The Weekend Retirement Test Drive: Groundhog Day and the Rest of Your Life (Plus: Competition) 152 Comments

152 Responses to “The Weekend Retirement Test Drive: Groundhog Day and the Rest of Your Life (Plus: Competition)”

• Matt Propst
  February 1st, 2008
  7:26 pm
  

  Tim,

  I’m a bit taken back by your wording here. I’ve found more value in your book for the ways that it’s made me reevaluate my goals and my processes which i use in my life than for any other reason. I’ve lent it out to several friends to read, all of whom have found it at least “interesting.”

  Now hoping to win a book for a potential signature and the value of that signature, seems very materialistic. I hope no one enters for that reason alone. The book is far too valuable.

  (Yes, this post did make me check my book and it is a First Edition, however I wouldn’t think of selling it.)

  ###

  Hi Matt,

  Thanks for the comment. By the wording, I assume you mean the ethical bribe part of the competition. Or the e-mail? In either case, I’m very happy that different people get different things from the book. For the competition, I’m just giving a little incentive to those who need the push, and it doesn’t hurt me to offer the books, so I figure: why not?

  I want people to take disruptive action, but there’s a lot competing for attention, so I throw a bit in the mix to make it more compelling. Most won’t do it for the books, but a few will, and once they test the concepts, they’ll find the rewards from that to be the main motivator.

  I just need to get their foot in the door.

  It’s all just a big experiment, so we’ll see how it pans out :) Have a great weekend…

  Tim

• Karissa
  February 1st, 2008
  8:03 pm
  

  I would fly to Maui with my husband and daughter. I know – really not that exciting in the scheme of things. But, for us it’s an easy get-away if you make the time for it – short flight, great change from the dreary Seattle weather, no passports required and we like it there. I would show my 1 year old little girl what it feels like to dip her tiny toes into the warm, salty water and dig her chubby little feet into the sand. I would drink pina coladas in the sun with my husband and talk and by happy. I would snuggle and cuddle my little family and plan what to do next.

• Mike
  February 1st, 2008
  8:11 pm
  

  wow…
  .
  .
  .
  wow.
  Tim, your book and your blog have made me re-examine my life in ways I’ve never done before.

  Now, I’m realizing that my dreams of a fulfilling retirement and going to be dashed if I can’t live through a fulfilling weekend – no matter how large my 401K.

  Thanks for the wakeup call.

• CatherineL
  February 1st, 2008
  8:16 pm
  

  Hi Tim – Do you mean for us to do all these things this weekend, or can we use our imagination? Some of the things I would really like to do aren’t physically possible right now.

  Wow – I think I have a first edition too. Well, it’s a hardback and it says first edition but the numbers are only 10 and 9 – it doesn’t have the usual 10 numbers from 1 to 10. Does this count? If so, would you mind signing it with blood or something Tim? It would only take the small prick of a needle and I might get a whole heap more for it.

• Tyson Williams
  February 1st, 2008
  9:05 pm
  

  Hey Tim,

  I have finished reading your book couple of weeks ago and thought to myself, I understand everything what this guy is talking about. Why? Because I have been living like him for the last 8 years. I have left the corporate 9-5 environment to enjoy life, and I have been. Focusing on my passions like travel and photography,blogging for fun, reading and learning whatever and wherever I want. I came back recently Buenos Aires, Argentina (my new favorite city in the world) and Uruguay. And already I have booked a trip to Barcelona, Spain for April. Later on this year I am looking forward to French Rivera and Monaco or may be Tokyo (I have not decided yet). I have visited to 117 cities in 21 countries over the years! I enjoy each and everyday of my free time now, I appreciate the fact that I am actually living my life to the fullest and stay in the moment. I keep a collection of photos from my travels over 8,000 by now on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tysonwilliams/). You are right about the fact that most people do not know what to do with themselves if they do not have “the job” to go to, because since they were kids at secondary school they were thought about living in a daily routine. Without it they are lost. They need to re-learn it how to let it all go, free themselves from it and be creative with what they are really interested in doing with their life. We all have a lot of potentials, passions and dreams, but it may take time for someone to break away from “Monday to Friday” life. It is possible, it is doable. I know because like you, I have done it and I could not imagine going back…

• Nick
  February 1st, 2008
  9:40 pm
  

  How does watching the Superbowl, doing eight loads of laundry, and changing some poopie diapers sound? Pretty awesome right? Damn skippy. Go ahead and send those books to 324 Dreamsville Pike, Annandale, Va.

• judyofthewoods
  February 1st, 2008
  9:53 pm
  

  Does it count that I have already lived my life for many years in that fulfilling way? I am not officially retired, but still self employed for the bit of money I still need to live. However, I got off the treadmill long ago by being more self-reliant, needing less money because I built my own home and made much of the furnishing. My home is tiny, but that is part of not being on the treadmill – no mortgage, manageable. I pursue so many interests that my problem is not how do I fill my day, but does the day have enough hours. There is plenty of proof on my website, which shows my lifestyle. I have believed for a long time that money is just an exchange token and a means to an end, and work is a way to get a number of those tokens to pay someone else to do what you can’t or won’t do for yourself. I feel fortunate that I need relatively few of those tokens.

• Parveen
  February 1st, 2008
  10:19 pm
  

  I quit my job. Today was my last day.

  I’m a game programmer and I’m going to spend the next 48 hours working on meaningful games that I truly believe in. I’m building a company where we hold ourselves to the highest standard in all of our conduct.

  I do yoga first thing every morning on the weekend. I’m also training for the Vancouver Half-Marathon in May.

• Kevin
  February 1st, 2008
  11:53 pm
  

  My whole life, I have loved stand-up comedy. I have tons of DVDs and CDs (Sam Kinison is my favorite) I have a bookshelf dedicated to comedy writing and stand-up how-to books, and I’ve read them all. I use to teach public speaking and I would use the opportunity to try out material. Of course, a room full of college freshman didn’t find my material very funny, especially at 9 A.M.

  I even did my master’s thesis on the use of humor in persuasion.

  I am now 38, and I’ve never got up at an open mic at a real comedy club and performed. I’ve been so wrapped up in pursuing the “American Dream” that I’ve never had time to do it. I’ve been telling myself that I have bigger fish to fry right now but someday, I’ll do it. Maybe when the kids are grown, or maybe when this happens or that happens.

  If I could retire right now, I would spend the first 48 hours beginning to pursue that dream. I would go to my local comedy club and bribe the owner to let me do a set.

