Timothy Ferris: The Four Hour Work Week

Context

Most of us are stuck living a lifestyle we inherited. We followed our well-meaning parents plan of: Get a good education, Get a good job, Work hard and you’ll get to be the boss one day.

Tim Ferris says it doesn’t need to be this way. We now have choices. He presents an alternative to the traditional 9-5, 40 hour work week. Instead, he says work 4 hours a week and float around the world living your dreams.

Manifesto

Tim Ferriss’ book title is a great manifesto snapshot:

The Four Hour Work Week : Escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich.

Ferriss calls for an end to:

• The 40 hour work week
• The live for the weekend culture that works five days then has only two days off
• And an end to the live-to-work deferred lifestyle. Why work the best years of your life? Why die waiting to retire? Or why retire and be too old to do anything?

Tim’s deal is er… TIM’s DEAL. He identifies three lifestyle currencies that you need to manage to live your ideal lifestyle:

1. Time (Non-renewable)
2. Income
3. Mobility

And he has identified four ranked, intra-dependent steps:

1. Define : Define your ideal lifestyle.
2. Eliminate : Eliminate everything extraneous.
3. Automate : Build an automatic, sustainable source of income.
4. Liberate : Be mobile and free yourself from your location.

Sources

Book Website: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

Geoff’s Comment

Ferriss’ manifesto is a classic text. It despises the status quo, presents an alternative and he presents a new way to live. Best of all, he’s already doing it. And, it comes in the ready to digest format: the book.

Questions

What does your current lifestyle look like? And, your ideal lifestyle? What principles would you need to believe to make your ideal lifestyle happen?