Are You Really Sure About Your Priorities?
In my last article, I introduced you to Tim Ferriss and his multiple-times bestseller, ‘The Four-Hour Work Week.’
He is the wizard who multiplied his income while minimizing his work hours. Go figure!
In this article, let us dive deep into a few of the concepts that he alters.
Let us explore the Definition (D) section of the D E A L he makes.
To recapitulate:
Lifestyle Design (LD) is the art of abandoning the deferred life plan and establishing luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the new rich: Time and Mobility.
Those who practice Lifestyle Design are called The New Rich (NR).
1. Be Productive Instead Of Being Busy
Our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.
Being busy is not the same as being productive.
Your input should match your output rather than being a way to fill up your time.
It is not lazy to try doing less meaningless work, to focus on things of greater personal importance.
The NR are much more productive than the non-NR.
2. Absolute Income Vs. Relative Income
Absolute income is measured using the dollar. Money alone is not the solution.
However, relative income(NR concept) uses two variables: dollars and time.
Relative income is more important than absolute income.
The per-hour comparison tells us much more about a job or a venture than the salary given at the end of the month.
Of course, relative income must be added to the total amount required.
3. Retirement Vs. Mini-Retirement
Conventional Retirement is overrated and sometimes counterproductive because:
a) It is predicated on the assumption that you dislike your current work. Retirement will supposedly ultimately bring you respite from this awful activity.
b) The much-fantasized golden years of savings are anything but that. Inflation is a harsh reality.
If you just save money and do not live, you will enter retirement and realize that inflation over all these years has made you financially weak and, hence, depleted your purchasing power.
The much-awaited ‘golden years’ become the lower middle class revisited.
c) You’ll get bored. After a year or two into retirement, inactivity will start eating you up.
Do plan for retirement; don’t make it the primary goal
How do I retire then?
Have mini-retirements instead! Why?
Interest and energy are cyclical. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane.
Alternate periods of activity and rest are necessary to survive, let alone thrive.
The NR aims to distribute mini-retirements throughout life instead of hoarding the recovery and enjoyment for the fool’s goal of retirement.
Working only when you are most effective makes life more productive and enjoyable.
4. What Stops You From Breaking The Status Quo?
Most people refrain from breaking out from the usual rut and following their dreams because of crippling fear. Because of it, they don’t quit the job they hate or enjoy that much.
Let us consider a few questions to deal with the fear.
- Define your nightmare :
What is the absolute worst that can happen if you do what you are considering?
How permanent would be the impact, if at all, on a scale of 1 to 10?
What is the probability of it actually happening?
2. What steps could you take to repair the damage or get it under control? Chances are it is easier than you imagine!
3. What are the outcomes or benefits, both temporary and permanent, of the more probable and positive scenarios?
Internal outcomes like confidence and self-esteem?
What are the external outcomes? Impact on a scale of 1–10? What is the probability of at least a moderately good outcome? Have less intelligent people done this before and pulled it off?
4. If you quit your job or were fired today, what would you do to get things under control?
5. What are you putting off out of fear?
What we fear the most is usually what we need to do.
6. What is it costing you financially, emotionally, and physically to postpone action?
It is equally important to evaluate the atrocious cost of inaction. What happens if you continue the horrendous job you have for the next ten years straight/
If we define risk as ‘’the likelihood of irreversible negative outcome,’’ then inaction is the biggest risk of all.
7. What are you waiting for?
Measure the cost of inaction, realize the unlikelihood and repairability of most missteps, and TAKE ACTION!
George Bernard Shaw: All progress in the world depends on the unreasonable man.
5. Why Is It Easier To Do The Unrealistic Than The Realistic?
The unrealistic is as easy as believing it can be done.
99% of people in the world are convinced that they cannot achieve great things, so they aim for the mediocre.
Thus, the level of competition for ‘realistic’ goals is fiercest, paradoxically making them the most time and energy-consuming
The fishing is best where the fewest go. There is just less competition for bigger goals.
If you are insecure, so is the rest of the world.
Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself.
You are better than you think.
The collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to go for unrealistic goals.
Also, having a usually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides endurance to overcome the hurdles to any goal. ‘Realistic goals’ are uninspiring and hence don’t motivate you much.
6. Ask For Forgiveness, Not Permission
If it doesn’t devastate those around you, rather than asking for permission to do something, do it and then ask for forgiveness if it is not appreciated.
People(parents, partners, or bosses) deny things on an emotional basis that they learn to accept after the fact.
Most people are quick to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you’re moving.
Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you screw up.
This was the D section of the DEAL, in a nutshell.
My next article will explore the E (elimination) section for time efficiency.
Which concept rocked you the most? Let me know in the comments.
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See you around!
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