Why a menu?

Facing “a thousand options,” Ferriss drafts a list of projects he might try, then filters for two signals:

1. Durable upside: Will I gain relationships or skills worth keeping if the project flops?

2. Weird-factor turbo-boost: If it feels off-beat (board-game design, left-hand archery), bump it higher. Weirdness usually means intrinsic energy and lower competition—both long-run advantages.

Benefits:

1. Skill stacking: even failed experiments add unique Lego pieces to future work.

2. Energy calibration: you’re likelier to out-endure others on projects that fascinate you.

3. Bias blocker: “Go for weird” circumvents the seductive but stale options (another course, another SaaS clone).

Try it:

1. Brain-dump 10 curiosities you’d pay to explore.

2. Star the ones that meet Ferriss’s success-even-if-it-fails rule (relationships or skills you want anyway).

3. Circle the oddest three—they become your next experiments.

Schedule a 30-day micro-sprint for the first; reassess energy and lessons before moving to the next.

Review the menu quarterly; retire items that no longer spark, add fresh oddities that do. Over time you’ll collect a portfolio of rare skills and allies—assets no ordinary plan could have predicted.