I have been reading the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, which I recently received as a birthday present. The Four Hour Work Week is a great book on applying lifestyle design to free one from the rat race. I highly recommend reading this book, especially if you are feeling stuck or trapped in a corporate job.
Tim Ferriss abhors the whole concept of retirement. In its place, Ferriss advocates periods of rest (mini-retirement) followed by active period of work. His ideas can be applied by entrepreneurs or by employees who ideally negotiate remote working agreements with their employers.
Tim Ferriss personifies living life without barriers as a highly creative individual. His life in an example of what a brilliant, nonconformist can accomplish and do (with a degree from Princeton). I have assembled some awesome quotes by Tim Ferris that have helped inspired me to apply lifestyle design in my life.
Quotes by Tim Ferriss on Lifestyle Design
“Lifestyle Design is thus not interested in creating an excess of idle time, which is poisonous, but the positive use of free time, defined simply as doing what you want as opposed to what you feel obligated to do.”
“Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane. Plan accordingly.”
“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.”
{Quotes by Tim Ferriss; Inspiring Quotes by Tim Ferriss}
Quotes by Tim Ferriss on Staying Excited
“The question you should be asking isn’t, ‘What do I want?’ or ‘What are my goals?’ but ‘What would excite me?’
“Remember-boredom is the enemy, not some abstract ‘failure.'”
“The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is-here’s the clincher-boredom.”
Quotes by Tim Ferriss on Overcoming Fear and Personal Blocks
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”
“Busy yourself with the routine of the money wheel, pretend it’s the fix-all, and you artfully create a constant distraction that prevents you from seeing how pointless it is.”
“People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.”
“Whenever one of us began to set our sights lower, lose faith, or ‘accept reality,’ the other would chime in … like an AA sponsor: ‘Dude, are you turning into the bald fat man in the red BMW convertible.’ The prospect was terrifying enough that we always got our … priorities back on track immediately. The worst that could happen wasn’t crashing and burning, it was accepting terminal boredom as a tolerable status quo.”
