Back in January of 2011 I started one of my very first patients on Tim’s version of the slow carb diet.

She was highly motivated and became one of my most successful patients to date.

I say this not only because she went on to lose over 85 lbs. But because she has diabetes, was on five oral medications prior to beginning the diet and was injecting 60 Units (that is a lot) of long acting insulin each night.

She kept a diary for her first 2 weeks on the slow carb diet and was kind enough to give this to me to share with you. I have had this for over a year. Below are days 1-5 with a section of notes and questions she had compiled to ask me on her follow up visit.

Click on the images below to zoom in:

Day 1	Day 2
Day 3	Day 4
Day 5	Notes

This patient not only went on to lose 85 pounds, but after just 3 months she was off all her insulin and the majority of her medications.

Everyone’s journey is different, we all have to overcome our own mental and physical barriers that may be standing in the way of realizing better health and well-being.

Start today, make this year the year you lay it all down on the table.

I will be posting more of her diary in the upcoming weeks. I would encourage you to keep a diary as well. It serves as a source of motivation and decompression. And better yet when you reach your goals it will be a reminder of the struggles you overcame.  A reminder of what you can accomplish when you set a goal and stick with it!

I would love it if you sent me your diaries as well. You can keep them as anonymous as you would like and I will be happy to share them here in future posts.  Email as an attachment to stephen@4hourlife.com or use my contact form.

Related posts:

1. Tim Ferriss Slow Carb Diet: Simple Condensed Patient Handouts & Guides
2. Damage Control and the 4-Hour Body Slow Carb Diet Binge Day Cheat Sheet
3. The Four Hour Body Cheat Day: God wants you to do it!

I was trying to think of a good title for this blog post when the above popped up as an email alert from Groupon… Perfect! According to the manufacturer these pants “boast slimming technology that works while active or asleep & helps drop up to 2 dress sizes in 2 weeks”. And you thought you had to eat meat and beans the rest of your life.

Tim, how come you didn’t tell us about these pants? Goodbye kettlebell hello hot pants!

Ok back to the real world.

I am not a weight loss expert. But I do work with hundreds of patients who are on a constant goal to lose weight.

When I say constant I mean from the time I met them they have said they wanted to lose weight. In our culture we accept this goal for weight loss as being akin to better health. But I am beginning to the think the two are very different.

I have known many people who despite being high on the BMI scale are in much better health than their skinnier counterparts.

What I think people really mean when they say they want to lose weight is that they want to look and feel good. Again, weight loss does not always mean better looking, but in our culture this seems to also be an accepted fact.

We use many other metrics to help us feel better. I sat down with a patient yesterday to review his most recent lab results as a follow up from his physical exam 2 weeks prior. I could see the sense of relief he felt when he found out that his cholesterol levels were within the range of “healthy” as deemed by the morning talk show that had encouraged him to get his physical in the first place.

Again, we place so much value on a number as an indicator of health. Read Good Calories, Bad Calories, and you will see a great example of how these types of tests are a false indicator of health.

It is time to reset our thought clocks.

So today I am going to stop tracking my weight and start tracking my health.

How will I know if I am healthy you might ask?

When I wake, up throw off my covers in the morning and say “fuck yeah I am so happy to be alive”!

When I finish my half marathon this weekend and look down at my Vibrams and say… “we made it”!

When I finish eating an awesome spinach salad with grilled chicken, sweet balsamic vinegar and all the fixings and think…. now I feel energized!

When I hold my kids and kiss my wife and thank God that there are people in my life who call me daddy, and husband.

When I arrive at work, greet my coworkers with a smile on Monday and hang up my coat on Friday feeling satisfied that I left the world a better place this week.

A scale can only reaffirm what you already know. If it is health you are looking for step off the scale.  The answer is elsewhere!

Related posts:

1. Can you Slow Carb without the Exercise? A Fat Loss Fiasco!
2. The 4-Hour Body in Three Hours? Exercise and Fat Loss by the Numbers

My answer: It is never to late to find your inner FIT!

