The fourth book in my series of three (yes, I know), has got to be Tim Ferriss’ ‘The Four-Hour Work Week‘. It’s one of those books that shifts your reality dramatically while at the same time being a fun read. Tim Ferriss has had a very interesting life and learned some great lessons along the way which he shares with us in a light-hearted and ‘you can do this too’ manner.

He tells us how he got to win the 1999 USAWKF Sanshou (Chinese kickboxing) championships with just six weeks training. He also tells us how he increased his income from $40,000 a year to $40,000 a week, and work less doing it.

More to the point he show us how to be successful in the true sense of the word. Success in this context means having the life you want now, rather than saving up for a life in retirement that you may never attain if the dice-roll in your particular universe isn’t in your favour.

This is not a book about blowing your retirement fund and living off the state though, this is a book about recognising that you can have a fulfilling life now and in the future if you think outside the box and get really clear about what you want.

One of the things that I like about Tim Ferriss’ ideas is that you don’t have to do them all. If you are the kind of person who likes to travel all the time then he will show you how to do just that, and run a business or even hold down a good job at the same time. But as he himself points out, even the freedom to travel the world at will can start to wear thin after a while.

He will show you how to make money while you sleep.
He will show you how to convince your boss to let you work at home or anywhere in the world.
He will show you how to delegate everything you don’t want to do effectively and with safety and smart trust.
He will show you how to live a rich life, without having to be rich.

The latest version of the book has lots of real-life case studies of people who have used and adapted his ideas successfully, and yes, many of the ideas in this book are much more well-known than they were when it was first published. But they’re not that well known that you won’t benefit, if only in your flexibility of thinking.

How has it changed my life? Well I do now actually make money from the internet…not a lot…yet. More significantly, for the future, I do see how important it is to see life as an adventure now, rather than something to be saved for when I am too old and helpless to really enjoy it, and I do see how I could achieve that.

Other books covered in this short blog series:

Awaken the Giant Within – Anthony Robbins

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway – Susan Jeffers

The first three parts of this blog can be found here:

3 books that genuinely changed my life (and one that probably will do it again). PART 1.

Feeling it and doing it anyway

An awakening – 3 books that changed my life, part 3