Success Advice

3 Incredible Lessons You Can Learn From The 4-Hour Work Week

Published

7 years ago

Jul 30, 2016

The 4-Hour Work Week is one of those books that only comes along once in a century, if that. It leaves a positive, but violent disturbance in its wake as it shakes up the economy, the norm, and how the world works, pun intended.

Tim Ferriss is an idealistic life-hacker who encourages the rest of us to question everything, do exactly what we want, and lead a life of fulfillment.

I read the 4 Hour Work Week when I was just about to jump off the cliff into a mystery life… I was working 80-hour workweeks at the time, and was diving into the possibilities this book offered to me for the first time.

And here this Tim guy comes along, telling me I can work from anywhere with wifi, travel to new countries, go Tango dancing any day of the week, learn Muay Thai in Thailand, and surf the waves in Brazil.

Let’s get something clear from the jump: I had NO idea about the digital nomad lifestyle, building businesses young and free, and making money on the move before I read this book. I didn’t even think about it, it never entered my consciousness and I didn’t have a clue what was possible.

This was less than two years ago and I’ve since built multiple successful E-commerce businesses, sold one, and learned a massive amount about possibilities I knew nothing of prior.

Here are the 3 lessons I learned from the book The 4-Hour Work Week:

1. You can work, live & travel anywhere if you set it up right

With the way the Internet and business is setup now, the world is so interconnected that you’re lagging behind if you aren’t online.

Online opportunities present themselves in a myriad of ways, and are only limited by your imagination. You can sell hip-hop beats, you can push info products, you can hustle furniture without stocking inventory, you can sell ads, buy ads, build a profitable blog, write books, create courses, sell copywriting services, freelance, the list goes on and on.

Before I read this book, my life seemed to look like: go to school, learn a skill, maybe get a job or if I’m lucky, start my own business around the skill.

Now my life looks like this; wake up whenever, wherever, check how much money I made overnight, network with online entrepreneurs, learn something new, and see distant lands. It’s a difference of day and night, and it’s possible for you too.

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” – Francis Bacon

2. The “new-rich” is the way of the future

Tim coins an awesome term in his critically acclaimed book, called the “New Rich.” These are people who shucked off the old and stale deferred-life plan, of living like a king when you’re retired and 60, and chose to “create luxury lifestyles in the present, using time and mobility” as he puts it.

Anyone who cleverly leverages the Internet to create the lifestyle of their dreams, earning money any time of the day, and detaches the earning of it from their time, is the new rich. Heck, even freelancers who don’t detach time and money yet, are still the new rich if they live and work wherever they want.

This is something Tim referred to as Lifestyle Design. You create whatever lifestyle you want, based on freedom, work, travel, making unlimited money, and it’s possible for everyone.

3. D.E.A.L. is an acronym you need for success & freedom

What is D.E.A.L?

Definition: Define the life you want to lead is what the new rich really is, and setting up only what you want. Definition is the creation of your ideal lifestyle and what you want to become in your life. It’s not simply becoming rich so you can do nothing, it’s setting up the life you want to live, how you want to work, and becoming the change you want to see in the world.

Elimination: Eliminate all the crap that doesn’t work. Eliminate people that slow you down, and most importantly, eliminate the 80% that does not get the most effective results. Eliminating is all about focusing on what matters, and doing more of it, while simultaneously doing less of what doesn’t.

Automation: This is where it gets really cool. Did you know you could have your business humming along on autopilot with the proper use of virtual assistants and employees? Well you can. You can hire people for the tasks, and management of those tasks, so you simply become an owner of your business, not the hamster on the wheel. Too many people seem to own their business, but in reality their business owns them.

Liberation: Liberate yourself from the shackles of a cubicle, from a boss, or from the location you feel “stuck” in. You do not have to work where you are right now, especially if you’re in a city or country you dislike. With the age of the Internet, you’re free to move along to wherever you’d like, provided you build the business to support this first. Liberation is about “embracing the mobile lifestyle” as Tim puts it, and becoming an autonomous and free boss of your own life.

Oh, how the power shifts in your favor when you apply D.E.A.L. The bottom line is that anyone who works on this goal and learns what they need to can create their ideal lifestyle. The only thing stopping you is yourself, and your self-imposed limitations that you’ve accepted.

“Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all.”– Tim Ferriss

Have you read the 4-Hour Work Week yet? What did you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Evan Teague

Evan is a young location-independent entrepreneur seeking to uplift and inspire the full potential in people. He left college halfway through, moved to Thailand, and started his first online business in 2014. Now he travels around and works online to motivate entrepreneurs in their individual movements. Check out more at Motive in Motion!

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Success Advice

Mastering Self-Management for Success: Lessons From Peter F. Drucker

With careers no longer following a straight, predictable path, self-awareness and adaptability are essential for success.

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2 days ago

Dec 8, 2023

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.