Four Hour Work Week

The 4 hours work week

The 4 hours work week is perhaps the book had the most impact on my life in the last couple years (since it was released). The author, Tim Ferriss is the one and only creator of lifestyle design, mixing elements such as automated income, location independence and world travel. If you are looking for a way to work smarter, not harder, if you have other ambitions then just work and if you are looking for the perfect lifestyle, the 4 hour work week is the book you need to get. Be aware, this book is not for everyone, as the world of the new rich has endless possibilities and you will have the responsibility to decide what suits you best.

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Tim and lifestyle design

The community consider that Tim Ferris and his 4 Hour Work Week is the original creator of lifestyle design. Some may say that a lot of the concepts have already been talked and done before this book was first published, but he is the first to put Lifestyle Design on the map for real.

Here is a brief peek on his book with his four steps DEAL process if your are serious about creating the ideal life for yourself, it includes:

Definition
Elimination
Automation
Liberation

Tim distinguishes the old rich with the new rich

Definition

Definition is the first part of the book where Tim distinguishes the old rich with the new rich. The first is all about money and financial success as the other is about lifestyle design. It is less about the end of year big payout as being able to have an automated income and have the freedom of time and location to accomplish the things that really matters. If you are really serious about creating your own lifestyle, you need to stop following the crowds and start acting outside your comforts zone. The last chapter is about the need of resetting your system and create your dreamlines, a precise plan to define your craziest dreams.

The Definition phase chapters consist of:

Cautions and comparisons: How to Burn 1M a Night
rules that change the rules: everything popular is wrong
Dodging bullets: fear and escape paralysis
System reset: being unreasonable and unambiguous

Elimination

Elimination is the second step of the DEAL. Indeed based on the Pareto rule it is about eliminating 80% of the things that are unimportant (even if they might seem urgent at the moment) and only keep whatever is producing results. Will it be bad consumers, unnecessary tasks, meetings, emails…you name it. It is about being effective, meaning producing effects as opposed to only being efficient and really good at something. In order to keep focusing on the essential, you will need to be very selective in the information you process as so much of what you watch, read or listen is unnecessary (need to go on an information diet). Finally he praises the power of saying no and how you may accomplish and save more with batch processing.

The Elimination phase chapters consist of:

the end of time management: illusions and Italians
the low-information diet: cultivating selective ignorance
interrupting the interruption and the art of refusal

Automation

The third step is about muse creation which is an automated business that requires minimum effort on your side. First he talks about outsourcing, virtual assistance and the benefits it will bring not only to your business but to you life as well. Then he plunge in the core of muse development, which all start with finding the right one, then testing it and only developing it if it has prove itself.

Finally, in the last chapter of the automation section, Tim talks about the advantages of delegating responsibility and removing yourself as the bottleneck. The whole idea behind the muse is to create a system that manages itself and not be stock inside of it (which so many managers seem to be doing – micro managing).

The Automation phase chapters consist of:

outsourcing life: off-loading the rest and a taste of geoarbitrage
income autopilot 1: finding the muse
income autopilot 2: testing the muse
income autopilot 3: MBA – management by absence

Liberation

Finally Liberation is the final step. Tim first deals with people that have a job and still manage to live the life they dream by producing the necessary results. Then the following chapter is for the entrepreneurs among us and the art of liberating yourself once you have an automated income. This includes how to fill the void by having a purpose. He is also suggesting going on mini-retirements every now and then instead of waiting for the big pay off at the end of your life. The beauty of those times we are living in is that world travelling became accessible and you don’t have to be fitly rich in order to relocate to another country for a couple of months. It is a good way to learn about the people and tradition but also to immerse yourself in a language, sport or hobby.

The Liberation phase chapters consist of:

disappearing act: how to escape the office
beyond repair: killing your job
mini-retirement: embracing the mobile lifestyle
filling the void: adding life after subtracting work
the top 13 new rich mistakes

Tim and lifestyle design

Extras

As a brilliant marketer Tim is, he is also offering some restricted reading and some bonus chapters with catchy tittles such as how to get $700, 000 of Advertising, and “How to learn Any Language in 3 Months”. Isn’t this book the definition of how to be remarkable?

Conclusion

Tim is one of those authors that certified my beliefs that an alternate reality, the ideal lifestyle and funky success are not only real but within grasp. It is after reading this book that I got really passionate about designing my own lifestyle and follow my dream of an automated income combined with the freedom of time and location.

I strongly recommend the book as it will teach how to escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new riches.

Click here to buy the book now.