First of all let me tell you why I am writing this blog post.

My dad at the age of 69 has decided to take control of his health. After years of dieting and a couple of heart attacks he has become officially motivated. In part, by watching my sister shed over 84 pounds so far this year.  Also, as a motivated writer, teacher and lover of life, I know he feels his best work (as well as his best years) are still ahead of him.

He has been using his very own version of the 4-Hour Body Diet.  My dad chooses his diets very similarly to how many politicians choose their religion… Keeping the parts he likes and discarding the parts he doesn’t like so much.

Henceforth, I will call his diet “The Cheat Day Diet” as he has chosen to mostly slow-carb, but his diet weighs heavily on the cheat day. You can see what he says about that here.

But, seeing him taking control of his life at the age of 69 has me thinking a lot about fitness into our senior years.

Here are some advantages that I see to getting fit at 69

If you are over 65 you qualify for Medicare

Honestly, I think this is the single best reason to get fit into your senior years. If you drop a Kettlebell on your foot no worries. The U.S government has got the tab!

Side note: to my European followers and friends this will not apply to you because you have “Kettlebell insurance” from birth.

You Get Senior Discounts

If you have ever traveled with a Senior Citizen you will realize something very quick: they get amazing discounts. For example: at our local ski resort a senior over 65 pays only $5 for a full day/night ticket. I pay about $50 (ten times as much) WOW! I see this and honestly I can’t wait. Don’t even get me started on the cheap buffet discounts… talk about an amazing cheat day!

AARP and Silver Sneakers

This is a great program that I would assume goes unnoticed by many senior citizens:  24 Hour Fitness (as well as several other gyms) offer free memberships to seniors who are part of the Silver Sneakers Program and a qualifying health plan. This is a wonderful deal and can be an add on through AARP as a supplemental program.  In fact, you may already have this so check with your insurance carrier and then get to that gym!

Expanded Parking Options

My mom has a handicap placard making her the honorary “DD” everywhere we go when she is in town. Ever wanted to get that perfect weekend parking spot? Just ask grandma to come along for a ride.  Honestly, this probably goes against developing a four hour body, but parking front and center at a favorite surf spot on a weekend while grandma relaxes, enjoys her grandchildren and soaks up some much needed vitamin D…. Priceless!!

Everything you do Looks More Awesome When You are Old

Every time I run in an event, go to the gym, the pool etc. I am in awe of the senior citizens that are literally “crushing it” (as well as making me look extremely bad). When I did my first triathlon last year I smiled as a I “let” a pack of seniors pass me on the run portion. This was equal parts demoralizing and equal parts inspirational. I also met an 89 year old woman working with a trainer at the gym the other day doing barbell curls: everybody was giving her high fives.

In short: When you are old and you are kicking fitness butt… you are awesome in everybody’s eyes!

The Competitive Field has been “Maximized” for your Success

Our next door neighbor is a senior triathlete. And she has won many events. This has allowed her to travel all over the world where she now not only competes in the events but organizes them. I asked her one time how many people were in her senior female age division in the last event she won: Her answer…. TWO! Ok, I am not trying to say she is not a kick ass senior but wow, 50/50 chance of winning your event. Those are great odds. If you make it to the finish line you can go back and tell all your friends that you placed first in a triathlon!  Act quickly to take advantage of this loophole I have a feeling it will not be around forever.

Plus this is totally Tim Ferriss… just think back to his Chinese Kickboxing Championships from the Four Hour Workweek.

Here is my dad: 

If you would like to read more about a Senior finding his FOUR HOUR FIT check out his journey and make sure to leave him an encouraging word along the way!

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I just returned home from the funeral of a dear friend.

She was 35 years old  and the circumstances around her untimely death are as breathtaking as the thought of a world without her gentle spirit.

To those closest to her she was known as DOVE to the rest of us she would be simply the “person who always put a smile on your face”.

