I know that I didn't invent the concept of designing a life, but apparently I've also been living under a rock and totally missed the whole FHWW (Four Hour Work Week) movement coined by Tim Ferriss. This guy sounds pretty intense, a 30-year old Princeton grad who lives the life of an action figure.
Before I get all judgey or envious, I'll read his book and see what I can learn. He advocates a basic (albeit not easy) formula to work less, earn what you need and live fully. The keys apparently include creating a passive income stream, outsourcing time-consuming life tasks, mini-retirements throughout life, and knowing the difference between absolute vs. relative income.
Since turning 45 this past January, I keep thinking about how "someday" is now. Someday I'll study art, someday I'll spend more time with my nieces, someday I'll live overseas. That would be now, Kel - or at least put wheels in motion. Digging out from the rubble of my 30's has been my first priority in recent years. The smoke has cleared. Life is stable. I feel that I am living my life in a conscious, fully-engaged way. I'm not on auto-pilot. But the occasional kick in the pants that ruts, complacency and deferred living are easy for me to slip back into is a good thing.
I am curious about the details behind Tim's concepts - do they work for non-action figures too?
I finally finished Tim's book. While I'm not ready to ditch it all and put my voicemail on permanent forward, I am experimenting with a few "radical" ideas:
- check email only twice per day (this one's harder to do than I thought it would be)
- stop feeling guilty about my 3-week retreat to Penland this summer - by Ferriss' standards, this is child's play
- start planning my next retreat, this time for way longer (well, okay, maybe 4 weeks - but still!)
- start using a virtual assistant for time-consuming tasks I can delegate - my latest brainstorm is to outsource my menu planning and grocery shopping to YourManInIndia.
- explore how to make real money in the paper/bookarts biz