Lifestyle Design Tips and Resources Series (Inaugural)

by Clay on March 12, 2008

sunset feet beach (hazytadpole) Welcome to the inaugural edition of a series of tips, links, and reviews related to Lifestyle Design (LD) concepts. This series will cover such topics as:

  • How to free up personal time
  • Low information diets
  • How to live anywhere, work remotely, and virtually manage a business
  • How to take mini-retirements without sacrificing your career

Without further ado, here goes…

Book: Escape 101: Sabbaticals Made Simple, by Dan Clements and Tara Gignac

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, so I about fell out of my chair when, out of the blue, I received an email from Dan Clements.  He sent a thoughtful note responding to the amusing comment mayhem that went down in the aftermath of a Dumb Little Man Guest post.  Anyway, Escape 101 is a book that stands to blow open your reality, teach you how to create a new life, and show you how to break the rules in all the right ways.  Topics covered include how to travel with children, how to leave your job without hurting your career, and how to travel on a shoestring budget.  I recommend checking it out.

Blog: Living Off Dividends

In 4HWW, Tim Ferriss introduces the "muse" concept: a highly automated but low-maintenance business designed to generate income, free up time, and generate a high return on investment (ROI) for it’s owner.  One notable example includes Ferriss’ own BodyQUICK company which generates over $40,000 per month and takes less than four hours per week to maintain.  (4HWW readers will be familiar with the muse concept, but I will be discussing it at length in future posts, as well as providing real-world examples of successful muses).

At any rate, dividend income is one alternative to muse income, and it is generated by investments that payout on a periodic basis (preferably a monthly basis).  Sounds nice, right?  One problem is that while divided income generally requires less time and maintenance than muse creation, it also has a lower ROI and takes longer to develop.  As such, Living off Dividends does not espouse a get-rich-quick approach (I’d recommend LOD’s philosophy page).  The site’s top articles have titles such as Buying Canadian Income Funds For Passive Income (and Financial Freedom), Making $3,000/Month In Passive Income, and Can You Retire On Less Than $3,000 A Month?   Living off Dividends is a good starting point, although it is by no means exhaustive.

Article: The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen (and Weapons of Mass Distraction)

This article is, far and away, my favorite on Tim’s blog.  It was written after Tim’s mini-retirement through London, Scotland, Sardinia, Slovak Republic, Austria, Amsterdam, and Japan.  Like a good disciple of his own philosophy, he didn’t check his email while on vacation.  Here’s what happened:

  • One of our fulfillment companies has been shut-down due to the president’s death, causing a 20%+ loss in monthly orders and requiring an emergency shift of all web design and order processing.
  • Missed radio and magazine appearances and upset would-be interviewers.
  • More than a dozen lost joint-venture partnership opportunities.
  • It’s not that I go out of my way to irritate people — not at all — but I recognize one critical fact: oftentimes, in order to do the big things, you have to let the small bad things happen. This is a skill we want to cultivate.

Why does Mr. Ferriss intentionally let these bad things happen?  And how did he benefit from his low email diet?  Check the article to find out.

For more 4HWW and lifestyle design tips, resources, and reviews be sure to subscribe to The Growing Life (via rss or email).  And if you’d like to clue me in on related resources or tips, or write a guest post in this series, please send me an email at TheGrowingLife at the Gmail.

[tags]4HWW, Four-Hour Work Week, 4-Hour Work Week, Lifestyle Design, low information diet, selective ignorance, personal outsourcing, mini-retirements, Timothy Ferriss, passive income, living off dividends[/tags]

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Comments Closed

  • http://livingoffdividends.com Investing & Passive Income

    thanks for the plug!

  • http://hdbizblog.com/blog @Stephen | Productivity in Context

    FWIW, I still think that the 4HWW goes too far in indulging the “me” aspect of your life and does not do enough to promote the “us” part.

    Don’t get sucked in too far, man!