The fact that she would be taken from this world by the hands of a man who claimed to love her most, is a gentle reminder that love is subjective, if not at times irrational.

Regardless, it is in these times that I am often my most reflective.  And as I sat there trapped within the endless rows of black slacks and wind-swept maroon dresses I felt a little more grateful to be alive.

What struck me most was not the sheer magnitude of people who came to pay their respects but the words they had to say. About the life of DOVE.

Reflected in their words was a genuine sense of loss, for  a person who connected with other people in a way that you cannot get from a million self-help books… Sorry Dale Carnegie.

//

Upon returning home I was welcomed by my mom who had kindly come to our house to watch our two young children.

In remembrance of Dove and her family, again I felt grateful. To have known the unconditional love of a mom who dedicated her life to the love of her children and now to her grandchildren.

I jokingly asked her if she would say something nice at my funeral… channeling the Tim Ferriss deep inside her she said: “I don’t think so, I may just have it outsourced!”

Very Funny!

Which brings me to todays discussion.

//

The professional world can be a cold and sometimes lonely place. Dove was a lawyer and what made her shine was her ability to be compassionate and caring in a very competitive, cut-throat world.

In the words of her college professor: “She never knew until today that Dove was in the top 5% of her graduating class…this of course was not the kind of information Dove would think you needed to know”.  In regards to the hard-driving, winner takes all law school mentality, the professor went on to say:  “Dove changed her law school more than law school changed Dove”.

This was readily apparent by the flowers she continued to wear in her hair and the way she would approach a case: People first and business, although important, was placed where it should be, a respective second.  That is if nothing was in second places way, such as a social cause.

Many people I know would say you can not live this way and be successful. Dove would go on to prove them otherwise.

Her best friend later said: “As we parted after college and went our separate ways I asked Dove if she would remember the people back home” Dove said  “You are MY PEOPLE” but then again Dove treated everyone as though they were HER PEOPLE.

Even a casual friend and member of her book club stood up to speak: “Dove” she said, called me the week before her death.  She left this message on my phone: “When I get back let’s get together, you are such a wonderful person!”

When is the last time I took a moment to send a friend a message like that…? I am not sure if I have ever taken the time to send my friends a message like that.

//

Which brings me back to my point:

Outsourcing my Eulogy.

Some day I am going to die. No matter how many slow carb meals I digest or how much Alpha Lipoic Acid I take (yes that is an affiliate link)….. I am going to die.

You, my faithful reader, probably won’t be there. Ted my virtual assistant won’t be there, Twitter, a large majority of Facebook, and yes even many of those whom I do know, probably won’t be there.

And what about Tim Ferriss… he will definitely not be there.

So who will be there? And does it matter?

Is it ok to live a mediocre existence in pursuit of free time and mini retirements knowing that even in death the 80/20 principle held true: i.e only 20% of the people you met you gave 100% of your attention too.

What about the other 80 percent?  Do we ignore them because they don’t have something that we can profit from?

I surely know that in my own life some of my greatest finds have been in that 80% while in pursuit of that beloved 20.

//

In my will I decided I am going to leave the name and email address of a virtual assistant just in case my mom can’t think of anything to say.

But, I hope my life is more meaningful than that.

I hope that after all is said and done the impact I have on the world will affect more than just the bottom line.

In the 4-Hour Workweek Tim Ferriss defines the New Rich (NR) as:

1. to have others work for you.
2. to prevent work for work’s sake and to do the minimum necessary for maximum effect.
3. to do what excites you.
4. to do all the things you want to do and be all the things you want to be.
5. to be neither the boss nor the employee, but the owner.
6. to make a ton of money.
7. to have more quality and less clutter.
8. to think big but ensure payday comes every day.
9. to have the freedom from doing what you dislike.

