Connect with us

Success Advice

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

Published

on

4 hour work week

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!

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!

Advertisement
4 Comments

4 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Success Advice

12 Skills to Acquire in 2024 for Career Success

In 2024, the professional world is evolving rapidly, so taking the initiative and planning strategically for skill development is essential

Published

on

skills required for a successful career

In 2024, the professional world is evolving rapidly, so taking the initiative and planning strategically for skill development is essential. If you want to do exceptionally well at your job, moving past the ordinary and concentrating on improving various skills is essential.

This article looks at key abilities that will contribute to your future career. (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

How to Use Link Building to Get More Traffic to Your Website

A meticulously executed link-building strategy can transform your new website into a digital powerhouse

Published

on

link building strategy

Why do some websites skyrocket to the top of search engine results while others languish in the digital abyss? Does the new site you’ve just created have a chance to get a target audience and organic traffic? (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Simple Secrets to Building a Profit Pumping Freelance Business

Freelancing is a highly profitable venture, but its overwhelming nature tends to be daunting

Published

on

freelance success

Freelancing is a highly profitable venture, but its overwhelming nature tends to be daunting. To maximize profit, it’s important to adopt favorable mechanisms and workflow aids. You can increase your productivity to a significant level by staying true to your workflow. (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

Here’s Why Your Digital Marketing Efforts Fail and What to Do About It

A key distinction between traditional and modern marketing is targeting.

Published

on

reasons digital marketing is failing

In a renowned anecdote, Albert Einstein is said to have given his graduating class the same exam paper two years in a row. His assistant, worried that the great scientist had made an error, alerted him. Einstein’s reply was simple: “Yes, it’s the identical test. But the answers have been altered.” (more…)

Continue Reading

Trending