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I know this is only a competition for those in the USA but I don't care I wanted to write and just let you know that I have recently purchased your book after reading about you through tuckermax.com I just want to say that I have read just about everything written by the two of you that I can get my hands on. If nothing else I just wanted to pass on my thanks for such an incredible new outlook on everything. It has given me the courage to quit the 9-5 I have come to so quickly despise and to rather go work for myself, to travel and most importantly to go and live rather than wait until it is all too late. Not looking for any handouts here I just wanted to pass on my thanks to the both of you for opening my eyes.
I remember Dad leaving the house for work at 5 am and not getting back home until long after dark (NO paid overtime). He was lucky to get two weeks of vacation a year, but even then he was working from dawn to dusk on the farm. My dad was one of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever known, and despite the possible financial hardships, I was secretly thrilled when he was offered that [lousy] Levi’s early retirement.
You see, my dad had dutifully gone to work every day for 39 years filled with dread and always stressed, but he did it because he was a dedicated employee and thought that was the best way to provide for his family. When he lost his job, I believed it to be the best thing to ever happen, because for the first time ever, I was finally going to see my father really enjoy life!
And for a short time, he did just that and was truly happy. Then, last year he unexpectedly died of a heart attack…. He worked for years putting off his life for that “retirement� that ended up not being guaranteed. I didn’t get the opportunity to be beside him when he passed, but if I had been, I think he would have told me not be consumed with work, and instead, to live each day as if it’s your last.
I’m 26. Two months ago, I “freed� myself from a successful career as a loan officer to start my own consulting business, which is doing surprisingly well. What would I do with 36 extra hours each week? I’d live life to the fullest and do everything my father always wanted to do, but never had the chance….
Oh well, good luck everyone!
Jon
Pete
"our legal system makes it too much of a hassle to do this any other way"
This is a classic example of all that's wrong with USA Inc.
You are trying to do something simple and worthwhile yet for reasons not of your making, you have excluded most of the world.
Wonder how much money was wasted on some lawyer drawing up the 14 useless point above?
Great idea anyway Tim.
ps The book was excellent
What I will do with my extra 36 hours:
1. Get back to sleep at least 8 hours a day
2. Do things slower.
3. Travel to distant places to find myself and become a person again
4. Use my knowledge (Software Engineer) to help worthy non-profit organitzations to manage themselves better an do more things (actually I am member of an animal protection society but I have almost no time to really help)
My wife always talks of Italy and renting a large villa, so I'm picking a place I've never been to, yet have received contacts from, so Italy it is. I have received e mails from athletes in Italy (w/limited English skills) who ask about my Underground training methods.
I would find a way to set up a free seminar for athletes and coaches of all levels in Italy before I arrive and have a translator ready. The seminar would be hands on with my training methods in an effort to spread the word to the coaches and athletes in Italy and ultimately, get them to create an Underground Gym and / or boot camps before I leave.
All the systems would be in place before I leave! The pay back from the coaches and athletes would be to utilize the "pay it forward" concept (just like the movie). They must teach their new methods to at least 3 people and once again their students would pay them back by "paying it forward" to 3 more athletes / coaches.
I have had contacts from Professional Basketball Coaches, athletes of all types and men who somehow stumbled upon my information.
This would be the way to give to a beautiful country and leave w/the systems of "pay it forward" intact. With the internet and my friends on the net w/contacts all around the world, Italy being one of them, I would utilize the power of everyone's aid and put the lists together to get this seminar set.
If time allows, several seminars of the same magnitude will be given throughout different places in Italy :)
Thanks Tim :)
--Zach--
I would use 36 extra hours per week to sleep more. I have great dreams so more sleep would increase the chance of having more life-fulfilling and exciting dreams. I would write them down and publish on my blog. This project would improve the world since when I am not sleeping I am very boring person so my family and friends will be happy during these extra 36 hours per week.
Since I am from Poland (which - according to CIA is not a part of the USA) I understand that I am not in danger of winning a trip around the world. I hate travelling since it decreases the time that I can spend sleeping.
Best regards,
TesTeq
PS. While not sleeping I've read the 4HWW book. The methods described in the book make it possible to significantly increase my sleeping time. Thank you.
* Join and work at the TechShop, a membership-based machine shop in Menlo Park, CA
* Set myself an inventions quota, like Thomas Edison
* Organize weekly "build sessions" where my brilliant friends could come build prototypes of these inventions with me
* Market these inventions diligently - using the great ideas in the book!
* Set up production of the successful ones and invest the profits in more prototypes, rewarding my friends for their effort, and building up more design resources.
* Sneak into and audit lots of classes at Stanford and Berkeley to draw inspiration
* Still have time to commute by bicycle to all these activities
* Develop an online design community to enable this in more places and for more people around the world, by supporting the specific type of communication the design process requires.
Until then, with an extra 0 hours a week, I *will*:
* Do most of the above on the bus commute to work
* Set a slightly smaller inventions quota
* Read books to continue my education
* Bicycle during my lunch break
* Meet with my friends over Skype
* Share my work on my blog
So either way, things should be fun. But I sure would like 36 more hours of it each week, so I’d better go finish the book now.
I must check out "A Map for Saturday"
Answer =
I don’t need an extra 36 hours a week. What I need is a clue about how to use the time I’ve got—I work from home part-time while taking pre-MBA classes. Here’s the rub: the only things that really matter to me right now are: 1) money; 2) travel; 3) clothes; and 4) helping people. Obviously, money is the facilitator, which is why it ranks first. I don’t need money to help people, but I lack the energy (business school prep is draining) and the inspiration (my nose is firmly lodged up my derriere) to do so. I have been increasingly disillusioned with my quality of life, but I can’t bring myself to surrender myself to “the man� in exchange for a bigger paycheck.
So I have the four-hour work week, (actually mine is more like ten), but I don’t have the profit-making machine to support the “impossible dream.� But if I had the energy and the resources, I would:
 Read all the books on my hit list, including the Bible
 Attend a wellness retreat featuring detox, yoga, and meditation
 Spend some time learning about the world’s religions
 Learn a language (or three)
 Get someone (preferably male and hot) to teach me a Latin dance because I’m an ass-shaker at heart
 Have some flattering professional photos taken ‘cuz when I’m 95, I want to look back and think, “Damn, I was fine.�
 Figure out a way to provide adequate mental health care to vets returning from Iraq. I suspect it comes down to leveraging existing resources. For example, why can’t pre-existing mental health hotlines screen vets and refer them based on a triage system to non-military institutions like universities and teaching hospitals?
To recap, I am a 30-year old with a bruised sense of agency trying to figure out how to “be� and to “do� in the purest sense. I’ve asked that question before and was happy with the answer. But I’m ready to ask again and get a different one. Ain’t that what life’s about?
All of this changed when a professor in college taught me the power of passive income and taking control of your own destiny. Learning to become self-reliant, the power of time, and being creative in financing your lifestyle was the overall message.
Because of my professor’s impact on my life, I would use 20 of my 38 hours to teach high school part-time in personal finance (a much-needed addition to every high school’s curriculum). I have a background in personal finance and would educate students not only on financial basics, but help to dispel the myth of the “perfect job�.
The other 18 hours I would use to take cooking classes, get back in shape, and read the literary classics that I have always put off.
I have always dreamed of going back to Romania. I was there in 1995 for 2 years. During that time I gained a love for the Romanian people and the place they call home.
This is a country that is still behind the rest of the world by at least 10-20 years. Parts of the country even make you feel you are back in the days of Robin Hood. In the mountains during the summer, there is no better place to be. The rolling green hills hit the steep rocky Carpathian Mountains. Around every corner are villages with cobble stone streets and little old ladies carrying groceries from the local market. It is by far one of the most beautiful places in the world.
They also have many orphans and abandoned children. Mostly because their families can't keep them nor do they have the means to. I am a father of three. My oldest daughter is 5. The next daughter is 3 (has Wolf - Hirschhorn syndrome, makes life an adventure by it’s self). The youngest being my 3 month old son. I want my family to visit heaven on earth. It changed my life dramatically to see what we have and what we take for granted. I want my family to experience even a glimmer of this. To spend time in the orphanages and to just give them what most of these kids need, Love.
This is just one of the many things my family and I are planning to do with our new life. Reading your book has opened my eyes to be able to fulfill all the many small and wonderful dreams that most might think trivial.
All we have in life is our experiences and the people we share them with.
Thanks again,
Austin
Loved the book! 4-Hour
Workweek We were both born in the right year for sure '77 rocks!
After reading your book I've found myself awakened to the NR
lifestyle, and certainly intend to achieve it double or nothing boom or bust.
So How I would use 36 extra hours per
week? <<And don't go Simon Cowell on me. j/k :)>>
The Focus must be two-fold:
1. I'd do really low-level multi-tasking
which would entail working on myself by becoming a better person and helping
others experience what I have experienced as you cannot lead anyone where you
are not first going yourself.
2. Become more culturally aware and
appreciative of what others do outside of the US of A. This would entail making
unforgettable friends tied to unforgettable memories doing unforgettable things
for the benefit of all involved. There are fun things to do everywhere.
3. I would like to create a residual income
that helps others achieve the NR lifestyle obviously adding to the ranks
of an already existent Global Network of friends who live their dreams and help
others achieve theirs.
How would this be achieved?
1. Involvement in activities that change lives...while enjoying improvement
of myself....those I work with directly benefit as I would seek to help
2. Mutual giving, mentoring, leading and otherwise forging a path of
lifelong friendships
3. Expert involvement is good. Tim what are you thoughts on the matter???
Closing Remarks
I don't intend to be the last in achieving the NR Lifestyle because it
was never my intention.
Now let me be the first to have caught the eye with these cool techniques.
And if I could do it again? Let it be said...
"Tim, I'd be you, but in my own way making it me, excited and while
seeing it happen."
Many Thanks, Tim
Ian Hudson
"Never stop..never give up...never take no for an answer."
Hell, I'd join anyway..find a way...do it! Don't take no for an answer. Why should you be excluded?!
Make some new rules. Push on.
Best wishes for a happy outcome!
Chuck
One of my jobs is teaching in an outreach program that offers free university-level classes to the poor and the working poor. It’s no secret that students from the lowest income brackets face the biggest challenge when it comes to higher education. Not only do they lack financial resources, but they often also lack knowledge of basics, like what it means to be a student, what it means to have an opinion and be heard – to be counted in society. With my 36 hours, I’d like to expand our classes and eventually teach overseas as well as at home – to help provide education (and empowerment) to the poor all over the world. I would help students gain the confidence to write, use their voices, and tell their stories. Someday I would also like to learn to speak Farsi, master tae kwon do, and eat kimchi in the middle of the night on a heated floor in Korea. I’ll start with one plan, though. I’ll start by sharing what I love to do with people who need education, inspiration, and the encouragement to speak and be heard.
I’ll spend the next few years on the engineering campuses of universities in 6 different countries: Japan, Germany, China, India, Uganda, and the Philippines. I wouldn't be studying in them; I'd be studying them, immersing myself into the local cultures of making.
It's the beginning of a quest to turn people into hackers (definition 7) and hackers into teachers; first I need to learn about how hackers are made (and why they aren't - as a disabled minority female from the developing world in open-source engineering, I want to level the playing field until people like me are not an anomaly).
I'll shoot documentaries (making my first now) and write blogs, books, and research journals about engineering education (a woefully underexplored subject) and teach classes (on local campuses, open to all) on open-source hardware, software, and content development. Everything will be released under an open license; much will feed into the curriculum and library work I'm already doing for the OLPC project.
A special focus of my open-source hardware design will be devices that can be used by the handicapped but aren't "made for the handicapped" - bluetooth headsets as hearing aids, webcams as pointers, making devices for everyone that just happen to be assistive for the few who need it. Growing up severely hearing-impaired, I shunned gadgets that marked me as deaf. Now an engineer, I want to create devices without stigma and release the technologies into the public domain.
I would train my speech (muffled from 19 years with poor aural feedback) so I can teach clearly. I'd learn jazz piano (I play classical), and cooking chemistry. I'd sit in the shade with a lemonade and a friend, talking about learning and life - and then plunge back in to live it.
If I was already doing all but the travel as a full-time student, what more could I do with another 36 hours a week? I’m finding out right now.
Spending 15 - 20 mins a day on a walk with my dog with be a good start to spending the extra 36 hours.
Then building a better relationship with my girlfriend would be a high priority, seeing how I would like to propose this year but haven't due to not being able to give her the attention and time she deserves. Simply driving to spend the day at the beach with her is something we both love and haven't been able to do in a long time.
My Family, as myself, my brother and sister all have been moved out of our parents house for a while now we don't spend as much time together. Cooking a weekly meal at my home for all of us to get together would be great. Having the extra time would allow me to re-ignite my passion for cooking and get some more quality time with my family. Everyone loves a free meal, especially my family!
Last but not least, I would spend the extra time on myself. One would be to go sky diving for the first time. Due to running my business taking off work a day to go sky diving has been impossible. Also learn either Muay Thai or Boxing would be a new daily ritual. Both of these activities would add some exercise, socialization and a much needed adrenaline rush. The Italian culture and history has always fascinated me. To help stimulate the mind I would like to take history lessons about ancient Rome and Italy, and to take Italian lessons. Once I get my muse going, take a mini retirement to Italy.
Travel. "Great", you say, "Join the other 1,246 comments that say they will travel too". So this is where your "Do The Opposite!" comes in:
Instead of traveling to fully submit myself into native cultures, (which is also awesome), my trip would be focused on the travelers themselves. Why not explore what brings people to travel? It is a very esoteric thing that many say you can not describe... but what if you could?
"Thousands of people from thousands of backgrounds who are all traveling -- for what? Lets find out."
Quick Logistics:
/MEET one hundred different people.
/SPEND QUALITY time with them.
/FIND and POST key questions/answers via different media/technology vehicles (Podcasts, Blogs, etc).
Automation Concept:
/Each traveler is asked to fill out a simple fill in the blank letter (think motivational "mad libs"), as well as some open ended stuff to share anything.
/They are then put to the challenge to meet 5 other travelers and present them with letters, so on and so forth.
/This will enable to remove myself while continuing the concept.
Improve The World in Some Way or This Is Where We Have Some Fun Section:
/Completed letters get exchanged between different people who have filled out a letter themselves - inspiration/perspectives/etc.
/Mailed to people thinking about traveling that signed up on the corresponding blog - this should give them that extra push.
/Selected letters get scanned and made into a travel book.
/Money can be pledged or donated within the letter for social/environmental causes.
/Commitments can be pledged based on the individuals dreams in life. That letter gets put in a self addressed envelope and mailed 1 year later to see the outcome. Receiving a piece of mail that you wrote to yourself can be pretty powerful and a nice kick in the but to re-access how well things are moving.
This little experiment will help the traveler decide what he/she wants out of a trip and then continually motivate them to get it.
If I had 36 hrs extra per week I would follow through a series of different ideas that extend from the girl geek dinners and get the concept into schools, colleges and universities around the world as a way of educating, encouraging and extending the technological environment.
I would also finish some software projects that I've always wanted to persue and spend more time with like minded innovative people. I would also dedicate more time to climbing and increase my flexibility and strength for the sport through gymnastics and yoga.
I look at my fellow travelers and a sad feeling comes over me. They are trapped in the miserable lives they always dreamed of. The man getting his shoes shined stares out the window. His face emotionless, his eyes glazed over. I imagine he is telling himself for the millionth time, "Just six more years and I can retire. Then my wife and I can see the world." He has thought this for over thirty years and it shows.
I am not a 4-hour purist. I work about eight hours a week, but I choose to because I can. Choice is freedom. Freedom from the fear that if we don't assimilate the world will leave us behind. Good riddance world.
I have given the book to every friend and client. Each takes something unique, a piece big or small, that is changing their lives. Most are skeptical because of the title. I tell them that for many, 4HWW will be a state of mind. I ask them, What if you worked four hours less a week, what could you gain? The principles of the book are sound and can be embraced on many levels.
I am changing the world as a 4HWW Evangelist. This is my job. I carry a book with me and have a stack at home. I give it away to anyone with an open mind. I encourage you all to share your new found joy with others; using Tim's passion which bleeds through on every page. Be a NR and bring as many people along as possible.
My flight is boarding and I must go. I take a book over to the man with newly shined shoes. "Here you go my friend, this is for you." Written inside the cover a message, "May you live such a life."
So to answer the question, I would use the extra 36 hours to refine my craft of managing my time, business, finances and future better. From there I would finish helping my friends get started and my family to restart. Lastly I’d extend what I’ve come to know by setting up a program through Metropolis St. Louis (www.mstl.org), the volunteer organization I have joined since becoming an entrepreneur. I certainly can’t teach these tools the way they have been taught to me, but I can be the catalyst that introduces people to a whole new way to live their life. Although it’s only one small step, this will certainly be a long-time goal fulfilled of mine and another effort to make the world a better place.
After reading your book I had to think what sounded fun to me. It's interesting because growing up my hobbies were spread across several main ones: computer programming, math problems, and piano playing. That's interesting because I make a living programming computers now, although the fun parts generally come from my own personal projects rather than my for-pay jobs. Growing up I also got to experience spending extended time on a cabin in the rocky mountains, going hiking, reading for fun, etc.
My dream life has always been aligned closely with your book -- being able to work fewer hours, and live in a serene location such as a mountain or by a lake, and using the spare time to enjoy nature by hiking, reading while laying in a hammock out on the deck, or going fishing. Of course, this hinges on living in such an area, which is now my goal for the next few years.
In the short term, I tend to be playing the piano more in my spare time, tackling harder songs than I have ever been able to play (such as Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody). I've began a workout schedule as well, and I'm beginning to read more in my spare time. Additionally though, my hobby of programming has become fun again in my spare time, and I would love to contribute to some open source projects that interest me -- give something back. If I had more hours, I've been really want to take up playing golf several times a week -- walking 18 holes on courses in the area, then the world.
And beyond that, the most important hobby of them all: exploring new hobbies. After all, when you haven't had enough free time to devote to hobbies, you're going to need more to fill the time.
Thank you again for the great book. Even if I don't win this contest, it has had a huge impact on me already.
Tell them they can do anything. Plant the seed that makes them keep questioning everyhing before social conditioning does its damage.
Thank you Tim.
I've written about 200 pages so far of The Next Great American Novel. I really need more spare time to finish my novel before I forget what it's all about. The novel is a murder mystery set in a new age community trying to craft a better society and a happier, more enlightened populace.
The other project, which I've been working on for years, is developing human-like artificial intelligence for computers. With 36 extra hours per week I could finally get working the different systems needed to give my AI self-awareness, emotions, natural language and motivation. I have a basic prototype which can somewhat understand English and give English responses, but it needs a lot more work. Once complete, it could be used for a variety of tasks, including language translation, search engine enhancement, automated help systems, non-player game characters, and personal companion, but my main goal is to use it as a test bed for exploring how people think and what changes to their thought process can improve their lives.
Currently I work full time as a games designer so I can pay the bills, support my family and send my daughter to college. 36 extra hours a week would let me complete these two projects, which I hope would be of benefit to others.
With a DEAL in place, I have a team consisting of VA's, attorneys, and a few other contacts. My DEAL allows me to continuously generate new ideas, products, and product/service improvements. My ideas would be submitted to my team who would then apply for patents (as needed), setup distribution, manufacturing, marketing, support, and sales, etc. I just created a DEAL from a DELA, providing with me 36 extra hours per week while getting paid!
Being able to think openly and creatively without a constant bombardment of misinformation and interruption is invaluable. I am always thinking of new products and innovations but FEAR, irritants, and useless obstacles seem to get in the way. After reading 4HWW, I finally completed and filed my first patent application.
The extra time allows me to take mini-vacations which would fulfill FIVE (5) purposes:
1) To explore remote places and free my mind
2) To meet and understand different people and their cultures
3) Try one new thing at each location (recently, while traveling, I flew a trike)
4) Provide shoes to people all over the world. I enjoy running and my old running shoes can be used by people in other countries. I'm also sure that other runners have multiple pairs of unused shoes in their closets.
5) Spend time with my wife as she studies Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) to become a certified instructor and yoga studio owner. We just started doing Bikram a month ago and I still can’t do half the poses correctly!
If I won the grand prize, I would have a VA or BootsnAll plan the entire adventure. I would spend the two hours with Tim butt-kicking me until my DNA was branded with 4HWW. I would give $500 to The Nature Conservancy (Discovery Planet Earth) and $500 to CCFA.
When I asked her why she continued to ask me that question every night she answered, "Because Saturday is the only day we spend time together."
It broke my heart. I was a corporate slave focused more on my job than my family.
I quit my six figure executive level job and launched my website www.everydayissaturday.com.
Although I am not stuck in the rat race per se, I have been working tirelessly on my new motivational website and would love to take a well-deserved trip with my wife and three daughters.
The people we would bless with our testimony of overcoming fear and adversity would help encourage champions everywhere to live the life they love. Once they hear the story of an ex-stutterer turned motivational speaker, who grew up without a father, now being a full-time father - it will motivate them to defend their dream.
I would donate the money to our local Cincinnati child abuse center. Angela and I have a passion for children and want to see every child given the opportunity to live a life of abudance and prosperity.
Thank you,
Sam Crowley
I did want to respond to "Tayo" with the "bruised sense of agency." Girlfriend, you do not need to be rich or have 36 hours a week to make a huge difference in this world. Do something super small like volunteer one hour every two weeks tutoring a kid or washing shelter animals, or pick up groceries for an older neighbor, or take an animal to visit an old folks home. Once you see the high impact of your small actions, you will be unstoppably motivated to contribute in a bigger way.
