Tim Ferriss is so cool and he’s brilliant, in my mind. I got and partially read The 4-Hour Workweek back when it came out…think it was 2008. There is now an updated version.
I recently read (entirely) his newest offering – The 4-Hour Body. This is a STEAL on Amazon for $15 bucks. It is about 500 pages and the cool thing he does is suggest there are only about 100 pages for any reader at first pass. So, he spells out exactly which pages will be relevant based on what you are looking to do. Very cool! I read the whole thing because everything was of interest to me and I love the way he presents.
I really encourage you to check him out. Here’s an excerpt from the “First and Foremost” section of The 4-Hour Workweek that just cracks me up and gives you a feel of his personality and what is to come.
He titles this section as “Chronology of a Pathology.” He gives a timeline:
1977: Born 6 weeks premature and given a 10% chance of living. I survie instead and grow so fat that I can’t roll onto my stomach. A muscular imbalance of the eyes makes me look in opposite directions, and my mother refers to me affectionately as “tuna fish.” So far so good.
1983: Nearly fail kindergarten because I refuse to learn the alphabet. My teather refuses to explain why I should learn it, opting instead for, “I’m the teacher–that’s why.” I tell her that’s stupid and ask her to leave me alone so I can focus on drawing sharks. She sends me to the “bad table” instead and makes me eat a bar of soap. Disdain for authority begins.
It goes on and is hilarious mostly because it is all true and he tells the story so well and with such humor!
I’m sitting with it once again because #1, I never read the whole thing and #2, I’m reinvigorated to find my “muse” for a business. I am committed to coaching; however, it is simply not all I want to do. I need numerous challenges to feel inspired and fulfilled. I want some kind of passive income so that I am not always trading hours for pay which is what one does in a service practice. This is good, but if I can’t work, there is of course no income. Plus, I just want more. I want to use other skills – all my skills – and develop more. And I want to be of service in more ways.
I have certainly discovered that I am a person who wants to be of service, truly. Yet, this most often translates only to doing the work individually. I want to reach more people and I want to solve some problems for them – the ones that irritate me also!
What will that or this be? Don’t know yet. But, I will. Tim’s book allows one to think and explore possibilities – much like coaching helps in an individual arena. It is a blueprint. Since this book came out, he started a blog that features case studies from those who have utilized his strategies. He calls it: Experiments in Lifestyle Design. He describes that he was astounded by how many people implemented his ideas and then shared them. He set up his blog just to showcase them, basically.
Again, I cannot say enough about him. There is NO book I have ever read where the author is so unbelievebly sincere and genuine and gives so many other resources. For The 4-Hour Body, he has extensive chapter links and it is difficult to go look for them because you want to see them all. So, he set up a seperate website that just lists all of the links, so that one can go there and simply click. Wow! Who does this? This guy is the epitome of “value first.”
Perhaps it is fairly easy for him to do this because #1, he certainly is wealthy in in own right and #2, he just really gives a damn. He really does simply want to share what he’s learned.
You know how it is when you read someone hawking their wares and you wonder…if you are doing so well, why are you selling this? There are only a few that I have discovered that actually feel the “need” to share what they’ve learned and certainly then command a fee. His books are inexpensive AND he gives plenty of other info daily on his blog.
I have set up a schedule to work through his book deliberately and I feel confident I will come away with something…good or great or at least forward moving.
I’ll post on this again in a month and let you know how I’m doing and what has become. Check out his books and let me know what you think!
Sheila
