If you haven't had a chance to read Timothy Ferris' book - 4 Hour Workweek, Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, do it as fast as you can. This book is a game changer for the working man/women. You will not be able to stop yourself from dreaming up a plan for immediate laptop vagabonding in faraway dreamy destinations.
But...don't quit your day job just yet. Clearly this book is a powerful motivator for those of us daily 9-5 grinders to get out from under the "man." Ferris' finesse at dangling a newer, shinier carrot in front of our upturned, hopeful faces is nothing less than genius, but practicality is a bitter pill to swallow on our road to virtual freedom.
I read the first edition of this book back in 2008 and I seriously couldn't sleep that night, I was so excited. I studied some of the techniques in the book and began to really get fired up. But over time, my pasts ingrained reality crept back into my life, and except for the occasional trip down virtual success dreamy river, I went on with my job. A couple years later and after being laid off from a 20 year successful career, I ran across the new version of this book and went ahead and laid out the money to get any new gems out of the expanded and updated version. The original adrenaline high I got from reading the first edition pumped me up all over again to get this virtual dream lifestyle going.
Well, I'm not there yet friends, but I'm not giving up. I've tried a couple different ideas to get some juices flowing for flexibility in work environment and/or to get enough capital raised to wing it for awhile anywhere, to no avail, YET! But in my pursuit of lavish, flexible and joyful work, I have learned a lot about myself in the process and I have to credit The 4 Hour Workweek for being a part of this self discovery.
While I promise to keep you posted the minute I go seriously viral or achieve the "aha" of all moments in the business development community, for now just let me give you the high points of this book and in all fairness, point out the downside to it as well. But keep in mind that from my perspective this book is about attitude changes, not job changes and the one key lesson of the book for me was this: If he can do it, so can you - Never give up on yourself or your dreams.
Now for the key pluses about this book:
This book is not really about just working 4 hours a week (catchy title though, isn't it?), as it is about living first and then matching your work to support your living. When I say living, I mean living it up, doing what you want to do, when you want to do it. That could mean something different for everyone, but this concept of finding a few tiny hours each week to do something you want to do (travel, family, be creative) needs to stop if you don't' want to have to look back over your life and realize you gave it up for 9-5 dreary monotony. The book opens your mind to encourage you to question your intentions with your current job? Who are you striving for? Your boss? Please - how's that going for you? The main intent of the book is to look at your work situation differently and decide what you really want to do with your life. Ferris asks the readers to really question - What do you REALLY want? What are you doing now to get it? What are you waiting for?
Ferris offers some great tips to manage time and effort towards whatever you want to achieve that are a major paradigm shift away from what other business talking heads recommend. I found them refreshing and effective. Note that these tips are not new in the sense that Ferris invented them, but just that they are outside the mainstream. For instance, one great tip I totally embrace that goes against all my 20 years of corporate work skills is: Do not multitask. Seriously effective advice, in my opinion. Focus only on the one thing you are currently doing, get it done, wrap it up, pat yourself on the back, then move on.
The 4 Hour Workweek offers creative ideas on branching out and growing your business, like virtual assistance and outsourcing. Heck, the big companies do it all the time, why are we taking advantage of this? And for crying out loud, keep your email shut down during your work time. Check in morning and/or evening, then shut it down.
Finally, the entire book if filled with great ideas, concepts, tips and resources to get just about anybody revved up to get their own 4 Hour Workweek plan going. This book exceeds every other book I have read to date for this.
Now the dark side:
Many folks may be so enamored with 4 Hour Workweek ideas that they move too quickly and damage their work history or their finances by jumping off the cliff of 4 Hour Workweek bliss. While the book is inspiring, it needs to be reviewed with a practical eye to insure that as you develop your plan for independent living, you include a transition that appropriately protects you and your family from financial ruin.
Tim Ferris's story of rising to the epitome of combined financial and personal freedom is motivating but it is not the same path others will probably take to get there, in both the sense of time to achieve or method to achieve. This could be a little discouraging to some and perhaps even get others just downright mad. The point is to get going. But, we should not measure our plans or methods against someone else's, ever. That truly is like comparing apples to avocados.
Summary:
This book, in my opinion, is one of the most important business motivational books of this decade. It represents a new independent global mindset regarding business entrepreneurship in this time of our lives. I believe that our entire society will begin to slip further and further into virtual living as accessibility, speed, and cost just make it almost impossible not to be a part of it. The ideas and precepts of this book will pave a new path as more individuals become a part of this new global independent community. Certainly, we may all do this differently than this book suggests, but the social mindset this book promotes is relevant, important and exciting. Please don't go another day without making plans to read this book.
Joleen Halloran is an executive for ZoomIT Marketing, an internet, mobile, and social marketing company. Joleen has extensive business experience in project management, leadership, and specializes in motivational techniques and corporate culture.
Beyond Joleen's professional life, she is an avid reader and researcher of books and other materials related to her profession, but also to her special passion, which is metaphysical and spirituality topics. Ms. Halloran has read over 100 books related to metaphysics, spirituality, Western and Eastern religion, and law of attraction. Joleen is currently working on her own book, Finding Home - Breaking Free from Limits, which she hopes to have finished later this summer.
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