Have you ever wondered why you need to work so many hours every week just to earn an income that sometimes barely lets you get by?
Do you long for the chance to enjoy some free time for yourself, but it seems impossible with all the workload you have?
Then you need to check out the summary we have of the method proposed by Timothy Ferriss in his book "The 4-Hour Work Week"!
What is the Four-Hour Work Week?
"The 4-Hour Work Week" is a straightforward vision of moving away from the idea that a 9 to 5 work schedule is the only way for a company can function.
As incredible as it sounds, Timothy Ferriss explains how he went from being tired, stressed, and working 80 hours a week earning $80,000 a year* to earn the same dough by working only 4 hours a week! (The book was published back in 2007).
Wikimedia Commons
And this is not a suggestion to live and work from a hammock…
This is a call to start working smarter, to be efficient rather than merely productive, to stop doing what we don’t enjoy, and to chase our dreams with all our might.
This read becomes a call to action to do whatever it takes you to fully enjoy every minute of your life.
But… How do you achieve this? Easy! By doing the DEAL method (Define, Eliminate, Automate, and Liberate).
What is the DEAL Method?
The DEAL method is a system to redefine your goals by eliminating unnecessary work, automating your income, and liberating yourself from traditional expectations.
Envato/mihacreative
Changing your entire outlook on life might not sound so simple to achieve, but when you consider the benefits of working just 4 hours a week to gain that freedom you’ve been seeking, it sounds utterly tempting, doesn’t it?
That’s why people who own their time (and their lives) refuse to work in a “conventional” way, i.e., spending hours in an office doing what everyone else does.
The tool you’ll need to take charge of your life involves increasing your income and reducing your time at work by applying the DEAL method:
1. Define
Set your goals. When we work, it's very easy to waste time on activities that aren't important or relevant, yet they take up a lot of our time.
If you want to increase your productivity at work, it’s ideal to apply the Pareto Principle (80/20). Yes, the one that tells us "80% of your results come from 20% of your actions."
2. Eliminate
Do a "task purge" by removing distractions. When you review how many tasks are wasting your time that aren’t even essential, you realize that you can save time to complete more important tasks while allocating more time to achieving your personal goals.
Remove anything that does not serve your interests from your life.
Start an information diet, this is a great way to stay focused on what’s important:
- Reduce your cell phone use.
- Control the time you spend on social media.
- Stop binge-watching TV
- These are just a few of the tasks you can start to stop wasting your time.
The sooner you address this issue, the easier it will be to stay focused on your goals.
3. Automate
Now that you know that the most important thing for productivity is time, we’ll tell you the secret to increasing your productivity: automate everything you can.
If there’s one basic thing you should understand, it's that your job is not indispensable; what is irreplaceable is your vision and your leadership.
So, don’t be afraid of technology and use it to identify or create opportunities that allow you to work at your own pace, on things you are passionate about, that add value to your life, and let you own your time.
4. Liberate
Once you have completed the previous steps, you can now enjoy your time and make the most of the work you’ve done.
If you organize to work only 4 hours, what do you plan to do with the rest of your free time?
The best thing you can do to start is take small trial steps, learn from your mistakes, adjust along the way, and increase the frequency of the things that work out well.
Do your own research before starting
Analyze and study all the information you need before taking the first step, but don't hold back when it comes to being observant; the only way to learn things is by doing them, otherwise, the freedom you seek will never come.
Envato/Gajus-Images
Conclusion
As you can see, the four-hour work week is not only a great reading choice but also a viable application in our lives.
Although we have only talked about it in general terms, we cannot overlook that this new era of remote work, artificial intelligence and new ways of doing things is an opportunity to make the most of tools like this, to take control of our lives, and consider if what we have learned over time is really what we want to do for the rest of our lives.
Envato/seventyfourimages
Nowadays, we know that things can change in the blink of an eye, so there’s no reason to waste a minute of life doing something that does not satisfy us.
If you want to know more about this method, don’t miss out on reading the complete book "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss, because, in addition to reminding us that we now have all the tools we need to transform our lives at our fingertips, we can fully enjoy our work and, of course, contribute to building something better.
Are you ready to read it?