  Then I would travel around the country in my Ford Focus and get as much stage time as I could. I would hang out with other comedians and listen to their stories of life on the road. I would stay in crappy hotels and eat nasty comedy club food. Man, what a blast!

• Ashley Morken
  February 1st, 2008
  11:59 pm
  

  Very frickin’ interesting…you’ve got me wondering what I’ll do this weekend… I’m a RN and work a 12 hour on Sunday & my husband is working Saturday, so we’ll see… I’ve been trying to find ways to practically apply your book, as people remain critically sick on Mondays and Fridays and still “crash” at anytime…so I still need to be at work (working in cardiac ICU), altho this has got my husband & I thinking about what we really should be doing instead…pretty sure it will involve us quitting our jobs in the next year, but the whole dreaming thing is taken care of (the concern of the Fortune 500 man) — we’re as big as dreamers as I think we could get! (maybe some yoga for nurses?!) This year is time to put it to action…thanks more than words!

• liana
  February 2nd, 2008
  12:22 am
  

  Tomorrow I’m starting a marathon of DANCE classes. Ballet, Modern, Arabic Fusion, Belly dance, Hip Hop… Physical Expressionism with top choreographers… you name it. I’ve lived in the South for 4 years and have YET to watch Gone with the Wind. It’s about darn time. That’s on the list for this weekend too :)

  Call that mellow but it’s a HUGE change (a nice change) for me… in the past twenty days I’ve traveled to four countries for vacation, (got sick in Mexico), drove cross-country (thanks to snow in the SE), finished one headliner speaking gig, two teaching gigs, had a power-meeting in Vail, photographed the homeless, battered, and needy in Denver, and saw a world-premier play last weekend.

  Home sounds like the perfect Ground Hogs Day for me :) Perhaps I’m already in a mini-retirement. At least that what friends wonder when they ask “do you actually work?”

  Pictures of the past 20 days will be up shortly….

• Seth
  February 2nd, 2008
  12:28 am
  

  Tim,

  I think about this all the time. Yeah, you’ve inspired this kid a bit. I’ve got my situation to where I’m only working a couple hours out of the day. As soon as I’m not tied to any one setting I’ve got an extensive plan laid out to accomplish my idea of a meaningful lifestyle design. Until then, I continue my weaning initiative. That time is very soon.

  I’m 26 and am inches from endless mini-retirements. I almost had a veritable “quarter-life” crisis thinking about what to do with my free time. I’m done thinking. I’ve already been on one mini-retirement. But the second is the kicker. I need one year to finish this project and another to dethrone your book from the top of the charts ;) Here it is…

  Objective: Do something that has never been done before and write an influential, best-selling book about it and produce an accompanying documentary.

  Task: Interview 5 high-ranking leaders, 15 manager-level leaders, and 50 members of the 16 most common world religions from Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, Hinduism, Muslim, Catholicism, etc (I haven’t included Scientology.. though I wouldn’t mind meeting Tom.. and some religions don’t have defined leadership or regions which will be tricky but I’ll figure it out). Then write about my findings and produce a film.

  Purpose: To set a foundation upon which a bridge of communication and understanding can be built between different religions. To find and write about SIMILARITIES (not been done to my knowledge) in thematic elements, doctrinal belief, liturgical practice, and everyday lives of leaders and members in each religion. To create unity where often times there is none. To help people find a reason to stop killing each other in the name of religion.

  Evidence: I’ve got extensive notes that I really don’t feel like transcribing even if it meant 700 bucks in free Tim books, but just in case you’re wondering, no it is not easy to get an appointment with the Pope, the Dalai Lama, or the LDS President. If anyone has any contacts, hit me up. I’ve got a film team in the wings waiting already..

  Next time consuming project: Do it again for Christian religions.

  Peace and love,

  Seth

• Cyrus
  February 2nd, 2008
  1:32 am
  

  Hmmm, if I retire… I honestly don’t see myself retiring at all. My life isn’t perfect but I already take about 12 weeks of vacation every year. Perhaps I’ll want more than that in the future, but who knows. I do have asset goals that are still my focus, but as time goes on I see myself spending more time helping others. I went on a humanitarian trip this year to East Africa that really opened my eyes so to speak to what I could be doing in the world. A lot more. But this is a great idea to think about before the weekend starts.

• ptv
  February 2nd, 2008
  6:37 am
  

  We (my wife and I) have already done a few of such ‘test drives’.
  Some of the them lasted for a day, some for one week and some a little longer.
  Once, it was a one-day spring trip to the plant preserving facility in Bolestraszyce. On
  the other hand, there was a few days’ long truly amazing trip to Venice. And many others.
  Whether it was gazing at flowers blooming in the spring, or the moment of contemplating
  the view of St. Mark’s Square from San Giorgio Maggiore Island – it was something
  worth remembering and sharing with others.

  You can find some pieces of our memories on our website (url in the header of the comment).

  It was no problem at all to fill up the time with valuable, at least for us, activities. I think that will be no problem in the future, either. Especially if you are a travel (and not only) freak or, to put it simply, if you are open to the world that surrounds you, being constantly curious of what the next day will bring.

  This weekend is devoted to another set of experiments, the aim of which is to set us free from
  everyday, the-same-place work routine and allow to have “too much free time (and other resources, too) to spend” problem. I’m pretty confident that we can easily find a solution to this problem.

  Great blog btw. With lots of new enlightening ideas.

  Thank you for that.

• Kurt Hauck
  February 2nd, 2008
  6:59 am
  

  Thanks for the nudge! I started reading the book about two weeks ago so the limited spare time I have has been focused on small money generators. It always amuses me when people talk about having nothing to do. If you have a home, there’s always plenty of work that needs doing. Now if you have a sport, there’s preparing to participate (tie some flies, restring racket, read other’s ideas on the sport, …) and actually participating in the sport. When I was laid off last February, I was always busy. The gas price increases started limiting what I could do so I fell back into the old rut of a W4W, this time at a grocery store. A muse seems to be evading me but attempting an eBusiness to generate $200 a week seems possible with your hints from the book. I don’t know how exciting pictures of me filling in LLC forms will be tho…

• Jake
  February 2nd, 2008
  8:18 am
  

  Tim,

  I’m in a very opposite situation to most of the people who are getting acquainted with your book. I just finished a 16 month trip around the world visiting 24 countries, and this is my first week back at work. I guess you could say I’m coming out of mini-retirement.