Contributing to the world in a positive way could look like some of my high-impact project fantasies, but it can also be as simple as living with integrity, meaning; integrating your values into your everyday living. (First, and also motivating, you need to take the time to get really clear about your values.) Again, you can find the motivation to do this by starting small and seeing a big impact. Buying local, organic food is a great way to start living with integrity if you value entrepreneurship, pleasure, health, sustainable living, and a better environment. (One of many low-energy life-style changes that offer a big impact.)
Back later with some of my plans for thoroughly enjoying myself as I make the world a better place.
I want to either change to a year round school or home school. That gives us more opportunities to travel (2-3 week blocks). I want to pick up my kids from school and work with them on their homework. It is not the quality but quantity that counts. Stop the video games/TV and play outside. Work in the garden or flowerbeds. Spend time with older ones and help them with their needs. Teach them to be productive responsible people not just consumers.
Part of that training is to travel and experience other cultures. Learn to think global. Learning how others live can help make wiser decisions, for us and them. Most people just focus on the 30 miles around them. Notice how people who travel can be more tolerant? Their horizons are widened when they see how things can be good and different.
I want to share in the missionary work with my children. Religion is not just doctrine. Teaching people how to be honest, hardworking, moral, clean and responsible is valuable everywhere you go. Be an example and model for other religions to get along with each other. Reach people’s hearts and amazing things can happen.
I want to teach people how to start internet/outsourced businesses. I will start with my family and friends. As I travel setup small business seminars in those countries. Find serious minded ones and teach them one-one-one and trade out something of value to me (language lessons, tour guide, etc). In many parts of the world, there is a shortage of local jobs. Helping others creates a purpose in life and that is a life-time job.
a. Take my wife to Egypt and satisfy her fascination with the pyramids and the Pharaohs - I'd at least go to Philly to show her the King Tut exhibit in September.
b. Take my son (who coaches youth ice hockey) to Calgary to visit coach Tom Molloy of Mount Royal College Women's Ice Hockey. Tom co-wrote a book - THE book - on progressive instruction of youth ice hockey players.
c. Take my daughter to Mexico (she's a high school Spanish teacher) so she could immerse herself more in the language to improve her fluency.
d. I'd go back to college and finish my degree (22 hours shy). Just because one day I might like to teach.
e. Clear out the clutter and organize my books (once and for all).
f. Read. I'd even take the time to record my reading aloud so I could replay them for my personal use later. Sort of a double benefit.
g. Visit Denmark and find out why they're the "happiest nation on earth." Duplicate what I can.
h. Lobby hard to attend a TED conference.
i. Visit Karl Fisch at Arapahoe High School in Colorado - famous for the "Did You Know?" slide show - in order to create improvement in local education (some way, some how).
j. Learn more about SEO and other web sciences so I could teach my kids/grandkids.
k. Visit Athletes Performance in Tempe, AZ (Mark Verstegen) with my son for some personal training and knowledge building.
l. Volunteer to read aloud to kids to foster greater love for books/words.
m. Take a Photoshop/Illustrator class so my photography skills could improve (I’ll need it to capture all the cool moments).
o. Visit England to sit down with Charles Handy, the brilliant Irishman.
p. Take my entire family to Kaui - because we all need to see it at least once.
q. Go to Pawnee City, NE to interview Daniel Whitney (aka Larry The Cable Guy)
r. Smile - a lot. Cry - sometimes. Love - more. Laugh - often.
With the time for myself, I would hone my skills as a linguist, a speed reader, and a writer. With these extra hours, I would learn to speak Spanish, Hebrew, and Japanese fluently by taking advantage of free resources for language learning, as well as practicing with native speakers. My English reading rate would increase to the point where I understand and enjoy at least 1 new book per week. I would also write every day, with the eventual goal of making myself a published author.
The family time would be further divided as follows. For my infant son, Ethan, I would simply spend time bonding with him by playing and caring for him. For my toddler, Colin, I would get him involved in his first organized sports, and finally take him to swimming lessons. And for my Mother, I would help her write her memoirs, so that the memories she has left now never leave us. I would like to increase my contact with my extended family and build upon the Genealogy research that others have already begun.
The hours for my community would be spent in three different ways. First, as I am a recovered alcoholic, I would finally have the opportunity to properly sponsor another recovering alcoholic who is early in their recovery. I would also find opportunities to volunteer with charities that promote literacy and that encourage research into a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, specifically First Book and the Alzheimer’s Association. I would offer them my time and talent for fund raising.
By bettering myself, I become more valuable to my family and to the community at large. I believe that by seeking self fulfillment, we not only enrich our own lives but also the lives of everyone with whom we come into contact.
Growing up in a very religious home, I was taught that evolution was wrong and evil. I love my parents, but I now realize that their belief that evolution was wrong is simply not relevant to the core convictions of my faith. Unfortunately, as a result of my upbringing, I skimmed over a subject about which I now seem to be extremely passionate: evolutionary biology.
Ironic, isn’t it?
I’ve discovered during the past two-year journey that I must distinguish between convictions and beliefs. Finding common convictions builds community. Focusing on differences in beliefs tears relationships apart.
What I'd do in my current situation
With an extra 36 hours per week, I would do the following:
1. Continue to learn about my passion.
2. Volunteer with local academic biology research projects.
3. Research how other cultures and religions affect the convictions and beliefs of the local population.
4. Based on personal experience and research, start a website aimed at helping people deal with broken beliefs.
5. Given enough info on the topic, write a book.
What I'm going to do when I've implemented the concepts in The 4-Hour Workweek
1. Conduct a long-term extended trip and use the extra 36 hours per week researching the local cultures in person.
2. Mark a few activities off my lifelong goals list, such as the following:
a. Hot-air ballooning with my wife over Tuscany in Italy.
b. Hang-gliding in Greece.
c. Snowboarding till I drop in Davos, Switzerland.
d. Horse-riding in northeast Spain.
Thanks
Not only for the content, but for the book. It's changed my lifestyle.
For the purpose of this essay, I am going to assume that I have achieved the extra 36 hours per week by implementing the concepts in your excellent book, including creating a muse to meet my Target Monthly Income. As a quick aside, I'd like to note the greatest change the book wrought in my mindset: recognition of excessive reading as a crutch activity - something I've used to avoid spending time on creative pursuits while still congratulating myself for being "intellectual".
With my new 36 hours per week, I will immediately take a structured approach to mastering the three creative skills that interest me most: playing guitar, building Web applications, and writing. These will consume 2-5 hours per day. Another 2-3 hours per day would go towards eustress for the body: starting with my current favorites (swimming, strength training, and snowboarding) and adding others that I *must* explore while still in my physical prime (surfing, kitesurfing, mountain biking, extreme snowboarding). Because my muse will allow me freedom of movement, I will explore these in their prime global locations (surfing in Hawaii and Costa Rica, snowboarding in British Columbia and the Andes, for example). On these travels, I will write about them, enjoy their wines and delicacies, and continue to improve my guitar skills with the goal of publishing a travelogue and playing in a band within 18 months.
The remaining hours of my week I will spend on: batched errands and muse-related tasks, communicating with friends and family (sending letters to them from abroad would be a great way to kick-start my writing habit), and, finally, a bit of fiction reading -- which is still a love of mine but will now be a relaxing leisure activity and not a proxy for bold living.
With the Four Hour Work Week Plan, it is my goal to fund a life of following my passions and leading/mentoring others to do the same. I choose to lead my life, not follow it. So, for me, this book is helping me live a life of integrity and accountability.
As a creative person, I choose to take control of my life and how I contribute my skills and talents. I choose to change my life so that I always will have the ability to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to me. I choose to create a life of options.
With the extra 36 hours per week I will live a life of following my passions, for example:
I want to compose music and create musical/visual productions that transform audiences to higher levels of consciousness and awareness.
I want to seek out ways to bring performing arts organizations and corporations together, creating new products/productions that will contribute to both organizations fruitfully while improving the lives of its audiences/markets.
I want to visit the major concert halls of the world.
I want to learn how to play bagpipes in Scotland!
I want to play an Alphorn on the slopes of the Alps!
All of my experiences will have the goal of expressing myself more fully and bringing that awareness into my leading others towards their own acceptance and expression of themselves.
All this is do-able. I have a Masters in Counselling and my wife has a degree in Biology. We adopted our three daughters who are the offspring of Cambodian war refugees. We are extremely blessed! I don’t want the kids to get the wrong idea that the world is just there for the fortunate to exploit, though. A life lesson would take place in Africa where my family would see the hardships that nations are suffering. We would commit our talents to a project supported by influential social activist Stephen Lewis (http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/index.cfm... in an orphanage--and teach our children that giving and getting is not a financial transaction.
I write and my wife is a photographer, so we would document our adventures and sell how-to-books to others interested in “educating� their children (and themselves) this way. I bet I could even convince school divisions to invite us to be guest lecturers (teleconferencing). Got to pay the bills somehow!
p.s. Not interested in travelling w/out my family, so we will have to negotiate!
I joined the Peace Corps to do something more valuable with my time; does it get more valuable than learning Spanish, living in Guatemala, and teaching health classes to indigenous children for over two years? I know now that it doesn’t.
I returned to the US two years ago determined to get my start in the “real world.� I got my masters in public health, gained $67,000 worth of debt and now sit in an office (40 hours per week) editing emails and memos (six hours per week!) for a health-related government contracting company. At first, I thought that there was something wrong with me. Am I lazy? Incompetent? Why can’t I just settle down and focus? I make good money, working with good people and have a decent commute, so why am I not happy at all? Then, I read this book.
I know now that I am too efficient and productive for my job!? I get done in 6 hours what others spend all week working on. I want out. People were telling me that Peace Corps was a great idea, because now I "got it out of my system.� I didn’t know it then, but it accomplished exactly the opposite. I am inspired. With an extra 36 hours per week, I would study Portuguese and French. I would choose an international, non-profit organization (Save, IRC, etc) and volunteer, fulfilling my passion for travel and my desire to help. In particular, I would love to work with an organization that focuses on the health and well-being of refugees and victims of torture, domestically and abroad. With the extra time, I would take photography classes, as well, and document my adventures to inspire those who need a little (or not so little) encouragement to get involved. Finally, aside from offering what I have to give, I want to learn something of the local culture wherever I end up: weaving in Guatemala, Flamenco dancing in Spain, organic farming in New Zealand, meditation in India, herbal remedies in China…I can’t wait!
1. Be where I am and encourage people around me to be where they are. Cellphones, computers, etc. remove me from where I am; or, they leave me sitting lonely next to someone I'd like to be talking to at a cafe.
2. Find ways to diffuse the concentration of money that is currently held in the hands of the few. A four hour work week is possible for everyone is capital is freed and then smartly organized.
3. Sex. But not some tantric self-enriching yoga kind of sex. Real sex, the kind you brag about to your friends years later or think about during the four hours you're supposed to be working.
4. Continue persistence. I will always continue my beliefs, everyday, but doing what I have decided I believe in. Voting for third parties, bicycling to work everyday, being friendly to people, using my opportunities to give other people opportunity. Travel and enjoying people.
5. Educate myself. I'd treasure an hour to find out where the things come from. Where the food I eat is grown, the name of the bay the fish I eat is caught at, where the clothes I wear are made, etc. This is the best way to expore the world.
If I had 36 free hours per week, I'd study the lexical similarities across the world's 6,000 languages, to see for myself if they all really come from a single source, as linguists like Greenberg and Ruhlen claimed.
Btw, I won't wait until I have that much free time: I've seriously started already, I'm progressing alright, and I'm cross-checking the validity of my approach with professional linguists.
And that's good, 'cause I'll never win your prize, since I'm Italian - but rules are for bending, right?
Anyways, I`m belgian (a.k.a. european) and so by default excluded from the contest. Which is a pitty. So maybe, If I think about it again, in that free time, I`d strive for a more logical, open and equal world, as a mere extension of what I already find important.
Good luck guys, cause the idea is very nice anyways!!
If I had an extra 36 hours per week, I would want to be an intrepid explorer-a modern day Ponce de Leon- studying the world’s longest living people. I
would visit and learn from these fascinating people as a physician and a
scientist. I would bring this information back to the American people who
so desperately need it. Unraveling the secrets of healthy aging is key to overcoming the health care crisis that faces American society today.
Can you believe that it is predicted that for the first time in modern history our children will have a life expectancy that will be shorter than our own and
be worse in quality of life? Is this the legacy that we want to pass on to our
youngest who hold the future in their hands? This is due to lifestyle choices
leading to an epidemic rate of childhood obesity and diseases that occur later on in life like Type 2 Diabetes, Cancer, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Heart Disease, etc., Studies have shown that lifestyle choices account for over 70% of how well we age.
With an extra 36 hours per week I would visit the following places where people live significantly longer, healthier and happier lives:
*Okinawa, Japan
*Sardinia, Italy
*Australia- the aborigines are the oldest surviving culture in the world
*Loma Linda, California- home of the longest lived US based population and where I was blessed to be able to live and study medicine for four years
and begin my quest for knowledge about longevity and preventive medicine.
The best way to meld my newly found knowledge with my experiences as a preventive medicine physician would be to author a book. I would present and promote my experiences and let each and every person know that they can live a significantly longer, healthier and happier life and pass this legacy on to their children.
With 36 free hours per week I would indulge my greatest passion - making theater. When I graduated college in 1994, I landed a dream job – working as choreographer Merce Cunningham’s assistant. I traveled the world for four years, longing for a time where I could produce my own work in this amazing world.
I left Merce’s company in 1998, and began producing my own work while working 40-hour weeks in a highly stressed corporate environment. I acquired debt to purchase costumes, pay performers and rent space. I was so stressed for money that I burnt out in 2002 and have been laboring in the same job since wondering “what am I going to do with my life??�
The good news is that I have an online business which is growing and I am nearly out of a $30K hole. I will leave my job come December when I will be completely clean of debt, and my online income will surpass my living needs. There will be extra that I can use to produce my work.
I believe there is a great service opportunity with theater. My work is a blend of performance and dance which translates across borders. I want to take my work into war-torn, strife-filled regions, to facilitate cultural exchange and artistic reconstruction (these regions would have recently emerged from conflict, not active war zones). The proceeds from the performances would go to rebuilding dance studios, cinemas, theaters, poetry cafes, concert halls etc – allowing for a sense of normalcy and culture to return.
Part of my interest in theater is to understand and incorporate many differing cultural traditions into my worke. Should I win your trip, I would travel to India to study the Terrukuttu performances native to the villages. These shows are vignettes taken from the extraordinary epic “The Mahabharata�. I seek to understand these ancient performance styles, and allow them to thematically, stylistically and even (dare I say it) mystically, inform the work I do.
How would that help the world? One particular issue I would explore is how communities make decisions. In my experience, decision making (and acting on those decisions) is the single hardest aspect of making community work. By writing about different techniques of decision making across cultures, I hope to add to the understanding of how to communicate and create better communities.
What would I do with an extra 36 hours???
As a result, of chasing more money (and doing it on my own) and realizing that God hasn't yet created a clock with more hours for the 'busy'. The book has shocked me like a taser back into my utopian ideal, I know I have the power to control... Because, as we would all agree - time has a way of quickening after grade school, and you realize that each day races by in a blur sometimes.
So, not if... but when I create this extra 36 hour pocket of time - I would:
1. Spend more time playing with my little niece (4) and nephew (2) - I learn more from them than most anyone else.
2. Not only learn the Tango... but like yourself, Tim, actually compete in a competition. Because I always try harder when there's a goal.
3. Talk to my Mom and Dad more and learn even more about their past and my past...
4. These extra hours would actually allow me to not only look but hopefully develop an amazing relationship with a special woman I could marry...(to be continued someday)
5. That would be enough... because if I learned anything from the book. Cramming isn't success! Besides - those 4 things would make me a very wealthy man.
What would I do on my trip?
Finally, be able to go and visit the 2 kids I've sponsored through Christian Children's Fund (great non-profit! They don't preach the religion, they just help.) I've planned 2 other trips to Ghana to see Afilua and Abdullah before but cancelled, because of client conflicts.
I'd bring over stacks of coloring books and picture books for them - and sit down to color or draw with them...when you don't speak the language, pictures are the next best thing.
Than I would go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, and stand at the top with a sign that said, "Thank You Tim Ferris and 4 Hour Work Week"
Well there you go... thanks for the opportunity to participate!
If I had another 36 hours per week, I would use them as follows:
4 hours: finalize my wedding plans and devote care and attention to all detail until Sep 29th, the big day!
3 hours: split in 1.5 hrs each for two extra long work-outs in the gym or pool per week
3 hours: cook a super-fine meal once a week for us and/or invite friends over to enjoy together
(only up to 10 hrs now!)
3 hours: split in 1.5 hrs, perfect my French conversation skills, read in French news and write a few e-mails in French to practice
1 hour per day (7hrs): stroll around town (Zurich, Switzerland) in areas that I have not yet explored, take pictures, write notes on restaurants, shops, cafés
3 hours: write a travel story based on walks around town
(only up to 23 hrs, 13hrs to go)
3 hours per week: volunteer in a care home or help someone study a language (I speak a few...)
1 hour per week: call friends that I have not talked to
5 hours per week: coach someone or offer extra hypnotherapy sessions
and finally :-)
4 hours: Paint, paint, paint, take pictures of my paintings, post them on the web and sell them via my new webshop (under construction).
That's it...wow that's a lot.
Can't participate in the competition anyway but it's a great exercise.
Have fun and enjoy.
Daniela
Zurich, Switzerland
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On my first and only trip to Laos in which I stayed 1 week I was introduced to a countless number of dishes that I have never seen in the U.S. These recipes have not been documented in any English cookbooks and have a very slim chance of ever being passed on. During this trip I learned how important food is to the Lao people, it is not just something to eat, preparing and eating food is a social event that helps unite the community and build bonds from one generation to the next. It was amazing to see the little kids preparing vegetables, the teenagers working the mortar and pestle, the adults cooking noodles over a coconut husk powered flame, and the senior citizens plating the delicious food for all to eat.
If I had 36 extra hours per week I would return to Laos with my wife and work to construct a cookbook that would be the most complete digest of Lao cooking. I would document recipes from each region of the country, from the street vendors, from family dinners, the temples, and from restaurants. I would document the recipes with photos and interview the people to provide information on the cultural aspects and history of each dish. The book would work to preserve the culinary heritage of Lao people for generations to come and would provide not only Lao-Americans but anybody in America with the opportunity to prepare a piece of Lao culture in their own home.
Western culture is driven by fear, Oriental, including Japan by the feeling of shame. One has a fear of unknown or death; another has a fear of shame that this moment won’t be beautiful. It will take me more then 36 hours a week to challenge my fears, but 36 hours would be a good start.
I have always loved astronomy. It was my hobby for many years and then one day I woke up and thought that I cannot touch anything I see and it made me sad. And then I thought that it would be so great to touch as many things as I can and not just dream about it.
I always thought about owning a tiny submarine or being able to dive to at least half a mile holding my breath. Touch as many things as you can even if it means kicking your behind for 6 hours out of 36 to get moving.
-My folks will only be happy if I’m happy!
Let's do a little calculation. The value of the round-trip ticket: $5000. If it's more, it doesn't matter, as you'll see. 50 weeks per year at 36 hours per week would be worth $5000 if your annual salary were just over $5500.
If your salary is $50K (a more reasonable estimate, I bet) then 6 weeks of 36 extra hours per week would be worth more than $5000.
The real prize on offer here is the 36 hours per week, not the airfare. That's just Tim's trick to get you to try out his methods. And they're open to everyone, even those from outside the USA.
I have recently learned on this journey of life that if I make my life richer, I also make the world richer. I have not lived by that precept to this point. I have slaved and driven myself and am now learning how to relax. The importance of this is brought home by the fact that I have already out lived both my father and my brother. There is a devine karma involved here.
Time is not free as it cannot be recovered once it is spent, so it behooves me to have a Plan of Action.
I will benefit by having a richer and fuller life which will make this world a richer place.
1) My family will benefit by my increased involvement. This especially includes my two daughters and my grandson.
2) My friends will benefit by having me to mentor them to help achieve the same lifestyle. We would go to a fine restaurant each week to eat great food and make great plans by which a 4 hour workweek can be achieved for them.
3) I will persue my creative desires of song writing and script writing.
4) I will be in a better position to help those who need help.
5) I would document via the net my specific plan of action to achieve the Dream in my life to encourage others to Dare the Dream.
My trip will be a recorded video documentary to be published on the net about the freedom and riches to be had by brave people daring to live the dream. I would drink a margarita in Cabo as the sun sets in the pacific and I would drink a great scotch in Scotland while smoking a fine cuban cigar.
And I will raise a toast to Tim Ferriss!
I can say that the first 25 hours that I have extra will be spent with my family. These additional hours would be spent taking care of my wife’s pregnancy example 17 hours between doctor visits and getting to know my daughter better Chuck Cheese, Disney World, finding great places to eat out while mommy is busy and being a human versus in a hurry to get somewhere else. The observation is I enjoy spending time with my family and would enjoy the additional time with my family.