I wish I could ask Dove what she thinks about this. How she would define the New Rich, but I never had the chance.  After listening to all the people speak at her funeral I imagine it would look something like this:

1. to work for the benefit of others.
2. to do the maximum necessary to ensure everyone has at least the minimum necessary to live.
3. to do what excites you because that will excite others around you.
4. to do most of the things you want to do as long as it doesn’t hurt those around you.
5. to be a boss when you are called to be and an employee when needed to be and an owner if you want to be.
6. to make a true friend.
7. to have more quality and less clutter.
8. to think big regardless of payday.
9. sometimes you have to do what you dislike in order to have the freedom to do what you do like. Or, in order to help others have the freedom they deserve.

At the very end of the service we watched as Doves mom released 5 beautiful white birds of the same name into the sky. They hovered for a while in the vicinity, cautious to leave their surroundings.

Then one dashed straight up and away, in response, the other 4 followed suit. I watched as her spirit was released. And in an instant they were all gone, never to be seen again.

But, in their wake we sat grounded by our chairs. In observance of the silence and the sounds of waves crashing.

And it is at that moment an idea was finally solidified in my head.  That to be a great leader, to be truly remembered in this world requires more from us than the pursuit of maximum output from minimum input.

This is fine if we want to satisfy our quest for the New Rich as defined by the 4-Hour Workweek.

But then again, what good is life if in the end the meaning that we crave is left to be outsourced?

Some Homework

Maybe take a moment to answer these questions for yourself:

• What do I wish my life to look like?
• How do I wish my life to be on a day to day basis?
• What would I like to be able to say I truly know in my life, about my life?
• How would I like to be with other people in my life; my family, my friends, my business associates, my customers, my employees, my community?
• How would I like people to think about me?
• What would I like to be doing two years from now?  Ten years from now?  Twenty years from now?  When my life comes to a close?
• What specifically would I like to learn during my life; spiritually, physically, financially, technically, intellectually?  About relationships?
• And alas: How much money will I need to do the things I wish to do?  By when will I need it? And how will I spend it?

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Three years ago I slashed my work hours by 25 percent.

I did this because there was a feeling that I couldn’t get past.

A feeling that my time off was just a moment to catch my breath in order to get enough energy to go back to work the following week.

My greatest energy was being reserved for my employer and so then was a majority of the greatest years of my life.

I knew from my experience in medicine that life was just too short.  And there were so many things I dreamed of doing.

//

It seems like in the lifestyle redesign community there is a lot of all or nothing talk.

That you need to leave your job and create a totally location independent lifestyle to be happy.

This is not true, you can do this, it is an option, but it comes with its own stress and insecurities.

Also many of you, like me, may have a family to care for:  Children, wives, husbands or parents that rely on your financial contribution and the many benefits such as health care your employment provides.

There is always a way to untether ourselves from the world if we take drastic action.

But a huge part of happiness, love and life is not just about creating a location independent lifestyle with totally decentralized earnings.

It is about being part of a community.

//

There are a lot of ways to create more freedom in your life, most of this starts by just asking.

It starts though somewhere deeper than that.

In a part that is less passive and demands more of life than just punching a clock.

A lot of my ability to create more freedom in my life came from paring down to the necessities, becoming financially literate and taking bold steps to overcome my fears of potential loss.

Most of these fears revolved around loss of employment, or a house, or health benefits for my family, contributions for retirement or college savings.

Prior to being married and having kids I did not really have to worry about these types of things, this is also something that is for the most part left out of books like the 4-Hour Workweek.

They are not headaches, they are joys, they are not accumulation of excess “junk”, but often the part of life that comes when we open ourselves up fully to others.

I guess it is this area that I hope to cover here in the 4-Hour Life.  Finding balance not just in my life, but in the lives of those that depend on me to be better than I thought I could be.

//

I still get a lot of flak from most of my coworkers when they see me come to work after my 4 day weekends.

I used to feel like I had to explain myself.  Most people still don’t understand why somebody would voluntarily cut down their work hours.

People usually say things like: “Sure must be nice” or “You must have a lot of money” or (this one always gets me) “What do you do with all your time off” or the one that is the easiest to answer:

“Stephen, how come you are always so happy”

There are steps we can all take to create the life we want and they do not have to be drastic.