  I found that for the first four months, seeing all these wonderful places was enough to keep me going although I had to pace myself to prevent burnout. After that, it was activities like scuba diving and salsa dancing (I’m still learning both) that filled my time.

  How do you personally schedule short-term events that are life-changing and personally fulfilling? I personally like to jump into something and commit to a very intensive trial, but this strategy fails for short time spans like a weekend or even an afternoon.

  Maybe you’ve already written an article on this topic or will in the near future?

• PupSaver
  February 2nd, 2008
  8:30 am
  

  Tim,

  This is an easy one for me as I’m already moving towards it as a result of reading 4HWW. I’m taking my current company that does sales and marketing training and moving everything online and completely automating it. At the same time, I’m building another website that is a fundraiser for 6-7 million homeless animals in the US (I’ll tackle the world next). So, while I’m working now in big spurts to build both of these things, I also take off weekends for mini-retirements. I add in a few two-week trips now, with month-long ones coming soon.

  My 48-hour plan is quite simple (I already have everything but the exact dates and the plane tickets). After getting off the plane in Johannesburg, I hop on a bus to my hotel. After checking in, I take a two-hour stroll around the neighborhood, soaking in the sites and smells of my first trip to Africa. My friend, Derick, who is from Zimbabwe, has hooked me up with a local friend who has helped me choose some places to visit.

  The next morning I take a car down to Cape Elizabeth to meet up with a lovely woman I met online. I get a grand tour of CapeTown and crash on her couch for a few days.

  A few days later I head to the Zulu Nyala camp where I’m booked for a 7-day safari (I bought the trip in a charity auction this year). We rise each morning for a sunrise jeep trip into the bush to see rhino, elephants, lions, giraffe, hippo, etc. It’s the SA winter so the views are great. During the day we lounge around the compound and fight off the monkeys. I get a chance to meet my other campers from around the world and share travel stories. In the evening, we head out for another photo shoot, then dinner around the fire.

  After leaving the camp, I’ve got two more weeks of travel around southern Africa planned including of course a stop at Victoria Falls, but also an amazing swamp Derick has told me about. I’ll couch surf most of the time as I don’t really like swank hotels. A few of my friends have joined me for part of the trip so we all have a great time together. One of my favorite parts of travel is going someplace long enough for others (my poor wage slave friends) to come visit. I’m always hoping I’ll spark some interest for them.

  That’s a bit more than 48-hours but hopefully it’s a glimpse of what my retirement looks like. Lots of travel to places that stretch me. I want to see places that my animal rescue site can benefit and the best way is to get there in person.

  Also, look for me on the Ellen Degeneres show. She’s going to love our non-profit and I’m not afraid to contact her, especially since reading your helpful tips.

  Thanks, Tim, for writing a book that should shake us all out of our complacency. I advise each of my clients (about 2000/year) to read it since I started living it last year. Rock on, brother, and keep sending the good ideas.

  Laura

  PS: If I win the books, I’m putting them in our online auction of celebrity items to raise money for our non-profit. Thought you’d want full disclosure.

• Neil
  February 2nd, 2008
  8:39 am
  

  Hey Tim,

  My weekend started earlier this week. Here’s a rundown, in chronological order, through this Sunday.

  Wednesday – Filed provisional patent after finishing Inventright (thanks for the pointer)

  Thursday – Negotiated new position at new company, totally work from home, more vacation and total flexibility with my kids schools schedule. And it will pay much more.

  Friday – Notified my company that I will take their Voluntary Separation Package.

  Saturday – start with son’s karate class then spend a few hours a BJJ on my own, followed by family time and a local fundraiser

  Sunday – Sleep late (as late as the kids will let us) visit summer camps, brunch with inlaws and then Superbowl with friends (and a lot of kids)

  That’s it and I would “Ground Hog’s Day” it anytime. I really took your comment the other day to hear, about the measure of happiness is equivalent to the time spent have dinner with friends and family. It’s a great formula and one we have been trying to exercise as much as possible.

  Thanks Tim.

  Neil

• Kathi Sharpe
  February 2nd, 2008
  9:49 am
  

  Wow. Shaun is *awesome*. But I’d rather have the book :)

  I’ve got an interesting story (you can read the long version on my site, if you like). Was born with a genetic disability causing much pain; worked off and on then had to stop. I spent a couple years practically living from my bed (and watching Shaun with my daughter, who adores that movie!). A year and a half ago, God healed me… completely, totally removed this genetic condition from my body (my doctor nearly fainted when she saw me!)

  I’ve spent the last year and a half struggling with issues of time management and identity. I think I’ve got the identity issues solved by now… but really I’m having to learn from the ground up how to prioritize and manage time and life. My husband and I are new pastors, and pastors have demands coming at them ALL the time. Your site has been very helpful, and I hope to read your book VERY soon!

• Dan
  February 2nd, 2008
  10:34 am
  

  Tim… always intriguing posts. And I know what you would say to me about what I am about to say.

  I am busy building a business to help me get out of my 9-5 prison. I tend to be like you when you started with BrainQuicken… always working.

  That has to be the hardest part when you are starting because my weekends tend to be spent learning ways to increase internet traffic… getting my readers to participate in discussions, etc…

  Well maybe more fun will free up the brain cells for creative ideas!

  That Audi by the way is kick ass!

• Jeff
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:00 am
  

  Whatever happened to posting once or twice a week? This is the only blog I have ever subscribed to (and I’ve read thousands)… I was always anxiously waiting for the next post. But it’s getting watered down so fast with the daily posts… the content is starting to look like a combination of rehashed old posts and random thoughts like you’d see on a Myspace blog (that no wants to read). That and now I get an email every day (feels like spam), and I haven’t even had the time to read your last two posts yet

  :(

• Samantha
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:22 am
  

  Hello Tim,

  First let me say that your book has changed me in so many ways. I come from family where hard work and long hours are expected…work is not something that one should enjoy, rather something that you have to do.

  But I digress…if I could start today what would I do? I am a teacher and a surfer and a parent and a business owner and a blogger, just to name a few. There are literally hundreds of surf spots I have yet to visit…and three little guys who need to learn how to handle a board. I have 8th graders from the California Central Valley who are just dying to learn how to “rip” (most from low-income families who have never seen the ocean) and want me to start a surf school of sorts.

  That takes care of the first few years….as for the rest, new opportunities have been presenting themselves to me weekly and working 40 hours a week just gets in my way.

  I am off to the beach…thanks.

