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I think we’re all crazy. We grow up, go to school where we apparently learn by sitting in a room for eight hours. After a decade and a half of this we go to work and sit for eight-ten hours a day and try to be productive. It all seems to make sense because that’s the way we learned things when we grow up, but when you stop and think about it, it’s a bit crazy. I know my mind’s useless from 2-3pm, my employer doesn’t so I sit there at my computer trying to decipher spreadsheets, but I am truly useless. It’s even in my list of goals to oneday have a job or business that lets me nap from 2-3pm. I’m dead serious.

But all of this craziness becomes clearly apparent after reading the four hour workweek. Timothy Ferris wrote this beauty and I have to say I’m fascintated by the idea of working less. After all, if you think money’s hard to come by, try getting the time back you invested in memorizing all the Seinfeld episodes. You’ll quickly realize time is the most important currency we trade in life.

The book follows Timothy’s breakdown after working 15 hours/day on his business and his subsequent realization that there has to be a better way. He uses the 80/20 rule to figure out what he needs to focus on in his work and he quickly realizes that he can work less and get more done. The result is nothing short of amazing. He checks emails once a week, he has a guiness world record in dancing and he’s learned six languages. And most impressive of all – he’s 29 years old.

Another idea brought up in the book that I think everyone should adopt is mini-retirements. We never really know when we’re going to meet our maker so wouldn’t it be nice to have a whole bunch of mini-retirements throughout your life, rather than one big one at the end where the highlight is meatball Tuesday?

I also like how Timothy travels. He doesn’t do the ten day forty country tour to Europe. We’re all guilty of this one, we think quantity over quality and so we see the Lueve, the Eiffel Tower, Rome, the Parthenon, etc. Then we get home and say we’ve been to half of Europe, but all we’ve seen is a few highlights and missed the culture. Timothy instead picks a town or two and stays there the entire time. He relaxes, pursues a mental and physical activity and absorbs the culture. If we travelled like this we wouldn’t need a vacation when we got back from ours.

I think it’s a great read and it really highlights how you can change your life by focusing on what’s important. So take a break, put your feet up and get inspired. Leave a comment if you know anyone who’s achieved freedom by working smarter, or if you’ve already read the book.