Four Hour Work Week turns 15 years!
Can you believe it? It’s been 15 years since the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss was published. Like many of you, this book really made an impact on me and influenced many decisions I've made in my business. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend you grab a copy.
One of the concept that really impacted me was the power of outsourcing and what it would be like to hire a VA. When I read the book in 2008, I was switching into my role from web designer and to project manager and learning to delegate. That’s a huge shift for any of you that have gone through it. By the way, I have coached many of my client through their fears of outsourcing. I can safely say that teaching clients to delegate and outsource has made their business and their lives much easier.
I recently listened to Tim Ferris Live Q and A podcast to celebrate the anniversary of the book - The Four Hour Work Week. It was cutting edge for Tim Ferriss to talk about outsourcing, working out of the office and much more in 2007. Much of his topics really came to life, especially during COVID. Businesses and the world shrunk with working from home becoming the norm and people pivoting and doing totally different things. The Four Hour Work Week is even more relevant now!
DEAL - what does that mean?
One of the key systems in the book is
DEAL (Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation)
Definition - Define your goal for your work lifestyle and what your yearly costs are. It's vital to know the numbers to help you make decisions. Numbers help you define a new life where you will make some big changes. (I know a lot of folks in the past 3 years have made massive changes to their life/business/health, it's exciting to see.)
That’s where these other 3 items come into play:
Elimination - What do you need to eliminate or get rid of? Maybe an old mindset about time management. In other words, you should escape the office. Again define your goal and know how much money you need to make - you’ll find the source of that income. The source won’t be the work in the office.
Remember: your goal is not building a huge mega business. It’s about removing stress from your life so you can experience life more!
Ferriss recommends techniques for cultivating selective ignorance. He defines selective ignorance as not wasting time on information you don't need. Start ignoring things that are not important. This is how to learn to value your time. This could be deleting social media apps off your phone, stop hanging out with people who drain you, and also stop picking up books you won't read. It's all about being honest with your time and how you spend time.
We all have 168 hours a week, seriously - it's true, hopefully you sleep around 56 of those hours!! Laura Vanderkam has done many studies and research around how people spend their week. She asked dozens of working folks to log their hours to see where they are spending their time. The results are fascinating and since I've read 168 hours, I look at time differently and carve it out to match my values!
Automation - For this part, Tim talks about how to put cash flow on automation. Once you've done the previous two steps, in theory, you should have a stable income and more free time. What do you do with it? In other words, you get to the what’s next? stage. Tim Ferriss suggests traveling.
Liberation - “The mobile manifesto for the globally inclined” – Ferriss suggests a concept of mini retirements vs the great retirement. The lifestyle of mobility is not about traveling on pennies. Instead the author wants you to focus the purpose you have in this life and what value you can bring to other people. Perhaps you travel to a country and give back to a community as part of your travels. Finding ways to honor your values in your daily experiences.
DEAL sounds good, but I know it sounds overwhelming. I've been spending a lot of time working on the selective ignorance over the past few years and I feel a lot lighter. Which of these steps would you want to start applying to your life or business? Let me know - I'd be curious to hear about it!