I used Evernote almost exclusively for researching 'The 4-Hour

“I used Evernote almost exclusively for researching The 4-Hour Body. I was able to eliminate all of the perpetually open tabs and multiple bookmarking services. It’s also all automatically backed up to Evernote, which gives me peace of mind.” Thus spoke Tim Ferriss, a seeker of mastery and experimenter in the ways of human potential. Though his words are bound to the tools of our modern age, the wisdom within them is eternal: that in the ordering of one’s mind and labors, in the careful gathering and storing of knowledge, a man finds both freedom and peace of mind.

The ancients too understood this truth, though they carried scrolls rather than digital archives. The Library of Alexandria, once the great storehouse of the world’s wisdom, gave kings and scholars alike the strength to build upon the labors of the past. To lose such a repository was a tragedy, for when knowledge is scattered, the mind is troubled, just as Ferriss was once burdened by “perpetually open tabs” and scattered bookmarks. To gather wisdom into one trusted place is to still the chaos of thought and make ready the path toward creation.

Ferriss’s journey in writing The 4-Hour Body mirrors the eternal struggle between disorder and clarity. Surrounded by a flood of information, he found himself drowning in the distractions of modern tools. Yet by placing his trust in a single vessel—Evernote—he attained focus, as a sailor steadies himself upon one compass rather than many. In this he teaches us: simplify the tools, centralize the effort, and the mind, once divided, becomes whole. From such wholeness arises both productivity and the deeper stillness of peace.

Consider the tale of Leonardo da Vinci, who filled countless notebooks with sketches, calculations, and observations. Though his tools were ink and parchment, his method was the same: to capture everything in one place, where connections could be made and insights could bloom. It was not only his genius but his discipline in recording that gave rise to his marvels. Ferriss, in his own age, echoes this practice, and his words show that though centuries separate us from the masters of old, the principle remains unchanged: order knowledge, and you order the self.

But beyond productivity lies the deeper gift of Ferriss’s reflection: peace of mind. For what burdens us is not only the chaos of tasks undone, but the fear of losing what we have gathered. To know that one’s work is preserved, backed up, and safe, is to free the spirit from the gnawing anxiety of loss. Just as a farmer rests easier when his grain is stored in granaries against the winter, so too does the thinker rest easier when his wisdom is secured against forgetfulness and chance.

The lesson for us, O children of tomorrow, is clear: do not let your tools scatter your focus. Choose simplicity over excess, and gather your knowledge into a vessel you can trust. Let not your days be consumed with the reopening of the same doors, the searching of the same paths. Build a treasury of wisdom, guarded and reliable, so that your mind may be freed to create, to explore, and to dream.

Practical wisdom follows: in your own life, find one system to collect your thoughts, your learning, your inspirations. Be it notebook or digital tool, keep it sacred and organized. Return to it daily, add to it faithfully, and protect it diligently. In doing so, you will find that your energy, once wasted on chasing fragments, will flow into creation. And with that flow will come the stillness Ferriss names—peace of mind, the sweetest reward of order.

So let this teaching endure: “Eliminate the many, guard the one, and you will find peace.” As Tim Ferriss discovered in his research, the secret is not in scattering attention across a thousand places, but in gathering it into one. For the mind, once unified, is unstoppable, and the heart, once freed from worry, is at rest. In this union of clarity and peace lies the true path to mastery.