The next seven hours will be spent on organizing a business (which consists of 11 properties that I purchased starting in January 2007) that I started. This organization would be to ensure cash flow is positive to start taking some more time off my career-job (Lockheed Martin) to spend with family and start a hobby (writing for a living). The observation is that the additional hours not spent working for Lockheed will be spent to ensure that I have money to commit to my family and community (Donating money and time PBS, Walk a-thons).
Final four hours I plan to start exercising again. I started exercising in August 2006 and then stopped do to Gym disagreements on payments. I have purchased some weights and walk at least a few hours a week, however I would like to spend these four hours working out to get into a shape that my wife would like to see me nude in. The observation is I was working on this when I allowed other people to get in the way.
Final observation is with an additional 36 hours in my life I would spend it with the ones I love and work to ensure that they are taken care of while making a better community.
With an intense desire to create a program that would help people help themselves, I went to sleep a few weeks ago meditating on a possible solution. The next day, I awoke with the concept for a competition which with very little dollar investment can reap huge dividends. The ValYOU Freedom Leadership competition is designed to imbue a community with the incentives and self-empowerment to restore dignity and honor. Participants are asked to 1.) Start/Join an action team, 2.) Pick a project designed to tangibly liberate their local community, and 3.) Submit a report of accomplishments before completion deadline (September 1, 2007 - March 1, 2008). I am personally offering a cash prize of $1000 and hope with corporate sponsors and your charitable contribution of $1000 to provide regional prizes. Visit http://www.valyou.org/groups.htm
I am so thrilled that already, people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and even New Zealand want to get involved in the contest. Imagine if we could document meeting some of these people face-to-face. Please thank film maker Brook Silva-Braga in advance for me as I sincerely hope I win this competition and shake his hand for using his talents to help better our world.
Specifically, I would use the extra 36 hours per week to complete the nonsectarian leadership training program I am currently developing for these groups to download and listen to each month. Tim could help teach too! I would be delighted to glean his ideas and consultation input. Together, we can truly help people feel the rewards of global contribution as well as personally design the life they deserve.
A small business pulls folks in developing countries out of poverty and promotes economic growth, which benefits many members of the local community. But many of these small business owners need marketing and business consulting help. They need someone like me, who can brainstorm with them on how to increase their exposure, improve their efficiency and attract loyal, repeat customers.
Imagine a world filled with entrepreneurs at all levels—to do so is to imagine a world one-step freer from poverty. The kiva.org organization inspired me—now I want to take it a step further and help not just with my money, but with my knowledge and experience. My consulting work and marketing advice would be pro bono—my reward would be the world itself—the beaches of Thailand, the villages of Cambodia, the Fale huts of American Samoa.
I'm already living part of my dream. In two months, I will move to Malaysia part-time to create a more fulfilling life. Weekends on tropical islands in luxurious huts that stand over water, and frequent trips to other SE Asian countries is also part of the plan. Along with my husband, I'll travel the region, live a calmer, more peaceful life, and learn what I can about various cultures to help my long-term dream of helping small businesses across the world. But like most people, I need more time. I also need to leverage Tim's knowledge and advice. I believe it's possible to live both an amazingly rich life AND dramatically help others. It's what I am called to do. Winning this contest will help that happen sooner.
With an intense desire to create a program that would help people help themselves, I went to sleep a few weeks ago meditating on a possible solution. The next day, I awoke with the concept for a competition which with very little dollar investment can reap huge dividends. The ValYOU Freedom Leadership competition is designed to imbue a community with the incentives and self-empowerment to restore dignity and honor. Participants are asked to 1.) Start/Join an action team, 2.) Pick a project designed to tangibly liberate their local community, and 3.) Submit a report of accomplishments before completion deadline (September 1, 2007 - March 1, 2008). I am personally offering a cash prize of $1000 and hope with corporate sponsors and your charitable contribution of $1000 to provide regional prizes. Visit http://www.valyou.org/groups.htm
I am so thrilled that already, people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and even New Zealand, want to get involved in the contest. Imagine if we could document meeting some of these people face-to-face. Please thank film maker Brook Silva-Braga in advance for me as I sincerely hope I win this competition and shake his hand for using his talents to help better our world.
Specifically, I would use the extra 36 hours per week to complete the nonsectarian leadership training program I am currently developing for these groups to download and listen to each month. Tim could help teach too! I would be delighted to glean his ideas and consultation input. Together, we can truly help people feel the rewards of global contribution as well as personally design the life they deserve.
If I had 36 extra hours a week, I would have 204 hours a week at my creative use. This would be nice.
I watched a T.V. program today that I do watch frequently. It is a not-for-profit organization that has people travel around the world. Teaching about different cultures and lands. I have always been fascinated by this show and dreamed of traveling with them.
This particular episode was about Ireland. A land filled with mischief, much history and GREAT beauty. Im sure you have been there though and could tell me far more about it than I could you (I look forward to our 2-hour chat about it as this is one place I will be going).
Wtih my extra time I will take the filmmaking courses at www.fullsail.com. After completion I am going to volunteer to work as a film maker for this oranization. I think it is absolutely fantastic and helps people visualize their dreams of traveling abroad(at least I know it does for me).
By the way I am currently learning Home investing from a couple mentors so this goal is not for the purpose of making money. This is for living a dream that I have had since I first saw an episode.
At the same time I will learn many different languages. As you stated learning languages helps us to learn our own language and how we choose to use it in our minds. A Vital key to accomplishing our goals!
This is a wonderful opportunity that your offering to us and I am very grateful. Actually, I have already accomplished these events in my mind and the universe is responding. Thank you in advance for choosing me to take the International trip.
In the words of Topher Morrison,
"Dare to Dream! And Live each day as an Epic Adventure!"
www.tophermorrison.com
Joe Tye said it best,
"Ego seeks security, Soul seeks Adventure."
What would I do with 36 extra hours in a week?
*I would write the book that I have started and am confident would be published. Everyone who I’ve shared it with has said I should write it. Time is all I need.
*I would create free resources for all those seeking to live the 4-Hour Work Week. I’m doing so now, but I would be much more able to do so with 36 hours in a week. I want to FREE people from the rat race.
*I would dedicate my time to a website I have co-created: BuddhistGeeks.com. This site is not about making money, but inspiring people. Of course, it takes time, and time in this society has unfortunately been glued –or so we’ve mistakenly believed- to money.
*I would take care of myself and visit family more often. Oh, and travel, travel, travel.
*350 words cannot contain all that I would want and be able to do and experience:) I thank you for inspiring me to make this a reality.
For those of you in other countries, here's an idea, since I feel badly that I can't offer you this contest for US legal reasons: why not hold your own contest?
If you get some sponsors in your country to offer prizes (like the trip, etc.) and you host the answers/entries on your own site, I'll be happy to link over. It shouldn't cost you anything if you set it up properly. Point out to sponsors that I will help promote.
Go get 'em, and keep the great answers coming!
Thanks to all, and have a wonderful week,
Tim
Without toil, only passion: promote free trade. Also, train people in developing world. Prove more than survival possible and help them to dream.
Be succinct to honor your time.
Fast forward. Jet engines thrusting me back into my seat as I tell myself I'm ready for it all. No turning back. What I could not possibly have known at that moment - is that the next 3 weeks we're going to completely and irreversibly change my outlook on the world and force me to question everything I naively thought I had all figured out back home.
A theme's emerging in nearly every response - everyone believes another day and a half each week will somehow create such balance and spark a new passion for life and learning that there simply isn't time for in a 7 day span. We choose to create time for our passions or we choose to defer them. It's our choice and we affirm it with every new day. Giving you my own ambitious list would just be more of the same – so you won't see it here. It isn't about having more time, it's about what we do with the time we have. I'm 22 years old and not so long ago I felt successful by every measure – until I took myself half way around the world. 3 weeks – 21 days – 500 hours – was all it took to turn 22 years experience into one inescapably humbling question of what the hell I'm actually doing with the 168 hours a week I already have…
…and the answer is to do it all again. Endless global perspective defines the people that shape our world and make it better. I'm ready to jet.
--
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. - H. Jackson Brown
I run a yoga products company and Karma Yoga Journeys, which is a new initiative about to finally make an inaugural journey. I could use some help in working fewer hours as we keep our online businesses going while we travel. I am excited about reading your book to see how it can apply to small businesses.
My plans for this coming year include 5 weeks in India, 5 weeks in Mexico, and 2.5 weeks in St.Lucia. I will be planning more service oriented trips to Latin America, the Caribbean, and South America so that others can experience amazing cultures and sacred site and help in places where help is needed in whatever way the community wants. I want to see this iniative grow.
Personally, with more hours of free time, I plan to do more yoga, read aloud to my son, practice piano, teach a Fantasy Writing and Literature Class to homeschooled kids once again, and study homeopathy to become a certified homeopath. I have long dreamed of bringing health education to developing countries. Knowing more about homeopathy will help me do so. Of course, I will continue to travel with my family and learn about cultures along the way. I will spend more time reading books which is my passion. I will work more at the community organic farm where I already volunteer. I want to get involved with more volunteer work feeding people in the local community by making food for the homeless.
I would be honored to have your assistance in "making it so" as my dream life.
I want to raise a son who shares my passion for travel and life; one who knows that you don't have to be a slave to your desk for 50 years in the hopes that one day there will be enough money in an account to sustain your last 20 years. I want him to grow up with parents who aren't constantly exhausted and stressed.
In expanding my horizons as well as the horizons of my family, I would want to take a piece (or a few) of each culture we visit and bring it back to my community so that other kids can experience it as well. I would love to see the looks on kids' faces when they see a mosquite trapped in amber from the Baltic sea and hear about the trees full of sap that were crushed by glaciers that then melted and formed the Baltic millions of years ago and how the amber washes up on the shore in Gdansk, Poland. Or bring masks from aboriginal cultures how they to this day choose to remain a secluded culture to preserve their way of life.
Be it though a traditional classroom setting or at the local library's story hour, I would love to expose other children to what the world has to offer. Through that exposure, I would hope that their curiosity would awaken and their own desire to travel and explore would come out.
Tim Ferriss made a challenge;
In came the hats through rings,
"If you could work less hours,
How much better could be things?"
"If your work made up four hours
Instead of forty," Tim has said,
"Where might you go; what might you do,
To sate the ideas in your head?"
Only one may win, it's true,
The contest Tim has placed.
This should not bother you, though,
Since the point he makes is great.
If we control our gadgets
Instead of them controlling us,
Oh, what the world could look like!
We should all make quite a fuss!
So in that vein I place
these words upon the the screen.
That since we've not yet conquered space,
This planet must be green:
If I didn't have to work
Forty hours every week,
I would spend time the world over -
To the people I would speak!
My life has most been spent
In practice being green.
The Earth can be quite
Beautiful - wherever it is seen;
Most business only focuses
On profits all the time,
To reach that goal but harm the Earth
Should seem like it's a crime.
There are many many options
That help businesses to make
The money that they need
Without forcing them to take
The things the Earth provides
without giving something back!
Paul Hawkins and The Lovinses,
The Lorax, and Al Gore,
So many different people
The world over say "No More!"
There is no goodly reason
Why we cannot make our dough
While preserving what's important -
so let's work to make it so.
And with the many hours
Tim is helping me to hatch,
I'd like the chance to help the Earth
AND business - BOTH - no catch!
Namaste,
Andrew
So, here's the plan: Purchase or lease an apartment building that supports a minimum of 24 residents. Invited residents would be pulled from the foster care system when they turned 18. They would attend group activities, financial management classes, individual counseling, nutrition and fitness counseling, to include cooking lessons, GED assistance if needed, and college application assistance if needed. They would be given a paid intern position provided by a local corporation (tax deductible to the Corp.).Alternatively, they could attend the vocational school of their choice during their stay with us. They would be allowed to stay for 2 years. At the end of their stay, they would be given the first month and security deposit to get their own apartment, an inexpensive vehicle, and a permanent position with the corporation that they interned with if they have earned it. If for some reason they did not get offered the position, they would be given assistance obtaining full time employment. Naturally, any resident wishing to pursue the Four Hour Work Week lifestyle would be encouraged and mentored towards success.
All of this would be funded and supported through charitable donations and other fund raising activities, such as benefits, as well as government funding if and when we qualified. Counseling would primarily be handled by graduate students under the supervision of local university professors, or by established professionals wishing to do pro bono work. Residents would be required to return regularly and mentor new incoming residents for a period of not less than two years.
I would like to be the YMCA of foster care graduation facilities, at least one in every major city. I was never a foster child, I just can't stand the idea of these people being tossed like refuse. I need a muse business so that my survival does not depend on this project, as I don't expect to draw a salary of any kind for at least the first few years.
My 36 extra hours a week would allow me to help my daughter crack open the great wide wonder of life and help her find the everyday magic that makes life worth living. Facing the reality of our very bad public school district and the fact that private school would be more than our house payment, my “help myself/help the world� opportunity would be having the time and resources to send my daughter to our local public school and invest the money we’d spend on private education for practical purchases such as new books, or art supplies. I could be very involved and nurture the education she would receive and make sure it was everything it could be. Then the trick would be getting all the other parents who send their children to private school to do the same. If every like minded parent took ownership over their local public school, I can’t believe that any of us would have to flee to the alleged superiority of private education. If public schools in my area can be so lax and float on the stream of indifference, then how could they not just as easily be bent to the will of a few motivated parents? I would not be able to change the world, only my daughter’s classroom one year at a time. But if more parents did that, think where our children would be.
So after having a quasi-breakdown that involved hopping on a flight to Spain and living in Seville and then Fez for while, I decided to opt out of law school to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a writer. I started a blog, started querying editors, and established myself as a freelance writer and web media consultant.
So now I’ve solved part of the NR equation – I’ve escaped the 9 to 5 and I can live anywhere with a satellite signal. Granted, I don’t have a 4 Hour Work Week yet, but I’m working on it. However, I don’t view the creative aspects as work, and I’ve definitely mastered the work hard vs. work smart equation (don’t tell my clients!).
First, I would use my extra 36 hours for planning how to take my work on the road, starting with “Dudes Making a Difference� – an organization with the goal is to fund the education of Nepali children. For $800 a year, these kids can go to school – they learn English and have internet access – so teaching them how to use the Internet to their best advantage could have a huge impact. But I’m not completely selfless, however, so while I’m in Nepal I want to climb Everest (to the base camp).
That’s just one example of how I would use my skills - writing, marketing, and internet savvy - to help others to help themselves. It all comes back to the adage - “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.� I might not have tons of cash to donate, but I have my abilities and my time.
I’m not talking about sitting around eating pizza and calling it Italian Night. I’m talking about teaching kids how to become a Citizen of the World.
Forgive me getting all Angelina Jolie on you. But my fellow travel addicts know that feeling when the world suddenly opens up. We feel lost in the sea of cultures yet found in the exploration of them. We no longer feel defined by the designer label on our ass but by our own humanity. We connect. Understand. Travel.
Teens don’t need another mommy/daddy paid trip for a photo op at the Pyramids. They need a real world experience. Given the time, I would love to take what I have learned as a traveler and invest it in today’s teens, showing them how to open the doors to the world.
Hmmm…I wonder if I could do that with 20 hours? Or the 5 extra that I could scrounge up right now. Hey, this is a good idea!
(Angie steps off her soapbox and looks around). I’m ready to get started! Pizza anyone?
If I had 36 more hours per week, I would:
1) Offer Hope. By lending a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on…..at children’s hospitals. Some of our most ailing children need us, even if it is only emotional support. I would seek out area children’s hospitals in visits of hope. It’s a personal mission to help small survivors pull through any pain, to offer love to those hurting most. To gain more than what I could ever hope to give.
2) Bicycle. Not just through my neighborhood, but a leg of the Tour de France. To relive the heroism of Lance or the less notable who finished the fable race. To feel the thighs burn and the calves ache, while experiencing the rolling beauty of rural France. And to end the leg with a celebratory glass of bubbly.
3) Learn to Bake. And not just brownies and cookies. I want to master pastry from the best French culinary chefs in Paris. So I can bring signature beignets, croissants, and other buttery treats to the children and nurses on the hospital hope visits. Plus share the 36 hour workweek with others. I’d call them my “time treats.�
4) Consult with Tim to catch the entrepreneurial spirit to narrow a best fit business opportunity. Over French espresso, we would hash the pluses of each of the 4-5 concepts that are unique, exciting and empowering. With Tim’s coaching I would embark on one that would ultimately change my life. And maybe yours, too.
5) Love my mother. More. In fact, a visit to France would be a boost in the best years of her retirement. And to spend seven days with the loved one who spent a lifetime of dedication to her family, would create lasting memories. For both of us.
Tim, thanks for the gift of time. And the opportunity to seize it……or the potential of this gift and at every 4 hour work week!
My longtime vision for the CO-OP has been to bring together like-minded individuals and families actively engaged in designing and implementing the life of their choosing. The title of my own book might be something akin to “The 2-Hour Schoolday� (I would say School “week,� but the idea that it’s possible to get a “real� education without being tied to a desk for hours on end is even more challenging to most than breaking away from the workaday mindset!) Thirty-six free hours per week is ample time to show others by example how to escape the conventional school scene, live & learn anywhere in the world, and join the NR at any reasonable age or stage of Life.
The CO-OP is intended to be a cultural learning experience in itself, a grass-roots effort springing up in locations all over the world where individuals are free to come and go, create and collaborate at will. The working model is similar to the Central Perk café in the sitcom, “Friends,� only with a larger stage and dance floor, meeting room(s) and dressing area in the back for costume changes, et al. Our oldest daughter is a student instructor at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, so my dream is to integrate a living gallery of creative talent at work and play. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
The process is slow because we have our own regular jobs, and we can’t give Unda Water as much time as we would like. With an extra 36 hours per week, I would devote myself to making Unda Water happen faster, getting water to people in developing countries faster.
The excitement of this project comes from quickly and decisively change the lives of thousands of people for better, while at the same time shifting our employment away from working for other people toward working for Unda Water. It improves the world by increasing sanitation and reducing dehydration in water-starved places.
It also improves my life and the life of my family, because I would gain considerable job satisfaction from working on Unda Water full time instead of scrabbling for work as a feeelance writer.
The thing is, we have the water. We have some start-up funding. We have the organizations we will give the proceeds to. It’s already happening. It’s just happening slowly, and I’d like to make it happen faster.
With the ticket, I’d fly to China and visit the sites where we would be funding well-digging efforts, meet our local contact, take pictures, and cement relationships. I’d spend the money on promoting Unda Water in Philadelphia.
Sound good? Email me at jeff.quick@gmail.com. I don’t care if you’re not Tim Ferriss. If you have questions or want to find out more, email me.
One hour in spiritual devotions and prayer: 29 hours left
Two nights of fun and family vacation planning with husband: 21 hours left
Minimum two hours of fun--or meaningful interaction only--with the kids: 7 hours left
At least a half-hour per weekday helping when least expected with kids in tow, as part of homeschool curriculum: 4.5 hours left
--buying a single mom groceries
--paying for an elderly man’s meal
--working in City Mission
--organizing food pantry
--cleaning roadside
-- visit nursing home down the street
Two hours developing and managing new source of income enough to hire yet another single mom for outsourcing, enabling her to stay home and focus on kids without money worries: 2.5 hours left
One hour analyzing activities with 80/20 filter and making sure there isn’t “work creep� into my satisfying lifestyle: 1.5 hours left
One hour straightening and de-cluttering home to enforce simple lifestyle: .5 hours left
Half-hour listening, watching or reading something that makes me laugh so hard it hurts: Done
So many people need a whole new education on erasing the beliefs that keep them trapped in jobs, unhealthy lifestyles, and living for tomorrow. They have lost touch with the inner wisdom that can free them to make a difference in the world. This wisdom would help people to know on the inside how to overcome the difficult challenges in their health, relationships, and working in organizations.
As the everyday person uses this wisdom to improve their health, they will need less from the health care system. They will walk away from the old systems that are more about making a profit than providing quality care. These changes will ripple to other institutions that influence health care and awareness. For example, new systems will emerge that provide better education and alternatives for public schools that feel squeezed financially and have to install sugary snack vending machines to get funding they desperately need. Our children will hopefully be less obese.
I would also work with industry providers on developing preventative, treatment effective and cost effective systems for serving the less fortunate. Providing low tech, high touch services for the underserved would drastically reduce the need for high cost emergency room interventions. For those who need special interventions, there will be more funding available due to the reduced demand from a healthier population.
Also, I would work with government policy makers in creating innovative programs that focus funding, community resources, and social entrepreneurs toward resolving difficult health care issues. Teaching government leaders how to transform their systems of bureacracy would be part of the change process.
By addressing this issue on these three levels, I would work with others in transforming the health of individuals, our health care systems, and the government that regulates it.
My passion is helping underprivileged and/or abused children. Two years ago, I started a program for children right here in San Jose.
Each year, about two weeks before Christmas, we take underprivileged children Christmas shopping. Each child is chosen by their Teacher, Principal or Counselor, based on improvement in their grades, attitude or their willingness to do good deeds for others.
Each child is granted a $150 shopping spree at the local Target store on Capitol Avenue near McKee Road. On the morning of the shopping spree, Target opens early just for our group. The parents of these children bring their child to the store and turn them over to one of our volunteers, who then take the children shopping. This is so the child is free to choose what they really want without any outside influence. In my experience, most of these children buy for family first and use what's left over to get something special for themself.
In our inaugural year, we raised enough money to take 115 children shopping. Last year, we were able to take 211 and this year, I have set our goal at 300 children. Needless to say, I am working very hard to raise the $45,000 necessary to make this happen.