  Sam Reid

• blogrdoc
  February 2nd, 2008
  12:20 pm
  

  It won’t really serve me to take up this challenge in the literal sense. I’ve got too many plans this weekend to ‘make it a knockout weekend’ or anything like that.

  I will say that after reading your book as well as ‘Getting Things Done’, I’ve made some remarkable changes in my life.

  1. I’m getting up at 5am repeatedly now – without an alarm clock.
  2. I’m 90% vegetarian.
  3. I’ve brought my blood pressure from 140/90 -> 120/75.
  4. I’ve brought my weight from 175 -> 158′ish and stable.
  5. I’ve started a self-help blog.
  6. I’ve turned $300 profit this year so far in craigslist business.
  7. I’ve started a donation-based tech support service for which all tech support I give will go to a charity to house homeless people.
  8. I’ve consistently leaving work ~4-4:30 pm.
  9. I’m getting back to reading books. I knocked out your book in 3 sittings and GTD in about 3 sittings.
  10. I got a reply from you (Tim) in e-mail, but it was probably one of your VA’s :)
  11. I finally cleaned out my garage.
  ..
  the list goes on. All this in the past month.
  Hopefully, this will last.

  I just wanna say thanks, Tim, for your book. I take the book with a grain of salt, but the hyperbole got the message across. You’re book isn’t the only thing that got me to wake up (and I’m sure I’m not entirely ‘woken up’ yet), but it was a most welcome catalyst.

• blogrdoc
  February 2nd, 2008
  12:22 pm
  

  “..support service for which all tech support I give will go to a charity to house homeless people…”

  I meant to say that the donations I get from the tech support will go the the charity… not the tech support.

  oops!

• Mike
  February 2nd, 2008
  1:01 pm
  

  Tim,

  If I could do anything within the next 48 hours… wow… so much fun here..

  I would definitely use that free air ticket I have been saving to visit my friend in Costa Rica. Enjoy the 85 degree weather, hike the rain forest, get in some scuba diving, maybe even learn some surfing and enjoy the company of a friend that I have not seen in years.

  If I had any extra time after that I would throw my snowboard in the car and go up to Tahoe to get at some of that fresh powder that has fallen.

  Tim, your book has changed my life and is still making it better a year after reading it. I agree with you in that it takes a good imagination to really push you to take advantage of that newly formed free time. I find myself wasting away a weekend, because I don’t look back at my dreamline often enough to really prioritize my values.

  -Mike

• Lissa
  February 2nd, 2008
  1:34 pm
  

  Anyone who’s ready to wake up to the reality that there’s more to life than they’ve known will be moved in ways similar to you will when they read your book.

  And those that aren’t won’t. It’s not their time.

  Being ready for that bigger view is key, and compelling ethical bribes or not, readiness cannot be rushed.

  It can be manufactured, kind of like mimicing a secret club handshake, but not much will change. It can’t: what effects and sustains change won’t be present.

  The thing I love about your views and material is the mind-shaking realization that there’s more to life if only you expand your awareness and begin to think beyond the box.

  But lifestyle ain’t the bomb so many think it is either – and life isn’t a game to be figured out and won.

  Making the most of your day isn’t about where you’re going, what you’re doing or the style in which you do it. Its about who you know yourself to be as you go and do.

  Which is why so many ‘fail’ (cough) to take action to design a lifestyle that, in the end, on a purely instinctive level they know won’t make them all that much happier than their cubicle did.

  Awareness – that’s the thing. And when aware, there is no box – not even the self-designed box called lifestyle.

  And that is what Groundhog Day is really all about.

  Now I’m not advocating staying put when called to more anymore than it sound’s like you are, Tim, but if that point is missed so’s the real show.

• Kristi
  February 2nd, 2008
  4:09 pm
  

  I can’t even remember my last two weekends without looking at the calendar. Too many binges? Nah. Like Nick, there’s diapers and feedings to contend with on a seemingly hourly basis. I don’t plan to be doing those same things upon retirement, so my mind is overflowing with dreams for the non-tethered life – whether to work, social obligations, bills, or small children (whom I am more than happy to be tethered to for this season). I crave a long, quiet period in Scotland – wandering the hills, talking to the sheep, writing, taking photos. I long to return to the streets of Florence, walking hand-in-hand with my husband. A road trip along the East Coast in the fall would fulfill a desire nicely. Just writing these words bring me peace.

• Josh
  February 2nd, 2008
  5:45 pm
  

  I think most are missing the point of Tim’s exercise. I don’t think he is trying to get everyone to think about what you would do with that free time. It’s easy to think about all the glorious things we would do and could do once we retire. Everyone has those visions. The point I see is that most people aren’t able to go out and actually act on those dreams today. They aren’t ready to mentally and may not really have enough to fulfill their time. He is trying to test everyone to see if we are truly ready for all the free time everyone is seeking. If you can’t get out and spend 48 hours now doing what you love, then how are you going to be able to spend your entire retirement doing it?

• Doreen Orion
  February 2nd, 2008
  6:22 pm
  

  In our mid-40s, my husband and I took a year off to travel the country in a converted bus. We liked it (and not working so hard) so much, we downsized our lives. This enabled us to take this very cold winter off and are busing around California. That’s what I’m doing this weekend – spending 24/7 with my hubby (and my cat) in a new town, just being and exploring. (Well, OK. The cat doesn’t actually do any exploring – he’s blind and declawed, so he stays in the bus.) That’s what I’d like to KEEP doing in retirement.

• tyrone
  February 2nd, 2008
  6:29 pm
  

  What I HAVE done this weekend is posted a link to a free report on my blog in order to test the buying potential of a particular market.

  If I get a huge list, I’ll start working out what product I’m going to create.

  **fingers crossed**

  this is the beginning of a new life….

• PazSynd
  February 2nd, 2008
  6:55 pm
  

  This morning I worked on content for a new blog I’m starting.

  Then after spending regular saturday morning with daughters eating doughnts and goofing around, we went to nature museum to see the groundhog.

  then this afternoon, I set up a low-tech photo studio in my living room to test lighting for a series of portraits I’m planning to take next month on a trip to Tokyo. I’m going to get Japanese volunteers to help me translate and I’m going to shoot a series of portraits of locals that I get to volunteer by approaching them at Shinagawa and Shinjuku train stations. I’ve already hooked up with someone via Flickr who lives there and runs a local photo club. He said they’d love to come watch me work and help me out.

