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Episode 116: 7 Important Lessons Learned from The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss with Megan Porta

In episode 116 Megan shares lessons learned from one of her favorite books for entrepreneurs, The 4-Hour Work Week.

We cover all the value that Timothy Ferriss packs in this book. Below you will find our favorite 7 lessons gleaned from this classic business book that will help you achieve greater success in your business.

Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Book cover of the 4-hour work week by Timothy Ferriss

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Lessons Learned from The 4-Hour Work Week

If you have not read The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, you HAVE to add it to your list pronto. Tim packs SO much value inside. I read it for the first time years ago, before I was so immersed in the entrepreneurial world and at that time I thought it was just ok.

I picked it up again recently because I’m in a different time and place and it was life-changing, game-changing and honestly just plain everything-changing.

If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts (leave a comment!). If you haven’t, go read it and then come back and tell me your thoughts.


7 Important Lessons I Learned from The 4-Hour Work Week

Lesson 1: It is possible to work WAY less than we do and to simultaneously make WAY more money.

A subtitle for this lesson would be No More Excuses. Tim does such a great way of explaining to us that there is no need to work ourselves to the bone until we retire at age 65 after having worked miserably from a cubicle for most of our lives. We can have the lives we want NOW and it’s time for all of us to stop making excuses.

The older I get the clearer it is that so much of us (myself included) excuse our way out of so many opportunities and end up missing out on those things we actually desire for our lives. If you want to accomplish something in your business or life, there is ALWAYS a way to get it done.

Live life NOW with no excuses and no regrets!

Tim does an incredible job of providing resources that eliminate our excuses that are so easy to make. Tim provides affordable and free resources for services and travel and products that will allow you to really make anything you want to experience a reality. 

Lesson 2: The goal isn’t to have more money.

I don’t picture myself with money sitting in my hands and get excited. What excites me is picturing what I’ll be able to experience and how I’ll be able to LIVE when I have more money. Honing in on that end goal (whatever that is for YOU) is the key.

What do you want your business and life to look like 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years in the future? Fulfilled desires are the things we want, not the actual physical money sitting in our hands.

Lesson 3: We do not have to be slaves to our email.

Tim talks about this a lot in The 4-Hour Work Week. It was a process for him, but over time he was able to get to the point where he only checks his email once a week. ONCE A WEEK, PEOPLE! When I read this, I was like, WHAT THE WHAAAAT?!

For years I have been an absolute slave to my email inbox, so the idea of no longer being an email-slave inspired me to make changes. I have recently started checking my email only a couple times a day, which is a huge change from before.

Also, I no longer check email from my phone because honestly there’s never a need for it. I can get everything accomplished that I need to by checking in twice a day on my computer.

This new habit has spilled over into my social media check-ins. I peek into Instagram once a day (if that) and Facebook twice a week. Do you have any idea how much time and energy this opens up? 

Lesson 4: Go on a low information diet.

This point is controversial but when I read his thoughts on how little information Tim chooses to consume, it resonated with me in a really huge way. The only time I’ve watched the news in my adult life is when I visit my parents (and even then I completely tune it out).

I don’t log into Facebook unless I have a group I need to visit. I don’t consume any news that can potentially produce fear or worry or confusion.

As Tim states: “Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals and outside of your influence.” I 100% agree with this and choose to fill my mind with information that is only productive and beneficial.

Some of you might argue that I need to educate myself. I need to know what’s going on in the world! And although Tim addresses this much more eloquently, I’ll say that there is nothing I need to know that doesn’t eventually come to me. Important news has a way of finding us. 

Lesson 5: Outsourcing/delegating is important for opening up space.

Tim talks about how we should consistently evaluate our daily and weekly tasks to see if there are things we can start outsourcing. If you wanted to, you could outsource basically every single thing you do.

Hold onto the things you want to be doing and get rid of the rest. This is a process, but it’s something to evaluate regularly.

Lesson 6: Focus on the 20%.