So, what would I do if I had an extra 36 hours per week? I would dedicate it to travelling up and down the state of California and getting this program started in several communities. That is my goal over the next twelve months. After getting it going in several places here in California, I would use the time to start branching out to other states.
The thing I like most (besides helping the kids) is that every one who helps out on this project is a volunteer, so every dollar we raise for this fund goes directly to the children. All donations are 100% tax-deductible as this is a 501(c)3 fund. Yes, I'm always fund-raising, but it's for a good cause.
God Bless,
Robert Prieto
San Jose Chairman,
Jimmy Durante Children's Fund
Fraternal Order of Eagles
http://www.ChristmasForTheKids.com
P.S. I picked up a copy of your book at the Barnes & Noble at the Pruneyard in Campbell yesterday. When I opened it I was surprised to find that I got an autographed copy! How totally cool that is! Cheers!
-5 extra hours sleep
-5 hours reading
-5 hours biking or hiking
-3 hours dog training and showing
-1 hour on dance lessons
-2 hours on horseback riding lessons (before I get too old!)
-2 hours volunteering at the humane society (and become part of the disaster rescue team)
-2 hours volunteering at church
-2 hours volunteering at the therapeutic riding center
-2 hours assisting family members
-2 hours as a volunteer budget counselor (helping others to retire early)
-5 remaining hours spent on traveling, writing, taking various classes, learning to ride a motorcycle and an ATV.
My dream has been to visit England. I am 53 and have not yet realized that dream.
I would also like to become an environmental and social activist. I may need more than an additional 36 hours, but for now 36 additional hours would be a blessing!
I have managed to sabotage every job and relationship that does not support this vision. As a matter of fact, I just got fired on Monday, two days ago……..AND……it was on my birthday! Quite exciting, actually. To me it symbolizes the opportunity to Birth my new project! The Universe has created a wonderful opening! And the Universe also led me to this site!
There seems to be so many books with a message similar to that of The Four Hour Work Week. So the first time I was introduced to it, I deleted the email. For some reason it crossed my path again, I decided to explore it further, and got the sense that it was Much, Much more, and indeed, very different. I did purchase it online (even before I learned of this contest) but have not yet received it. I very much look forward to reading, and applying, it!
For me, “Workweek� will not even apply. My life will be my work! My work involves connecting women for personal and global healing. To quote Christiane Northrup, “Personal Healing is Planetary Healing�. She also introduces the theme, “Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World�.
It is time for a Conscious Evolution. And I am here to assist in birthing that process, as we ALL are! I wish to create personal invitations for EVERYONE to join me, join together and EACH DO OUR PART! To join the Resonant Field. What are we here for if not to help one another?! And I believe that the internet is also going to be a very influential tool. (I will need a little assistance in that area!)
I am very mobile and can be there tomorrow! I look forward to hearing from you!
I've taken a voyage in my own sailboat from San Francisco to Miami over the course of two years creating many strong friendships and and visiting amazing destinations...
Visited the pacific coastal cities along Central America through Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Explored the San Blas Islands of Panama, home of the indigenous Kuna indians.
Traveled through Cuba by land and sea to experience what a culture with 50 years of isolation from western influence looks like.
Experienced the best diving in the western hemisphere in the Cayman Islands.
Raced and won one of the most prestigious sailboat racing events in the Caribbean, Antigua race week.
Participated in Key West Independence week, which culminates in the world's largest air-land-and-sea food fight.
Drove across this great country, twice. Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, New Orleans, Chicago, DC, Miami, LA, Yosemite, Crazy Horse, Dallas... The rest of the world is amazing, but don't forget here
is pretty amazing too.
Burning Man, many times. Europe, less times.
More recently I got my pilot's license. Then I built and am currently flight testing my own airplane. The process has taught me volumes about engineering.
How do I manage to finance all this stuff? I don't have a car payment, I don't have an apartment.. Half the time I didn't have a storage unit. I don't buy CRAP that most people buy in an effort to make themselves feel better. Never mind the Hagen-daz and Chicago-style pizza.. America has a problem with binge-consuming. A wise Hollywood script-writer once wrote: "The things you own end up owning you"
For income I work as a computer networking consultant, on a per-project basis, and am able to arrange my work so that I have projects in the summer which leaves fall/winter/spring for travel. When your income only comes 3-6 months of a year you LOVE our progressive tax system. The cost of traveling is much lower than living in the US. ESPECIALLY if you make a point of working in the part of the country with highest cost-of-living, and therefore highest rate of pay. It's like getting a discount when you leave to go travel!
But never mind me. My girlfriend has been doing this thing for 8 years. I met her on a sailboat race in Mexico. See how she spends her 36 extra hours a week at http://www.wherescherie.com .
BTW. Not interested in winning the contest. I get around good enough already.
Cheers,
-- Greg
With the newly aquired freedom I would pack up my bags right now and do the following:
Move to a Australia/New Zealand for a month. I grew up on a sea but never got a chance to revisit it since moving to US. I've never enjoyed the freedom of surfing atop the ocean, trying to reach that feeling of perfect balance and not be swallowed by the sea.
I would fly to Sahara and do a safari (without animal killing. unless some lions want to wrestle), enjoy the rush of sand surfing and racing a buggy in the desert.
I would visit Egypt and try to sneak inside the Royal tombs and try to understand the inscriptions.
I’d design a giant sling shot on a Caribbean island that would allow people to be launched 15-30 feet up into the water… or through a hoop for the additional prizes!
Traveling aside, what I would really like to do is what I wish someone would have done for a 22 year old like myself long time ago: I would set up a multimedia website where I take requests from people about their dream jobs and then go out and try to show how difficult or easy it is to make it in that specific vocation. The dreamers would be able to see for themselves what that journey is actually like and then have a better idea whether this is indeed a passion or just a caprice. For example - people will be able to submit "How do you become a deep sea diver?" and I would then try to take on that challenge of becoming one and showing them what is needed. I’d limit the level of success to a certain point for each profession because of obvious time constraints, but I believe I could allocate 2-9 weeks per task to succeed. I feel this would serve great inspiration to all those who are desperately seeking it, I know it would help me narrow my choices down tremendously.
Cheers!
Dennis V
To generate money I have 2 ideas. First, I'd create a website for aspiring authors/writers that would offer them a share of the revenue each time one of their stories sold. Authors would post snippets of stories and people would vote them up or down, similar to Digg. If someone wants to read more of the story, they pay a couple bucks and it's theirs.
My other idea involves a steering mechanism for big boats and yachts. I don't want to talk about this idea, because it seems like a good invention, and you have to protect good ideas.
I am currently trading options and having a decent amount success for a beginner. Nik Halik is an amazing speaker and options trader. Probably the best I have ever come across. I would love the extra time to travel to his seminars and soon start speaking with him in helping others create wealth through Options investing.
Of course I am still in the process of learning the trade, but that is a never ending process. With the extra time I will definitely travel and train with Nik Halik. I am very much looking forward to the trip so that I will go to Austrailia and attend his Events.
Looking forward to it Dearly,
Frank
This is an idea I'd love to see happen, whether I do it or someone else does it.
I'd like to travel around the world (which would take a round-the-world ticket, not just a return ticket) with a video camera and a still camera and have people from all around the world tell a "one word at a time" story: A story in which each person tells the next word only.
This story would be told in all sorts of different languages, by different cultures and different people set to a thousand backdrops all around the world, and it would be made up as it goes along.
The story could be published online in a blog, as a DVD and could be compiled into a book with still pictures of the people and places along the way.
It would be an amazing art project.
That's what I'd do, with my extra time.
So, here’s the plan: Purchase or lease an apartment building that supports a minimum of 24 residents. Invited residents would be pulled from the foster care system when they turned 18. They would attend group activities, financial management classes, individual counseling, nutrition and fitness counseling, to include cooking lessons, GED assistance if needed, and college application assistance if needed. They would be given a paid intern position provided by a local corporation (tax deductible to the Corp.).Alternatively, they could attend the vocational school of their choice during their stay with us. They would be allowed to stay for 2 years. At the end of their stay, they would be given the first month and security deposit to get their own apartment, a car, and assistance obtaining full time employment. Any resident wishing to pursue the FHWW lifestyle would be encouraged to do so.
All of this would be funded and supported through grants, charitable donations and other fund raising activities, such as benefits. Counseling would be handled by graduate students supervised by university professors, or by pro bono work. Residents would be required to return regularly and mentor new incoming residents for at least two years.
We'll be the YMCA of foster care graduation facilities, in every major city. I was never a foster child, I just can’t stand the idea of these people being tossed like refuse. I need a muse business so that my survival does not depend on this project, as I don’t expect to draw a salary of any kind for at least the first few years.
Change, I believe, starts on the inside. 36 extra hours a week (plus all that time in traffic... waiting... wasted... that's a lot of time!) would mean more time for contemplation and meditation. Using these tools as means to cultivate compassion and peace are the first step. (Did I say first? I meant ongoing.)
Generating compassion (literally, "with passion") means generating passion which inevitably leads to action. The action I want is to travel with my Swedish friend Larsson and Australian friend Clint to Ethiopia to search for the Ark of the Covenant. It's there - if you don't believe me, search wikipedia. :) And my good friends and traveling companions (literally, "with panions") would make it even more fun.
Of course, the irony of good travel adventure dictates that thing you find is the search itself. Searching, traveling - who needs a holy ark when you can have this experience?
With $1000 (and maybe a little of my own money), I can start a microbank/microlending agency in Ethiopia. I want to give others a chance to reach their dreams, and share them with me, by encouraging them through the trust of lending. And of course, making a very tiny/tidy profit.
(Oh, how I adore you, the glory of compound interest!)
While I might teach them what little I know about entrepreneurship, computers, geography, or other topics, ultimately, I hope it is they who teach me about reaching their dreams.
Dave
What I yearn to do, as I enter the 'forest-dweller' stage of life is to distill the experience and information that I've been privileged to in my lifetime. (Check out the Hindu stages of life--very informative in this discussion.)Although there are many great books and teachers out there, my desire at this time in my life (I'm 52) is to not read anymore, go to anymore seminars. It's only to sit and 'chew the cud' of what's already packed into my head.
I know that from this place of stillness will grow some amazing outward-going energy. I'd love to learn how to draw more people to the virtual community I've started (Virtual Tea House) for connection and inspiration. I'd love to spend my 36 extra hours a week (accumulated into a few months!) listening deeply to some indigenous elders from around the world, because I don't think we can get ourselves out of the mess we're in without their wisdom and connection to the earth.
And from there, maybe a book? Maybe just more time in my garden? Maybe teaching more? Maybe just laughing more freely. But the outgrowth of the down-time will be felt not just in me, but in everyone and everything that touches me.
An influential book has been "The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature" by Stephen Harrod Buhner. It's a treatise on letting the heart's perception and rhythms have their rightful influence. The heart's rhythms have evolved, until the last little tick of time of human evolution, to be the major entrainers of our life-energy. But through an interesting tangent, the human brain has taken over that function, and our heart--and the heart of the planet--is defibrillating.
My '36 hours' will be spent listening to my heart and the heart of the world around me. I'm not sure what I can do about the suffering out there, but I can address the suffering of lack of connection to my own heart, and in that, bring hope and courage to others.
Thanks, Tim, for asking this question.
Gurus such as Seth Godin and Steve Pavlina have had success in giving away ideas for free, but that's because their ideas are just that-- ideas. And the more you spread your ideas, the more you spread your influence. Software can be open source and that can be a good thing, too, because it gets more people to use it. But why should an inventor give away an idea for free, especially if he thinks there will already be enough people who would use the product to make it profitable, without having to give away anything?
If I'm missing something here, please fill me in.
Gurus such as Seth Godin and Steve Pavlina have had success in giving away ideas for free, but that's because their ideas are just that-- ideas. And the more you spread your ideas, the more you spread your influence. Software can be open source and that can be a good thing, too, because it gets more people to use it. But why should an inventor give away an idea for free, especially if he thinks there will already be enough people who would use the product to make it profitable, without having to give away anything?
If I'm missing something here, please fill me in.
As a coach for holistic businesses, I have already leveraged myself as a do-gooder by helping healers to heal more people, and I want to increase that leverage. My current clients are people who are improving healthcare & raising consciousness. Yet I am called to step out of the one-person-at-a-time limitations of my business model. I’d like time to just focus on writing & teaching. I’m fascinated with learning more about micro-enterprise development as a type of philanthropy, and want to meet leading visionaries of companies founded on principals of corporate social responsibility.
My own philanthropic cause is wild elephant conservationism. There is much more for me to learn from wild elephants, it would be a dream come true to travel to all the parts of the world where they live. In 2005, I went to Kenya so I could meet Ian & Oria Douglas-Hamilton (2 of my heroes) and visit my favorite elephant rescue organization, The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I cried like a child leaving there, my heart ripped away from the feeling of “being home,� in Africa. I still have dreams of elephants, and have started a blog http://www.SacredElephants.net that has potential to turn into an online revenue-generator for elephant conservation. I’d like to meet more of my elephant-loving heroes and expand Sacred Elephants from it’s meager blog status to the philanthropic vision that I saw when I started it.
Because I am so self-identified through my work, it’s essential that I begin taking time completely away. No matter how good the outer results, I’ve had the awareness that to not simply ENJOY this world is to be unappreciative of life itself. I’d like regular sabbaticals where I am not allowed to work at all, but rather to seek pleasure and beauty, and love every minute of it.
Three years ago a Fortune 500 CEO asked me from across the diner table, “What will you do if you don’t get this job?� My answer left him staring at me with his moth open so I could see the mash potatoes he was eating. It all seemed quite logical to me. If I didn’t get hired, I would have taken my horse and ridden it from Canada to Mexico through the heart of the Rockies along the Continental Divide Trail.
He wanted more background an so I informed him that, tracing the backbone of America, the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail, also known as the King of Trails, runs the length of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico. The King of Trails runs through, 5 states, 20 Wildernesses, 3 National Parks, 1 National Monument, 25 National Forests, and 8 BLM land areas comprising areas tread by Lewis and Clark, roamed by Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, and inhabited by Native Americans more than 5,000 years ago. Scores of individuals have ridden horseback across the continent but none have completed that CDT traipsing across some of Americans most rugged and beautiful terrain.
“Who would hire you after that?� he wanted to know. No one at all. I would use the ride to garner publicity and fundraising for a ranch where struggling teens could learn about hard work, dedication, and responsibility. These teens would come from, and return to, some of the most difficult environments: broken homes, inner cities, crime and drug use. However, they would return with new skill sets, skills that would form a foundation where other life lessons can be learned. Theses life lessons will help them rise above undesirable situations to become happy, fulfilled and giving adults.
Three years have passed and I’m up for a significant promotion. My new boss asked me, “What will you do if you don’t get this promotion?� Interestingly, I have had the answer for over three years for a question asked only moments ago. In fact, I did get the promotion, but I might just do this anyway.
My life will become complete.
It’ll be the wind
That steers my sails,
A new road beneath my feet.
And not just 36 hours
But 168 will I gain,
Never wasting another day
Waiting to go to work again.
The days will become my own
To spend them as I wish.
The freedom to cross my greatest dreams
Off an old and dusty list.
Another 36 hours. . .
My moment of life will count.
I’ll change the face of every soul
As I carry my visions out.
I’ll think back on my childhood:
The drugs, the violence, the lack—
My mother raising three men on her own
With no one to get her back,
And I’ll carry on my legacy,
Show the world how to rise above—
How a poor boy from the trailer park
Can return the world’s cruelty with love.
Another 36 hours. . .
Surely I can light the way
For all who think they lack the power
To stand and seize the day.
My brothers and my mother,
I’ll show them how to automate too.
Finally they'll chase their dying dreams
And refuse to hide from Truth.
The tragedy of modern slavery
Is those who don’t believe in themselves—
Children who grow and gather their dreams
To sit and rot on the shelves.
If we all just use every moment
To make our moment of life truly count,
I think we’ll find in due time
No one must do without.
Everyone has a candle
Burning in their soul—
An urge to fulfill a purpose
That would make their existence whole.
And with my extra 36 hours,
I’ll set an example for the world:
You can become more than your hand in life
If you’re willing to break the mold.
Another 36 hours. . .
It’s always been my dream.
I’ve strived and I’ve struggled to reach my goal
And failed but still believe.
I know I can still find a way
To leave this world a better place.
My muse will take away my cage.
Another 36 hours will replace it.
• Make a video Web documentary through a blog with a large readership about how I freed myself from work, inspiring others around the world to do it themselves
To stay excited and fulfilled, I’d:
• Look into the world’s largest telescope
• Look into the world’s most powerful microscope
• Meet computer scientists at MIT and help build artificial intelligence
• Travel to San Francisco, New York and London to visit friends
• Set up appointments to meet mentors like Steve Jobs
• Write a book of philosophy
• Write music and become a rock star
• Buy a multi-touch wall computer
• Move to Tucson, AZ to be with my girlfriend
• Hire chefs to cook a five-star course for my girlfriend
• Surf the beaches in Mexico
• Fly first class on all occasions
• Visit my grandparents in Oregon
• Buy an iPhone
• Think with more mindfulness
• Listen with more attentiveness
• Breathe with more depth
• Sing with more joy
• Learn to be happy without a job title
That is an excellent story. The only part I dont like is that you would teach teens hard work. That would simply be swapping struggling for more struggling. The only thing humans have to work really hard on is their emotions. After that everything else becomes easy. Just look at Tim's results.
To Tim:
One last thing I will do.
After I get back from my trip I will put up 50% of the runner-ups airfare for their trip to anywhere in the world. In order to help spread the joy as there are a lot of excellent comments on this blog.
I’ve been honored to serve in the non-profit sector for most of my 30-year work life, so I have had an experience of social justice. But something is pulling me…
What I yearn to do, as I enter the ‘forest-dweller’ stage of life, is to distill the experience and information of my lifetime. (Check out the Hindu stages of life.) Although there are many great books and teachers out there, my desire at this time in my life (I’m 52) is to not read any more, go to any more seminars. It’s only to sit and ‘chew the cud’ of what’s already packed into my head.
I know that from this place of stillness will grow some amazing outward-going energy. I’d love to learn how to draw more people to the virtual community I’ve started (Virtual Teahouse) for connection and inspiration. I’d love to spend my 36 extra hours a week listening deeply to some indigenous elders from around the world, because I don’t think we can get ourselves out of the mess we’re in without their wisdom and connection to the earth.
And from there, maybe a book? Maybe just more time in my garden? Maybe teaching more? Maybe just laughing more freely. But the outgrowth of the downtime will be felt not just in me, but in everyone and everything that touches me.
“The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature� by Stephen Harrod Buhner is a treatise on letting the heart’s perception and rhythms have their rightful influence. The heart’s rhythms have evolved to be the major entrainers of our life-energy, but the post-modern human brain is increasingly taking over that function, and our heart–and the heart of the planet–is defibrillating as a consequence.
My ‘36 hours’ will be spent listening to my heart and the heart of the world around me. I’m not sure what I can do about the suffering out there, but I can address the lack of connection to my own heart, and in that, bring hope and courage to others.
Thank you.
For the last 15 years, I have worked on women’s rights and human rights issues through nonprofit organizations, a women’s foundation, and the Clinton Administration. In the US I have helped to reduce sexual assault, domestic violence, poverty, stalking, and unemployment. Overseas, I have worked on rape camps in Bosnia, brothels in Thailand, promoting women’s rights in post-apartheid South Africa, preventing trafficking of women and children, spreading micro-credit programs, and providing human rights trainings. With 36 extra hours, I would devote more effort to ending violence, inequality, poverty, and other human rights abuses. Unfortunately, there is enough work to fill the time! I would also strategically use the extra time to sit on boards of organizations, thereby increasing my impact through sharing my expertise, strategic thinking, and fundraising and management skills.
Having said all that, I would add a little more fun and health to my life with 36 extra hours. With the extra time, I wouldn’t have an excuse to avoid the gym! I would take more time to cook healthy meals. I would use more of my cell phone minutes to stay caught up with friends who are spread around the world. I would spend more time playing with my cats. I would host more parties. And I would take more weekend trips with friends to explore the amazing Bay Area.
If I won this contest, I would include India in my travels. In India, I would like to spend a couple of weeks in an ashram for yoga and meditation (advancing my health-related goals and learning to calm my busy mind!), and I would like to volunteer with a local human rights NGO as a way of connecting to the culture.
My idea is to fully immerse myself in 4HWW methods and to use the trip around the world to teach children how to use them in school and in life. A world of 4 hour kids that can change the world would be created. A mother website would keep all up to date and be a communmity. Who knows, perhaps world peace would ensue.
Ciao,
Howard
He is 70, and still working; afraid to retire due to the fear of being poor once again. He recently shared over the phone that he was concerned about surviving on Social Security year after year with inflation. I want to use this trip as an opportunity, and example, to: 1) present the 4 Hour Workweek book, and teach him the principles; 2) show him he can be the NR now with a few changes in his current strategy; and 3) devise a plan together where he can retire comfortably and fearlessly with or without a monthly stipend from me! We can make this trip into a documentary to show the world that children who grow up in orphanages can succeed in business and family at any age.
I am proud of my Father, grateful he did not abandon us, as my Mother did, and as his Mother and Father did to he and his siblings. I want to say, "Thank you" to him for everything...for loving to his best ability and for surviving his life. These vibrational gifts of healing and gratitude will be sent throughout the universe.
