Meditation

The Start of Something New

I needed a life kick start a few weeks back and since I really admire Tim Ferriss, I decided to listen to his podcast ‘5 Morning Rituals That Help Me Win The Day’ on my way to work.  One of Tim’s morning rituals is meditation; something I have always considered trying but never really had time for. I was always too busy or wanted to sleep in an extra ten minutes. I honestly think I came up with every excuse in the book. Lately, I realized my life has become increasingly busy and I haven’t had any time to decompress, clear my head, or be mindful to the world around me. This was a clear sign to me I needed to try something to bring back my sense of clarity and calmness, and meditation seemed like a great remedy. 

Ten Minutes LAter

Ten minutes. 600 seconds. That’s .00694 of your day to dedicate to mediating. It’s really not that much time when you put it in to perspective, but it’s this little amount of time that can make a big difference throughout your day and your life. There are many different meditation practices, but as a beginner I decided to start with the free Headspace app (crazy that we use technology as a means for meditation right? Seems counter intuitive but it works!) I was skeptical at first, but remained open-minded to the process of meditating. I had no clue how to meditate, but thankfully, the Headspace app sessions are guided and walk you through breathing and how to be mindful of your thoughts, feelings and surroundings. Before you know it the ten minutes are up and you have a revived sense of self and your surroundings to conquer the day.

Benefits

Many people may laugh or scoff at the idea of meditating, but let me assure you that there are several benefits that come with meditation. Meditating lowers blood pressure, improves your immune system, decreases insomnia, allows for mental clarity, increases your serotonin levels, and much more. “With meditation, the physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with more prana (energy). This results in joy, peace, enthusiasm as the level of prana in the body increases.” I guess it’s no surprise that some of the world’s most successful and influential people meditate, including Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Marc Benioff, Arianna Huffington and more.

If you don’t have enough vacation time or money to escape from the hustle and bustle of life or are just simply feeling overwhelmed, download the Headspace app and allow yourself to refocus and recharge through meditation. If you don’t like it, you can always delete the app, but chances are this might just change your daily outlook on life and become a part of your daily routine.

Book review: The 4-Hour Workweek

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

— Timothy Ferriss

Have you ever wondered how you can work while lying on a beach in Thailand? This sounded like some sort of fairy tale if you asked me prior to reading Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek.  I am sure that many of you ponder things like “Well that was a pointless meeting” or “Why did I even come into the office today?” If you’re anything like me and constantly wanderlust, then you are contemplating how to merge your passion for travel while maintaining a steady income.  Luckily, this isn’t impossible and Tim Ferriss lays out a step-by-step guide on how to become a member of what he coins the “new rich.”

The book is laid out in four steps:

Step 1: D is for Definition

This entails defining your objectives. What’s important to you? What are your goals? What do you really want in life? What are you putting off out of fear?

Bottom line of definition is that one question we’ve all heard before- “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

What I learned from Tim in these first four chapters is that the most important actions are never comfortable. We often make excuses for not pursuing our dreams. We tend to think the worst case scenario will play out, but what Tim points out is that it is highly unlikely for this to happen… and to a certain extent I agree. He urges us to take steps towards living out our dreams by outlining them with everything from costs, steps to get there, timeframes and more. I think Tim does a great job in reminding us that “inaction is the greatest risk of all” and our dreams really aren’t as far away as they may seem.  

Step 2: E is for Elimination

The title of this step pretty much says it all: eliminating activities that take up time and add no value.  A perfect example is this conference call in real life (video).

These next three chapters provide advice and insight on how to get rid of anything that doesn’t add value and tools to be more efficient and productive (i.e. a website blocker for all you Facebook addicts). With today’s world giving fast paced a whole new meaning than ever before, I think some of these tools are helpful, yet easier said than done. There are some useful tools he suggests in this chapter, such as setting an agenda for a meeting so it doesn’t turn into a time wasting exercise. Another helpful tip is to stop multi-tasking. This is very difficult for me to do when I tried it out since I work in a fast-paced work environment, but once I focused all my attention on one thing at a time, the results were actually surprising. I built my financial models faster and with fewer errors than ever before (bonus points with the bosses!). I highly recommend trying out some of these elimination tools… you never know where you’ll end up!

Step 3: A is for Automation

I think the four chapters on automation are where people begin to set the book down because this is when the tough gets going. The beginning of this section focuses on utilizing virtual assistants to help with everything from paying credit card bills to creating market research reports (aka outsourcing). There are definite risks to outsourcing tasks, including costs and work quality. On the flip side, you can have someone generating an outstanding market research report for you while you’re sleeping for only $15 USD, saving you time and effort.

Ferriss transitions into giving several examples of ways to earn thousands of dollars a month, while doing the bare minimum. He explains that automating income is important- i.e you can’t be working from a beach in Thailand if you decide to open a restaurant in your hometown. Having a stream of automated income, whether it be an E-book or licensing a product, is a vital aspect to achieving the 4-Hour Workweek.

Step 4: L is for Liberation

The last step in Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek ties all the loose odds and ends together so that you can have the freedom you have always envisioned. Within the first section of Liberation, Tim provides steps on how to slowly remove yourself from yourself from the 9-5 (or later) work environment to a remote work space. Of course, you must prove to your manager that he/she can trust you, and that your productivity increases as a result of this remote work agreement. But, not all managers are going to agree with remotely working, so it may be time to jump ship. What’s the worst that can happen? You get one step closer to achieving your dreams?

So what’s next? You got to the 4 hour work week at this point and have 36 more hours of free time. What do you do? Maybe it’s time to get involved with charities, or learning a new language. You must continue to find ways to add value to your life. Remember: “The enemy of happiness is boredom.”

Conclusion:

The steps in Tim Ferriss’ book are much easier said than done, BUT I do think this is great read for anyone who wants to be one step closer to achieving his/her dreams. I learned a lot while reading this book, with topics ranging from marketing to manufacturing. All of the topics in his book definitely created questions for me, and reminded me that I am capable of doing anything I set my mind to.

Tim Ferriss also has a blog with helpful tools related to the 4-Hour Workweek and I suggest taking a look if you have some free time!

“The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. ”

— Timothy Ferriss