  Lighting test was done on daughter’s doll (see one of the photos on link above at Flickr). Fur around her neck is from a different trip i took to Tokyo last month – explored in some small alleys around Shinjuku and found a 6-story shop for people who do sewing/fashion. This was a small squirrel fur from the remainder table. It was fun trying to get the Japanese woman at the cash register to translate into English what type of animal it was from – she thought opossum. Turns out Japanese word for squirrel sounds like “Ree-sue”.

  I’m throwing a big party this fall to have a “gallery show opening” of my photos – have picked out a place in a warehouse district I can rent. going to get a DJ, invite as many people as I can and take donations to give to local foodbank. (I’m going to ask them for their mailing list to help drum up more folks).

  Also planning trip to Spain in 1 week where I’ll stay with an old friend. Going to NYC over my kids’ spring break (they’ll be with grandparents) to stay on floor of another old friend, and I and my family will live in France this summer via house-swap (thanks Tim for introducing me to homeexchange.com).

  Once I started acting on what I love/have dreamed of, the ideas just started coming. And the most interesting part is that once I started moving, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to work into the rest of my life as I thought it would be. Though I can relate to those of you with small kids (have just gotten through that phase myself)…

• Josh
  February 2nd, 2008
  7:31 pm
  

  I think most are missing the point of Tim’s exercise. I don’t think he is trying to get everyone to think about what you would do with that free time. It’s easy to think about all of the glorious things we would do and could do once we retire. Most people already have those visions. The point I see is that most people aren’t able to go out and actually act on those dreams today. They aren’t ready to act mentally and may not really have enough fulfilling activities to fill their time. He is trying to test everyone to see if we are truly ready for all the free time everyone is seeking. If you can’t go out and spend 48 hours now doing what you love and are passionate about, then how are you going to be able to spend your entire retirement doing it?

• Naomi
  February 2nd, 2008
  7:44 pm
  

  Alright, here goes…
  My weekend. (48 hours)

  I live in New Zealand so I only got your post on Saturday.
  Saturday night I went to have dinner with a cherished old family friend. This lovely lady has an old farm near where I live. Here husband passed away last year, but she has heaps of grandchildren to fill her life and keep her young. (They love her too.)

  We spent the evening having dinner on the porch, and talking about the state of the world and other Important Stuff.

  Sunday (today.) I went surfing with my dad at the local beachie (surf break.) It was a whole lot better than it looked, and I only came out when my fingers and thumbs got numb. (The water was quite warm but I have bad circulation – lucky I don’t smoke.)

  This arvo – had a delicious lunch of grilled eggplant and wild rice, and watched a David Attenborough documentary about bears. Bears are cool.

  Right now, I’m typing a comment….

  Life is good.

  Naomi

  PS. I haven’t got any pictures – forgot to take a camera because I wasn’t thinking of this competition at the time. I live on the west coast though. North Island. My local is Kariotahi.

• judyofthewoods
  February 2nd, 2008
  9:34 pm
  

  To truly enjoy life in a sustained way, it is necessary to find meaning and enjoyment in the simple or basic things, even work (not talking job here, but tings in your daily life). Trying to frantically fill the day with lots of activity for activity’s sake is just another form of killing time, or chasing another fix. There is also space with which to fill a day, calm space. In a hectic world with hyperactive children and adults with high blood pressure, we could all do with more of that. There is no better meditation – whilst even getting something done and connecting with your environment – than to sow seeds in the garden, craft something for the home, or just listen to the birds.

• S'rae Saffold
  February 2nd, 2008
  10:55 pm
  

  OK Tim. You’re on!

• Eric
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:10 pm
  

  Tim, I am writing to you from the road. I have always had a passion for travel, people and photography and decided to take your experiment literally, which is what I believed it was intended to be.

  I have always thought it would be fun to travel to a place I am passionate about and attempt to record the history of that place through the eyes of the camera and dialogue with the locals. Since I cannot go to, say Italy, on short notice, I have decided to take on Texas this weekend. It is, after all, a country in itself, and a place I have always been curious and passionate about, but never had the time to explore.

  I will attempt to learn a little about the state and the history of its people through their own words. I think this “project” has always piqued my curiosity because it satisfies both of my desires to travel and to learn.

  One day, I hope to be able to do this without ever worrying about coming back to work again. I am now in Houston and will check back in for an update at my next stop.

  Eric

• Adam Donaghey
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:18 pm
  

  I spent the last two weekends in Park City, UT, at a little known film festival called “Sundance.” I frolicked in the snow, atop my board, with the night lights of Park City glimmering in the distance. I saw some films I’ll probably never get the chance to see again because the best are always the treasures that aren’t picked up by distributors–unfortunate, but very true. I sled down a hill on a Slamdance Film Festival banner with about ten other people and almost broke my arm and loved it. I tasted region-specific foods I look forward to every time I travel. I mingled with friends and filmmakers with big ideas and lofty goals and passions that don’t quit.

  Three weekends ago, I was on the set of a film I’m producing. I even played a few cameo parts: “creepy older nerd” and “black Chewbacca.”

  Tonight I’m wrapping up some Internet detail, before heading out for a film. I’ve been prepping for an upcoming shoot (of a entirely different film) all day today and will continue tomorrow. From rehearsing with the actors, to managing the production design on-set, to simply being there, able to witness all the events unfold, I find it’s one of the most fulfilling and purposeful ventures of my life.

  But what’s really great about my weekends is that they’re not really weekends at all. They blur into the weekdays as well. There’s really no set hours–it’s all what I put into it. And because I don’t have a nine-to-five job (nor have I ever), I put in as many hours as I want.

  My goal is not to get away from a 9 to 5 job because I’ve never had one. I’ve always worked for myself and because of it, I don’t feel like I’m working. My life is really just one fulfilled day after the other. I’m never tired, I’m rarely stressed, and I’m always looking forward to the next, daily, life-changing experience.

• ScottMGS
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:19 pm
  

  Heh, heh, you caught me on a good weekend! I work a 9-to-5 job for money. I use the money to support my family. I used to feel irritated that I had to spend so much of my time working for someone else and not doing anything particularly useful. This weekend, though, is filled with several of my favorite activities. They aren’t easy and they can be draining but they’re very rewarding.

  We teach a curriculum at our church called Our Whole Lives, a comprehensive human sexuality course. While there are age-appropriate curricula for all age ranges (through adult) the core of the program is for middle or junior high youth. We also hold a concurrent program for the parents of the youth and while it is a *very* big commitment of time for all concerned – we met for eight hours today and meet for four hours almost every weekend between now and early April – almost everyone goes the whole distance. This year my partner is working with the youth and I am working with the parents.