I live in Florida. My Father lives in Missouri. We see eachother once a year. With this trip and creating our 4 hour workweeks, we can visit anyone anytime we'd like! Let this documentary be an example that everyone in the world can create the luxuries and freedom of time, income, and mobility together. Let us lead the way by example!
First thing I would do is rest...after having been rejuvenated, peaceful calm and relaxed I would want my family to enjoy my trip to Australia and New Zealand with me. Beatiful countries.
Be healthy and fit.
Sing, dance and make music with great joy and love.
Live completely and fully in "the now".
Love and be loved.
Encourage my family and friends to "be and do and have" their own 4 hour work week.
Be a great example of "if she can do it, I KNOW I can do it!"
Many blessings upon you.
All this follows from cheap, abundant, and clean energy. So how do we make this happen? Much of the needed technology already exists. The first step is to fully support nuclear power. Specifically, take a look at Wikipedia on the Integral Fast Reactor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_Fast_Reactor This particular reactor very efficiently consumes fissile fuel without long term radioactive waste products. Short term radioactive waste from this reactor is a manageable storage problem.
Next, we must fully support research in clean nuclear fusion technology. Fusion technology promises clean, abundant energy from elements extracted from seawater. The waste product from fusion is helium, which we use to fill our balloons. I’m convinced that fusion technology progress is mostly limited by politics and money. Fusion research continues on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, but the pace is not fast enough. We need the technology now to provide all the benefits I’ve discussed.
If I had 36-hours per week, I would dedicate my time to making this a reality. I can’t do it alone, but I can use the time to educate and lobby Congress, private companies, environmental groups, foreign governments and international corporations to support this cause.
If I succeed, it will be far more satisfying than anything I have ever done.
With 36 extra hours a week, we would seek to connect children around the world. Last holiday season, our older daughter initiated a shoe drive to collect gently used shoes from friends and family, instead of the customary exchange of gifts. We collected over 100 pairs of shoes! We then sent the shoes to a home for AIDS orphans in Tanzania with a friend who was visiting there. The children sent back drawings and letters of thanks, but the human connection was missing.
Imagine if we could meet these children, dance with them, share games and laughter, learn Swahili from them and teach them some English, and really allow ourselves to be changed.
Imagine if we documented the whole experience and brought the stories back to share with families across America, fostering a sense of global community and awareness.
After such an incredible experience, we would be even more inspired to continue with other similar projects – bringing art supplies to children in China, or Spanish books to kids in Panama, or computers to kids in India – immersing ourselves in their life experience, then bringing their stories back to North America.
What an education for our children, who will most likely never enter the halls of a school designed for the industrial era, but will have a truly global perspective, learning from and sharing with peers from diverse cultures.
It’s the long tail of education, with each student following a unique path, learning more from other people than from institutions. We want to write about it, spread the discussion, and live it. Connecting kids around the world is one step towards a more peaceful world, and of course it will also be fun!
I blew out my knee while working as a police officer. I was chasing a drug dealer and slipped in some mud. I fell and my knee hit a rock. I did catch the guy, but ended up messing my knee up. Three surgeries later, I walk almost without a limp, but I will never run again.
I guess I see things differently from most people, but
I believe you can't change the world if your home and local community are not in order. Sure I would love to invent a new bio fuel, solve global hunger and cure AIDS, but I can't do that alone. What I can do is help change the community where I live and hope that people will respond in kind. If you change your community, when people move to another area, they will bring change with them.
Thank you for this contest. Great idea! Great book!
If I had 36 extra hours per week I’d do a lot of cool things.
I’d enjoy my life to the fullest by focusing on what I want.
I would make joy my number one priority.
I’d spend more time with my three young homeschooled children, reading, playing, exploring the outdoors, traveling, and opening their eyes to all that this world has to offer.
I would teach people about the Law of Attraction and the Art of Allowing. I would teach them how they can create the life of their dreams by believing that they are worthy of anything they can dream of, whether it is health, prosperity, freedom, or a 4-hour work week. ☺
I’d spend time raising money to make the best BMX track in Jefferson County, WA so that kids of all ages, boys and girls, can come and enjoy BMX racing, get exercise, have fun, and participate in a great individual sport that is family-centered.
I’d market my husband’s artwork so that more people would have the opportunity to enjoy his unique style and his creative and joyful artistic expression. (www.mikebiskup.com)
I’d dance more, exercise more, make love more, learn French, travel to Mexico, spend time with friends, support global peace projects and organic food production, garden, read great books, listen to more music and audiobooks, go to live concerts, attend our local community events, and hang out at the beach with my family and friends.
I would start a website/blog for parents to support them in raising their children with respect, freedom, and unconditional love – to help them parent in JOY!
I’d do The Work of Byron Katie for free with people who want to break through their limiting beliefs that keep them locked in fear, sadness, anger, and depression.
I’d spend more time outdoors, experiencing nature and wildlife.
I’d help others learn how they can live the four-hour work week lifestyle and embrace a joy-filled life.
Thanks!
Lisa Biskup
- Take my wife and kids with me whenever I travel
- Spread the word wherever i go about the tangible contribution of http://www.50lanterns.org/, where the poorest of the poor's lives are changed by receiving solar powered lanterns
- Speak Italian
- Read Czechoslovakian so I can read Milan Kundera in his original language
- Become a top level cook
- Become a pilot
- Go to Italy, Prague, Vienna, Ireland in that order
- Trace my family lineage as far back as I can
1) Nothing: I would set aside time to have nothing planned. In a world in which “Not doing� is seen as laziness, I find that true relaxation is an activity as rare as true productivity. I would call my grandparents, cousins, and friends more often. I would take walks with my family and I would read….not about motivation or great achievement but about love, beauty, and personal experience.
2) I would work on the crucial elements of climbing the seven summits; a personal dream of mine. These include physical conditioning, technical climbing skills, confidence, and money. I was lucky enough to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and will be attending climbing school in Ecuador this upcoming January. Continuing to increase my physical and mental stamina coupled with pursuing business endeavors that allow passive income will give me the time, money, and mindset to complete this dream.
3) Travel to disaster areas to aid in the rescue and rebuilding efforts. After volunteering in Mississippi in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, I found that those who have been hit hard by an unforeseen event are paralyzed by the shock. The extremely rewarding experience I had with Katrina inspires me to follow this important medium to give to those in need. I would use some of my time to travel to spots that had recently been hit by natural disasters and help in the recovery process.
Conclusion: I am an explorer at heart. In the essay I wrote to gain admissions to the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, I compared myself to Roland of Gilead in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Russell Crow in Master & Commander. If there is one thing that I am passionate about, it would be experiencing new situations. If I had 36 extra hours per week, only great things could result. Whether it’s photography, muay thai, climbing, languages, wine, writing, or woman, the premise of this essay (if I had 36 extra hours per week) is not so much a what if question for me, but rather a well-defined goal that I will achieve in the near future.
Thank you,
Mike Cooke
With 36 extra hours a week I'd do a lot. Here's one of my better ideas that I may never have the time to follow through on - unless of course I heed the advice of your book. For many years I've seen a gaping need in our educational curriculum. We've been teaching foreign languages forever without giving students any incentive to succeed. What 8th grader desires to speak with someone in a foreign language? Or thinks they're going to someday travel the world? Very, very few. Simply put, they aren't motivated to learn a language because they haven't been properly exposed to the wonders of the world in a way that excites them and ultimately encourages them to travel! I propose building a website with History Channel slash MTV style travel videos using multicultural action correspondents to excite kids about traveling and meeting people from other cultures - then marketing the programs to be used as teaching materials in schools. Imagine students watching kids their own age hike Machu Picchu, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, ride the Siberian Express or track lions on an African safari? The site would work to facilitate student travel and even encourage kids to post their own international adventure videos. Inspire kids to explore and they'll discover a reason to study!
I've mentored a 16 year-old for the past 5 years. Opening his mind and the minds of other kids to the possibility of travel can improve the world. I'm sure of it.
PS – I win, my mentee comes with!
With an extra 36 hours of time each week, in the prime hours of 9-5, I would spend more time on homesteading and foraging.
Living in rural Maine, I’m surrounded by the natural beauty of oceans, lakes, woods and fields. While beautiful, much of it is edible as well. There are crustaceans, seaweeds and mollusks in the ocean; fish and crawdads in the lakes; mushrooms, wild animals, edible wild vegetables and herbs in the fields and woods. They’re there for the taking, they’re natural, organic and sustainable.
In addition to foraged goods, homesteading offers an alternative to commercial petroleum based agriculture. Growing fruits and vegetable, raising bees, chickens, goats and sheep – all reduce my carbon footprint and impact on this world.
Use of our natural lands for subsistence is possible, but time consuming. Not only do you have to find and identify these things, but you need to prepare and preserve them due to their seasonality. Small scale homesteading and farming takes a huge time commitment, and planning that time to remain able to move about the planet is a challenge I could use some help with.
What would I do with an extra 36 hours a week? Make my life more local, sustainable and green.
The first change would be to help my parents more. They're both in their 80s, and need some assistance. Since my mother has advanced Alzheimer's and is also unable to walk, it seems like she could never receive too much attention. My father, who suffered a stroke some time ago, is physically active, but still feels overwhelmed at times. So there are chores like grocery shopping to take care of for two households.
I also have a five month old baby; I’d like to spend more time with her. My wife could also use more help; she too feels overloaded.
With the extra free time I'd like to take classes in Teaching English as a Second Language. I could teach locally for now, and far in the future, overseas. I taught English in Mexico before, but I want to learn how to excel at it.
As a registered nurse, I work with private duty patients with such special problems as being handicapped, elderly, children with autism or needing a ventilator (a machine to help them breathe).
I generally work 12 hours a day, including every Saturday, leaving home before 6 to drive to work, and getting home after 8 p.m. Getting up early on Saturday morning, restricts my social activities on Friday nights, and also on Saturday nights, since I'm sleepy from getting up so early. So I hardly ever make social plans with friends who live nearby. With all this free time and extra money, I would completely stop working on weekends, and reserve them for social, family and church activities.
While I would have to coordinate travel plans with other family members, I'd take a lot more short trips to see friends in different locations.
There's a lot to see in Australia, a big trip there would be the grand prize.
Other plans: biking, reading, writing books, music, acting.
Living life to the fullest, interacting with loved ones and making new friends, are the ultimate goals.
– Joe
If I had an extra 36 hours a week I would:
-Spend more time on my passion of bringing young and diverse people into the nonprofit sector (check out my blog on this topic at www.newvoicesofphilanthropy.blogspot.com)
-Finally implement some of my many ideas about how to generate passive income using principles from 4HWW.
-Teach my children that creating a common good is so important to living in a just and free society. Sometime when you spend your whole day working on improving your community and making the worlds a better place, you forget to show your children why that is important. I want to spend time volunteering with my kids and traveling around the world with them to show them that 95% of the world does not have access to the same financial and civic resources that we do, so that they can appreciate the gift that they have been given by just being born a U.S. citizen.
My job has been pushing me to want out for the past few months. I just kept saying its not the right time, I wont be able to make ends meet, I wont be able to live the lavish life I currently do, Ill just wait another month and things will be right. I’m sure those thoughts are very familiar to many.
A few weeks ago a very good friend returned from an international trip. He had a new perspective on life, a refreshed sense of what really mattered and an itch to escape the conventional structure of life as most know it. The position I was in with my job made me easily influenced and in a half hour phone conversation made me decide my life needed to change and it needed to happen now.
Soon after that I stumbled upon you book which immediately put everything I had always wanted to do within immediate reach. I immediately took action dreamlining and implementing the principles you discuss in your book. At that point I decided it was time to eliminate any excuses or fear I’ve ever had. I would not live life for my weekends any longer.
To jump back to the present, sitting here at my desk doesn’t feel so bad; in 2 days I’m telling the boss that I will no longer be supporting their goals. I made a commitment to myself that my first office job will also be my last. I will no longer be spending my time immersed in tech jargon staring at a computer screen for 10 hours a day. I need that extra 36 hours to change the world. I am reclaiming my life and giving myself the “endless summer�.
My list of what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life would go on for pages so ill keep it short. I will learn everything I can, accomplish everything I’ve ever wanted, and bring my assistance to the unfortunate in the US and abroad. I’m determined to leave my mark and positively change the world.
Spend an extra 20 minutes in bed each day cuddling with my love
Take cooking classes from local chefs in France, Italy, Greece, Brazil, China, India, and Japan
Obtain a joint graduate degree in social work and public health
Learn enough about carpentry, plumbing, and electrical wiring to be useful in building/repairing homes
Ride horses
Become fluent in Mandarin and Tibetan
Travel around the world living with, learning from, and helping people as needed, frequently returning to Western China/Tibet to volunteer for the Winrock Sustainable Tibetan Communities project.
Leap and the net will appear. That is my favorite quote and I have it posted on my office wall. I just picked up this book on Friday, and visited this website today, in time to participate in the contest. I am taking a leap.
With an extra 36 hours a week I would spend more time with my husband. We just got married in October and I feel like we never get to see each other. He is a professional Muay Thai fighter and teacher, and I would love to go to Thailand with him. I have never traveled abroad, and it would be great to train Muay Thai and learn more about the culture and traditions hands-on.
I would reconnect with myself and my goals. I would resume my acting career. I would resume my belly dancing career. Both are my loves, but have been put on the back burner because my life is being spent in front of a desk, trying to get money so I can quit and pursue my dreams. I would spend more time being an activist in regards to our environment and global warming. I would volunteer at our local animal shelter. I would backpack in Hawaii. I would take a trip to Alaska with my dad. I would go to Venice. I would learn to speak different languages. Because of this book I see how silly I have been, and how I have been going about this the wrong way. These are things I want to do NOW, not wait until someday when maybe I have the money and maybe I am retired. Screw what society would like to impose, I am looking forward to my 4 hour work week, and living with my own lifestyle design!
That said, how would I use an extra 36 hours a week? Working! But not working some inflexible, unfulfilling 9-5 that serves no purpose other than to put money in my pocket and perhaps to pave the way for a more prestigious, higher paying 9-5 that I can spend 40 hours of my future weeks enduring. I would spend 36 hours a week doing something that challenges me, that I constantly learn from, that allows me to grow as a person and to give onto others. I hope that when I make the decision of how to spend my post-college years, I keep this in mind because, for any halfway talented young American lucky enough to be from a halfway affluent family, how to ideally spend 36 hours of your week is not a hypothetical question. It would be a waste of my youth, my life, and my fortunate situation to live otherwise.
He is very kind, trusting, and a joy but needs a dose of reality prior to entering the competitive arena.
In addition, I have always wanted to work with The Nature Conservancy and would pursue a role with that organization to support their efforts especially with Latin America.
My grandfather always said there are two types of people in this world: Those that do the work and those that take the credit. It is better to be in the former as there is less competition.
Cultural learning will take place on the level. We will study Hindi at the Landour Language School, time will be spent in home-stays, and travel will utilize public transportation. We will have extended stays to experience and learn about social organizations such as Navdanya (http://www.navdanya.org/), the Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org/), and modern leper colonies. These organizations are led by people making their own ideals become reality and effecting social change. Students will contribute to the people of India and also learn real world applicable ways to make their own dreams possible.
The role of the group leaders will be to facilitate learning not to dictate it. Students will be encouraged to fundraise a portion their program fee. In addition they will complete a personal project where they may take up Indian music, cooking, meditation, journalism, creating a photography portfolio or documentary. They will work as a team to choose, organize, and lead a group trip to some location in India. Students will have challenging adventures hiking in the Himalayan Mountains and camel trekking in the Rajasthani desert.
The idea here is to make people more capable, and let them see for themselves what changes the world needs. With the help of this prize I would feel able to accomplish this goal. In college I studied group facilitation and I now work leading adventure programs. I know my capabilities and my accomplishments will follow where my heart guides me.
Thanks for the consideration.
I would use the time to create my life long dream of having a non-profit that assists individuals in creating the life of their dreams. Whether they choose to start a business or work on improving themselves. I will contract experts in all areas to insure everyone is covered for whatever they need. The people the non-profit assists would agree to donate at least 5% or more of their income or businesses income for a set time to the organization to fund future endeavors. This is something I see myself waking up in the morning and being very passionate about.
I would put those 36 hrs into creating a roadtrip across the united states to go and interview the most amazing people that have all followed their dreams and are living a life that they love like Tim Ferriss... We would film the whole adventure and also have an internet tv show with our videos and stories of what we were exploring!! :) My intention would to provide entertainment and education for people and to wake people up that we can do anything that we want to do and there is a whole world of possiblity out there. The next film/adventure would be to travel the world and study, taste, experience, celebrate life... focusing mostly on spirituality and healing..... yummy I would be in heaven!
I would also create an online community that transforms the way that we as women view ourselves and our bodies. To travel and uncover the beauty secrets and interview women and get the different views of beauty worldwide. To bring connection to women all over the world so that we can all join together and celebrate our Goddess nature! :) To become a voice for women to love themselves and give them the tools, the love and the knowledge so that they can dare to be their most radiant selves. Which is a nonprofit that I want to start this year, the we are beautiful foundation.
My own personal dream is to become a cover girl on a fitness magazine - I just started a blog today www.iamyourcovergirl.com. so, i would spend a lot of time optimizing my body, mind as well.....Hot!!!! :)
My life purpose is to continually grow and expand myself to be the most amazing woman I can be and be an example of what is possible.. and inspire others to do the same!!! To live by this quote - "The rules of reality can be bent, just requires thinking in different terms" :)
Can't wait to meet you!!
Alexandra
meow
your kiki
- Alek G.
I’m the worship pastor at a church in Columbia, Illinois. Some of what I do—teaching, personal and spiritual coaching of college students and young adults—I love. Other parts—administration and endless meetings—I dislike. They are not my strengths and are a waste of time. By reducing my salary, the church could hire others to handle administration.
I’m 36 years old. It’s time for me to focus where my strengths and the world’s need come together.
With the extra time, I would take frequent trips to international locations where the churches and Christians are suffering. I’ve traveled to Indonesia, France and Cuba so far. I’m planning to return to Cuba and go to China.
My muse (currently in development!) would fund my travel, subsidize the travel for the students I take, and provide money to share with and bless our suffering brothers throughout the world.
I would take college students with me to expose them to the rest of the world and to help them see what’s being done in the spirit of Jesus Christ, far more than they will get in narcissistic American churches. They need their eyes opened early so they can spend their lives to bless the world.
I’m planning a dream trip around the world for 2010. So far I plan to take a week long seminar at Oxford, and to tour Britain, the home of four of my heroes: Churchill, Tolkien, Lewis and Shakespeare. I would study French in France, and then travel to West Africa, where I am working on opportunities to teach in English and French language seminaries. I also have dreams of visiting the child I sponsor through World Vision in Zambia, traveling to Sydney to meet and learn from the globally influential worship team at Hillsong Church, learning Spanish and rafting the Grand Canyon.
Mark Warnock
My dream is to revive the Freak Show I performed with in college. With 36 hours a week, free from my nine to five grind, I would do just that. I would build my show and take it on the road, travel across the country and the world.
I love to perform and write. I want to educate and inform people about self defense and self awareness though the Freak Show. In a freak show, performers take risks and push the limits of human endurance, facing fears and phobias directly. They face these fears logically and rationally, where others might panic and give in to fear. Panic and fear lead to far worse things than standing on glass, eating fire, or laying on a bed of nails. With the show as a vehicle, I could teach the same kind of self defense that saved me, and teach techniques to others in this increasingly dangerous world.
I want to use the freak show as a vehicle for promoting awareness of the strength of the human body and spirit. I want to educate against fear, for reason, and I want to do it with the people who have often been the ones to usher in change, the freaks, those who are different, those who are willing to take risks, to change.
While I was living this adventure, I met Aggie, who is simply amazing. She used to work in the streets of Accra, rescuing children from homelessness and sheer destitution. She transferred her work to Sogakope and the Bwim region of the country, and now she has a free school for children who can’t pay for private school, as well as five orphans living with her as her own children. Yeah…she’s incredible. The Bwim region of the country has a terrible AIDS problem, and that’s where our work came together: she is building an orphanage there for the AIDS orphans, and I taught sexual health classes there to the slightly older members of the population.
I’m a junior in college, majoring in Women’s Studies and International Studies. I could use my 36 hours a week to study more so I could get good grades and have the official pieces of paper necessary to begin my life as a nonprofit worker. But I’d rather use my 36 hours a week to fundraise for Aggie’s orphanage, write new and better classes (perhaps even translate them to Spanish, which I’m in Costa Rica learning right this moment!), and travel, teaching as I go. Women’s education and healthcare are, to me, the most important factors in saving the world, and I want to save the world in my own small way.
I already have an online business that supports us, and realized while reading 4HWW that everything can be outsourced. I've hired a VA firm and am transitioning everything over to them.
The biggest "aha" for me came on page 28: "...far from being a reason not to travel and seek adventure, children are perhaps the best reason of all to do both." I realized that the world can be their school -- instead of reading about art & history, they can see it, touch it, experience it. I researched accredited homeschooling programs and found several that have worked well for others.
You should've seen the looks on my children's faces when I proposed the trip -- sheer excitement, wonder and happiness at the prospect of us spending time together, seeing new things, meeting other children, learning new languages. That's all kids really want, to spend time with their parents -- they don't care about all the "stuff".