We’ve all heard about the 80/20 rule, which basically tells us that 20% of what we do accounts for 80% of the results we get. Tim recommends we ask ourselves two questions:

  1. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?
  2. Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

Focusing on the important tasks helps us to reduce our work load tremendously. The key is knowing what your goals are and doing only the tasks and projects that support those goals. Everything else can be ignored.

Lesson 7: You fill the amount of time designated for each task.

This principle has a name known as Parkinson’s Law which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. If you have one task to complete and you set out to finish it in 10 hours, it’ll take 10 hours to complete.

If you set out to finish that same task in 1 hour, it’ll take 1 hour to complete. Aim for the shorter time of completion in order to open up space for the good things you want in your life.


Thank you, Tim Ferriss, for the inspiration and for writing such a great book that helps us all to live more fulfilling lives and run more efficient businesses!


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Transcript

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Intro:

Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, where food bloggers come to get their fill of the latest tips, tricks, and insights into the world of food blogging. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll provide you with the tools you need to add value to your blog. And we’ll also ensure you’re taking care of yourself, because food blogging is a demanding job. Now, please welcome your host, Megan Porta.

Megan Porta:

Eat Blog Talkers. Hey, how are you? I am going to talk today about what I learned from one of my favorite business books of all time, The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. If you would head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate, and review Eat Blog Talk, I would be so grateful that you can do it right now. It literally takes two minutes and those two minutes of your time are so appreciated. And they also add value to this podcast because it supports the fact that we are adding value here. So thank you, thank you in advance. I’m really so grateful for every single person who takes the time to do this. And one more thing before we dive into The Four Hour Work Week, the new Eat Blog Talk community platform is on its way to you very soon. I cannot wait to open the doors for you to come see the space that we’re setting up inside.

One of my favorite things about the platform is the Mastermind program, where you will be placed in a group of like-minded entrepreneurs that will meet regularly. Masterminds are so hugely important for success, you guys. Which is why it is one of the pillar features within the community. So keep your eyes peeled and be sure to join our waitlist, to stay in the loop with all of this. You can start feeling more connected and confident and receiving tons of exclusive awesome value that will help to propel your food blogging career. You can stay in the loop by filling out the form at eatblogtalk.com/launch.

On to the topic that we are here to talk about today. The Four-Hour Work Week. If you are a regular listener here on Eat Blog Talk, you know that I am all about reading books and consuming any information I can that will move the needle forward in my business. I have many favorite books and resources that have helped me break through to new levels. But today I’m going to focus on one of my favorites and a classic in the business world. The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. If you have not read this book, you have got to go read this book. If you like audio books, go get it now from audible. And if you like turning pages, go to Amazon and order a copy. I found so much value in this book that I think it’s worthy enough to have its own episode, which is why we’re here. Tim Ferris packs so much value inside. I read it for the first time years ago. This has been around for over 10 years, I believe. And I read it before I was quite so immersed in the entrepreneurial world. At that time I just thought it was okay. It didn’t really speak to me at that point, but I picked it up again recently because I’m in a much different time and space now. It was really life-changing. I know those are big words, but it was life changing and game changing. Honestly, everything changed. If you have read it, I would love to hear your thoughts. If you haven’t, go read it and then come back and then tell me your thoughts. So I put a few bullet points together today that just kind of go through what I learned from The Four-Hour Work Week. There’s actually much more that I learned, but these are the main things that I took away from it. The main points that I think Timothy Ferriss wants to convey to us as well.

New Speaker:

Number one is that it is possible to work way less than I currently do and to simultaneously make way more money. I mean, sign me up for both, right. A subtitle for this would be, no more excuses. Tim does such a great job of explaining to us that there is no need to work ourselves to the bone until we retire at age 65, after having worked miserably from a cubicle for most of our lives. We can have the lives that we want now, and it’s time for all of us to stop making excuses. The older I get the clearer it is it’s so much of us, myself included, excuse our way out of so many opportunities. By doing that, we end up missing out on those things that we actually desire for our lives. If you want to accomplish something in your business or in your life, there’s always a way to get it done. Live life now with no excuses and no regrets is Tim’s main message to back this idea.