  • Clay Collins

    @Stephen: I’m really interested in what you have to say on this matter. Would you call 4HWW a selfish philosophy? I’m not trying to drum up controversy, I’m genuinely curious. Anyway, if you have more time I’d love to hear more.

    –Clay

  • http://www.escape-101.com Dan

    Hey – thanks for the mention, Clay.

    That article of Tim’s was also one of my favorites. Nice pick!

  • http://hdbizblog.com/blog @Stephen | Productivity in Context

    I believe that it is a selfish program (I hesitate to call it a philosophy) to the extent that it is focused on leaving your work for others to do (otherwise known as outsourcing) so that you can indulge yourself in your dreams and desires.

    That doesn’t sound too bad, at first, but upon reflection some of those activities that are to e eliminated are actually part of the fun (for me).

    I like answering e-mail. I enjoy communicating personally with my readers and customers and clients. The relationships that I have developed in the past year are priceless to me, and I would never consider putting up a wall of executive assistants and handlers to keep people away from me so that I can go fishing and camping all the time.

    Heck, if that is the goal, then why not sell the business for a few million bucks and just retire for good? Honestly, if the mini-retirements are so important and the “work week” gets in the way so heinously, why not scrap the work week?

    (I wrote something snarky here, but I deleted it. Not fair. I don’t know the guy so I shouldn’t judge.)

  • http://hunternuttall.com Hunter Nuttall

    Clay, I’ll be especially interested in your muse posts. I liked everything about 4HWW, except I didn’t understand the part about muses. I’ve wondered if a muse is even a possibility for people who have no extraordinary talent.

    I’m a big fan of stocks (dividends and/or capital gains) for passive income, but as you say, it takes a long time to get there because of the low ROI. I’ll check out those articles on Living off Dividends.

  • http://jonathanmead.com Jonathan Mead

    I don’t think it’s a selfish pursuit at all, as long as you define selfish as screwing other people over in the pursuit of your dreams. It is using your intelligence as a leverage though. If you can do this in a way that is fair-trade and benefits others, then you can make it a win-win situation. Why settle for anything less?

  • http://www.successsoul.com Shilpan | successsoul.com

    Clay,

    Nice presentation. Tim’s article was great. Thanks again.

    Shilpan

  • http://plain-talk-ordinary-wisdom.blogspot.com Pat R

    Clay – thanks for the resources and wealth of information. I hear 4HWW is excellent, my husband read it.

  • http://www.nezsez.com Nez

    I haven’t read 4HWW, but it’s interesting to ponder: if every single person of working age in the world worked 4 hours a week, what would happen? Whom would we outsource to — aliens?

    Crops would not be harvested in time before they rotted, cows that one has lifted since they were calves would not be milked, etc.

    All the more power to Mr. Ferris for living the life he wants (and drawing the residual income from his company, book, speaking engagements, etc.), but until we do something, say…solve the world’s energy needs (and have a energy-to-matter converter to provide everything else), I think people still need to work a bit more than 4 hours per week.

    I know, I know, I’m taking 4HWW literally — I’m sure there’s more, and I’m certainly not against passive income streams, but the whole concept just sounds arrogant.

    (At some point, I’ll probably have to go check out the book.)

  • http://sharingmatters.com Paul Montwill | Sharingmatters.com

    @ Nez: For the same reason as not everybody on the planet will be a CEO, not everybody on the planet will switch to 4HWW. Why? Because it is not easy. I would say it is quite difficult. But it is possible.

    @ Stephen: I agree that they way Tim presents this whole idea sounds a bit arrogant. But it is a way to catch people. On their dreams. You can spend your free time on charity, take your kids to the Disneyland etc.

    My conclusion is simple – I would like to have 4-Hours-DAY-Work and I will use Tim’s suggestions to achieve that. Not only will it be great for my family but I will also have more time to think about others.

    4HWW it is the recipe for escaping from a cubicle by PERSONAL OUTSOURCING. Usually it was – start your business, reach certain level of income, leave your job, be free. Tim’s approach is a bit different and it included outsourcing and base on a catch that once you outsource your life you can then travel and RELAX.

