Perfect Life Project

Meeting Tim Ferriss part two

Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week launch party was held in Sydney on Friday night. While I read the book upon its US release I was interested to meet the author and gauge the Aussie response to his 4-Hour Work Week message.

Around 150 guests filled the Hotel CBD's Jam room and the drinks flowed freely as we chatted to Tim and threw questions at him about his lifestyle design philosophy. Interestingly, many of the questions Tim fielded were technology and web related, rather than travel and freedom

Of course the contentious topic of Geo-arbitrage and outsourcing his work to "India" were discussed.

All in all it was an interesting night and Tim came across as a gracious host. He is friendly, enthusiastic and informative.

I have found a couple of links to other people who were there for the event with more details and photos.

The 4-Hour Work Week has been an inspiration to me and helped spark my improved lifestyle. Since reading the book 12 months ago I have travelled extensively within Australia, South-east Asia and the USA. I have managed 10 weeks of holidays in that time with another trip strating this week to take the 13 months total to 11. As Tim points out, all this can be done while successfully owning a business.

Less is More

Source: Robin Sharma

The person who does too much accomplishes very little. Less is more. The most effective people in business (and life) have the discipline (and brilliance) to focus on doing just a few things spectacularly well.

Less is more. You can actually be more productive doing fewer things. Please think about that. As Peter Drucker said: "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently, that which should not be done at all."

10 ways history's finest kept their focus at work

I just came across this post at a blog called LifeDev. It was actually written by Albert van Zyl from the blog HeadSpace. Anyway, its really great advice.

The lives of great people give us interesting clues about how to organise our days.

All of them attached great value to their daily routines. This is because they saw it as being part of ‘becoming who they are’, as Nietzsche puts it.

For the same reason they were also highly individual in their routines. They had the courage to go against popular opinion and work out often strange daily plans that suited them.

This is perhaps the first lesson that we can learn – that it takes courage and resolve to design and stick to a routine that suits you. But as Emerson reassures us: ‘The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going’.

There are at least 10 other lessons that the daily routines of the great can teach us:

Hit the refresh button on your life

I am constantly amazed at the amount of information, technology and general "noise" we allow into our modern lives. Mobile phones, PDA's, internet, email, Twitter, SMS, IMS, general media and more. All this is competing for our attention with work collegues, clients, meetings and everything else we try to accomplish during the day.

How do we ever get anything actually done?

My response is to log off and tune out. My best work and best thinking is one far from the daily noise of working life. Fewer interruptions = more clarity in my thinking. And for most entrepreneurs, thinking is where it is at.  

Today is The Perfect Time to Start

Following is an excellent old post I recently came across on the the well-written Genius Types blog. Its about just getting on with your dreams rather than making excuses or waiting for the perfect time to start. I believe its very true.

The Perfect Time to Start Never Comes

When is the perfect time to start a business, lose weight, start investing, become an artist, travel the world, or create the life you have always wanted?

Learning from holidays

My time in USA is winding down and today I leave the spectacular Colorado rockies after a month of playing in the snow.

Yesterday was one of the best days skiing I have ever enjoyed. One of the main reasons it was such a great day was because I did something outside of the usual. A normal day skiing usually entails waking in time to join the crowds for the lifts in the first hour of operation, then making the most of the available conditions with thousands of others. I usually ski runs I am most comfortable on, occasionally trying a few more challenging runs.

Making the most of your freedom

Most of us go through life feeling imprisoned by our jobs, businesses or personal circumstances. I have been fortunate enough to learn that life doesn't need to be that way. I started 2007 with a desire to reduce my workload, increase my income and gain more personal freedom to pursue the areas of my life which interest me the most.

Take the long way home

I am lucky enough to live not very far from my office. In peak hour traffic, going slowly, it would take around 15 minutes for me to drive between my home and my office. When the road is quiet I could do it in about 7 minutes.

So the good news is that I don't  have to waste hours of my life stuck in traffic driving to and from work.

However, it usually takes me much longer to get to and from work. Why? Because I avoid the main road route that runs not far from either doorway. Instead I drive the long way. It meanders past a heavily forested reserve, down to the coast and along the beaches.

Why its Smart to Live Below Your Means

Robin Leach, you might want to sit down for this. Thomas J. Stanley, coauthor of the blockbuster book, The Millionaire Next Door (Longstreet Press, 1996), author of The Millionaire Mind (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2000), and the top authority on America's truly wealthy, has some behind-the-scenes scoop you won't see on TV. The average millionaire lives in a $300,000 house and drives a four-year-old American-made car. No champagne. No chauffeur. Not even a swimming pool.

If the real rich aren't living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, then who is? The people who can't afford it, says Stanley. The classic assumption is that if you look rich, you are rich. But as it turns out, the more you spend on looking rich, the less you're worth. Says Stanley: "The hallmark of the well-adjusted wealthy person is that he lives well below his means. He's truly frugal. He's all cattle and no hat."

Bigger Not Necessarily Better

Conventional wisdom in the business world is that Bigger is
Better. More customers, more turnover, more staff, growth at all costs. You hear it every day as companies talk up future growth and increased profits.

But is bigger really better? Not necessarily. In fact I would rather have a small, focussed and super-efficient efficient company than the largest in the industry. It allows us to be nimble and effective. No room for deadwood.