A Book That Could Change Your Life

Hey! Today I want to talk about a book that’s changed my life and I think can change yours too. It’s called “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss.

You might be thinking, “I’m a student. Why do I care about a 4-hour workweek?” But trust me, this book isn’t just about work - it’s about how the life we want is closer than we think.

The Deferrers vs. The New Rich

First up, the book talks about two types of people: the Deferrers (old-school) and the New Rich (new-school).

The Deferrers are like:

Sacrifice life for retirement
Endure a 30-40 year career
Retire at 65
Follow the “Deferred Life Plan”

Sound familiar? It’s kind of like how we’re told to study hard now so we can get a good job later, right?

But then there’s the New Rich:

Live the ‘retired lifestyle’ throughout their lives
Mobile & Flexible
Not reliant on work

Now, this idea of the New Rich was crazy when Ferriss first wrote about it in 2006-2007. But it’s more mainstream now with digital nomads, the creator economy, and the passion economy. I’m not saying we should all drop out of school and travel the world. But it’s about rethinking how we approach life and our future careers.

The 8 Rules of the New Rich

Ferriss outlines 8 rules for being New Rich. Here they are:

Interest and Energy are Cyclical
Less is Not Lazy
The Timing is Never Right
Seek Forgiveness, Not Permission
Emphasize Your Strengths
Money Alone is Not the Solution
Relative Income is More Important than Absolute Income
Distress is Bad, Eustress is Good

Let's dive into these a bit more.

1. Interest and Energy are Cyclical

This is about switching between work and rest. It’s like how we have different subjects throughout the day instead of one subject for 8 hours straight.

2. Less is Not Lazy

It's about working smarter, not harder. Like finding a more efficient way to study that gets you better grades in less time. Who wouldn't want that?

3. The Timing is Never Right

There’s never a perfect time to start something new. If we wait for the “right time” to join a club, start a project, or learn a new skill we might be waiting forever. So just go for it! Ferriss has a great quote about this: “Waiting for ‘someday’ will take your dreams to the grave.”

4. Seek Forgiveness, Not Permission

This one's a bit tricky, but it's about taking initiative. Don't always wait for someone to tell you it's okay to try something new.

5. Emphasize Your Strengths

Focus on what you're good at. If you're great at math but struggle with literature, it might be better to really excel in math rather than trying to become average at both. I actually slightly disagree with this one, as I believes there's value in improving your weaknesses too.

6. Money Alone is Not the Solution

Having more money doesn’t solve all your problems or make you happy. The point is we can often do what we want to do a lot cheaper than we think.

7. Relative Income is More Important than Absolute Income

It’s not just about how much you make, but how much time and freedom you have to enjoy it. Think about it: would you rather have a job that pays a lot but takes up all your time, or one that pays less but gives you more free time?

8. Distress is Bad, Eustress is Good

Not all stress is bad. Eustress is the kind of stress where we’re just outside our comfort zone, but not in full-on panic mode. This kind of stress helps us grow.

The D.E.A.L. Framework

Ferriss introduces a framework called D.E.A.L. to help achieve this new lifestyle:

D - Define

This is all about figuring out what you want and what’s holding you back. Ferriss talks about mitigating fear. He says, “Most of us would rather be unhappy than uncertain.” But if you want to be part of the New Rich, you need to choose uncertainty over unhappiness. Ferriss suggests asking yourself:

What are the things you're not doing because you're scared?
What are you missing out on by not doing those things?
Why aren't you doing those things?
What's the absolute worst-case scenario?
If the worst happened, how would you fix it?
If you wanted to go back to how everything was before you made a change, how would you do it?

These are really useful when you’re thinking about trying something new, like joining a new club or applying for a leadership position.

Ferriss also talks about setting big goals. Instead of thinking about what will make us happy, we should think about what will get us excited. He suggests:

5 things you want to have
5 things you want to do
5 things you want to be

Then, choose the top 4 from these 15 dreams, come up with 3 action items for each, and do the first action right now.

There's a great quote from the book about this: "For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up all the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. 'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you...If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually', just do it and correct course along the way."

E - Eliminate

This part is about getting rid of time-wasters and focusing on what's important. Three key ideas here:

1. Parkinson's Law: Work expands to fill the time available. If you give yourself all day to write an essay, it'll take all day. But if you give yourself 2 hours, you'll probably get it done in 2 hours.

The Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule): 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. In studying, this might mean focusing on the core concepts that will be on the exam rather than trying to memorize every tiny detail.

3. Batching: Doing similar tasks together. Like doing all your laundry once a week instead of a little bit every day.

A - Automate

This is about building a system that automates the results you want. We can think about ways to automate parts of our lives, like:

Using apps to organize our notes
Setting up calendar reminders for assignment due dates

Ferriss also talks about finding a “muse” or a lifestyle business. For us, this might be more about finding ways to make our studying more efficient or even thinking about side projects we could start.

L - Liberate

This is about freeing yourself from the things that are holding you back. For us as students, this might mean:

Breaking free from procrastination habits
Finding ways to study that actually work for us, not just what everyone else is doing
Thinking creatively about our future careers and not just following the traditional path

Final Thoughts

Ferriss admits the book can come across as a bit arrogant, but he’s acknowledged that himself. He says, “I wrote this fifteen years ago. I had a different style of writing.” So look beyond the surface stuff to find the treasure trove of good stuff.

I loved this book. It's made me think differently about how I approach school, my future career, and life in general. I've started setting more ambitious goals and thinking about how I can be more efficient with my time.

One thing I've realized is that a lot of the principles in this book can apply to us as students right now. We don't have to wait until we're working to start thinking about how we want to live our lives.

If you're interested in reading more, I'd definitely recommend checking out the book. There are some parts that are a bit outdated (it was written in 2007), but the core ideas are still super relevant.

Remember, the goal isn't to work as little as possible or to slack off. It's about being more intentional with our time and energy, focusing on what really matters, and creating a life that excites us.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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