Whenever I list the books that’ve had the biggest influence on my life, The 4-Hour Work Week always comes out near the top.

But you don’t even need to read the book, because its core principle is so simple that I’m going to explain it right here. That principle is as follows:

Figure out the cheapest possible way to live the lifestyle you want, then get rid of everything in your life that’s not necessary for that lifestyle.

As scientists love to remind us, everything in the universe ultimately boils down to math. How much energy does it take to keep an engine running? How many calories do you have to burn in order to lose ten pounds? How much do income do you need in order to live on a tropical island and spend most of your day surfing and making music? These are all mathematical questions — there’s no voodoo involved in answering any of them.

There is, however, the question of how much of you life you’re willing to change — and that’s the part where most people get stuck. So that’s what I’m going to address in this article.

The vast majority of ordinary people think of life as a package deal that has to be assembled in a certain way: You need financial security, which means you need a steady job, which means you have to sit at a desk for eight hours every weekday.

Some people pride themselves on thinking outside the box, because they’ve figured out how to free themselves from certain aspects of this package. Maybe they negotiate some work-at-home days, or find a job that lets them work outdoors, or — if they’re really lucky — even a job where they get to do things they enjoy on a daily basis. Maybe they pick up some side income, or negotiate some extra vacation time, and manage to enjoy some luxuries along the way.

But let’s be honest: None of this is really that far outside the box. You’re more creative that that. You can do better. A lot better.

And I want to help you get there.

I know: “Yeah, okay, right. What’s this guy selling?” Nothing. I don’t have anything to sell. I’ve already got everything I want — except for one thing: Data. Data about how the process works for other people, and where and why they’re getting stuck.

I’m immensely curious about this self-emancipation process. I want to understand why it works for some people but not for others. I want to understand the mechanics of it, and the best way I can think of to do that is to cross-compare.

Because right now, all I’ve got is evidence from my own life.

Two years ago, I was chained to a desk at a job I hated. One year ago, I was supporting myself with freelance work, but I was barely scraping by in a small apartment in the city. Right now, I live in a cabin in a small town by the beach. I work about 20 hours a week for clients online, and the rest of the time, I do whatever I want. I’m making less than half the income I was making in the big city, and I’m the most at peace I’ve ever been in my life.

And if you’d told me this story two years ago, I would’ve rolled my eyes. Those kinds of things only happen for other people, right?

Well, let’s break this down with a quick example.

Let’s say you want to live on a tropical island, surfing and making music all day. But instead of talking about it in fluffy “live your dream” terms (which I hate with the fury of ten thousand suns), let’s break it down into clear math.

I know from personal experience that you can rent a beachside cabin in the Mediterranean for $1200 per month — which includes hot water, electricity and wi-fi. You can usually negotiate a cheaper rate if you talk to the owners of various places in person — but for now we’ll stick with the $1200 figure. How about food? Once you’re there, buy a rice cooker for $30, buy a big bag of rice and some fresh veggies at the market, throw it all into the pot with some water, and have a hot dinner every night for around $20 per week — maybe closer to $40 if you want meat too. Your flight there will cost about $800 if you book a few months in advance.

All told, then, you’re looking at an initial investment of $2030 to get set up on a Mediterranean beach, and around $1400 per month to maintain your lifestyle there.

This brings us to the question of income.

Which is really the key to this whole thing: To get paid reasonably well outside a traditional office environment, you’ve got to bring an unusual skill to the table — a skill that’s valuable in its own right. In other words, you’ve got to become unusually good at something. There’s no way around this part.

The way to become unusually good at something is simple: Do it every day. Forget about raw talent — in the long run, people with dedication to their craft surpass people with raw talent every single time. So pick something you already enjoy doing every day, and keep doing it until you can do it better than almost anyone else.

I’m not trying to give you a fluffy inspirational speech. I’m not rich. I’m not extraordinarily talented. I’m not even all that smart, in the grand scheme of things. And I’m definitely not lucky. If I have any special quality at all, it’s that I’m determined. I work hard until I get what I want. That’s it.

I can’t stand people who are all talk. I don’t even like talking about my own projects until they’re finished, or right on the brink of completion. And above all, I hate it when people make grandiose claims about living your dreams, but keep the details vague.

So I’m going to boil this down to the exact steps that worked for me:

1. Calculate how much it costs — at minimum — to maintain the lifestyle you dream of.
2. Pick one thing you’re at least semi-good at, and keep doing that thing every day until you’re unusually good at it.
3. Go on freelancing websites and pitch your work every day until someone starts paying you for it.
4. Keep improving your craft and asking for more money, until you’ve got the bare minimum you calculated in Step 1.
5. Throw away absolutely everything in your life that isn’t part of the lifestyle you dream of.
6. Enjoy.

Follow these steps to the letter, and I personally promise that you will create the life you want for yourself. When I say “personally,” I mean it — if you get stuck on a step, contact me and I’ll do my best to explain how to fix it.

What else is there to say? I don’t have a “system,” or a website or a book or a seminar to promote. I’m not a motivational speaker. I’m not a career coach. I’m not sure what I am, really, other than an intensely curious person.

So talk to me. Email me at theconnectome@gmail.com, and tell me what’s going wrong in your process. Let me help you hack it.

But like I said, be ready to give some things up in order to get there.

Ben Thomas is a blogger for Scientific American, TechRepublic, HuffPost, Nature, Discover, Forbes, etc. Follow on Twitter:@writingben