can cook vegetables with it. You can actually put it on your skin. I think coconut oil is a cheap miracle buy.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months?
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What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
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How do you balance creative work with other responsibilities?
Daily life
Question
What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?
Daily life
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What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Time & hindsight
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What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see?
Craft & work
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What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you have ever made — of money, time, or energy?
Money & investment
I disagree with the question.…I think too many people think that way. They think that getting something is going to improve their life. I challenge anybody who thinks that way, which almost everybody does, to try to flip it on yourself and look around you and think, “What things could I get rid of around me here that would positively influence my life?”
Joe Ciccarone, podcast transcript, Built Not Born, 21 August 2024 source ↗
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Whitney Wolfe Herd
Founder and chief executive of Bumble
Phil Keoghan
Television presenter; host of The Amazing Race
Probably the biggest impact for something less than $100.00 would be a mole skin diary. I’ve got them all lined up for every year. I’ve had them since 1986. So, in there, in a very tactile way, I have like lists in the back, movies, books. And then, I write in the back the name of the book and then who recommended the book.
Jason Nemer
Co-founder of AcroYoga; former national-level acrobat
We’ve already got it. It’s the Frisbees, for sure. I was hanging out with my two brothers and my dad. We decided to drive up the coast and my two brothers and me, we’ve played Frisbee golf our whole lives so we love it, and my dad, not so much. But we got a bunch of discs and then we went really high up on Highway 1 and threw them out into the ocean.
BJ Miller
Palliative care physician; founder of the Zen Hospice Project guest house programme
Well, you know, I would probably point us to a beautiful Pinot Noir from Joseph Swan up in Sonoma County. You know, it’s like the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy or anyone who delights in anything ephemeral. The charm in a bottle of wine, the craft, all the work that goes into it, and actually delighting in the fact that it’s perishable and goes away I find really helpful.
More from Derek Sivers
View profile →It would be nice if my books were valued greatly, even after my death.
I am mostly full time dad and my time is mostly at the mercy of an awesome little boy. I write when I can.
And this is my only pair of pants. These three glasses, I don’t even think about it because I just think about having enough.
I read that at a key fork in the road moment for me where I just sold CD Baby and had a ton of money. I was like, “What to do now?” And I read this book from this filthy rich old man being entirely honest, and I thought I should just learn from his experience. ... So if what I’m doing seems weird, it’s because I took his advice to heart and I’ve quit the game.
Sometimes you don't even need your friend to say yay or nay, you just have to hear yourself expressing it out loud to another person that's never heard it before. And I particularly like doing the out loud bit. I like my sentences to sound good.
Recorded
Kelly Irving, community interview transcript, Expert Author Community, 29 August 2025
source ↗
When I decided to sell my company, I already had enough. I live simply. I don’t own a house, a car, or even a TV. The less I own, the happier I am. The lack of stuff gives me the priceless freedom to live anywhere anytime. So I didn’t need or even want the money from the sale of the company. I just wanted to make sure I had enough for a simple comfortable life. The rest should go to music education, since that’s what made such a difference in my life.
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