The beginning…

Posted on November 17, 2007
Filed Under 4 Hour Work Week, lifestyle design, meta |

This blog will chronicle my efforts to re-design my lifestyle following the blueprint of Tim Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Work Week”. I’ll also be adding other sources to provide a blueprint for my new professional efforts and lifestyle changes. One such source will be another excellent blog devoted to “simple productivity” called Zen Habits.

So why me and why now? Most people would say that they envy my professional life, and to some extent I’ve already “seen the promised land” that Ferriss outlines. Until reading his book about a month ago I couldn’t figure out–if other people “envied” my professional life so much–why I found it so draining and miserable. What I learned in “The 4-Hour Work Week” was that while I had built a career for myself that let me work from anywhere with a decent Internet connection that it was still too dependent on my day-to-day input. I was always working, and often slept with my Blackberry on my chest so I’d immediately wake up should an important email, text message or phone call arrive. Instead of developing a career that gave me freedom and independence, I was essentially an 80 hour slave to my business. I was my “own boss”, but since I didn’t have any employees to delegate anything to I did everything from promotion to web design to basic clerical tasks. I could work from my laptop computer anywhere with an Internet connection, but since I was singlehandedly keeping all of my professional plates in the air I seldom had time to travel. When I did manage to get out of town I couldn’t relax–it was essentially the same thing as every other day in a different venue.

If anything, I should have more freedom than most people–I’m divorced, with no kids and only two Jack Russell Terriers as “dependents”. I’m 41, but my doctor tells me I’m in better shape than most of the 21 year olds he sees. I’ve still got all of my hair and most of my charm, wit and intelligence. I have a wide range of interests including wine, food, cigars, travel, skiing, snowboarding along with a whole list of things that I’d like to do and learn. Until I “hit the wall” professionally a few months ago I had plenty of money to do basically whatever I wanted to–but I didn’t have freedom or time. My idea of adventure was working from my local Starbucks instead of my home office.

Until I read “The 4-Hour Work Week” (which I’ll henceforth abbreviate as “4HWW”) I had a number of ideas about how to improve my professional and personal life. Unfortunately, these ideas were all wrong. I thought that if I could find a partner or an investor to provide some capital I could “do things right” meaning I’d advertise more, market myself more, etc. I was very fortunate that several attempts to forge such a partnership didn’t transpire. Otherwise I’d be stuck in the same miserable situation with someone else’s money at stake and it would be even more difficult to make the necessary changes.

I don’t have any artistic talent–I can’t sing, draw, paint, or play an instrument. I do have one very valuable gift, however: I can write. Not only can I write well, I can write quickly and easily about any number of subjects. Not to toot my own horn, but writing is almost effortless to me. I’m also fortunate to be a relatively intelligent and quick witted person, with expertise on topics ranging from economics and business theory to gambling and sports handicapping to boxing and mixed martial arts. I can write in any style and about anything. For me writing isn’t an “end”, it’s a “means”–I don’t fantasize about writing the “great American novel” or blockbuster screenplay. What I want to do is use my writing to help finance a life that provides more freedom and satisfaction. I’d like to be able to write several hours a day and have the rest of my time to do with as I wished. Initially, I just want to relocate to a city that offers more of the things I enjoy but within two or three years I want to do what Ferriss outlines and spend my time traveling. I want to spend my winters snowboarding in Utah or Lake Tahoe, my summers in the Pacific Northwest and the spring and fall wherever I damn well please.

The good news for me is that I’ve already taken steps to transition into a career as a full time writer. I already contribute to several web sites weekly and am near a deal that will pay me a nice chunk of change for a regular writing gig. Still, I want this to be supplementary to the sort of passive income generation that Ferriss describes in detail in his book. And though I may be further along than the average man my age I’ve still got a number of lifestyle changes to implement.

So that’s why I started this blog–I’m going to make myself a case study for the concepts that Ferriss outlines in 4HWW. I’ve got the perfect personal situation to do it, as well as professional skills that lend themselves to becoming a member of what he describes as the “New Rich”.

I haven’t really decided on the format of this blog or what direction it will take–I’m just going to start and see what happens.

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