  On Sundays, I am a youth advisor for our Jr. High youth group program and I have worked with the Sr. High group, too. We discuss spirituality, current events, social action, etc. It is fulfilling to provide these opportunities for growth and contribute to my community.

  When I got started working with the youth several years ago I was concerned that I would burn out, that I would miss out on other activities. I found, instead, that it charges me up. I realized that this was so important that it doesn’t matter that I don’t get paid to do it. Should I be able to retire (or if I won the lottery) that would be one of the things that I would continue to do.

• Perfect Life Project
  February 2nd, 2008
  11:30 pm
  

  Tim,

  This is a very interesting topic. I have found that escaping the 9 to 5 is not that hard when you set your mind to it. In the last few years I have managed to transform from freaked out, highly stressed workaholic to relaxed, underworked, frequent traveller with a well managed, semi-automated business. That was the easy part.

  During the last year I have enjoyed 11 weeks of travel and holiday. This coming year is already crammed full of “mini-retirements” and travel.

  I think the biggest challenge for people who are successful enough to set up profitable businesses that allow them to indulge their freedom fantasies, is to do something satisfying with their new found freedom. It creates internal conflict for these A-type personalities. They are driven people. To switch off is counter-intuitive.

  Having just returned from a 6 week, self-indulgent ski vacation I have found my head full of new ideas and challenges. Sure I love to travel, but I also find the need to take on challenging and hopefully beneficial projects.

  This weekend alone has seen me bike riding and surfing, as well as helping run a high profile triathlon in my town. Next week I am exploring the potential of setting up a new not-for-profit focussed on health, fitness and addressing the obesity epidemic.

  Seems the more free time I create, the more things I do.

• Carrie Gillespie
  February 3rd, 2008
  4:56 am
  

  I don’t have to imagine emancipation, I am living it. I am 52 and approaching my 2nd year of retirement from a Big Oil corporation. Having a “worthwhile” life has two components – the admirable life and the enviable life.

  Although “increasing shareholder value” seemed to me to be a worthwhile goal for much of my career, that eventually lost its luster. While working, I was well compensated financially but had little time for friends, family, charity and often even simple courtesy. There was too much to do and I did not have or make time to think about options. Occasionally I would try to instill some balance but I got sucked right back into work. I actually enjoyed my work more than the gym, so why rush home? And my husband was (and still is)just as absorbed in his career.

  After two years of retirement I aspire to redirect my life towards “admirable” but now I am enjoying the “enviable” life (in London where my husband is posted). I hike weekly, walk along the Thames daily, and work out with a personal trainer – removing more than 10 pounds and lots of cholesterol. I have made several wonderful friends and I spend time with them. I attend many lectures, museum exhibits, and guided tours. I travel extensively. I keep my mind active by listening to lectures by The Teaching Company. This year I will become a Competent Toastmaster and Leader. I support Hillary and will be volunteering and voting at the Democrats Abroad event in Porchester Hall on Tuesday. My husband and dog see a lot more me in a happier and relaxed state. And so that I don’t ever forget this wonderful time in my life, I blog about it for myself and my family and friends.

  Even if you don’t know what you will do or if the time you spend will be “worthwhile”, sometimes you just have to go ahead and try. If you don’t like it, you can usually return to your former life in some form or fashion.

  P.S. Affording to retire is a whole separate topic. However, I know many people who can truly afford to retire but don’t want to or say they cannot afford it. More people have a choice than they want to admit (and whatever they choose and why is their own business).

• Perfect Life Project
  February 3rd, 2008
  5:15 am
  

  Here is something cool you could include on your new and improved site, and would be a logical result of this current topic of weekend mini retirement test…..Could (and readers) suggest more cool low cost escapes?

  On the website under “Ideal Lifestyle Costing” you detail a few inexpensive but exotic examples such as “Smithsonian tropical research island” and “charter plane in Mendoza wine country in Argentina”. Geo-arbitrage is a clearly a big theme of the book and a potential mobile lifestyle. Therefore it would be fantastic if we could all contribute with suggestions of cool and exotic activities and locations that don’t cost the earth…both home and away. And, importantly, how to track them down.

  This would be an invaluable resource for all us “lifestyle designers”.

• M.
  February 3rd, 2008
  9:19 am
  

  I work on weekends at night and it’s sucking the life out of me! Haven’t been doing it for so long, but it is still very cumbersome. I understand the concept of the “mini retirements” because I try to do those all the time. Money doesn’t rule me and I don’t care too much for being a millionare.Maybe my problem is that I make them escapes and not accomplish anything substantial, I don’t konw.
  How can you be so successful at everything you do? Where do you find the patience?

• Bella
  February 3rd, 2008
  9:48 am
  

  I think I will approach a local new hotspot if they want to host a board game and arty farty open mic night so we can dance and whip each others’ asses at Scrabble.
  Been a while since i’ve had time to cheat at a good game with friends :-)

• Pierre Cutler
  February 3rd, 2008
  11:11 am
  

  Tim, My weekend went like this – I blogged on http://www.investorplacesblog.com, where an MSN sponsored stockpicking contest kicked off round two on Friday(Strategy Lab Open). I spent several hours on my Spanish lessons with Rosetta Stone. Spanish is a must learn language for my wife and me, as we will take two mini-retirements this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Cartagena, Colombia. The first lesson takes 25-40 hours, achieving a mastery of about 1000-word vocabulary. And then I went to the Big Ten Iowa – Ohio State men’s basketball game, where Iowa got revenge from a 30-point loss three weeks ago. Sunday – more Spanish lessons. I skipped the Super Bowl – because there are a lot of better things to do. I did a site survey of the local Buffalo Wild Wings sports bar and restaurant in Iowa (I’m on the road), as I am planning to set up a franchise in Northern California (but of course only for passive income, because I will have a general manager to run the day to day operations). I got this idea from your suggested reading of the E-Myth Revisited. Sunday night – I am kicking back with a nice bottle of Burgundy (Givry 1er CRU, Clos Du Cellier Aux Moines, Domaine Joblot, 2003).

  I’d say this was a great weekend, the Tim Ferriss way! The only thing missing – my wife, as she is on the road for the week, visiting family in Oregon.

  Pierre

• Laurens
  February 3rd, 2008
  11:29 am
  

  I downloaded a course of Spanish lessons and sent an E-mail to my mentor about taking advanced business English courses at school (Cambridge stuff). I went out with friends and met a lot of new people and made a bit stronger connections with the friends I already have.

