We all know that life is hard, and often we want to escape the 9-5 life, but don’t know what steps to take in order to REALLY do it. As a writer, I’ve experienced both the joys of picking my own schedule and the woes of being broke. While writing when I want to is a luxury, it’s also very draining on time, and I find myself writing constantly in order to keep up with the costs of life. When I stumbled upon Timothy Ferris’s book, The 4-Hour Work Week, I was both surprised and dumbfounded at how truly tangible “living the dream” was. Here, I’ll provide some quotes and excerpts of the book that hopefully will inspire you to commence a new, work-free life of your own.

absorbThe book begins by presenting some questions that many typically ask themselves when considering this life:

“Do I have to finish my job? Do I have to be a single twenty-something? Do I have to travel? Do I need to be rich? “

Of course, all the answers to these questions is “No.”

We then come to a notable quote from Oscar Wilde: “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” Indeed.

Timothy then explains his thinking process when people ask him his secret: “How can I possibly explain that what I do with my time and what I do for money are completely different things? That I work less than four hours per week and make more per month than I used to make in a year? “

We then come to the conception of the New Rich (NR,) which is mentioned frequently throughout the book. The Recent Rich is essentially the people who chose to up and leave their novel draining lifestyle and join those who are already living a better life. The New Rich fill that the philosophy of “hard work” is overrated, and certainly detrimental to one’s sense of individuality and ones family life.

“Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, real-life fantasy fade, long-term wandering, setting world records, or simply a dramatic career change, this book will give you all the tools you need to make it a reality in the here-and-now instead of in the often elusive ‘retirement.’ …People don’t want to be millionaires- they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy…The commonsense rules of the ‘real world’ are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions…Much of what I recommend will seem impossible and even offensive to basic common sense…Resolve now to test the concepts as an exercise in lateral thinking. If you try it, you’ll see objective how deep the rabbit hole goes, and you won’t ever come back…Reality is merely an illusion- albeit a very persistent one.”

Ferris then describes what the differences are between the NR and the Deferrers (D,) who are those who claim their reason for working their entire lives is to save so they can live a good life “at the destroy.” He points out that instead of retiring young or early, the NR chooses to experience mini vacations and adventures throughout the course of life. Instead of buying everything one thinks they want and making a ton of money, the NR settle to DO things instead of BUY things.

“Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane…Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. This is hard for most to score, because our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity…Focus on being productive instead of busy…(Choosing to do things) ‘someday’ is a disease that will prefer your dreams to the grave with you…Busy yourself with the routine of the money wheel, pretend it’s the fix-all and you artfully create a constant distraction that prevents you from seeing impartial how pointless it is.”

Ferris then goes on to talk about how changing one’s attitude is the first step in the process of joining the NR. He brings up the simple yet difficult idea of focusing on existing strengths vs. abilities you do not have although may want to attain. This saves a person extreme amounts of time, energy and damage. He also talks of “eustress,” which essentially is healthy stress, just as there are healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates. “Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress.”

“Set aside a distinct number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while, ‘is this the condition that I feared? ‘” – Seneca

I feel the quote above is extremely important in Ferris’s concept. Before we can accept a changing lifestyle, we must see our occupy ability to let go of material things, and truly test ourselves to look if we feel attachments to these things. If we do, then changing one’s entire lifestyle and view on working will essentially become outmoded. Instead, ask yourself if you want to work your entire life in order to conclude a car or house. If not, then how come the majority of people who work to a certain age only end up acquiring possessions instead of using their money to do things they truly enjoy?

“The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is impartial less competition for bigger goals.” Simply put, we strive to be mediocre because everyone else is doing the same thing, but we fail to inspect that if no one is trying to “make it mountainous,” then there’s a bigger chance for us that DO try, to succeed.

We also should not define our needs by what we want, but instead what are passions are. For example, if someone gets a thrill from mountain climbing or sight-seeing, they should make it a personal goal to try and do this as much as possible, instead of just as a once-a-year vacation. The biggest fear in people’s minds should not be traveling to another country an ending up broke, injured or lost; the biggest scare should be accepting your current boring, meaningless job status as a justification for one day owning lots of money.

In addition, Ferris smartly points out that just because a task takes a lot of time, does not mean the task is more meaningful than others. For example, ask yourself how many hours of the day do you employ watching TV, sorting through emails, organizing papers or simply doing anything “objective incase” the time may come that you’ll need this task done. Do you really need to do all of these things? What would happen if you chose only to complete tasks when they needed to be done, instead of doing them in the present to make for an easier future?

Another idea that I’m personally guilty of partaking in, is consuming too much information. With the internet, it is literally virtually possible to consume EVERYTHING we notice and we often exercise time looking through emails for things that we never do or never will use.

“The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.”- Colin Wilson

Ferris puts us at ease again by addressing many of our fears and telling us how to deal with them, such as not paying the bills, ruining your resume and losing health insurance.

He also uses personal examples to remind us that he isn’t just telling us how to change our lives, he himself has done it: “If your dream, the pot of gold at the destroy of the career rainbow, is to live large in Thailand, sail around the Caribbean or ride a motorcycle across China, guess what? All of them can be done for less than $3,000.” He then describes how taking mini vacations, such as one week, can be detrimental to your wallet an experience as a whole; spending 1-6 months someplace foreign allows you to truly experience a new place instead of during the touristy thing, which is typically more expensive. Also, staying in a place longer gives you more flexibility and you don’t have to anxiety about leaving because you already purchased a return flight home.

Ferris even gets into what he considers to be the “necessities” of travel:

1. “One week of clothing appropriate to the season.”

2. “Backup photocopies or scanned copies of all important documents: health insurance, passport/visa, credit cards, debit cards, etc.”

3. “Debit cards, credit cards, and $200 worth of small bills in a local currency.”

4. “Small cable bike lock for luggage.”

5. “Electronic dictionary.” These are much faster than regular dictionaries.

6. “One broad-strokes fade guide.”

“It is fatal to know too much at the outcome: boredom comes as quickly to the traveler who knows his route as to the novelist who is over certain of his plot.” – Paul Theroux

Ferris also discusses which locations, from his experience, will give you the most bang for your buck. Such locations include Argentina, China, England, Thailand, Germany and Holland. In addition, he describes exactly what steps to take 3-1 months in from your trip, to ensure a smoother leaving process when you go.

“People say that what we are seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think this is what we’re really seeking. I reflect what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.” – Joseph Campbell

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best design I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” – Steve Jobs

The book is a priceless gem, in my opinion, in saving time, as many of the websites provided in the book are non-mainstream and can assist greatly in lowering the overall costs of traveling that often sway people away.

Overall, The 4-Hour Work Week is a very useful tool in helping to convince you and allow you to live out your dreams, with little money and the right attitude to boot.