Paradigm Shift: Work Smart, Play Often
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I just got off the phone with my mastermind group. Seems the two members present had an epiphany this week.
As a result, we’ve taken the project we were working on from the backburner and thrown it off the stove entirely.
Normally, something like that would get me pretty pissed off. I like to plan things, and I like things to unfold according to that plan. Any deviations, delays or cancelations will get you on the business end of cold stares, long silences and a big ugly piece of my mind.
The thing is these are two extremely smart, thriving marketers. They’re both making over XX grand a month pretty much on autopilot. They both know their markets to the point where almost everything they handle gets injected with the magic touch of success.
And during the same week, they pretty much came to the same conclusion. They needed to change their approach and that involved dropping the project we had been discussing.
One of the main culprits is The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris.
I haven’t read it yet but I have seen the reviews and heard the raves. Now I have just witnessed the direct impact of this book on intelligent people’s lives.
Marketer One:
Is moving to a foreign country where it’s warm in the winter and his beachfront home overlooks palm trees and postcard-green water where you see tropical fish soaking in the sun.
What he quoted to me from the book:
“What you most hesitate to do, what instills you with the most doubt, that is probably what you should do.”
And so he did. 1 year away from the homeland with his young wife and kids. He also vowed to spend more time with them, take up kickboxing and focus on his core business, pouring everything into his “best shot”.
He knows where he’s going to live, he’s found a car there, a school and he’s bought the tickets. Bam. Action.
Marketer Two:
Sketched out his first business plan. Cruelly stacked up all his ideas, projects, To-Dos and swung down upon them the sword of truth.
Once the mission was defined, everything that didn’t fit into it directly got sliced off like a gangrenous 6th finger.
Bam. Action.
If I email either of them now, I get an auto-responder message that kindly informs me the intended recipients only check and answer their email twice a day in the name of greater efficiency.
These guys have balls, they have brains, and they have my respect.
Define your life. Optimize your time. Outsource the bullshit. Grow richer. Enjoy yourself.
I’m off to read The Four Hour Work Week. If you’ve read it, let me know what you think.
on June 14th, 2007 at 10:04 am ¶
I’d recommend reading The Color Code by Taylor Hartman first. Not everyone could do a four hour work week even if they had the means. They couldn’t do it because it’s not their core motivating factor. Those people are red’s. I would assume that these two are primarily or a strong yellow. This book will give you a greater understanding of yourself, and others. It really is an amazing book.
on June 14th, 2007 at 10:41 am ¶
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on June 14th, 2007 at 2:53 pm ¶
Got the book on order….it should be here any day. Amazon is late (again). Ive heard nothing but good things. I need to implement the “check email only twice a day rule”. I waste more time…
on June 14th, 2007 at 10:29 pm ¶
Hey Guys,
I think I may have gotten over excited with the Four Hour Work Week. We’ll have to see when I actually read it, but some others have told me its not what I think it is…
Justin: That sounds like a very interesting title, I’ll get my hands on it as soon as I can. Thanks for the recommendation.
Rian: wasted time is the one thing I want to eliminate most. The way I see it, every hour I waste now is a day on the beach thrown to the wind down the road.
Thanks for your comments.
on June 16th, 2007 at 12:59 am ¶
Alex,
Here is an interesting productivity resource and lot quicker to read - less wasted time and IMHO, just better than Tim Ferriss’ book which I find is perfect for people with no motivation apart from making money, which we all know, drives far more people to early bankruptcy and 9 to 5 jobs than putting them in the pilot’s seat. Anyways, here is the link:
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid.html
For you guys that haven’t yet heard of this new blog, it’s written by Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape, Ning and many other in between. Bio: http://ibiblio.org/pioneers/andreesen.html
on June 16th, 2007 at 1:20 am ¶
Hey Jad,
That looks like a very strong, very focused resource. Thanks for pointing it out.
on June 18th, 2007 at 11:04 pm ¶
Hey Alex,
I’m about halfway through the book. I’m more on the conservative side so no, no four hour work weeks for me any time soon.
But I liked his making use of the Pareto and Parkinson’s principles to make very efficient use of his time.
I’m working towards the EFFICIENCY of the four hour workweek, but not the actual four hours, because I enjoy “working”
Let us know what you think when you’re done with it as well.
on July 29th, 2007 at 3:37 pm ¶
The guys at the Evolving Excellence blog had some good comments on Ferriss’ book as well, from a manufacturing and outsourcing perspective. Typically they are very anti-outsourcing, but “personal outsourcing” is just a tad different! Unfortunately they didn’t mention the effective time savings from having an assistant on the opposite side of the globe. Nice post.
http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2007/07/personal-waste.html
Ken