Most are simple, small action steps that require some planning but most of all require a commitment to oneself… And what flows from this can be much of what you seek.

Because with time comes freedom and then a happiness that will pour into the lives of those who make your life more complete.

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I have been witness to a lot of debate recently among various Four Hour Body blogs and within the forums of whether or not you should have a cheat day as recommended by Tim Ferriss in the slow carb diet.

This is pure nonsense!

My answer:

God wants you to do it (P.S. so does Tim Ferriss)

When I say God this could be anything… The power of the universe for that matter.

Whatever force came together to create funnel cake or that unexplainable minty perfection (I suspect crack cocaine laced) chocolaty thin mint cookie sold by that irresistibly charming girl scout who needs to sell just one more box or her entire troop won’t be able to attend summer camp this year.

This is what I am talking about!

And I think we can all agree:  Regardless of creed,  some things in life are just so darn unexplainably delicious that to deny ourselves would be well…. Unholy!

So today, as you prepare your menu of slow carb culinary treats for the upcoming weekend I want you to contemplate this:

Skipping cheat day is not just a dishonor to all the glorious food out there, but to the nature and goodness of life itself!

And if you choose to deny yourself this potentially sacred covenant, or if you were raised Catholic like myself.

Skipping Cheat day….

As my very Italian grandmother Carmy used to say (OK not about cheat day but about Sunday Mass and the customary breakfast at Bob’s Big Boy afterwards)

Means only one thing:  A long painful trip to a lackluster community that is both very hot and deficient in ice cream sundaes.

So there you have it

The Four Hour Body Cheat Day:

God wants you to do it!

And apparently so does Michelangelo

Don’t skip cheat Day!

Related posts:

1. Damage Control and the 4-Hour Body Slow Carb Diet Binge Day Cheat Sheet
2. A Wonderful 4-Hour Body Cheat Sheet: Simple and Comprehensive!
3. Organizing the Four Hour Body: Occam’s Protocol Cheat Sheet Number 1

Exercising my Daemons in the Closet

For much of my adolescent life I struggled with a poor self-image. This was exacerbated in my teen years by acne.

I used to feel at times like a monster, this was unwarranted and vain, but is a sad truth.

I know that I noticed these imperfections more than anyone else. But for me, someone who deep down was a perfectionist, this was unacceptable. There was a period of time where I could no longer look at myself in a mirror. At times I still feel this way.

I was taken by my parents to a dermatologist who immediately started me on Accutane. This culminated one night in an experience I had on a rooftop of my childhood home. There I stood in the pitch black of night hands open for the first time in my life seriously contemplating suicide.

I really can’t believe it ever got to that point. Thankfully, I returned through my bedroom window and never ventured that way again.

Later that year Accutane was given a black box warning regarding an increased risk for suicide and depression in those taking the medication. Go figure!

When you just don’t Care

For 3 years in college I smoked cigarettes. I felt cool and rebellious. At the time I could have cared less. In fact I think I welcomed the side effects.

I would drink endless cups of coffee, a liter of Coke to keep myself up through the night studying for midterms, and a bit too much alcohol on the weekends.

My diet consisted of: Well, anything I could find that was fast and cheap.

After college it was really more of the same. Even while doing my medical training I didn’t necessarily eat healthy, or even understand what “healthy” was; although thankfully I did stop smoking.

Developing Empathy

When I council patients about health I always try to see the big picture.

I assume that nobody in essence wants to be unhealthy. And this is an important concept. Especially when it comes to preventable disease.

The fact that we are overweight, inactive or suffer from medical illness is just a symptom of a broken system.

This could be a product of our genetic predisposition or of a broken mind.