We watch European travel videos nightly, and use pushpins to mark places of interest on the map. The kids now have European penpals and have found other traveling families online. I found a couple of books on overseas travel with kids, but there's not much out there.
Which brings me to how our trip will make a difference: we'll connect with other globetrotting families, interview them, and compile their stories into a book about the rewards and challenges of such an adventure. We'll have a travel blog for sharing photos and videos of the families we meet. I'll also create an online community where families can freely exchange overseas travel information and experiences.
This will show other families that this IS doable, and list specific resources to help them get started living the life of their dreams, including ideas for creating profitable muses! I've written a book on using the Internet to promote local business, and plan to spread that message in Europe as well.
As soon as my boys can swing a hammer with any real skill, I would like to get them involved with Habitat for Humanity. It’s a great organization with at wonderful goal. Not only would I like to volunteer locally, but I’d eventually like to travel to the many international sites where Habitat for Humanity International helps build communities. I think I and my sons would learn a great deal, both technically and socially, from the challenge of building homes for deserving families in Uganda, or a school for a community in Guatemala. Combining these excursions with educational opportunities while on these trips would be the ultimate goal. Get to know the local peoples, learn about their culture, and visit local historical sites. Then there are the real adventure trips, like building homes in Tahiti or New Zealand. Or even the more local opportunities, like rebuilding communities in New Orleans. “Yes, Son, that is an alligator in that house!�
Another task I would like to get the family involved in would be planting trees. A goal I have is to take my family to all the National Parks in the nation (and a few international ones as well). One great thing we can all do is to plant trees in our forests, especially ones that have been devastated by clear-cutting and other detrimental logging practices. I did a lot of tree planting in my youth, and think it was a great experience. You get to experience the beauty of the forest and do something good for it in return.
These are just a few of the things I would do. But 350 words won’t cover it all. More later!
Just a thought.
Thanks Tim for The 4 - Hour Workweek.
Thanks Tim for turning my whole business world upside down.
Thanks Tim for bringing me one of those rare moments in life where you know exactly what you need to do.
Thanks Tim for keeping me up until the wee hours in the morning for 4 days after I read your book.
Thanks Tim for making the first thoughts before I went to sleep and then upon waking, figuring out which Muse I was going to bring to life.
Thanks Tim for on the 5th day when it hit me like a ton of bricks that the answer was right before me. Thanks time for helping work 114 hours in 6 days on my Muse and be able enjoy every single minute of it because I knew it was indeed going to leading me to my 4 - Hour Workweek.
Thanks Tim form for making me excited about everything again.
Thanks Time for having one single thought that changed everything for anyone that wants to take control of their own thoughts. The thought I am thanking your for is “ I think I will right a book�.
What a great thought!
Thanks Tim
Just a thought…
(no this is not my entry) :)
It took 60-hour weeks and illnesses for me to stop working. My husband, in the military at the time, brought home an opportunity: Italy. For three years, we absorbed ourselves in the culture and language. We slowed our pace. We allowed the discovery of what makes us each happy. I wrote the stories I formerly put aside; my husband helped develop paintball there. Our relationship became sacred. Life made sense. Despite military pressures, we lived beautifully. Years before you wrote your book, we lived your guidelines.
In July of 2002, we left the military and returned to the States. Life seemed difficult again. We did not entirely forget who we became. We still write and play paintball. But we felt pressured to “fit in�: we bought a house, gave in to family obligations and my husband works 60-hour weeks. We allowed distractions.
We know this. It is time to change. We want to return to Italy, where we first felt at home. To remember. To discover what has changed, what has remained. Does Aida still own the pizzeria? Does the priest still hold confessions outside? Does our surrogate grandmother still make gnocchi? Do we still fit? We need to remember our lessons, our place because this trip would end by helping another couple move stateside.
As far as the money goes, I want to give it to our friends. My friend is American; her husband, Italian. After a year of marriage that has weathered the death of a parent, the birth of a child and two jobs lost, they are moving to the States. With yet another change, they are excited yet terrified. Afraid of losing a slower pace, afraid of fitting in, afraid of distractions.
We want to show them it is okay to step on and off one’s path. To quit when necessary. To begin again. We need that for ourselves. We want that for them.
Thank you,
Syndy
What am I going to be doing with my 4 - Hour Workweek? I am going to be applying the same leveraging principles that I learned from Tim into farming and planting. As to the crop, read on.
You can give a away a dollar to charity or even a whole day of your time, but if you give that same dollar or time to a an Entrepreneur, it gets multiplied a thousand fold. I am using the biggest lever know to man. The human desire to better oneself. What am I going to be planting and farming? That would be Entrepreneurs of course.
If you asked me to explain what an Entrepreneur is to someone that has never heard of the term, I would say this. An Entrepreneur is the person that rather than just cutting a flower to take to a friend, takes a pot of them along so their friend can enjoy them all of the time.
My good deed will be to plant as many Entrepreneurs as possible. With just a little time and effort you can help plant one who can effect change for thousands of people. Each one giving away thousands of pots of flowers!
Capitalism and Entrepreneurs have helped more people than all other institutions combined. They have won two World Wars, stamped out slavery, fascism, communism, and have freed billions of people from oppression and poverty. Both of the above give people hope that they too can better themselves if only given the opportunity.
I plan on giving as many people as I can that opportunity. I believe Entrepreneurs are the best seed for change that can be planted. See you in the fields !
I begin my journey having awoken from a restful sleep, awaking to my own internal clock not that of a blaring radio or alarm clock, invigorated and alert I easily jumped out of bed in anticipation of the journey before me.
My new home a modern day studio on wheels complete with a shower, kitchen, full-sized bed, flat screen television, microwave, satellite and more awaits.
Having said goodbye to my friends and family, with only one concern, that I hope to make up for on my travel blog: smartgreenliving.com
Going on my journey means not being an advocate for GAL the guardian ad litem program, an organization committed to being a voice for the thousands of abused and neglected children throughout our communities see www.vfcgal.org
By mentioning it on my blog I hope to more than make up for my absence by spreading the word and involving a lot more people.
As I trek across the country learning, educating and spreading the word about another topic near and dear to me, restoring the only planet we have.
Stopping along the way and sharing all my findings, discoveries, revelations, people and places who are making a positive impact on planet earth on my blog.
Between gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, sustainable architecture, earth building, solar, wind, bio fuel processing..
After finishing my trek across the United States, I begin preparations for my trip into Russia where I would be a volunteer for one of the International youth Camps like Planet XXI Project in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
As well as traveling, practiceing my Russian and seeing the beautiful architecture in Moscow etc..
Oh and the $1,000.00 would go to the GAL to be used to buy little items like dolls, teddy bear, truck or school supplies. many of these children dont even have that!
I would also like to make a teacher's guide to go along with the videos/CD's. These guides would include materials, objectives, timeline-if necessary, procedures, web page links, and helpful book information.
Write more letters to friends and loved ones on cards I've designed with my personal photos
Study music and become a more proficient classical/electric guitar/electric bass player
Start a jam band, attend a music school
Build a classical guitar
Learn to play Francisco Tarrega's "Requerdos de la Alhambra"
Improve my relative pitch, study principles of singing
Make clocks from exotic woods and give them as gifts to those who have taken time to shape my life
Study furniture design and create piece of furniture for personal use and for sale
Become a better craftsman, and make an 18th- Century Pennsylvania Secretary desk with hidden compartments
Rebuild my fathers original 1971 Nova and give to my father as a Father's Day gift. It was his first car and is still in the family.
Scuba dive and lobster hunt when they are in season on the California coast.
Learn to sky dive, Learn to cliff dive,
Find things to jump off of, hang Glide
Scuba dive with Giant Squid
Learn technical diving to dive a sunken ship and recover "treasures" from the depths
Race an ostrich
Learn how to ride a horse
Study a Brazilian dance form
Study Capoeira
Do yoga daily
Be able to do a hand stand with in 2 months of trying
Learn to play chess
Learn to make beer
Learn to cook Thai food
Learn to make soups
Learn to speak Spanish
Grow Orchids
Read more books about history, travel, etiquette, things relating to personal interests
Learn about the California Coast and Marine life
Travel and photograph the California Coast and create a book of my trip
Travel to places known for things I am interested in learning
Participate in organizations promoting Coastal awareness and protection
Volunteer for a County Search and Rescue
Support film makers who want to do work like the "Blue Planet" series
Buy investment property
Give through United Way
Develop a consumer product that has to do with music, scuba diving or wood working
Support music programs on the K-12 level
I currently manage to sneak productivity into absolutely everything I do—even things I do for enjoyment. I haven’t read a fiction book or seen a non-educational movie in years. I drive everywhere with (non-fiction) audio-books playing rather than music. At home, I spend all my time cleaning, organizing, and doing “important� things on the computer.
I plan for future productivity by writing out extensive schedules and to-do lists; then breaking the lists down further into time categories (e.g., today, this week, this month, this year) and logical headings (e.g., work, school, phone, online, finances, household).
I constantly promise myself (and others) that when I finally get caught up with everything, I will take some time to relax and have fun. However, it is recently occurring to me that this time will never actually come; but that the reason might lie more in my addiction to “doing� than in the amount of things I actually have to do.
Therefore, my extra 36 hours will be spent forcing myself to do “unproductive� things (e.g., read fiction, socialize, take walks on the beach) until it feels comfortable rather than stressful. I will also engage in meditation and other such practices that might help me to relax, be more mindful, live in the present moment, and learn to enjoy life.
Getting over my fear of being unproductive would benefit my friends and family by allowing me to spend time with them, enjoy their company, and listen to them without impatience or agendas.
This would benefit the world by preparing me to be more helpful to others whenever I have the opportunity. With these newfound skills, I would be willing to take the time to get to know people in-depth by spending quality time with them, listening to them, and hearing their opinions about what I could do to help them rather than using a pre-planned agenda based on my own concerns, interests, biases, and opinions of what would improve their life.
1. Getting One Million Quitters to stop smoking! My company enables the average Joe to invest a couple of grand and retire within a year. We teach "helping professionals" how to have the satisfaction of counseling people to quit smoking and earn six figures in 4-10 hours per week, saving lives and families!
2. I'm teaching my teenage daughter how she can follow her dreams and not have to work for a living, but can enjoy herself and make the world a better place while living an abundant life.
3. I've taught homeless people how to make money online at the public library and I'd expand this into a program.
Too many passions to list - I do them for the joy of it!
Reading through the first quarter of The Four Hour Workweek, I was inspired to think deeply about the 80/20 principle and how Tim has asked us to apply it to many different aspects of life. I've come to the conclusion that on the academic level, learning math provides an immense amount of benefit and insight into all sorts of areas like law, medicine, science-related fields (physics, chemistry, biology), economics, and even business.
I'd like to teach young children around the world who don't have access to the education that I've had about the beauty and power of mathematics so they may be off on a powerful start to learning and helping to change their own world into a better place. If we teach young people in Africa, Asia, South America and other disadvantaged areas, these people will help find ways to manage themselves and take charge of their own lives. They'll be the next generation of climate scientists, water managers, computer techs, and agricultural analysts.
To help others, I'd teach math as most people do not envision it: as a manner of communication. Whether it be with professors, business partners, or your future self, it has the power to convince people of your ideas and about the way of the world. The deep and analytical thinking you gain from studying mathematics at any level provides you with more than just the ability to solve equations and word problems, it allows you to communicate with others about the world and the inherent patterns contained therein. That is how I would like to inspire people to make change.
How many people can I help if that's all it takes for them to get enough of a lift that they are no longer in debt and able to finally begin accumulating profit, no matter how small. Consistent profits of 5 cents a day compounds to a better life and freedom, whereas taking on consistent small debt just to break even everyday is slavery.
There is enough money and enough know-how in the world to end extreme poverty, yet we focus efforts on silly things such as buying RED t-shirts at The GAP and think that we're going to help those in need. The poor don't need handouts; they need credit, and someone to believe in them as human beings, who when given the opportunity, will do WHATEVER it takes to succeed.
They're already 'surviving' on NOTHING. Just imagine what they can do with just a little bit of credit and faith in them.
That's how I would spend an extra 36 hours a week.
Thank you for allowing me to discover what I really want.
-Spend a little more time on this response to make it wittier.
-Pursue my desire to make language learning games. In previous travels, I've found language learning books and software that are very good, but even the best grow dull over time. Unintentionally, games have taught me the name of every piece of medieval armor. So, I get frustrated when there are no games to teach me kanji or Thai tones.
-Travel to handpick a team of outsourced talent to make language learning games.
-Pick up new languages while traveling, both for research and for personal enjoyment.
-Publish affordable game-based language learning software that is both fun and affordable.
-If all goes well, gather language games into a master project that would be an online world where people from all over could learn each others' languages through games and socializing. I believe learning each others' heart languages and making friends across cultures is foundational to solving the bigger challenges in our world.
-Finally, I have a soft spot for Burmese refugees in Thailand. I'd donate time and funds to causes with creative helps for this group without a country. Specifically, I'd like to support a photographer friend who spends his time trying to raise awareness of their story.
Family and laughter are so essential to human life, as a pair, and separately. My family, like many others, has fallen apart before my own eyes. I won’t go into it, because that is not what this essay is about. I must keep my chin up...I have 36 extra hours added onto each week of my life! These extra hours have been my dream since I saw my first condom…don’t get ahead of yourselves…since I saw my first condom floating in the Atlantic Ocean. From that first sighting, I only wished that I could take time every evening to clean up the Florida coastline, the place I call my home.
It gets better…This will be a team effort that will include my entire family. Working towards a goal together is the best way for people to bond. My brother and I will start to communicate again, my mother will feel like she has a purpose in life again, and my father will finally get to see his whole family cooperating as one. I believe that if we are able to physically make our natural environment clean, that we will in turn notice the waste in our lives that needs picking up. In making our beaches clean we will feel more inclined to go there as a family to see what is possible when we’re able to take time to work with one another instead of fighting and wishing we were apart. Our environment reflects our lives. A clean one is much easier to love and live in. With 36 hours I would save the two most important things in my life.
To me, one such conscious investment involves youth rites of passage. Throughout history, cultures have honored and ritualized the significant transitions of life, such as birth, death, marriage – and especially the threshold between childhood and adulthood. Sadly, we seem to have lost touch with the latter in our modern Western world, where we often ignore the wisdom of our ancestors and of indigenous cultures about initiation rites. Our spirits have an intrinsic need to be accepted into ‘the tribe’ as a full-fledged, responsible adult; without this opportunity, young people often create their own, sometimes in unhealthy ways.
I would love to spend some extended time learning about (and experiencing, as possible) the rites of passage of cultures around the world: Africa, South America, Australia… These communities frequently involve themselves in the transformation of their young people in a much more direct way. How does this affect the way that youth relate to their communities and the world around them? And more importantly, what does this have to teach those of us in the “modern� West?
Of course, it’s simplistic to think that someone with an American upbringing could take a quick trip and have a meaningful impact from lessons of cultures very different than his own. But as the father of three now-young boys who will be soon moving into adolescence and on to adulthood, I strongly suspect that this is a journey worth undertaking with consciousness and humility.
June 15, 2007
I am living Parkinson’s Law.
July 24, 2006
I begin work at a financial firm as a bond trader. 60 hours per week minimum. No lunch break. No sun, sky, or nature.
Yet I am excited. I have made it. I am a college graduate, I have obtained a respectable job, and I am banking a dream salary. I will always remember this day.
December 25, 2006
Christmas at my girlfriend’s house.
I am burnt out and thankful to have a day off. I enjoy the food, the company, and the holiday atmosphere, but something is missing.
I can’t help but experience jealousy as I watch her younger siblings open their presents. They are laughing, smiling, and approaching each moment with such verve for life. They are wise beyond their years.
Five months at my new job have passed. I am depressed.
May 2, 2007
Enter 4HWW. I back my way onto the book’s website after perusing Tim’s blog. It is a clever enough tag-line that I call Barnes & Noble.
It is my lucky day – one copy is in stock. I leave work early. As I read the book in Love Park, there is sun, sky, and nature.
May 17, 2007
I quit work today. Two weeks after picking up 4HWW, I am a free man. I have one new business in development, no respectable job, and I am not banking a dream salary. I will always remember this day.
36 hours a week. I would spend half of the hours helping children and returning as a tutor to a Learning Center I worked at in college. In turn this will help spend the other half reclaiming the child in me and fulfilling my dreamlines.
‘Ichi Go Ichi Ei’ – Each chance encounter could be the one that changes your life. I stumbled across that quote, which was used to describe Japanese tea ceremonies and living each unique moment to the fullest.
With your blessing, I am off to Japan to enjoy the sounds, sites, and sushi. Here’s to living in the moment.
Following this man’s example, with 36 extra hours per week, I will assist in community and economic development in poor and underdeveloped countries. Traveling is the thing I am most passionate about in life, and volunteering in this capacity will allow me to live in regions of the world where I may not otherwise get the opportunity to travel. Also, this work fits perfectly with my entrepreneurial spirit; with the knowledge and experience gained through volunteering, I plan to establish my own organization.
Teaching business and economic principles can increase the knowledge and wealth of rural and impoverished towns. For a very underdeveloped town this could lead to important advancements like efficient agricultural techniques to increase harvest yields. For a more advanced area, this teaching could fuel growth in education and therefore create more job opportunities, including jobs that utilize technology to connect with more advanced countries of the world. Even seemingly non-related issues like the AIDS epidemic could be positively impacted since a well-educated society would be more likely to understand the risks of unprotected sex.
Within 350 words, it is difficult to express all of my big ideas to make a positive global impact. As a believer in the principle of interconnectivity, it is my hope that increasing economic development in a small town has the potential to spread quickly and affect the larger surrounding area, country, continent, and eventually, the world.
However, the next morning, the scene was not so beautiful. Refuse of every shape and size clogged the river, murky and reeking of spent fireworks. Plastic lanterns, chunks of styrofoam from the krathongs, and various wrappers and stray bags floated near the shores, along with discarded fireworks. No doubt the river’s inhabitants of the river were severely distressed by the sudden infusion of non-biodegradable debris and chemicals.
With 36 extra hours a week, I would expand upon my current 9-5 job in environmental education to expand environmental awareness abroad while keeping local traditions alive. Transitions to more environmentally friendly (and often more traditional) alternatives (such as banana leaf krathongs for the festival) would make a great impact.
Environmental education is important because it spreads knowledge. Instead of working on one project with a localized impact, spreading education helps local people work on their own projects, targeting the areas that they believe need the most improvement and would have the greatest impact on their lives. Education is the key to this knowledge and I would like to do my part as a steward of the Earth to spread ecological awareness far and wide. Hopefully, by using those 36 hours a week for education, I would be able to multiply those hours by each person who learned something and was able to transform their newfound knowledge into a project that would benefit others.
The second website is WhatWhyWhere.net. This site is the newest network of local merchants and entertainment information on the Web. The main focus will be on restaurants, retailers, real estate and entertainment venues in cities all over America and eventually across the globe, complete with information such as virtual tours, directions, editorial recommendations, photo galleries, score cards, ratings and user reviews. What distinguishes WhatWhyWhere.net is that all listings are NOT rated or listed according to the highest advertising bidder, but through the integrity of actual reviewers who have been there, seen it, experienced it, etc.
I might also polish off my screenplay, titled, The Laundry Room---a true story about some misfit cops in the Atlantic City Police Department. I'll then shop this around while I write another screenplay (I think I have one more in me) .
I would also use this extra time to experiment with my band, The ViP Lounge, as well as my home studio, which I am always trying to improve. Satisfied with my studio, I would try starting an independent record label, thereby recording and signing original bands and musicians, not so much for the sake of profit, but rather to generate a unique platform for original, unique, creative music and art. A scene, if you will.
As serious as I am, all of this would be entertained at my leisure. There will be much travel, whether it's a few days exploring here in California, or 6 months in Africa.
Reading through the first quarter of The Four Hour Workweek, I was inspired to think deeply about the 80/20 principle and how Tim has asked us to apply it to many different aspects of life. I've come to the conclusion that on the academic level, learning math provides an immense amount of benefit and insight into all sorts of areas like law, medicine, science-related fields (physics, chemistry, biology), economics, and even business.
I'd like to teach young children around the world who don't have access to the education that I've had about the beauty and power of mathematics so they may be off on a powerful start to learning and helping to change their own world into a better place. If we teach young people in Africa, Asia, South America and other disadvantaged areas, these people will help find ways to manage themselves and take charge of their own lives. They'll be the next generation of climate scientists, water managers, computer techs, and agricultural analysts.
To help others, I'd teach math as most people do not envision it: as a manner of communication. Whether it be with professors, business partners, or your future self, it has the power to convince people of your ideas and about the way of the world. The deep and analytical thinking you gain from studying mathematics at any level provides you with more than just the ability to solve equations and word problems, it allows you to communicate with others about the world and the inherent patterns contained therein. That is how I would like to inspire people to make change.
4 Hrs – volunteer to answer the phone for 1-888-NeedHim, a ministry showing people how to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior at http://www.needhim.org/
4 Hrs – run 5Ks like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
6 Hrs – volunteer to do balloon sculptures at my church’s vacation Bible School
2 Hrs – walk the trails for fun and exercise with family and friends
4 Hrs – take friends to Whole Foods and introduce them to organic products
1 Hr – catch my favorite TV show: Rachel Ray
4 Hrs – go with friends to local organic farms to pick fruits and vegetables
4 Hrs – entertain with balloon sculptures for nonprofit fundraisers
2 Hrs – curl up on outdoor lounge reading
2 Hrs – eat at Café Max with family and friends
1 Hr – eat homemade ice cream at Henry’s with family and friends
2 Hrs – thank God for my blessed life and pray for my family, friends, and country
As for winning the roundtrip airfare anywhere in the world. . . I’d like to use the ticket to fly one of my Mom’s friends from Vancouver to Dallas. That would be a delightful surprise as they haven’t seen each other for 30 years.