  I contacted a guy I really respect for his discipline, energy and innovative ideas and offered my services for his project, he was quite enthusiast and we set up a meeting.

  I planned a 2-3 weeks holiday to Italy this summer and started working on the list of books I want to read during that time.

  It’s not what you would have expected but I’m 18 year old and after reading your book I started cutting down on the time I actually spent at school and increasing the time I am productive. My grades have improved quite a bit and I am no longer bored all the time at school. I consider it a huge improvement. Now I am off to create a budget and start creating a ‘long term” investment plan.

• Sarah
  February 3rd, 2008
  11:35 am
  

  Friday
  3:00 p.m. – Alerted VAs (http://www.officeevolution.com) I was leaving the office (4 year old startup company from my college senior business plan project). If important, VA transfers office calls to my cell phone. Loaded car with weekend necessities.

  4:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Rode with my brother in exciting winter driving conditions up to Aspen; eight inches of snow fell during the drive. Listened to favorite road-trip music and read through employees’ activity from the week on my MacBook. Quickie dinner of sliders and diet coke.

  Read until I fell asleep. (Crashing at grandparents’ house).

  Saturday
  8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Incredible day of skiing on Snowmass Mountain with my family (38″ of fresh snow in the last 7 days) – aspensnowmass.com. Best lunch ever – Grilled Chicken, Pineapple, Swiss & Bacon Sandwich with a chilled Corona. Slightly cold temperatures and snowfall kept mountain from being overcrowded.

  Post ski-Hot Tub
  Sent a few office emails to staff with ideas from the day

  Saturday Night
  Hysterical comedy & dinner show at The Crystal Palace in Aspen (www.cpalace.net/palace.html) with outstanding dinner to match – grilled salmon, wasabi mashed potatoes, squash, carrots and 2 martinis. People-watching incredible.

  Sunday
  Slept in until 8. Getting ready for another major powder day on the mountain. We’ll quit skiing at 2, watch a little of the Superbowl, and then drive back home.

  I repeat this mini vacation at least once a month, or as necessary. Thanks for the tips, Tim. I hope you continue to have as much fun as your readers.

  Sarah

• Tim
  February 3rd, 2008
  12:04 pm
  

  1)On a scale of 1-10, 10 being best, how life-changing or personally fulfilling have the last two weekends been?

  9 because I found this site and the inventright product and am acting on several life changing and fulfilling projects, 3 because I can’t buy the inventright for 3 months.

  2)Is retirement from the 9-5, 50-weeks-per-year routine one of your current goals? (Yes/No)
  3)
  Yes, ALWAYS HAS BEEN, but now I have a strategy :-)

  3)How confident are you on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best, in your ability to fill 20-40 years of retirement, whether in one stretch or spread out as mini-retirements?

  25, my hobbies, and social life are already such that ( dispite working only 13 hours a week, my work (was 10, but that wasn’t enough to allow me a life above survival) interferes with pursuing my life affirming and fulfilling plans. This doesn’t even touch the things I want to do for travel, learning to master hand drumming, scuba diving, wind sailing, snowboarding, and many this I don’t even know exist yet.
  My 48 hours:
  I only work Monday through Thursday, and a total of 13 hours teaching English as a Second language in Japan.
  My weekend starts Thursday after work at 6 PM when I get back from my job (after a whopping 2 hours work;-). On the way back I go into my head and brainstorm about what things I CAN do once I get back to my apartment.
  I decide to clean as this makes it easier on my hyperactive head to get anything done without the frustration of losing anything I put down 2 seconds ago.
  I listen to an audio book (guess which one;-) while cleaning the bathroom (and think that in not long I will NEVER do housecleaning again, it will be outsourced since it is my overriding domestic weakness and clutter tortures my head).
  After I finish I sit down to work on one of my latest projects, a new generator design, which is it performs as I thing it will will be superior to current designs.
  Here’s a pic of the modified design:
  I am waiting for the silicone to dry before testing it, (silicone is one of an inventors best friends), if you tinker you know what I mean.

  I am writing this after the fact now, it’s Sunday night, rather Monday 12:43 local time in Amagasaki City in Japan, (midway between Osaka and Kobe).

  Like any of my projects the time melted away, the generator modification took most of Thursday until 2 AM ish then I watched a movie and went to sleep around 4AM. These carzy hours are the hours I naturally gravitate to when, like now, my schedule allows, and the hours I will likely live the rest of my life with, once I obliterate my schedule permanently.
  During Thursday I also thought about some other things that might serve as Muses for me, the most immediate being a short VERY effective workout and fitness program I have spent 25 years developing for myself through reading, and personal experimentation. Ultimately and first my heart and soul belong to inventing for my muse/ and defining my place in things, but if necessary I will start with something else until I get there.

  Below is a latex mold of a Heracles beatle to be used for a bronze or silver pendant.The silicone fills the details that would “lock” the mold up if they where left.
  Silicone came to my rescue again (I actually struggled with how best to do it for a while then realized how easily silicone sould fill in the undercut detail. It took me a couple/ three hours to get them just right then set them asside to dry in the latex drier I built.
  2 Heracles Beatle molds (now coated with dish soap to the mother mold won’t stick)

  Then I moved to opening a finished mother mold to get at the already vulcanized ( heated for an hour to cure the rubber) latex mold inside.
  Below is a cement mother mold, inside is a real flower.

  I have yet to cut the mold open remove the model and then have a mold to make many wax copies the the very detailed flower to be turned into jewelry using lost wax casting.
  I think I might fair better if I say that this was a “telling experiment” but for me it was a fairly typical day off as these projects are my hobbies, dreams and some of my future business aspirations.
  “Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” Confucius.

  For me the time was easy to fill, it flew by, but then again I have been striving, however slowly away form wage slavery and toward some form of self support for most of the last year.
  If I win this…I want the books, so I can keep one autographed copy, and sell the rest on e bay or to a bookstore so I can get the inventright kit and get my lifelong dream of being an inventor out of my private domain and put me into the new rich category I have dreamed I would…since EARLY childhood.

  One of the last times I talked to my mother I asked her how long agoI started inventing/ taking apart toys, tv’s…to see what was inside…her answer “as long as I can remember Tim”, no hype no B.S. This is and has always remained my lifelong dream, it’ll happen with or without this prize, it’s just the prize would save me a couple months time getting the information that Stephen Key has to offer.

  I want this as bad worse than most , maybe all the other people out there, I am 40 and have slowly, then faster been fumbling toward this goal for about 35 years, contrary to the (benevolent yet misguided)“take the main stream” encouragement of family, society and friends.

