The Four Hour Work Week Introduction
New York Times bestselling author Timothy Ferriss, introduces his book “The 4-Hour Work Week”. He describes just how to live a life by design incorporating the mobile lifestyle. He appeals to the adventurous souls who want to live life to their fullest potential. Timothy Ferriss has done what most only dream of doing.
Timothy Ferriss begins writing his book addressing the doubters among us, with a few frequently asked questions and answers. He then outlines his story and why people need to read his book. A few key questions highlighted in the early portion of ”The 4-Hour Work Week” are:
“How do your decisions change if retirement isn’t an option?”
“What if you could use a mini-retirement to sample your deferred-life plan reward before working 40 years for it?”
“Is it really necessary to work like a slave to live like a millionaire?”
A New Way Of Living
Clearly this book is not for people who do not desire a new way of living. Timothy Ferriss tells his readers to forget the old concept of retirement and saving for the future. He states that there is no reason for anyone to wait. He addresses those that are dreaming of escaping the rat race, those who dream of experiencing first-class worldwide travel, those who dream of earning a five-figure monthly income with no boss, and those who would like to live more and work less. This is a book for people looking to escape the “9-5″, who want to live anywhere they choose to, and become financially free.
Ferriss breaks down the word “deal”. He states “d” is for definition, “e” for elimination, “a” for automation, and “l” for liberation. The focus on these four words, is the backbone of the book. A key point is that you shouldn’t follow a model that doesn’t work. The author says, “if the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good a cook you are”. He speaks about focusing on the importance of being productive, not “busy”. Each chapter ends with a “Q&A” – questions and actions.
Chapter three highlights fear-setting and escaping paralysis. Ferriss incorporates a sample “dreamline” illustration, and a blank graph, which gives readers the chance to view, and consider their own dreams with action steps.
Ferriss highlights freedom from futility stating that the primary goal is to find your inefficiencies in order to eliminate them, and to find your strengths so that you can multiply them. He also mentions that feeling overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant.
Comfort challenges and tools and tricks are threaded throughout the book. In chapter sixteen, Ferriss features “The Top 13 New Rich Mistakes”. Imperfect humans make mistakes, and this chapter addresses some of the errors we may make during the course of our lifestyle design as well as the solutions.
Timothy Ferriss addresses the fact that the rules and limits we often trip over in our lives, are the rules and limits we set for ourselves.
