Tim Ash is an acknowledged authority on evolutionary psychology and digital marketing. He is a sought-after international keynote speaker and marketing advisor. Tim is the bestselling author of Unleash Your Primal Brain and Landing Page Optimization. As the founder of a digital marketing agency, his insights helped to create over $1,200,000,000 in value for clients worldwide. Tim has been mentioned by Forbes as a Top-10 Online Marketing Expert, and by Entrepreneur Magazine as an Online Marketing Influencer To Watch. His graduate work focused on cognitive science and artificial intelligence. Tim lives within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, California.
Today, Tim is on the blog to answer our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
Tim Ash
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born in the former Soviet Union (now Moscow, Russia). My family was lucky enough to be allowed to emigrate when I was eight years old because my father had a Jewish ethnic background. We came to the US and my parents had a good second career as civil engineers.
I got a full academic scholarship to attend UC San Diego (a top research university) and majored in Computer Engineering and Cognitive Science. My PhD work there was in neural networks (what would now be called AI or Machine Learning), but I quit after seven years and started my first company instead.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
Twelve was a confusing year – I was just getting used to my pubic hair growing in, and was too busy to think about what I wanted to be.
At eighteen, I was in college and wondering how I could combine my love of art and photography with my need to have a well-paying occupation. I have not figured that out, but I continue to make art on the side. My figurative painting and fine art photography work has appeared in gallery shows and is in private collections worldwide https://TimurAsh.com
By thirty, I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and had been running my own company for a year. That gave me the independence that I always craved. I am not much of a follower, and have sometimes joked that the song that they should play at my funeral is ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
I was very much an individualist who wanted the American Dream and felt righteous in the belief that if you worked hard enough you could achieve anything. But conversely, I felt that if you did not achieve something it was because you were lazy or unmotivated.
I now see the systemic unfairness and cruelty in the way American capitalism operates, and the impossible headwinds that it creates for minorities and many others. No one is a self-made person. I now strongly believe that the social safety net and a wide variety of supports (including prenatal care, childcare, food security, medical care, and accessible educational opportunities throughout life) is the minimum package that any advanced country owes its citizens as part of the social contract. No one should have to struggle while others become obscenely rich.
4. What are three works of art – film, book or piece of music, etc – that you can now say had a great effect on you and influenced your career?
Film – Saving Private Ryan is the most memorable movie I have ever seen. It is an unflinching look at the chaos of war, the deep bonds that are formed in that crucible, and the value of human life. The opening sequence of the Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy is the most chilling twenty minutes I have ever watched. I can’t imagine the heroism of the men who fought there. I have probably seen it ten times from start to finish and keep mining it for more nuance every time.
Music – In the past year I have discovered the brilliance of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. He led a very difficult life full of suffering and drug addiction. His sound (both playing the trumpet and singing in his airy breathy voice) is always a lament, with deep sadness underneath. But there is a beauty in that – a bittersweet poignancy that can exist as a kind of joyous reward of its own. Towards the end of his life he covered Elvis Costello’s song ‘Almost Blue’ and took it to the mountaintop of mastery. Every note (and equally importantly the silences between them) play directly on my heart and deepest sensibilities. If hearing it does not move you, you should check for a pulse.
The Sagrada Família cathedral
Architecture – The Sagrada Família cathedral in Barcelona, Spain is mind-bending. From outside it seems like one of those childish sand-drip castles that I used to make at the beach. But when you walk inside of it, the striking vision of architect Antoni Gaudí overwhelms you. I am not a religious person, although I feel the mystery of the greater universe all around me. When you stand inside of that building, you are transported closer to that universal source. It has been under construction for 140 years, and is nearing completion within the next decade with the raising of several massive outside spires. Go see it.
5. Considering the innumerable avenues open to you, why did you choose to write this book?
My twenty-five years of running a digital marketing optimization agency was fun and rewarding. We worked with top companies like Google, Facebook, Nestle, Siemens, Expedia, and hundreds of others to create over 1.2 billion dollars in documented value. The principles that we used came mostly from the understanding of how people really make decisions.
But I felt like marketing (and business more broadly) was too narrow a sphere in which to apply my understanding of the human brain and how it works. This book is a powerful way to enlighten people and give them insights into their true natures. By putting it into book form I can reach the minds of millions around the world!
6. Please tell us about your book!
My book is called Unleash Your Primal Brain: Demystifying how we think and why we act. It is a very readable overview of the development of our brains and our behaviour. The only way to understand our psychology is to retrace the evolutionary arc, and understand all of the earlier pieces that still function inside of us.
I wanted to tie in all important aspects of being human including motivation, memory, learning, emotions, sexuality, language, culture, and our hypersocial natures. But I wanted the book to be accessible and not weighed down by a lot of scientific jargon. I am proud to say that there is not a single citation or footnote in the book – it is an exciting and colourful read.
The book is about the fundamental whys behind our behaviour and describes what all eight billion of us on the planet have in common. I am confident that it will serve you whether your goal is self-knowledge, improved relationships, or more effectiveness at your job.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your book?
I hope for several outcomes:
- To puncture false beliefs under which people have operated most of their lives (that we are rational and that cold logic is our greatest asset)
- To give you an understanding of the key survival drives that we share with all earlier forms of life on the planet
- Provide an appreciation for the bizarre human-specific recent evolution that has allowed us to spread across the whole planet
- Allow you to make peace with this new and more accurate understanding of yourself and others – leading to more meaningful and authentic relationships in your personal and work life
8. Who do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
I am staggered by J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings cycle, and Frank Herbert’s science fiction masterwork Dune. They stand out because they not only tell powerful and epic stories, but also create unshakeable background worlds and civilisations in which the events unfold. I can’t even imagine what it takes to create worlds with detailed and rich pedigrees like that. Many decades after reading them, the imprint of those books still conjures haunting images in my imagination.
9. Many artists and entrepreneurs set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
Maybe it is my stage in life, but I do not find ambition in the typical sense to be very motivating. My drive comes from within. My desire is always to learn, and to grow, and to challenge myself. External comparisons and piling up money are not that interesting to me.
I find myself going inward more. The challenges seem to be in the direction of insight, wisdom, vulnerability, honesty, and integrity. The hardest work is about becoming a better human being, and figuring out how to spend the fleeting moments of time left in this life.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Yes: go back before it’s too late! Hahaha …
But seriously, writing is very hard work. Each of my books have taken the better part of two years of my professional life. They consume everything and require hard choices about what to prioritise in your life.
So, if you are going to write a book, you should do it because that book absolutely needs to be born from inside of you. Don’t do it for notoriety, fame, or money – that will probably not be the outcome anyway. Tell your story or explain your passion because your soul requires you to.
And you should also be prepared to tirelessly promote your work after the book is published. If you don’t, it will be buried in the blizzard of books coming out at the same time. Promotion is when the ongoing work and discipline are most required.
Thank you for playing!
—Unleash Your Primal Brain by Tim Ash (Booktopia Editions) is out now.
Unleash Your Primal Brain
Demystifying how we think and why we act
Unleash Your Primal Brain is about the commonalities all 8,000,000,000 people on earth share.
Our ancestors were molded by ruthless survival pressures from the earliest days of life on the planet. Adaptations that worked long ago are still inside of us – also shared with insects and reptiles. Later additions are common to all mammals from the tiniest shrews to the most massive whales. Some capabilities were bolted on relatively recently, and are only shared with our primate cousins...
Booktopia Editions: March to May Round-Up!
Comments