The 4–Hour Work Week
by Timothy Ferriss
– Once you decide you’re settling for second-best in life, that is what you will get.
– Do not try to please everybody.
– There’s a big difference when work is more effective and more fun.
– The perfect timing is almost never right, so don’t wait around for it.
– Emphasize your strengths instead of always trying to improve your weaknesses.
– Money alone is not the solution. Many times laziness is the problem, not a lack of money.
– Don’t avoid criticism, avoid destructive criticism.
– Action doesn’t always bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.
– Conquering fear = defining fear
– Things do not improve on their own
– Luxury has very little to do with money
– The fear we dread the most is usually the exact thing we need to do.
– Your inaction will cost you more than you can imagine. Measure the cost of inaction.
– It’s as easy as believing it can be done.
– If you are insecure, guess what… the rest of the world is too.
– Boredom is the enemy, not failure.
– You become better by failing better.
– Success can be measured in the amount of awkward conversations and situations you’re willing to put yourself in.
– Deal with rejection by persisting.
– Being busy is often an excuse for not doing the few important things you are supposed to do.
– Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing the task in the most economical manner possible.
– What you do is more important than how you do it.
– Working 9-5 is not the goal, it’s just the structure most people have used.
– Being busy can be a form of laziness.
– The lack of time is actually a lack of priority.
– If you had a heart attach and could only work 2 hours a day, what would you do?
– Decreasing the amount of work is not the goal, the goal is living fuller. Just having more idle time on your hands will make you go crazy, you have to live fuller.
– Retirees get depressed because of social oppression… and so will you if you do not live life fuller.
– You have to find something to focus on. You become stressed or board would you do not have something you can focus on.
– If you cannot define something or act upon it, forget it, there’s no need to worry about it.
– If you don’t make mistakes, than you’re not working on hard enough problems.
– Time without attention is useless.
– What is the big thing that has been on your list that you have not been able to get to? Stop and do that first thing in the morning.
– Adversity does not change you, it reveals who you are. Money does the same thing.
– You are never as good as they say you are and you are never as bad as they say you are.
– No statues are raised to critics.
– A good thing to remember when you were having a meltdown: are you having a breakdown or a breakthrough?
– It is usually better to keep all the resolutions instead of making new ones.
– If you will go 21 days without complaining, it is almost like it resets your brain.
– A not-to-do list is almost more effective than a to-do list. (For example: Do not check email constantly. Do not check email thread before you go to bed or right when you get up. Do not ramble with people and get to the point. Etc.) Remember that what you do not do will determine what you do, so make a list of things to not do.
– Learn to prioritize; you cannot do everything or please everyone.
– Never make the first offer when negotiating, let the other person give a price.
– Identify what excites you and what bores you.