So if you haven’t bought, borrowed or downloaded this book yet then you obviously still need some convincing. Well here goes…
Adventure Deficit Disorder
“If you’re five years old and you say you want to be an astronaut; your parents tell you that you can be anything you want to be. If you’re 25 and announce you want to start a new circus, the response is different: Be realistic; become a lawyer or an accountant or a doctor, have babies, and raise them to repeat the cycle.” Sound familiar? I’m sure it does, and I’m sure you’ve heard this many times before, but this book might just ignite that spark. So what are you waiting for? No-one ever grew in their ‘comfort zone’. Think bigger, do what you’ve always wanted to do and ignore those dream crushers – “the traffic lights of life will never all be green”. So go and tell your friends and family that you’re leaving your job and any secure income, to home school your kids in a VW Westfalia in New Zealand for a year. I’ve told you, right Dad? Dad, listen Steve Jobs once said that “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”. Dad – “whose Steve and what Jobs does he do?” MTF…
The Pareto Rule
A concept derived in the 19th century by Vilfredo Pareto – 80% of your outputs result from 20% of your inputs. Just 20%! Again, this is a major theme that is spread throughout the book, and Tim Ferris does a great job at helping you reflect on that 20% and provides a whole host of information and resources to eliminate the rest. Common concepts such as controlling your email. There is a great paragraph in the book that reminds us that email is exactly that – Mail. It’s not chat, so let’s stop treating it like it is! Another simple concept that we all fail at. Well I do anyway.
80% on time is better than 100% late
This heading is actually something the military says all the time, and the book touches on this throughout, albeit using a different angle. Tim Ferris describes learning a language to get his point across “to be correct 95% of the time requires six months of concentrated effort, whereas to be correct 98% of the time requires 20-30 years”. Where’s the efficiency in that? It’s a simple investment. With attention and time being invested. As soon as your returns plateau its time to accept what you have as success. Move on. 80% on time is better than 100% late.
And so that’s it. If I haven’t convinced you to read The 4-Hour Workweek than there’s not much else I’m willing to do (80% on time rule, remember…).
