Kudos for "The 4-Hour Workweek"!

I just finished one of the best and most entertaining books I've ever read!  Upon being lured into the bookstore by my inner guidance as I passed by it, the book almost jumped off the shelf into my hands.  I have always had the best results when I let a book pick me!  It's a great way of letting the Universe provide the answers and solutions I have been asking for.  It is exactly what I needed to hear to both alleviate anxiety through confirmation and fill in some pieces that I felt were missing…thing is I don't always consciously know what pieces are missing until they find me!!

Timothy Ferriss's "The 4-Hour Workweek" is a must read for anyone "dissatisfied" with any aspect of their lifestyle.  It is a targeted to both employees and entrepreneurs.  He defines the term for a new subculture called the "New Rich".  It is encouraging to me to know that I am very comfortable in this "subculture".  One of the biggest "ahas" I personally had was the fact that I am still operating in many way like a "corporate employee", despite having left the corporate game almost 3 years ago!

A few days ago I was having a discussion with my house mate, Kat.  The discussion centered on the reading of books, specifically the fact that it is becoming increasingly more challenging to find a book that captures our attention and focus all the way through.  Years ago I would read a book or two a week, gobbling up almost everything in it!

After having eaten personal growth for breakfast for so many years, most books I pick up and flip through smack of the "same-old-same-old".   That's not to say they are not valuable, nurturing, confirming and mind-expanding for most, it just seems many of them are saying the same things in different ways to me, to the point where it seems as though "I've heard that before."  I know that if I read the book anyway I will inevitably discover a golden nugget here and there…and, I find myself asking, "Do I want to read a whole book to capture the odd nugget?"   And besides, I caution myself about using the phrase, "I already know that", it's a statement that I find mind-closing.

I realized that my own work and experiences have caught up to – and in some cases exceeded - the perspectives of those I call "mentors".  I also realized this is a function of living on the "creative leading edge of thought".  As my friend Abraham says, "There's never a crowd out here on the leading edge."   As a result of this "analysis" and my conversations with others it has become clear that it is time to share my own perspective in a much bigger way!  It has me asking some different questions of myself, provoking some refreshing and different answers that have ever come back before!

Timothy Ferriss is certainly an individual on the leading edge!  His book is just plain fun and appeals to my naturally rebellious nature.  In it, he lays out a process and system for showing others how to re-organize their lives and enjoy their retirement NOW, not 20, 30 or more years from NOW.   In essence he has made total sense of the magic I have witnessed in my own life, the message coming in loud and clear is "get free first, then get rich".  Tim isn't the only one touting this message lately!  And I can clearly see how my priorities were bang on by instinct when I finally cut the ties to my own corporate career.  It was a life-saving decision made with little to no fear or hesitation once the timing was "perfect".

I read it cover to cover first, laughing out loud to the point of snorting – the author's a riot!  I started reading it at the mall over lunch and people were looking at me funny as I read and enjoyed my meal.  I read it all the way home as I walked, still laughing all the way.  Hearing the giggling coming from my room, my house mates could have labeled me as insane if they weren't the cool and allowing people they are…and besides they bought their own copy to enjoy!  I am going through it a second time with highlighter and pencil in hand, it's one of those books that I could highlight every line!  I intend to capture and model the "missing pieces" that I sent the Universe to find for me.

Below is a few of my favorite quotes and passages, wander on over to the website to read part of the book yourself!  It's available in audio and e-book as well as hardcover.

The 4-Hour Workweek
Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the New Rich.

The "New Rich":

• Follow an uncommon set of rules.
• …are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.  This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design.
• …can be separated from the crowd based on their goals, which reflect very distinct priorities and life philosophies.

"Life doesn't have to be so damn hard.  It really doesn't."

"It's time to have fun and let the rest follow."

"I'll show you how a small underground uses economic sleight-of-hand to do what most consider impossible."

"The commonsense rules of the "real world" are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions."

"Reality is negotiable.  Outside of science and law, all rules can be bent or broken, and it doesn't require being unethical."

"People don't want to be millionaires – they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy."

"$1,000,000 in the bank isn't the fantasy.  The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete freedom it supposedly allows.  The question is then, How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?"

"The objective is to create freedom of time and place and use both however you want."

"Most of the role models in this book didn't go to the Harvards of the world, and some are dropouts.  Top academic institutions are wonderful, but there are unrecognized benefits to not coming out of one."

"So, what do you do?"…"The beauty is, I'm not a multimillionaire, nor do I particularly care to be.I never enjoyed answering this cocktail question because it reflects an epidemic I was long part of: job descriptions as self-descriptions."

"…what I do with my time and what I do for money are completely different things…I work less than four hours per week and make more per month than I used to make in a year"

"Options – the ability to choose – is real power."

"…each path begins with the same first step: replacing assumptions."

"Don't follow a model that doesn't work.  If the recipe sucks, it doesn't matter how good a cook you are."