Making a Change

In order to make a change you have to really want to and this is dependent on a multitude of factors:

• Stress
• Time
• Self-Image/Self Esteem
• Preconceived notions of a healthy lifestyle
• Environment
• Negative and Positive Influences

Therefore, the ability to make a change is not just through reading a book or buying a DVD set. This is the second or third step. The fact that you bought the book or the DVD is proof that you want and desire to make a change. Now you just have to commit.

And this is often the most difficult step.

Commitment to a change comes from a belief that you are worth it. It often requires overcoming a certain “need” that we may have, weather that is food, television, sex, drugs, the internet etc. etc.

Regardless, this need comes to fill a void that must be replaced with something tangible. In the realm of health and well-being these tangibles are often in the form of delayed positive effects.

We may never actually realize that we did get a positive gain, because in health the positive is just the lack of a negative outcome. For example: because you started to avoid carbs and exercise daily you did not have a heart attack at 42. This is wonderful, although you may never really appreciate it.

This is just another reason a change for better health is often so difficult.

Why the 4 Hour Body

The 4 Hour Body works well on two fronts.

First:

Diet plans like a slow carb diet are not actually restrictive in the sense that you have to watch how much you eat. Yes, you have 5 rules to follow but these rules simply minimize the types of food you eat and place no limits on your actual intake.

Thus you can actually eat more and loose more weight. This is a double positive in the world of externalities.

Second:

As you begin protocols such as Occam’s Protocol you will gain muscle mass and time. This again is a double positive. Of course that is if you are already inclined to work out. If not, this may be a steeper hill to climb.

But regardless, like Tim’s first book (The 4-Hour Workweek) the 4 Hour Body is primed from a mental standpoint to be more effective. At least it seems that way.

Real World Practice

In long term studies, the truth of the matter is it doesn’t matter which weight loss or exercise regimen you choose. What matters most is your commitment to the cause and your motivation moving forward.

Not even bariatric surgery can overcome this simple truth. If you are not committed you can even outdo removal of a significant portion of your stomach. Isn’t this a comment on life?

So it is, even if we cut off parts of our body in an honest effort to curb our habits unless we desire change we will not be successful.

On the other side, even if things are taken away from us, if we desire it enough we can be successful.

Loving your 4 Hour Body

It is not like you wake up one day and say, “you know what I really want to be overweight, or have diabetes or heart disease or insomnia”.

Also, sometimes things happen to us that we did not see coming. This is life, we need to acknowledge this and then move on.

We all struggle. Sometimes alone, because to admit that we do not feel good about ourselves or that we may have fear is hard to do. Again, this is just a normal part of life. But do not let it define you, this can be overcome.

You are your body and it is perfectly designed. Give it the tools and the nourishment it needs and it will become the body you desire.

The minute you cut yourself you start to bleed. Although this is initially felt as pain, your body already began the process of healing. Your job: let it heal itself!

Related Articles:

• The Four Hour Deferment: Don’t Rely On Too Much Data!
• The Essence of Life Is Time

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The Hard Truth

I work in a rural health center. My patients are salt of the earth. The kind of people who wake up at 4am to prepare their family for the next day and arrive home at 7pm after a 10 hour day.

They toil in the fields 6 days a week doing the kind of work that most of us could not tolerate for a week. Many undocumented, they come here not out of choice but out of necessity.

Trying to make a better life for their family.

Most have arrived after days on trains and weeks on foot, through the desert, crossing a fenced boarder where manmade unmarked graves point to the insignificance of their lives.

Yet together we find ourselves sharing a common space.

Staring humanity in the face day in and day out has a strange way of humbling even the most cynical.

The Illusion

We get so caught up in politics and in greed, that we often forget what our goals may be in the first place.

We let the news or the opinions of others shape our day to day lives.  To the point where we may even dehumanize a worlds population because we think somehow our individuality sets us apart.

There is no difference between the hearts and souls that define each of us.

A copy of the 4 Hour Workweek could be equally well received by a starving mom and her 3 babies in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the truth is, a bundle of rice and a years supply of antiretroviral therapy may be much more useful.

