At first glance you think, "you've got to be kidding me, anybody working SO few hours can't be doing anything, making any money, or enjoying life, right?" At least that was my reaction. But after wading through about half the book on my home from Mount Washington, it totally flipped my thinking upside down. If you've not yet heard/read the book, Tim Ferriss, author is a Princeton grad who had the high-paying, death bringing jobs most college students seek after college. He began in sales, and moved around, until he founded his own company which put an even greater grip on his time and life. His move to self employment and ownership was meant to simplify life, not complicate it, but thats just what it did.
Throughout the book he zeroes in on doing what "Excites" you (not your passion, but makes you feel alive), and if you're not doing it now, how to transition your current job to free up time to do so. He challenges the reader's current thinking which puts retirement and enjoyment at the BACK end of a career. Tim points out how if you delay life and enjoyment until the back end...1) you may never have enough money to do what you want when the time comes 2) you'll break your balls so hard, you could die before "that day" comes 3) whats the purpose of productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness if we can't benefit from it? He also points out that MORE efficient employees/employers don't get more FREE time, they get more work. And in return, more money. Unfortunately in America we suffer from a GLUT of money, and a LACK of free time. Time is finite. Money, despite all thinking on the matter, IS not.
For example, he asks the question..."Whats the worst than can happen if you dropped everything now to follow your dream or your excitement? Write it out. Use a scale. List it out. Is it life threatening? But what if you GAIN the life you dream of? Isn't that worth it?" See, alot of people won't make the leap to whatever they dream, but remain ball and chained to what they hate for fear of losing...what they hate! lol. I never get that, even with older people or relatives. I think they're all masochists.
He writes very much like a late 20's author would write who attended an ivy league school. In fact, I would swear its tucker max. Not quite as blunt, but with the same creativity, directness, and wit. At one point he notes how firing 80% of his customer base INCREASED his money/income b/c it enabled him to focus on the 20% who were really bringing him big dough. And in doing so, he had to call those clients to effectively fire them, or get them to be good clients. He says about such a client. "I am going to kill you, be afraid. Be very afraid." ...After he suffered a year or more of ridicule and torture b/c he was following the mantra of "the customer is always right." At other junctions, he talks about the mentality of our society, its workaholic tendency, and how most are just miserable zombies filling the void with "stuff". Quite frankly, I'm not doing the book justice. I think it's awesome. It's easily over 300 pages.
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My feeling on that:
It mixes philosophy/theory with practical application and how-to steps, so it's not another RK. And just b/c he attended Princeton or went self employed, doesn't mean it doesn't apply to everyone. The first 100pages are nuggets of golden wisdom. And the application process is awesome. The minute I read it, I said "aha, that's me. I think like this! I need to do it." Because, like him, I'm self employed, and even if I wasn't, I'd still apply it to get semi self employed and control MY time. There's so many time wasters. But more than that, it puts you in the frame of mind to be EFFECTIVE. You can be EFFICIENT and do jack shyt. Or you can be effective in achieving your goals and highest order of excitement. What it also zeroes in is getting right to the essence of something and doing it.
Check it out, you'll be very happy you did.
A-Unit
Throughout the book he zeroes in on doing what "Excites" you (not your passion, but makes you feel alive), and if you're not doing it now, how to transition your current job to free up time to do so. He challenges the reader's current thinking which puts retirement and enjoyment at the BACK end of a career. Tim points out how if you delay life and enjoyment until the back end...1) you may never have enough money to do what you want when the time comes 2) you'll break your balls so hard, you could die before "that day" comes 3) whats the purpose of productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness if we can't benefit from it? He also points out that MORE efficient employees/employers don't get more FREE time, they get more work. And in return, more money. Unfortunately in America we suffer from a GLUT of money, and a LACK of free time. Time is finite. Money, despite all thinking on the matter, IS not.
For example, he asks the question..."Whats the worst than can happen if you dropped everything now to follow your dream or your excitement? Write it out. Use a scale. List it out. Is it life threatening? But what if you GAIN the life you dream of? Isn't that worth it?" See, alot of people won't make the leap to whatever they dream, but remain ball and chained to what they hate for fear of losing...what they hate! lol. I never get that, even with older people or relatives. I think they're all masochists.
He writes very much like a late 20's author would write who attended an ivy league school. In fact, I would swear its tucker max. Not quite as blunt, but with the same creativity, directness, and wit. At one point he notes how firing 80% of his customer base INCREASED his money/income b/c it enabled him to focus on the 20% who were really bringing him big dough. And in doing so, he had to call those clients to effectively fire them, or get them to be good clients. He says about such a client. "I am going to kill you, be afraid. Be very afraid." ...After he suffered a year or more of ridicule and torture b/c he was following the mantra of "the customer is always right." At other junctions, he talks about the mentality of our society, its workaholic tendency, and how most are just miserable zombies filling the void with "stuff". Quite frankly, I'm not doing the book justice. I think it's awesome. It's easily over 300 pages.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My feeling on that:
It mixes philosophy/theory with practical application and how-to steps, so it's not another RK. And just b/c he attended Princeton or went self employed, doesn't mean it doesn't apply to everyone. The first 100pages are nuggets of golden wisdom. And the application process is awesome. The minute I read it, I said "aha, that's me. I think like this! I need to do it." Because, like him, I'm self employed, and even if I wasn't, I'd still apply it to get semi self employed and control MY time. There's so many time wasters. But more than that, it puts you in the frame of mind to be EFFECTIVE. You can be EFFICIENT and do jack shyt. Or you can be effective in achieving your goals and highest order of excitement. What it also zeroes in is getting right to the essence of something and doing it.
Check it out, you'll be very happy you did.
A-Unit
). He lists websites that are of no use. His recommended book list is odd to say the least. He mentions countries that are more in tune with the "gay" lifestyle than what most straight males would like. He brags non-stop. Hey! Being a tango star is not impressive. Sorry. Just isn't. Maybe the boys down in South Beach would like it, but any normal male will find it not too sexy.