While I'd love to become an excellent follow in any dance I'm lead in, and I'd love to explore the arts all over the world; my main goal would be to live as a citizen of the world & leave each location better than I found it. As a travel writer, I would not just focus on soaking in the sun from the world's best beaches, but also aim to shed light on issues of global human & environmental importance.
Example Articles and Books:
* How to educate one's self, and one's children all over the world.
* How to travel and do something good with your trip, like building fresh water wells for poverty-stricken villages in Africa, loaning fifty bucks to a low-income mother in a third world country; knowing she'll start a business, bring her family out of poverty, and remove her children from an abusive situation.
* How someone partying in New Orleans could take a bit of drink money and pour it into a different kind of Hurricane. Instead of the sweet rum cocktail that N'Orleans is known for, spend some time and money fixing up schools and playgrounds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who are still living in tiny "pull behind" trailers, in forgotten slum villages.
Other Projects Could Include:
* Starting a campaign to equip schools, malls & apartment buildings with "green roofs." Greenspace & Solar Panels on roofs of such buildings would be a huge help to the environment and utilize responsible energy.
* Skydiving in Hawaii and using extra time to shed light on the plight of Oahu's homeless population & rainforest issues.
Having 36 extra hours per week and living the "Endless Summer" would change my life, allowing me to learn, dance, write, educate, and live all over the world; and using some of those 36 hours per week for charity & awareness work would improve the world wherever I go.
Sincerely,
Meg Meyer
What I would do with an extra 36 hours a week is solicit dreams, as far-fetched as they come, from as many people as I could find, to as many destinations as can be conceived. Then I would go about finding individuals who made such “far-flung� dreams into living-breathing reality. (Be a freelance writer who changes residences as often as one changes toothbrushes? etc) I would then use my ticket to begin my journey across the globe, talking to these individuals and documenting their stories. My aim would be to inspire others to invest in their dreams, to be motivated by real life examples, and to forever stamp out the fear of impossibility by putting a face to his/her great dream. My aim would also be to inspire interest in places known and little known, to encourage travel, awareness, and (hopefully) economy to areas around the globe. The end result would be a virtual “Book of Dreams� (and possibly a film) that all can access and be inspired by. A forum would also be created so those who want to contact these individuals (and those who would share in kind) would be able to connect and further make their dreams a reality.
Sharing is bliss and this would bring fulfillment by adding to mine. :o)
I “discovered� The 4-Hour Workweek on my 65th birthday in April. I may have come late to the party, but I’m there!!!
If I were to describe a typical week, here’s what it might look like:
Waken as the first light enters my room, dress, and head to the beach. As the sun floods the morning sky and anoints everything with its golden brush, enter the still-cool water and swim for about a mile.
Shower/dress for the day…casually, of course, because there’s no place in Paradise for “monkey suits� anymore! Keoki has brought a perfectly ripe papaya for us to share; she does this several times a week, since she learned I’m almost as addicted to them as I am to chocolate (Saturday’s only, of course!)
Tend the garden so it continues to surround me with beauty and provide luscious food with such little effort. Flowers are coming along nicely for the dozen or so mixed bouquets that I anonymously deliver every week to those in care homes with Alzheimer’s. (And, yes, I’ve “peeked�…their faces do light up with glee as they connect with the aromas and beauty that mysteriously comes into their lives!).
Create a flower garland for my “adopted� 94 year-old Auntie when we get together for our weekly language lessons. She is teaching me Hawai’in in exchange for teaching her, so she can surprise her 137 descendants by speaking in English with them when they gather to celebrate her 95th birthday. Our lessons are going well: I’m learning how gentle…yet strong…her language is, and she’s learning that in my native tongue there sometimes is no comparable vocabulary or concept, so we make things up to suit us and share a private language!
Travel off-island for my weekly “work� at the rehabilitation sanctuary for injured/orphaned animals who would otherwise die, including threatened and endangered species.
Close each day by reflecting on how fulfilling my life is, and send the Universe a blessing earmarked for Tim Ferriss, who shared the road map to creating my own private Paradise!
Life is a Gift - Use It!
I discovered The 4-Hour Workweek on my 65th birthday in April. I may have come late to the party, but I’m there!
If I were to describe a typical week, here is what it might look like:
Waken as the first light enters my room, dress, and head to the beach. As the sun floods the morning sky and anoints everything with its golden brush, enter the still-cool water and swim for about a mile.
Shower/dress for the day (casually, of course, because there is no place in Paradise for monkey suits anymore! ). Keoki has brought a perfectly ripe papaya for us to share; she does this several times a week, since she learned I am almost as addicted to them as I am to chocolate (Saturday only, of course!)
Tend the garden so it continues to surround me with beauty and provide luscious food with such little effort. Flowers are coming along nicely for the dozen or so mixed bouquets that I anonymously deliver every week to those in care homes with Alzheimers. (And, yes, I have peeked. Their faces do light up with glee as they connect with the aromas and beauty that mysteriously comes into their lives!).
Create a flower garland for my adopted 94 y/o Auntie when we get together for our weekly language lessons. She is teaching me Hawaiin in exchange for teaching her, so she can surprise her 137 descendants by speaking in English with them when they gather to celebrate her 95th birthday. Our lessons are going well: I am learning how gentle, yet strong, her language is and she is learning that in my native tongue there sometimes is no comparable vocabulary or concept, so we make things up to suit us and share a private language!
Travel off-island for my weekly work at the rehabilitation sanctuary for injured/orphaned animals who would otherwise die, including threatened and endangered species.
Close each day by reflecting on how fulfilling my life is, and send the Universe a blessing earmarked for Tim Ferriss, who shared the road map to creating my own private Paradise!
I will develop a revolutionary self-defense and empowerment program mainly geared toward women around the world where it is possible, because having mentally and physically strong women in the world is important to me and necessary for change. With stronger people in the world, a domino affect will take place as they succeed with their passions and help create change toward their own causes. I have more to offer than only teaching a seminar for a couple of hours with a few basic defense stances and wondering if the women (and men) will ever think about or do them again. I want to engage the participants rather than talk for an hour about positive thinking. It will be an adventure. I have in mind differing programs depending on the location and specific need to be addressed. This will, of course, require lots of travel and study of the culture and country before and during the process as well, which I will also greatly enjoy doing.
As a black belt and explorer of many languages and activities, I scratched the surface of this endeavor before entering the standard 9-5 workforce. I’m excited about diving back into it with powerful results for myself and the world.
1) Planning. Only requiring 4 hours to have necessary funds to continue to house, feed, support my family as we're accustomed changes my risk profile. I'd plan the following:
- Physical Fitness. Admittedly, it ain't a big dream. But I was happier and more productive when I had an hour a day for running. Plus, it would set a good example for my 4-year old son.
- Decluttering. I would sell, donate, give away, or trash 90% of what is boxed in my garage. This really *is* a big one (again, for me)---I'd be happier, would have an area to set up a home gym, and would be able to start working on the car with the kid (he's very into mechanical things. And how he turns out is one of the biggest contributions I can make to the global goodness.)
- Family travel. Inspired by stories I've read in the beginning of 4HWW, I plan to take sailing lessons. Intend to take the family on a month-long boat trip as soon as we can do so safely. With 36 more hours per week, that would be sooner.
- Book Project. Like many, I have a book idea. However, mine requires empirical data gathering, which could go quicker. This is not only beneficial to me, but would fall into the "improve the world" category, by giving folks a tool to achieve things they consider outrageous.
- Company project. Build out a social networking/user-content-driven idea. I'm working on this, now. But I have little time to spend on it, when the first bullet item keeps me in my "conventional" job. Another "not only profitable, but improving the world" possibility, in that it will create connections that people currently realize they want only when it's "too late" to develop them.
- Re-engage the guy that wants me to help plan resort developments in Roatan. (With a purely selfish interest of getting a plot/house myself.)
2)Execution
3) Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Every month, I will host different fundraising event to raise the money for a charitable organization. It may be art auction, wine and cheese tasting party, or any creative fundraising events that will benefits the charitable organizations and patrons.
With the business being automate, I will cycle across the America to publicize a charitable organization in need or funds. Meanwhile, cycling, I will enjoy seeing the America and to do several fundraising events on my stops. After accomplished this journey and I will move to the next continent.
I will have a stop-list which is a to-do list to assess myself first. Often, we are doing many different things for everyone else and forget about ourselves. During a stop-list for an hour, we assess our mental, physical, and spirit. My stop-list would be reading an inspiration stories, meditation, and exercise. This will keep me in check because my well-being is being take care first and I can help others to accomplish the greater goals.
Having the business automated and steady cash flow, I would go off the tourist path to a beaten path. The beaten path is best way to see the world. Get immersed and appreciate the differences because it will make us a better person. I will stay in the location taking my time explore the area. During my stay, I will get involving with the community to help them improve by building a habitat, teaching in a school, or some kind of service that will create a lasting improvement. While my stay, I will immerse in the community to take classes or lessons to improve myself in lieu of personal and professional development. It may be a marital art lessons in Asia countries, Latin dancing in Latin countries, wine-making in Europe, Cooking lesson in Italy, and kind of unique that will expand my personal and professional development.
1. Traveling around the world.
2. Completing my college education with the goal of attaining a P.H.D. in Astrophysics.
3. Using this knowledge to work with a dedicated and inspired group of individuals to create the first extraterrestrial mining colony on the moon. The mining colony would be run from earth using robots!
The first lunar mining colony would be built on one of the lunar poles for two good reasons: First, the lunar poles are subject to the greatest amount of sunlight, thus it is highly practical to use solar power as an energy source. Second, there is much speculation that the element Helium is present in great amounts on the lunar poles in the form of Helium-3, deposited by the solar winds over the last 4.5 billion years. Helium-3 could make the dream of cheap non-polluting fusion energy a reality. This would be a great benefit to the earth and mankind.
Further, the dream of a lunar mining colony is the subject of much intense research and study (see the Colorado School of Mines website for one source of info and links). As with the Apollo program to put a man on the moon, the many benefits to the world that will come from the advances in science and tecchnology are as yet unknowable. However, unlike the Apollo program, the funding for this venture will most come from private enterprise rather than government funding.
Admittedly, this may seem like the dream of a demented Trekkie, but it is this vision that excites and inspires me to step outside & enlarge my comfort zone. It has inspired me enough that I am putting together a business which I believe will allow me to experience the 4 hour work week within the next 12 months.
Additionally, being able to travel around the world would be a great way to recharge one's creative batteries and an opportunity to spread a message of hope and love.
This will benefit the world in several ways; a verifiable translation of humpback communication will hit the human psyche like a signal from SETI. Sophisticated language is the only thing that separates us from the rest of the animals; stripping that distinction will guide us to a better understanding of our place in the universe.
Well, I could be wrong. They might not be really talking. Listen to some whales singing to each other for a while and you tell me.
Best wishes.
Via bullets
Commit
Organize my space
Lay out the game plan
Research
Put together resources
Eliminate, delegate, consolidate
Out source
Reavaluate
80/20 principal
Write copy for sponsorships
Test drive new home on wheels
List of all tech equipment needed
Brush up/learn camera, audio, editing
Mind mapping the green-sustainable living concept
Reserve domain names
Set up smartgreenliving website
Set up Green blog
Automate the bill payments etc.
Create a loose questions format template
List names of the green interview people, places,stops
List of play activities to do in each state after interviews
Print up T-shirts caps with web address
Punch in all interviewee addresses on GPS
Outsource all interview set up calls / e-mail correspondence
Say my goodbyes
Turn in my Guardian Ad Litem files, folder , badge
Publish there website www.vfcgal.org on my blog
Replace myself by creating enough awareness of the need for volunteers to help with the abused-neglected children crisis
Meet up with Tim fine tune
Launch Green websites go live
Start cross country trek learning , sharing, spreading the word about the people / places impacting our planet positively
Spend four hours interviewing, editing and publishing
36 hours gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, earth building.... depending on which part of the country I am in
Meet new friends dine with the natives go on date
Wrap up the last of my interviews on the west coast having crossed the entire U.S.
Donate the thousand dollars to GAL organization to be used for the storage closet where we keep dolls, teddy bears, toy trucks, school supplies etc (a lot of them don't even have one)
Begin the second half of my journey on the international side
Fly into Kharkiv, Ukraine volunteer on one of the International youth Camps like Planet X X I project
Practice my Russian with the natives
Take in the sights culture do some exploring
Strengthen international relations
Make some friends go on date take in night life
See the Black Sea, Carpatheian Mountains, Odessa, Moscow
Get on the train heading to Europe
In fact, this could be the beginning of a brand new career for me. I’m envisioning my new business cards: Teri Gage Taylor, Director of Fun and Games at the Get a Life Institute. Promoting a healthier, happier world through play.
Fighting the War on Stress: Just Have Fun!
It’s widely known that stress can lead to heart attack, strokes, fibromyalgia, insomnia and a host of other ailments. It also contributes to road rage, domestic violence and suicide rates. Stress has also been proven to reduce productivity and affect one’s ability to learn. How do you relieve stress? Lighten up, relax, laugh, have fun.
Just try to imagine how much the nicer the world would be if everyone could spend just a few hours a week having fun.
We’re a nation of overweight, over-stressed workaholics who’ve forgotten what it means to really have fun and everyone’s talking about the health care crisis in America. Do you think maybe, just maybe, there might be a connection? Do you think maybe, just maybe, the answer could be “Have More Fun!�
After all, laughter is the best medicine!
With 36 extra hours per week, I would give answers to the nagging questions that run through my head when there are more ideas to develop than time in a day. “Which projects would I tackle if my job actually gave sabbaticals?� “What could I get done if I didn’t have to put 7 hours into sleeping each day?�
Evidentially, I have a list of goals I dream to accomplish. If only given the time (and with the help of your book, I am learning how to take it back).
I would take Japanese lessons, take MMA fighting classes for fitness, blog, develop a video collaboration business plan, floss… Wait!
“All this sounds dandy, but can it actually be accomplished each week,� I stop and ask myself. For the proof see here.
Most people have heard about how the Earth’s going to hell in a handbasket, and have read tips on what to do to stop global warming. So what do they need me for? Because obviously folks aren’t doing much. People tune out environmentalists because they don’t believe they can personally have any impact, that helping the Earth is expensive, they don’t know what to do exactly, and maybe because a lot of environmentalists are annoying granola hippie freakos.
But I’m cute and not annoying! I’ll show people just what they should change to have the most effect, which things are the easiest, and how it can actually save them money. Just unplugging phone chargers and turning the TV and computer off instead of leaving them on standby saves enough energy to power a whole village in Botswanna for 10 years (uh... I made that up, but depending on how big the village is... I’ll research a real statistic when I have the extra 36 hours!), and can cut your electricity bill by 10%.
Making a difference doesn’t have to be painful. Of course it’s best to give up meat, never fly, and take the bus, but you can help even with simple things, too. I think poor people especially don’t know what they can do, but they’re the ones suffering most from pollution, and have the least resources to deal with problems that happen due to climate change (look at all the people still displaced by Hurricane Katrina!).
Businesses, groups, anyone who would have me would be my target clients. I would be helpful, but not pushy, engaging and convincing.
My services would have to be free, because most people don’t care enough about saving the planet to actually pay.
I’d do this for 30 hours a week. The other 6 hours I’d like to spend learning to play the bagpipes. I’ve always wanted to learn! I’d spend 5 hours a week practicing, and one hour brainstorming ways I could use my bagpipe powers to help orphans, and cute, fuzzy homeless animals.
Via bullets
Commit
Organize my space
Lay out the game plan
research
Put together resources
Eliminate, delegate, consolidate
Out source
Reavaluate
80/20 principal
write copy for sponsorships
Test drive new home on wheels
List of all tech equipment needed
Brush up/learn camera, audio, editing
Mind mapping the green-sustainable living concept
Reserve domain names
Set up smart green living website
Set up Green blog
Automate the bill payments etc.
Create a loose questions format template
List names of green interview people, places and stops
List of play activities to do in each state after interviews
Print up T-shirts caps with web address
Punch in all interviewee addresses on GPS
Outsource all interview set up calls / e-mail correspondence
Say my goodbyes
Turn in my Guardian Ad Litem files, folder, badge
Publish there website www.vfcgal.org on my blog
Replace myself by creating enough awareness of the need for volunteers to help with the abused-neglected children crisis
Launch Green websites go live
Start cross country trek learning , sharing, spreading the word about the people / places impacting our planet positively
Spend four hours interviewing, editing and publishing
36 hours gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, earth building.... depending on which part of the country I am in
Meet new friends dine with the natives go on dates
Wrap up the last of my interviews on the west coast having crossed the entire U.S.
Donate the thousand dollars to GAL organization to be used for the storage closet where we keep dolls, teddy bears, toy trucks, school supplies etc (a lot don't even have them)
Begin the second half of my journey on the international side
Fly into Kharkiv Ukraine volunteer on one of the International youth Camps like Planet X X I project
Practice my Russian with the natives
See the sights take in the sights culture do some exploring
Strengthen international relations
Make some friends go on dates
See the Black Sea, Carpatheian Mountains, Odessa, Moscow
Get on the train heading to Europe
It is not as simple as eliminating all college debt. The end goal is for all of my peers to pursue their dreams. The world immediately becomes a better place when people follow their dreams and listen to their hearts. College debt is just one barrier on this road. One of the bigger issues is the systemic feeling of hopelessness that has caused people to give up before even trying.
The ideas I have for addressing both of these issues are:
1. Develop a means for students to reduce costs of books. This could be made possible through a collective college book loaning system or E-textbooks that utilize newer web-technologies like wikis.
2. Educate. Teach students how to think positively and manifest their dreams, create the world they want around them, and take better responsibility for their financial life.
This is a woefully incomplete picture for what has to be done. There is much more brainstorming to undertake, and even more action to be taken to complete the goal of liberating America’s youth.
One of my central beliefs is that if you want to improve the world, start by improving yourself. My recent dreamlining revealed my most important goals:
1. Become a published author.
2. Have a gorgeous, adventurous,
intelligent, understanding girlfriend.
3. Have a personal assistant.
4. Buy a MacBook Pro.
I would utilize my extra 36 hours to bring these dreams to fruition. This experience would provide the necessary insight in how to help others achieve the same.
Women in Nepal are brought up with the notion that they are inferior to men. They are not encouraged to have opinions or develop their individuality, and they suffer from gender discrimination and lack of education. I intend to help the movement to free these individuals from the chains of their society. For me, the opportunity to travel to and work in a foreign country would the adventure of a lifetime. Just to experience the culture would be something of a dream.
If I had 36 extra hours per week I would work to develop education facilities for women in Nepal. These institutions would teach women to embrace their individuality and see themselves as worthy individuals that deserve the education, quality of life and respect that the men of their society take for granted. Females of all ages would receive a basic education and the opportunity to express themselves through different mediums such as photography, art, and literature. The women would be taught how to create opportunities for themselves and become working and respected members of society. This project would also create jobs for women who were able to teach at the school.
Women brought up in this culture often do not question the way it functions. I hope to teach them how to question all facets of their society and defy the “group mind� through independent thinking. I want to create an opportunity for them to rise above the discrimination and give them the tools they need to make a life for themselves.
Rather than doing 20 different things with my 36 extra hours, I would put my time and energy into this one project so that at the end of my life I can look back and honestly say that I accomplished something, that I made my mark on the world.
-D.S.
With the extra time, I would give answers to the nagging questions that speak up when there are more ideas than time in the day. "What could I accomplish if my work gave actual sabbaticals?" "What could I get done if I didn’t have to put 7 hours into sleeping everyday?"
Evidentially, I have a whole list of activities and goals I would work toward if I could only find the time (and with the help of your book, I am learning how to take the time back).
With 36 extra hours, here are the hobbies I would work day-to-day: get Japanese tutoring, develop the business plans for the three ideas I have rolling in my head, volunteer, take a MMA fighting class for exercise, floss, blog, real estate... Wait!
"All these activities sound dandy, but can they all actually be worked toward every single week," I ask myself mid-list. "Tim would probably appreciate an actual plan instead of just wishful thinking. I can do that!" Click here for the logistics behind the extra hours.
Thanks for your comments! Never expected to get a response to my response. How cool is that?
In any case, I hear what you're saying about doing small things. That's actually how I think much of the time---I definitely believe that subtle changes in one's behavior can be catalytic. It can be as simple as asking for help when I need it, as opposed to "sucking it up" or giving the guy on the street a dollar just because he asked, without judgment, reservation or analysis. (Yes, I know it's more complicated than that, but does it always have to be?)
As far as getting my values/priorities in order, I've spent
the better part of 5 years working on that. I'm good on that front. Just waiting for my "unifying theme." I've read some brilliant ones in this blog. But who knows, maybe I don't get one. And maybe that's okay. : D
And yes, I'm aware that I don't need an extra 36 hours and/or fat wads of cash to "do the do." But it sho' couldn't hurt.
I'm willing to team up with you. After getting your PhD in Astrophysics, help me establish DT fusion as the clean energy source on Earth (post #123). Once that is established, it should be easier to make your moon mission a reality to mine the moon for He-3 fusion fuel.
