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!