The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
The End of Time Management
Being effective vs. being efficient
Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.
Pareto principle
80% of outputs come from 20% of inputs
Being busy is a form of laziness
Lack of time is actually lack of priorities
Parkinson's Law: a task will swell in (percieved) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion
Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines.
Dedication is often just meaningless work in disguise.
Am I being productive or just active?
Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?
If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?
Do not multitask
"task creep": doing more to feel productive while actually accomplishing less.
Low-Information Diet
Selective ignorance
Increased output requires decreased input
Ask people "what's new in the world?"
Read one hour of fiction before bed
To learn something new:
Select one book about the topic by someone who already did what you want to do.
Read only the parts relevant to immediate next steps
Use what you read to draft intelligent questions for experts in that field
Replace information gathering (reading, news, etc) with talking to the people in your life
"Will I definitely need this information for something immediate and important?"
The art of nonfinishing
Starting something does not automatically justify finishing it.
The Art of Refusal
Not all evils are created equal
Time wasters
Easiest to eliminate
Create systems to limit your availability via email and phone and deflect inappropriate contact.
Limit email consumption and production
Use two telephone numbers
Treat phone calls as urgent
Respond to voicemail via email
Meetings should only be held to make decisions
Define the end time of meetings
Do not permit casual visitors to your cubicle
Use the "Puppy Dog Close" (ie - "just this once"
Time consumers
Batch activities to limit setup costs and provide more time for dreamline milestones.
Empowerment failures
being unable to accomplish task without obtaining permission or information.
Set or request autonomous rules and guidelines with occasional review of results.
Outsourcing Life
Goal is to free your time to focus on bigger and better things
Build a system to replace yourself
Get a remote personal assistant
Don't limit yourself, just ask if something is possible
Eliminate before you delegate
Unless something is well-defined and important, no on should do it.
Refine the rules and processes before adding people
Which VA to hire
Determined by cost per completed task, not cost per hour
Get a trial first
Use a VA firm instead of solo operator
Aviod misuse of your information
Never give them debit cards
Create unique login for VA for your websites
Avoid common complaints
Make special request for type of VA you want at the outset
Give precise directions
Request regualr status updates on tasks
Tasks should be completed in no more than 72 hours (Parkinson's Law)
Send one task at a time, no more than two, and always prioritize
Finding the Muse
Goal: to create an automated vehicle for generating cash without consuming time
Step 1: Pick an affordably reachable niche market
Find a market, then develop a product for them
Be a member of your target market
Which social, industry or professional groups do you belong to?
Which of the groups have their own magazines?
Step 2: Branstorm (do not invest in) products
Pick two markets you are most familiar with that have their own magazines
The main benefit should be encapsulated in one sentence
It should cost customer $50-200
It should take no more than 3-4 weeks to manufacture
It should be fully explainable in a good online FAQ
Option one: resell a product
Easiest but least profitable
Option two: license a product
Dealmaking intensive but higher profit margin
Option three: create a product
Create new product prototype
Find a generic product that can be repurposed for a special market
Sell only through one outlet (to avoid price wars)
Information products
20-50x markup
Time consuming to replicate
You don't have to be an expert
Paraphrase and combine points from several books
Repurpose content that is in the public domain
License content or compensate an expert to help create content
How can you tailor a general skill for your market ("niching down")
What skills are you interested in that you--and others in your markets--would pay to learn?
What experts could you interview and record to create a sellable audio CD?
Do you have a failure-to-success story that could be turned into a how-to product for others?
Read 3 top selling books on your topic and summarize on one page
Join two or three related trade organizations
Give one free 1-3 hour seminar at a nearby university, then at 2 large companies
Offer to write 1-2 articles for trade magazines
Join ProfNet to be a quotable expert for articles
Testing the Muse
Step 3: Microtest your products
Best the competition
Use search term suggestion tools to find related/derivative terms for respective products
Figure out how to differentiate
Use more credibility indicators?
Create a better guarantee?
Offer better selection?
Free or faster shipping?