Meditate. Reflect on 33 years of life spent working for a sustainable global community that is peaceful and just. Start with amazing, supportive farm family in rural Canada; mix in liberal arts education, world travel and creative money-generating work. Add heartbreak and bouts of pessimism. Be present. Give all that I am and all that I have in service of all that I love.
Vision. Leverage my network and Tim’s network and the networks of everyone who reads my winning entry to transform the $1,000 prize into funds and matching fund for projects funded by the new rich. Mobilize thousands. Raise millions.
Action. Help people achieve their dreams. Help people to develop a global consciousness and feel the rewards of contribution. Repeat.
Breathe. Read some books. Learn to read Arabic and cook lamb. Ride horses. Take singing lessons and learn to play the guitar. Grow food and flowers.
Wonder. Foster organizational, cultural and individual change. Create massive culture shift from an economic model that serves dominance and war to one that supports life and relationships. End war. End sexism. Eradicate poverty. End racism. Make lots of friends and lots of money.
Celebrate. Live well.
Have found out through mediums I’m sure we have all seen in one form or another (thus our being here, at this site at this time), that great accomplishments are a team effort by those who have been through what we wish to prevent from happening to others, as our time on this planet is too short for as much suffering as we have witnessed. When we feel from the depths of our souls the same feelings when seeing a child cry from a hurt that was not a necessary life lesson, but harm that was of no service to them, the result of indifference or apathy from others, or worse, the pain that rises to the surface of our skin and surpasses any remotely comparable physical pain is a calling in and of itself, though not for everyone who feels it, thus our differences.
There can be great triumph in ‘differences’, as great power comes from the combining of individual strengths in creating a greater whole in the spirit of empowering others to do the same. My immediate dream here would be to include the healing of a family in demonstrating these same truths so they may understand within themselves some hint of such spirits, so that they will no longer be afraid, free to love and give more to those within their spheres: the ones they will meet in their travels going forward, in continuation. When this is not within our immediate grasp or cannot be facilitated peacefully in the moment, a child is always indirectly affected, and can be prevented. Thank you for this opportunity.
Thanks for the positive feedback! I believe we are a lot closer to a workable fusion reactor than most people realize. One interesting method being researched is acoustic inertial confinement fusion, or "sonofusion". There is also research into creating fusion reactions using pyroelectric crystals which seems very promising. We live in exciting times!
Visited your vision vat (it was quite an eye-opener when I compared it to the colors in my PDA!!!) Am revising my color scheme and schedule today so I actually begin to slot in time to work on the ideas that are perking in my brain so I can accomplish my 36-hour week.
Thanks for sharing ^_^
Sorry Tim, don't mean to turn your entry into a message board :)
Here's what I'll do:
Since I am a breast cancer survivor, I'm putting together a book of stories and artwork from breast cancer survivors. One goal is to raise funds for a scholarship for survivors-there is none in this country, and someone's gotta do it!
I'm trying to reach survivors in other countries,too, to tell their stories in picture or words- to have readers get a truly firsthand experience.
So. I would use the time to reach more people, hopefully in person. Travel would be part of it; to speak to third worlders, have-nots (here and globally) and get a real picture of this disease and how to help survivors function in all ways, especially financially (reason for scholarship).
Writing and art are what I do- it's my way of making a difference. This would be the jump-start.
I hope to create an art show with all the artwork. My plan is to pay contributors perhaps $25 each before book is published, get it published, get a big gallery show in NY City and give women and men who've survived this a chance to change their lives thru the scholarship and their writing and art.
That shouldn't be so hard, right?
Imagine the words and pictures of Afghanis, Iraquis, Russians, Americans, French, Brits, Brazilians-and on and on. What will their stories be? Wonderful, sad, enlightening, horrifying, and all beautiful!
That's my plan in 254 words.
Stephanie
BDF
I would spend regular time with middle school kids in urban Miami, taking them on field trips to places they don’t know exist to do things they never dreamed of like sailing, backpacking, snorkeling, and seeing Broadway musicals and modern dance companies. I would tutor them and help them discover how beautiful and valuable they are. I would encourage them to share their voices, shine their lights, live life full and make their dreams real.
I would take language lessons and seek out native speakers. I would take Tango lessons and belly dance classes. I would join the morning cyclists. I’ve always wanted to learn to swim, so I would sign up right away for a semester. I would spend a lot more time being the “cool� mom – cooking and hanging out in the background with my teenage son and his friends. I would play tennis twice a week with my 80 year old Dad and have dinner and watch movies with my 83 year old mom.
Instead of waiting for a lull in the day (around 2am), I would find a regular time to write Finally, I would regularly take the time to do very little or nothing, to reflect and take in the beauty of the people around me, the world I live in and my place in it. I would sit in silence without guilty so that I could feel the direction towards which my inner compass is steering me.
If I had 36 extra hours a week, I would squeeze the life out of every precious minute in them. My every thought, word and action would convey my gratitude, because having 36 extra hours a week would amount to giving me a life.
Why a refrigerator? Because refrigeration is a necessary and critical link in the pharmaceutical “cold chain� that delivers drugs to remote and tropical areas. Working like the old pony express, each station along the cold chain has a refrigerator for storing the drugs, as well as for supplying ice packs for the next stage of the journey. Since many of these areas lack electricity, special refrigerators are available that run on kerosene.
The stations in the cold-chain tend to get weaker as you get farther away from the major cities. The situation becomes worse at the end of the drivable roads, where health-care couriers must carry the drugs in insulated back-packs and hike the trails or paddle boats to the remote villages. Then the medicines must be administered quickly before they heat up and spoil. It is in one of these areas that I hope to deliver the refrigerator.
Why Luang Namthong province? Located in the heart of the infamous “Golden Triangle�, this wild province is at the trade crossroads that connects Laos, Myamar, Thailand and China. Being isolated and poor, this area has received very little health care in the past.
Drug resistant strains of malaria and tuberculosis have developed due to previous immunization efforts that were started but not carried to completion, thus developing “super strains� of the diseases. Due to increased trade with neighboring territories, the diseases are being carried to other parts of Asia, and eventually, around the world.
Will this help save the world? No, not if viewed as an act by itself. However, if this adventure gets some attention and acts as a catalyst for other adventure-seekers-with-a-conscience to do the same, then it might actually have a measurable impact.
T
he point of this adventure: If you’re going to travel to some remote corner of the world (and use up a lot of jet fuel while getting there), why not do something worthwhile when you get there? Laying on the beach and swimming with dolphins are wonderful self-indulgences, but they aren’t helping anything.
Hi Tim,
Don't mean to be off-topic, but I didn't know where else to post my THANK YOU for the exercises in chapter 3 "Dodging Bullets."
Your book arrived in my life precisely at the time I'm ready to ACT on the information (and not just "study" it.) With a major life change begun, I was feeling that I really needed to sort out my worst-case scenarios. But some of my new-agey friends admonished me "don't think negative thoughts!" kind of denial that limits creative problem-solving. (They've all seen "The Secret" and totally misinterpretted it, but I digress.)
So your chapter arrived right when I needed it, and I spent a couple hours today *really* writing it all out. Time well-spent! In the process of it, a weight was lifted off my shoulders (that anxiety that's been waking up up at night as my subconscious is trying to create a worst-case scenario plan on its own.) Then I had a couple AMAZING and easy-to-implement ideas! It was goose-bumpy, and I just knew that I can get through this transition by doing what needs to be done.
So HUGE thank yous!!!!
Jaya
(And really, I'm not trying to suck up, but I really would like to win that planning session with you, so scroll up to comment #111. I've already got some ideas about how to outsource a product company that will also help my favorite philanthropic cause, but I'd love your guidance.)
Thanks for your inspiring book, I am currently doing the exercises and learning lots about myself. It is uplifting to know that I can live the life I dream of and help others at the same time. I wish you continued happy travels!
Peg
Little did I know I wound up at Borders, on the floor, for the longest 10 seconds before politely securing Brittany's phone number! (the perfect 10, more approachable than a hundred 7's!!)
For the same price of 36 hours, I will continue my experiments with affordable solar applications for 3rd World and US.
Why are Federal tax credits for solar devices limited to "approved vendors"? Because they are priced too high!!
I hold designs for preheated water, flowing naturally to your hot water tank, that are economical without tax credits.
For the 3rd World, there is hot water, hot air, distilled water and even solar ice machines!!
Oil, Fossil Fuels and the NeoCons can not stop a determined man with 36 hours per week!!
There is a World to Save and Global Warming that must end now.
Either that or Brittany????
your pal, Tim
Sike.
(Who says sike anymore?)
My life is about living moments,one after another.To often people live their life separate from their dreams and their passions become only hobbies,I've made it my mission to not let that happen to me. I'd use that extra time to continue learning and exchanging ideas and seeing new places.
Time's all we got that matters so what would I do with it?
I'd appreciate it,I'd enjoy it and I'd make the most of it-living for what I love,not what they tell me to.
When I was seventeen the world showed me just how cruel things in life could be. Since then I have wanted the freedom to be able to help others in some way. I had such wonderful dreams of traveling into different parts of the world to help the hungry or to help the unfortunate people who are stuck in horrific places of the world.
Because of my lack of self-confidence I have not achieved that goal. Instead, I married, had four children and took care of everyone else and let my own thoughts and dreams move to the end of my dream list.
Now move ahead twenty-five years.... I want that dream back to number one of the list.
My first task is to get rid of the JOB - no - make that my second task. My first task was to encourage others to start paying attention to their dreams and not put them on the back burner like I did.
I started a web site to encourage everyone to make their "Second Act" in life a lifestyle change - free to do whatever it is that is important to them.
Thanks for the encouragement, Tim!
Linda
So, how do you change things, without changing people? You talk to people, get to know what is on their mind, live among them, study their way of life, dine with them, learn their language. Don't try to take over the country, just learn what you can, and by your knowledge you can spread the truth for others to know.
For example, since 9/11, all Muslims are frowned upon as heathens. That is simply not true. Just like any religion, you have your corrupt followers and your corrupt leaders. Since Islam is on the rise, maybe it would be nice to really get to know the peoples of the Arab nations, go in their homes, see how they live, and then tell the world, what is it all about. People are too afraid of what they don't know. This makes more sense then sending our sons and daughters to war.
Sure, helping AIDS victims and living among the poor, would be beneficial. However, I think the real issues at hand right now include the Islamic populations. I know for certain, if someone could go into an Islamic nation, like Egypt, they would be seen as peaceful people, and not the violent-natured peoples they are being portrayed as. Actually, they are no different than you and me. They just practice something different, something clearly unknown by western civilization, but they still believe in God, the Creator, and isn't that what life is all about?
Well most people my age, (21) would probably sleep. Yet I am not like most others. Sure I enjoy spending time with friends and family. I love my home town of Revere Mass, but my passion in life is to travel. What does this have to do with an extra 36 hours a week? I would use every second of it to help myself learn about others, meet others, and to travel around the world. Giving men and women the opportunity to learn, and ultimatly help the world in general have a better global understanding of all human beings. The most important thing in life (to me) is to enjoy life and to help people as well as animals and the environment. With an extra 36 hours a week i could do just that. I know this is a hypothetical question, but it makes you think of how important your 168 hours (a week) are in reality, and how I want to spend them.
God bless!
I personally would use my 36hrs in a way that is unthinkable. I have been a young business owner for a couple of years now, and my ultimate goal and wish is to travel to the great continent of Africa. Sometimes it amazes me, how many individuals in our country take things for granted. With 36hrs, I would like to go around to different tribes and communities to take digital images of small children who have never seen a picture of themselves nor looked themselves in the mirror.
I have learned that if you know who you are and you can see yourself visually you become more confident and it defines who you truly are. I want to take thousands or even millions of pictures on my Nikon camera, and give them away to all of the children. Something this simple would always be cherished in these children's hearts.
Therefore, with 36hrs of free time, I would like to travel to different parts of Africa capturing beautiful smiles and giving away free pictures. This quote along defines me and says so much about who I am, "Your calling isn't something that somebody can tell you about. It's what you feel. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that you are supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself."
Will Edmond
At the start of May 2008, we left Texas and drove over 2100 miles to Maine where we're currently looking for housing and work that will fit our personal goals. It was a "leap of faith" move with no safety nets, but your book, The 4-Hour Workweek, has been one of our inspirations.
My one-man art show is scheduled in York, Maine during July and August; we already spent a (volunteer) day helping the local art association repaint their building.
I could go on & on about what's changing in our lives. It's scary but also exhilarating. Thanks for this contest (everyone's a winner who makes big improvements in their lives) and your book!
I don't spend enough time with my niece. An extra 36 hours would allow me to take her fishing or shopping more often. My grandmother is 92 years old, I would have more time to spend with her for the time she has left. I would have more time to read books that I have yet read such as the "Illiad." I would have time to spend a few hours a week learning Spanish as I plan on traveling to Latin America soon.
I would have some time to spend on reconnecting with old college friends via Facebook and Myspace. I would be able to stop by that high school friends house for that beer I always promise him. I could spend more aftternoons running around in the country in my Jeep with the top down. I could make more day trips to the beach, more fishing trips, more pick up basketball games, a little more golf, perhaps I would learn tennis, or take up fly fishing. Actually, keep the 36 hours, I'm gonna figure out a way to do all of these things anyway.
After taking a large does of Fukitol™, I would take my wife and four children (from teenage to 4) to Northern Italy, where we would rent a humble villa and learn the language and culture together for a couple of months.
After reading your book, this has become my dream.
It would better our (family) lives because we would bond even closer relationships as we struggled together to learn something that is otherwise out of reach. Our lives would be enriched as we learn to slow down and smell the roses, from the culture who invented 'smelling roses'. We would have no one to turn to other than ourselves and any newfound friends, much like the sailing family you mention in your book.
Benefit to the world? Six lives will be changed forever. Our six lives will impact an inner circle of about 150 people, who in turn will share an incredible story of 'letting go' with their friends, potentially influencing thousands of people. Our change in perspective will result in the betterment of everyone we touch, as missionaries to the world that there is more to living than 9-5.
Perhaps you have already done enough, but winning the contest would be exciting, nevertheless.
During the past 7 years I have also volunteered as a child advocate for foster kids. Two years ago a child came into my life and, after suffering great atrocities at the hands of his parents and then the system, the court asked me if I would like family visitation rights so this little boy could come stay with me on the weekends and at holidays (before this I was only allowed to visit him and report to the court). He still lives in a foster home but has been a part of our family now for 2 years. I plan on helping him the rest of his life. I also have a commitment to making a difference for foster kids in our country - and to mending families - as the system now just discards these people.
My plan is to create a foundation that attorneys can donate to that will make a contribution to a charity in the name of each client after a case is settled or won at trial. In this way the client will see that their hurt made a difference in the world and the world can see that trial attorneys are not all money hungry ambulance chasers. My contributions will go to foster kids.
If selected, my son and I will go to Japan. We have wanted to do this for some time and we have never taken a big trip together. We even learned a little Japanese (nijong goga scoshi wakadimas)!
How ever...just after finishing my breakfast on this nice wednesday my mind is wondering off to that that could or would be.
I think i would use the extra hours to take live more easy, to talk to the lady at my near by shop about the weather..to finish the book i am reading...and maybe get on the train home and visit my father. He has a diary farm in the North of the Netherlands in a part of the world that belongs to the Friesians.
I will go and lend him a hand getting the cows from the meadow and help him milk them and do the little choirs that need to be done every day.
I will chat a little with my grandmother who lives next door to my father and help my grandfather (who is 85 and still gets up at 5.30 every morning to go to work at the farm) count the sheep and be sure none of them have fallen into the water. (We have an abandance of water in the Netherlands)
After that my neighbour girl and me will take the horses and go for a nice outdoor ride.
That would be nice......
I have finished the coffe and will take a shower soon.
Wishing everybody a good day,
Hanna
¨Go to Lake City, Colorado, and rent a terrific cabin with a view.
¨Write and submit the article about giving the gift of words that I’ll always remember kicked my butt to live my dreams.
¨Be confident I have skills and training necessary to write well.
¨Remember at least twenty unbiased people have told me my writing is clear and engaging. Do not discount, rather count, gifts of authentic encouragement to write.
¨Recognize and reject each thought immediately that smacks of lies, negativity, and laziness: I don’t have time. I don’t know how to submit. I need to wait until I get a better laptop, or find my pencils, or clean my office, or do the laundry.
¨Replace untruthful, procrastinating thoughts with: I will write an hour today and I will learn at least one thing about submission in thirty minutes today. I’ll still find time to do whatever else is absolutely necessary. Writing helps me live who I am.
¨Nourish a daily writing schedule to continue for the rest of my life.
¨Create a ceremony to mark the milestone of working to sell my writing.
¨Donate $1000 to Community Presbyterian Church, the oldest protestant church on Colorado’s western slope, to begin a “writer-in-residence” program, in which I will participate and fund every summer thereafter with my profits from my writing. This program will encourage boomer writers like me, who may have excused themselves from publishing and now think it’s too late, to accept responsibility to use their gift for writing pieces fit for consumption.
I'll be early to bed and early to rise;
Jog morning beaches and study night skies.
Languages wait to be learned and applied,
Foods to be tasted, wines to be tried.
I'll read Hemingway by campfire light;
Tackle Tolstoy with all of my might.
Emerson, Cooper, and Locke are in line . . .
Guess reading will devour a lot of that time.
I'll learn why the English love to drink tea,
Swim the cool waters of the Aegean sea.
I'll fly to experience a day without night --
Alaska or Iceland in summer'd be right.
I'll dance with the Maori, hike in Peru,
Scale the Great Wall -- do anything new.
I'll infect others with humor and wit,
Laugh every day and cry just a bit.
I'll be slow to anger and quick to love;
Learn to have patience when push comes to shove.
All of these things are just part of the plan --
The goal is to be there for my fellow man.
The small things are where it's important to start
In this world where people grow farther apart.
No more excuses and no more regrets,
No more “I'm busy”'s and no more "forgets."
I'll help out a stranger who seems to be down,
And mentor the children throughout my hometown.
Time will be given to an organization
That helps out the poor -- no matter which nation.
I'll donate more blood and donate more labor
To national parks, schools, and my neighbor.
My life will be lived with courage and zest;
Others may judge but I'll know what's best.
I would use the opportunity to travel to Bangladesh/China/India (depending on the time frame) to spend time with the Grameen Bank, the world leader in micro-finance. Poverty is devastating whether it occurs in the Bronx or in Burma. Their one-month training program is a fundamental step in understanding Grameen’s methodology and how to port it to other locations (including the U.S.)
Part of the trip would be about the things you take back home with you – powerful memories, granted, but knowledge that can change the world. With the training from Grameen (which isn’t available any other way but flying halfway around the world), I would help community development leaders start micro-finance projects that would help build healthy communities in urban areas that are in desperate need of revitalization.
I’ve spent time with community leaders in my home city of Houston and they are all desperate for a way to connect deeper with those they are trying to assist.
So why Grameen and why half way around the world? Because many organizations that currently practice micro-finance won’t share their methodology without a substantial price tag (think several tens of thousands of dollars.) They want organizations to pay for the methodology and instruction. For people who want to change the world with a grass-roots idea, most of these organizations are amazingly anti-grassroots and lack transparency. Grameen leads the pack in transparency and desire for distribution of workable projects and ideas. The only trick is getting there to see it with your own eyes.
I would use the consulting time with Tim to figure out how to support others who desire to start micro-finance programs (with a virtual component.) Developing help-guides, walk-throughs, networks, etc. Thinking through how we could use the knowledge gained from the trip in the most effective way to distribute it to the most people possible.
Learning is as much about what you are able to share as what you now know. Essentially, living with an open hand with the knowledge that personal finance and small loans can change the world.
Thanks for the consideration.
Warm regards,
Christopher
Having several young friends pass on in recent years, I often think about them and remind myself to live with Passion, Love Everyone.. for No Reason…Everyday AND Enjoy Life... As a result I DREAM BIG!
I would dedicate at least:
12 hours Personal Time:
- Learn something new. (Intellectual: New languages, business strategies +)
- Physical/Mental Health: (Yoga, Pilates, Tennis, Golf, Rock Climbing,
Capoeira, Dancing, travel +)
- Personal Growth: (Participate in motivational and spiritual groups and
activities that expand and challenge my thinking, meet at least 10 new
people each week and listen with intention)
12 hours Family/Spiritual Time:
- Spend quality time with my parents, grandparents & siblings, doing nice
things for them for no reason.. I wouldn’t be here without them!
- Spend more time in my church community, participate in their events more
often and share God’s word with others that may not feel worthy of God’s love.
12 hours Giving Time:
Since we learn 95% of what we will ever know before we are 18 years old (attitude, behavior, personality), I really want to focus most of my efforts on the world’s youth.
- Create a summer program for young students to travel to foreign countries
to learn other cultures, languages, no boundaries and also teach them
giving—we will always have a mission to impact lives wherever we go
(charity work, etc.)
- Also, our earth needs big attention. I will facilitate groups of people to tear
down vacant, ugly buildings and plant trees…MILLIONS of TREES! I’ll call
it: --Operation: Replenish Mother Earth--- I would highly publicize these
events, NOT for credit, but to influence others to follow my cause.
Thank you for everything Tim, your book and blog is amazing. You inspire me.
Thanks for opening up this topic for us!
I am morbidly curious.