The 4-Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

It is no secret that the age of the internet has revolutionized conceptions of wealth and becoming a millionaire ? To the disbelief of older generations, we are no longer bound by the shackles of a 9-5 job, until the age of 66. Whereby, if we have managed to create a fortune 500 company and read thousands of annual reports, we can, finally, retire as a millionaire. But, perhaps, we can’t help but wonder, or even regret, how much we had to sacrifice on the journey ⏰

The internet has provided the means to fasttrack that process and maintain more personal freedom, liberation and, well, the ability to live your life ✅ In The 4-Hour Work Week, entrepreneur Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) writes about the ‘new rich’ and how they can live and become a millionaire, the new way.

Ferriss has created a strategy abbreviated DEAL. Let’s explore each letter and who knows, you might come out the end of this article seriously reconsidering, or being further assured in, the path you have chosen ? Reflect, reassess and move forward ? That’s the way.

1️⃣Definition. 

We must redefine our goals. Making money is not usually the end game. So we would be wiser to define our goal as that which money achieves: time, mobility and options ✅ This is where the concept of absolute and relative income comes in. An example might be helpful here. Please imagine two individuals: Banker Bob ? and Crypto Callum ?

• Banker Bob ? earns $500,000 a year and works 80 hour weeks.
• Crypto Callum ? earns $40,000 a year and works 4 hour weeks.

On the face of it, Bob seems to be more successful. At least in absolute income terms. However, in relative terms, Callum is living the dream. Bob earns $120 an hour whereas Callum earns $192 an hour. Bob will likely need to wait until retirement to actually spend his money ? Whereas Callum has enough time to live the desired lifestyle already ✅

2️⃣Elimination.

We must eliminate the time spent on unimportant activities. ?Contrary to popular belief, being busy all the time is not a ‘success’ or triumph by any means. That is, there is a difference between being effective and efficient. Efficiency is only helpful insofar as you are efficient at doing the right things (effective). Ferriss draws our attention to two truisms:

“1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. 2. Requiring a lot of time for a task does not make it important ”

The activities that do not directly help our goal are to be eliminated ❌ It is crucial to update priorities and tackle one or two big tasks per day, rather than small ones that will get you nowhere.

3️⃣Automation.

Repetitive tasks should be outsourced ? Ferriss refers to this as becoming the ‘ghost’ in the machine. To join the new rich it is essential to define and delegate tasks. Outsource tasks to machines or to people (to have them automated from your own perspective). Do this enough times and you will become the ghost in the machine ? Things will run on their own, of course, with your oversight and you will only need to step in when essential.

4️⃣Liberation.

This is about achieving your desired level of mobility. Being able to work from home if you so wish or having the freedom to work in other countries. This should follow from elimination, automation and increased time ? Liberation is the end goal really, for it allows you to live your preferred lifestyle without being retired ?

And there you have it, a 4 step strategy to achieve your dreams. We can’t do an entire book justice in one page, so be sure to check it out if you want to learn more. At the very least, we hope this has encouraged you to redefine your goals and view your current lifestyle from the extent to which you are on track to achieving these, and critically: when ⏰