Create a one-page advertisement emphasizing differentiators and product benefits
Test the advertisement
Test eBay auction
Dry test with one-page site advertisement
Use real websie to offer free downloadable material
Drive traffic with Google PPC and track results
Invest or divest
Rollout and automation
MBA - Management By Absense
Remove the human element
Place yourself out of the information flow
Contract outsourcing companies that specialize in one function instead of freelancers
Ensure that all outsourcers are willing to communicate among themselves to solve problems
Replace yourself with scalable infrastructure
Phase I: Do it all yourself
Phase II: Add extensive FAQ and use local fulfillment company
Phase III: Use bigger, more sophisicated outsourcers such as end-to-end fulfillment houses
Fewer options=more revenue
Offer one or two purchase options
Do not offer multiple shipping options
Do not offer overnight or expedited shipping
Eliminate phone orders completely and direct all prospects to online ordering
Do not offer international shipments
Not all customers are created equal
Do not accept money orders or checks
Raise wholesale minimums and require tax ID number to qualify resellers
Refer all potential resellers to an online order form that must be printed and faxed in
Offer low-priced products instead of free products
Offer a lose-win guarantee instead of free trials
Do not accept orders from common fraud countries
Look like a bigger company
Give yourself mid-level title instead of Founder/CEO
Put multiple email and phone contacts on website for different departments
Set up interactive voice response (IVR) remote receptionist
Do not provide home addresses
Cautions and Comparisons
The Deferrers (D)
Work for yourself
Work when you want
Retire young
Buy everything you want
Be the boss
Make a ton of money
Have more
Reach a big payoff
Freedom to avoid what you dislike
The New Rich (NR)
Have others work for you
Prevent work for work's sake (W4W)
Do all you want to do, be all you want to be
Neither boss nor employee, but owner
Have reasons for making money
More quality and less clutter
Payday every day
Cashflow first
Freedom to pursue your dreams
The Freedom Multiplier
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W's you control in your life.
what you do
when you do it
where you do it
whom you do it with
Everything Popular is Wrong
Don't play the game, beat the game
Find loopholes in the rules
Retirement is worst-case-scenario insurance
Interest and energy are cyclical
Less is not laziness
The timing is never right
Ask for forgiveness, not permission
Emphasize strengths, don't fix weaknesses
Things in excess become their opposite
Money alone is not the solution
Relative income is more important than absolute income
Distress is bad, eustress is good
Fear-Setting and Escaping Paralysis
Conquering fear = defining fear
Optimistic denial
Being Unreasonable and Unambiguous
Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic
People overestimate the competition and underestimate themselves
There is less competition for bigger goals
What do you want?
The opposite of happiness is boredom
Excitement is a better synonymn for happiness
ADD: Adventure Deficit Disorder
Dreamlining
Defined steps instead of ambiguous wants
Goals must be unrealisitic to be effective
Activities that will fill the vacuum when work is removed
Disappearing Act
Ask yourself "why not?"
Being bound to one place will be the new defining feature of the middle class
The New Rick are defined by unrestricted mobility
Work wherever and whenever you want, but get your work done
Step 1:Increase investment
Step 2: Prove increase output offsite
Step 3: Prepare the quantifiable business benefit
Step 4: Propose a revocable trial period
Step 5: Expand remote time
Killing Your Job
Principal phobias
Quitting is permanent
I won't be able to pay the bills
Health insurance and retirement accounts disappear
It will ruin my resume
Mini-Retirements
Mexican fisherman story: living a full and busy life
Extended world travel is not just for the ultrarich
3 month mini-retirement is the alternative to binge traveling
Not an escape from life but a reexamination of it
Aim to experience the world at a speed that lets it change us
Not a one time event--take several per year
Learn to slow down
Get lost intentionally
Observe how you judge both youself and those around you
Financial realities
Take advantage of currency differences
Long term stay often costs the same as hotels
Overcoming excuses not to travel
Don't assume that places abroad are more dangerous than your hometown
Take a trial run for a few weeks
Arrange a week of language classes upon arrival
Cut the clutter
Clutter creates indecision and distraction
Sell, donate, store
What 20% of belongings are used 80% of time?
Filling the Void
Postpartum depression
Go nuts and live your dreams
Social isolation
If you find a focus, an ambitious goal that seems impossible and forces you to grow, these doubts disappear.
Most big questions are a complete waste of time
If you can't define it or act on it, forget it
Life exists to be enjoyed and the most important thing is to feel good about yourself
Continual learning
To live is to learn
Languages
Adults can learn languages much faster than children
It is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in six months or less
Sports, hiking, chess, or any activity that is domestic to the country
Service
Doing something that improves life besides your own
Service is an attitude, not limited to saving lives and the environment
Improve the quality of life in the world