He does an incredible job of providing resources. Also that eliminates excuses that are so easy to make. He provides affordable and free resources for services and travel and products that will allow you to really make anything you want to experience a reality for yourself. Number two, the goal is not to have more money. I don’t picture myself with money, sitting at my hands and get excited. What excites me is picturing what I will be able to do and experience and how I will be able to live when I have more money. Honing in on that end goal, whatever that is for you, is the key. What do you want your business and life to look like one year, three years, five years, 10 years, 20 years in the future? Fulfilled desires are the things we want. Number three, this one was such a huge one for me.

I do not have to be a slave to my email. Tim talks about this a lot in this book. It was a process for him, but over time, he was able to get to the point where he only checks his email once a week, you guys. Once a week, when I read this, I was like, what!? I couldn’t believe it. I was like, seriously. He runs a successful entrepreneurial business and he checks his email once a week. That’s impossible. For years, I have been an absolute slave to my stupid inbox. So the idea of no longer being an email slave inspired me to actually start making changes in this area. I’ve recently, within the past a month or so started checking my email only a couple of times a day, which is such a huge change from before. Also I no longer check email from my phone because honestly there is never a reason for me to do that.

I can get everything accomplished that I need to by checking in twice a day on my computer. And my goal is to get it down to once a day, by the end of the summer. This has also spilled over into my social media check-ins. I peek into Instagram once a day, if that, sometimes once every other day. I look at Facebook twice a week. Do you have any idea how much time and energy this opens up for me? So so much. Number four is go on a low information diet. This point I think is kind of controversial because any time I tell people my stance on this, I get bewildered looks coming back to me. But when I read Tim’s thoughts on this, and how little information he chooses to consume, it really resonated with me in a huge way. The only time I’ve watched the news in my adult life is when I visit my parents.

Even then I completely tune it out and go crazy. I don’t log into Facebook unless I have a group I need to visit. I don’t consume any news that can potentially produce fear, worry, or confusion. As Tim States in his book, most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals and outside of your influence, I 100% agree with this and choose to fill my mind with information that is only productive and beneficial. Some of you might argue that I need to educate myself. I need to know what’s going on in the world. Although Tim addresses this much more eloquently in his book, I will reply with this. There’s nothing I need to know that doesn’t eventually come to me. Important news has a way of finding us. Number five, outsourcing and delegating is important for opening up space. Tim talks about how we should constantly evaluate our daily and weekly tasks to see if there are things we can start outsourcing.

If you wanted to, you could outsource basically every single thing you do. So hold onto the things you want to be doing and get rid of the rest. This is a process for sure, but it’s something to evaluate regularly. Number six, focus on the 20%. We’ve all heard about the 80 20 rule, right? Which basically tells us that 20% of what we do accounts for 80% of the results we get. Tim recommends we ask ourselves two questions. First is, which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness. Next, which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness. Focusing on the important tasks helps us to reduce our workload tremendously. The key is knowing what your goals are and doing only the tasks and projects that support these goals. Everything else can be completely ignored. Number seven, you fill the amount of time that is designated for each task.

This principle has a name known as Parkinson’s law, which states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. If you have one task to complete and you set out to finish it in say 10 hours, it is going to take you 10 hours to complete it. If you set out to finish that same task in one hour, it is going to take you one hour to complete it. You are going to adjust and figure out a way to get it done in a much shorter amount of time. Aim for that shorter amount of time of completion in order to open up space for those good things you want in your life. There you go, food bloggers. Those are my favorite things about The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. I hope you have found at least a nugget of value in this recap. If you have, be sure to read the book because you will get so much more out of that. Thanks so much for listening today, food bloggers. You’re amazing. I will see you next time.

Outro:

We’re glad you could join us on this episode of Eat Blog Talk. For more resources based on today’s discussion, as well as show notes and an opportunity to be on a future episode of the show. Be sure to head to eatblogtalk.com. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll be here to feed you on Eat Blog Talk.


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Megan
Megan

Megan started her food blog Pip and Ebby in 2010 and food blogging has been her full-time career since 2013. Her passion for blogging has grown into an intense desire to help fellow food bloggers find the information, insight, and community they need in order to find success.

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