Ferriss’ Way

By U Learn It | February 23, 2009

‘Rat race,’ ‘daily grind,’ ‘routine,’ ‘boring.’ We usually associate these words with work, burdened by a 9-to-5, five- or six-day workweek. If you’re sick of being just another brick in the wall, consider how AJ Jacobs, editor-at-large at Esquire Magazine, broke the mold:

‘I don’t have a corporation; I don’t even have an up-to-date business card. I’m a writer and editor working from home, usually in my boxer shorts or, if I’m feeling formal, my penguin-themed pajama bottoms…. It’s a strange feeling having people work for you while you sleep. Strange, but great. I’m not wasting time while I drool on my pillow; things are getting done.’

Millions of people have been inspired, like Mr. Jacobs, to try out Timothy Ferriss’ life-changing proposition in his bestselling The 4-Hour Workweek. You read it right: not four days but four hours! Too good to be true?

Well, The 4-Hour Workweek teaches you, among many things, how to outsource your life and do whatever you want for a year, only to return to a bank account 50 percent larger than before you left; how to eliminate 50 percent of your work in 48 hours; how to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent ‘mini-retirements’; what automated cash-flow ‘muses’ are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks; the management secrets of ‘Remote Control CEOs’; how to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50 to 80 percent off; how to fill the void and create meaning after removing work and the office.

Ferriss’ lectures at his alma mater, Princeton University, are a big hit among students. He has also delivered lectures at some of the world’s most respected institutions (MIT, Harvard Business School, CIA, Nielsen, Wharton School, Stanford Graduate School of Business) and innovative companies (Microsoft, Google, PayPal, Ask.com)

Here is Ferriss’ step-by-step guide in restyling your lifestyle:

D for Definition introduces the goals and guiding principles of this new paradigm, a rethinking of old notions about work. The basics of a total lifestyle design are explained before the three factors are added.

E for Elimination kills the obsolete notion of time management once and for all. The first of the three factors in luxury lifestyle design – time – is rethought.

A for Automation puts cash flow on autopilot using geographic arbitrage, outsourcing, and rules of non-decision. This explains the second factor: income.

L for Liberation is the mobile manifesto for the globally inclined. It presents the concept of mini-retirements – your way out of your boss’ traps and a means for efficient remote control. This delivers the third and final ingredient for luxury lifestyle design: mobility.

And what can be a better proof that this four-hour workweek delivers than the author’s lifestyle? This mobile entrepreneur has also become the first American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango, a national Chinese kickboxing champion, an MTV breakdancer in Taiwan, and an actor on a hit TV series in China and Hong Kong.

Indeed, Ferriss’ proposition is way beyond cool. We say, let those rats race while you live The 4-Hour Workweek.