Hey Johnny Wolf here. I’m sure most of you have heard of the book, “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris.
I’m here to tell you that it changed my life, where I went from a 9 to 5 corporate job, then a professional Pick Up Artist (PUA), and finally to where I am now: healthier, wealthier, but most importantly, happier.
Note: This book review of “The 4-Hour Workweek” is from the perspective of self-help and self-improvement, which is the basis of the holistic PUA. It’s a about the long term picture of me stop being a Pick Up Artist, but instead changing my life and being happy as a MAN, what we call the F-Phase: Future (Fun! Or Fake?!).
Now, I’m sure a lot of you of have even been planning on reading it. But when it comes down to it, most of you probably have been putting it off. I remember the back cover said, “Don’t read this book unless you want to quit your job.”
Fast forward a few months and I ended up “quitting my job,” moving to Thailand and pursuing scuba diving. How did it happen? Well, it’ll be different for everyone, but my review of the 4 hour workweek goes as follows.
Highlights: Timothy Ferris shows you though his own life how he escaped the rat race, the 9-5, which let’s face it, is always at least 8-5 if not longer. His stories about traveling and living aboard inspired me. And what really caught my eye was how he was able to do it for less than I was paying for rent in Los Angeles.
The DEAL Model: from Wikipedia:
In the book Ferriss uses the acronym DEAL for the four main chapters. It stands for: Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation.
Definition means to figure out what a person wants, get over fears, see past society’s “expectations,” and figure out what it will really cost to get where a person wants to go.
Elimination is about time management, or rather about not managing time. This is achieved applying the 80/20 rule to focus only on those tasks that contribute the majority of benefit, and using Parkinson’s Law to limit the amount of actual time spent working. There’s a difference, Ferriss says, between efficiency and effectiveness. The book’s emphasis is on effectiveness.
Automation is about building a sustainable, automatic source of income. This includes techniques such as drop-shipping, automation, Google Adwords and Adsense, and outsourcing.
Liberation is dedicated to the successful automation of one’s lifestyle and the liberation from a geographical location and job. Incidentally, Ferriss notes that if somebody has a regular job, the order of steps will be DELA, not DEAL.
The book asserts that technology such as email, instant messaging, and Internet-enabled PDAs complicate life rather than simplify it. It advocates hiring virtual assistants from developing countries such as India and Philippines to free up personal time.
Johnny Wolf’s Experience: The first step I took was Elimination. I realized how much money I was spending on crap I didn’t really need and how much time I was wasting online.
Then used Automation to free myself from having to pay bills or have responsibilities. Having auto-pay for everything I couldn’t eliminate and figuring out how to make a couple hundred bucks a month online. Truth is, making money online isn’t easy, so I figured I’d make money doing something I love.
I skipped straight to Liberation and moved to Thailand. A lot of people were saying, “What the hell are you thinking, Johnny Wolf?” But it was time for me to change my life. And by god, I was going to use Timothy Ferris’ “The 4-Hour Workweek” to do it.
So I figured out my monthly expenses could be less than $800, and started working as a Divemaster. Eventually I qualified as a scuba instructor, and love what I do. I even spend a few months “working” as a Muay Thai fighter, getting paid to train and to fight for a camp. How’s that for being dominant and masculine?
Your journey will be completely different I’m sure. But do yourself a huge favor and read “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris today. Then do yourself a bigger favor and actually act on it. It changed my life and I’m sure it’ll do the same to you!
Warm Regards,
Johnny Wolf
www.TheSocialSecrets.com – Check out my journey here on my blog