    We work to much these days, we read to many email, we don’t have time to speak to our children, we process to much information everyday (and then we are prescribed Prozac=placebo so we can live a “normal” life!). It is a sort of generalisation but gives you the impression what I mean.

    And finally, Tim presents a GREAT SHIFT in thinking that should especially be appreciated in a hardworking American nation (which in my opinion deserves more holidays) – you don’t have to work so hard and so long. There are ways you can reduce your time spent at work. You don’t have to jump on every train called occasion. Tim is happy to share his ideas about letting bad things happen. Today we think that lost opportunity is painful but maybe we won’t think this way in 30 years. We are addicted to be busy. If you are not busy then you are weird.

    And the last thing – everybody knows that you can outsource production to India or China, but not many people talked about outsourcing your personal life before Tim.

    Clay, I hope you will give away some free 4HWW books as I haven’t read it yet :)

  • Clay Collins

    @Everyone: I think there’s a natural tendency (understandably) to focus on the “4-Hour” aspect of Tim’s book (it’s in the title after all), and to focus also on personal outsourcing. The personal outsourcing stuff, however, is only 27 pages of a 300+ page book.

    What I appreciate most about 4HWW are the lifestyle design concepts. I think the idea of being able to configure our lives in non-standard ways is an empowering one. I also believe that most people who have extreme distaste for it can embrace lifestyle design, or at least appreciate it. (I, for one, dislike the term “New Rich”).

    In that spirit, I’m considering renaming this series “Daily Lifestyle Design Tips and Resources.” What do you think?

    –Clay

    P.S. I’d like to mention that I heard Tim talking once at a marketing conference, and he mentioned that his book was written to be controversial because that would spur debate and get people to buy his book.

  • http://www.escape-101.com Dan

    Interesting discussion!

    In the first decade of the 1950′s, our productivity increased enough that by about 1957, people could have worked roughly a 20 hour week, and led the same lifestyle of 1950. Instead, we chose to exchange that productivity for a higher standard of living, and a lot more stuff.

    I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong there, but I think it’s important to recognize that what we face in terms of structuring our work lives is a choice – a conscious decision about the life we’d like to lead.

    That’s quite a gift, when you think about it, and I think the real value in Tim’s book is in his attempts to get people to acknowledge that gift. Four hours may or may not be realistic for everyone, but the opportunity in this day and age to change your life is.

  • http://www.nezsez.com Nez

    @Clay: I think renaming it would allow you to focus more on the lifestyle design concepts you referred to.

    For some reason, that 4HWW really draws attention to itself, and as you mentioned, Mr. Ferriss deliberately titled his book in a provocative, even controversial way to stand up — be the purple cow, as Seth Godin says.

    I’m guessing it worked.

    But really, I am interested to read your future posts on LD ideas.

  • http://basicprinciples.wordpress.com Neil Keleheer

    I love this discussion! A lot of nice ideas you’ve pulled together Clay.
    I haven’t read the book but thinking about some of the comments made so far, perhaps a four hour work week isn’t possible for everyone. Or maybe it is, we just need to open our minds to the possibility that it is possible for everyone, for us all to exist happily in the world with everyone working in some way four hours a week. But then maybe not all of us want to work just 4 hours a week. The beauty there is that there is choice for everybody. And I’m guessing that the purpose of the 4 hour week is so that we can get on with the things in life that we really enjoy doing, but if work is what we enjoy or love then there is no need for a shorter work week.
    Personally I love the idea of a shorter work week. It would mean more time for me to write and to learn and to get on with doing the things that I love. But if writing and all the other things that I love doing help to support me and my family…

  • Clay Collins

    @Stephen: Thanks for sharing this interesting perspective. We should chat soon.

  • Clay Collins

    @Dan: I’m really glad you stopped by and am looking forward to our interview.

  • Clay Collins

    @ Nez: I agree that the 4HWW sounds arrogant. Probably because Tim Ferriss at times comes across as being, well, arrogant.

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