The Goal

As we are on our journey to the 4 hour workweek, or the perfect posterior we must not forget to drop our iPhone down a bit below eye level. To see the true image of the person we photograph in the mirror.

Our muscles may be sculpted, our hours may be be more productive but is the person you now see in the mirror the person you really want to be?

Never forget that the place where you are today, or the lifestyle that you aspire to ascertain will always be built in part, by the hard work and dedication of the working poor.

This is where we may get caught in the illusion of the 4 hour workweek. That in essence we may all attain this goal:

Is at least for now a fallacy.

What can I do?

Be that as it may, we must assure that the privileges we attain are not lost in greed.  It is only by helping others achieve their goals, or attain a better life, that these lessons within the 4 Hour Workweek become significant.

And you know what? They are. They help empower each and every one of us to take back ownership of our lives.

Moving away from the needs and wants of a heavily influenced majority towards a life that may be more aligned with our own goals and aspirations.

It is easy to imagine that sipping margaritas on the sunny shores of Mauritius with a VA in our back pocket will bring us happiness. And it probably will….until it doesn’t.

Service for the Right Reasons: To Save the Whales or Kill Them and Feed the Children?

From The Four Hour Workweek, Chapter 15 Filling the Void

“Service to me is simple: doing something that improves life besides your own.”

“Service isn’t limited to saving lives or the environment. It can also improve life. If you are a musician and put a smile on the faces of thousands or millions, I view this as service. If you are a mentor and change the life of one child for the better, the world has been improved. Improving the quality of life in the world is in no fashion inferior to adding more lives. Service is an attitude. Find the cause or the vehicle that interests you most and make no apologies!”

Timothy Ferriss

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It is often the case that when people get worried or frightened they focus too much on data in an effort to alleviate anxiety. This in turn makes them feel better.

The assumption is “If I can figure everything out everything will be okay.”

Hence worried stockbrokers will stare at their computer screens, gathering data instead of making calls and selling stock.

Managers in organizations will study reports and financials but will avoid taking actions that will make things work smoother and smarter.

Dieters will amass stockpiles of weight loss supplements and diet books, the latest I-phone app or body tracking device and possibly a nice collection of several different calendars or spiral bound notebooks in which  to track their progress.

All this “data gathering” may satisfy their curiosity and buy some time, but it will do little in a positive sense to affect the bottom line.

What is your bottom line?

Of course it’s simple to justify our actions, decisions, and the way we actually spend our time, especially when we are frightened. We can always rationalize that what we are doing is necessary and important.

The more information we have at our disposal, the better. Right? Sometimes this is true, but not always.

There’s a point where excessive information can interfere with going out and actually making money or losing weight or bettering our health or creating a 4 hour workweek.

Too much data can convince us that we’re too busy to do what it takes to really succeed: it can convince us that our actions are too risky, too premature.  And of course sometimes we will be right.

But, more often than not, too much data can fill our heads with worrisome, fearful thoughts that keep us between where we are and where we want to be.

I can’t tell you the number of times I myself have fallen victim to this process.  And I have found that excessive data gathering, too much mulling over the same set of facts, is very often the major factor that encourages us to overcome every possible objection before we get started, before we go out and do what it takes.

When reading books like the Four Hour Body, or the Four Hour Workweek it is easy to get caught up in all the data.  Many (OK probably most) of us become paralyzed by the shear magnitude of it all.  As we read books like these we become immediately empowered. We feel fearless, strong, as though everything is possible.

A week later, after we have mulled over the data and tried to overcome every possible objection before we get started then absolutely nothing ever gets accomplished.

The next time you find yourself filling your head with facts and stewing over data, take a step back.  See if what you are doing is really going to help you out, make things better-or are you simply postponing  the steps that will actually bring about abundance?

Be completely honest with yourself. Perhaps instead of studying the facts, you should pick up the phone and make a call.

It is very possible you have all the data you need and the simple decision to stop worrying is the most important thing you could be doing.

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• The Four Hour Workweek

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