  Tim

  P.S.
  I don’t know why but the 4 photos I had in this doc didn’t seem to copy across, if they did great, if they didn’t, can someone with more web savvy help me do so? I’m playing to win, I think pictures would help,and it’s a noble cause;-)

  ###

  Hi Tim2,

  If the photos don’t show, please try uploading them to http://www.flickr.com and then pasting the links in the comments here.

  Thanks for contributing!

  Tim1

• Andrew Dudzik
  February 3rd, 2008
  12:11 pm
  

  Ironically, I was too busy with my weekend to check my RSS reader, and missed this post. :)

  There’s something going on right now called February Album Writing Month (fawm.org), a challenge for songwriters to write a song every two days this month. (I’m sure that you can appreciate the value in that) You can listen to the submissions, mine included, on the website.

  At first, I was physically ill at the thought of all the work it would take, but I buckled down, reworked my sleeping schedule (for compatibility with my job) and managed to write two songs yesterday alone. Since I’ve always struggled with completion of my work, that already makes this one of the most fulfilling weekends I’ve had in a long time.

  Maybe I will even participate in Novel Writing Month later this year. :)

• Ergest Xheblati
  February 3rd, 2008
  1:22 pm
  

  Tim,

  Your book has really inspired me, in fact I’ve been thinking a lot about my muse. I didn’t get to experience the 9-5 (or shall I say the 9-infinity) dread till about 2 years ago. Now your book is a safety vest in treacherous waters.

  If I didn’t have to go back to work on Monday, I’d spend this weekend in Arizona hopefully meeting my beloved Pats and somehow finding tickets to the Superbowl.

  I’d really love to escape the cold Boston weather.

• GG
  February 3rd, 2008
  2:41 pm
  

  After major loss, I am still moving forward in the recovery on a lot of levels. Funny, it took longer than I thought.

  Usually, my work is my passion–hobbies turned into work. The main difference would be that I would travel more and so would be able to impact more people.

  I love to speak and am a good educator and so bigger venues would be the goal. I get good media coverage and other opportunities but live in an area that isn’t conducive for a lot of other interactions. I am taking it to cyberspace now–in hopes of that being the final piece to make my outreach more of a viable option.

  so, I don’t see retirement life as too much different than it is now except that it would include travel. Every day I educate people, have fun with animals, and have the time to interact with both.

  At the moment each 48 hours is filled with activity, some productive, some social–I don’t work 9-5–at the moment it is a bit longer as I am working on some new projects and goals.

  My profession is related to animals, nature, and pets but it is also about lifestyle. I find that listening or paying attention to others by making time for them can be the most rewarding and impacting–for them and for me.

  I like creating those connections…I help people to understand their animals and then themselves.

  So, what I would see is taking that to the bigger world. Teach people to understand animals (and themselves as an adjunct) and then take that to understanding the issues other cultures face.

  Finally I’d like to help facilitate the discovery of steps they could take to help the immediate issues here in the USA and eventually to other places where animals are endangered.

• Bob Klosterman
  February 3rd, 2008
  3:21 pm
  

  From my perspective you’ve got the right questions dead on! Having “experimented” with retirement I have no confidence that I could fill the next 30 years with traditional retirement experiences such as golf, travel, etc. For now at least, there has to be more for me. I’ve have the opportunity to be in a position of helping people prepare for and live through the next stage of their lives. Many would benefit from asking themselves these questions.

  For me, It has come done to living every day understanding and following my passions. I’m extremely lucky for one of them to provide meaningful engagement in peoples lives and provides an excellent living as well. The concepts in your book help provide time for family and relationships at a meaningful level and the opportunity to do all the traditional pastimes is available now. Why would I stop? Careful examination and patient introspection would serve all well as they are considering the next stage of their life.

• Shane
  February 3rd, 2008
  4:45 pm
  

  I was two days away from leaving to NYC on business. As it stood, my wife was staying at home with our two kids. My plan was to race to NYC and back, staying at a nice hotel on Broadway and skipping all the excitement the city has to offer. After flipping through 4HWW, I thought, “what the hell am I doing?” I was passing up an awesome opportunity for a mini-retirement.

  I instantly visited Craigslist, called the Grandparents, got my wife a ticket to Newark, and extended my stay 5 nights.

  The mini-retirement/date-night began with wine in our one bedroom rental in Times Square with views of the city – music courtesy of the laptop but no email!

  Then it was to the heli-pad for a helicopter tour of Manhattan. Dinner at Trattoria Casa Di Isacco in Hells Kitchen – best food and service ever. A show at the Laugh Factory…And later during the trip The Late Show with Dave, comedy with Sommore (pic – http://www.thepeopleschemist.com/img/Sommore.JPG), iTrulli, wine, wine and more wine – with many discussions of futuer mini-retirements and how great the Internet and the 4HWW is. My business didn’t miss a beat.

• Shaya Kass
  February 3rd, 2008
  4:51 pm
  

  What a great challenge. I read this Sunday evening but I am still proud of my weekend.

  On Saturday I woke up late, read a little and went back to sleep. In the afternoon I walked about 30 minutes to the park in town with my wife and youngest son and went to an art exhibit and played catch.

  On Sunday I woke up early and went for a run with my youngest son. At noon I picked up my wife and drove to see my aunt, her friend who is visiting and her Dad. Then we walked around a bit and went out ot dinner.

  I could live with a retirement like that!

• Hayden
  February 3rd, 2008
  9:47 pm
  

  Hi Tim,

  I’ve just watched the Today show clip on MSN from last year. Hard to honestly say what was achieved in that article but I was amazed to hear Donny Deutche saying that the happiest people in the world are working 50 hrs a week. What the f*ck?!? I had to replay it to check if he was serious! I worked those hours for most of my 20’s and aside from plenty of money I can’t remember having time to be ‘happy’ and very nearly forgot what it was entirely. Over the past couple of years I’ve started to step back and only contract for a few months of the year and even then I’m still able to be sailing and travelling etc. (Sydney is the city of opportunity!). One thing I do notice now is how so many people seem to begrudge me for having a life and not wanting to work fulltime. Much like the Donny D thing I just figure now that there are some people (probably most) who have bought into the treadmill existence and have forgotten what it really means to have a life and can’t entertain the idea of being able to support themselves without working all the time and still have a proper good time. Sad but I’m beyond trying to reason with them!

  Anyway, thanks for the book. I continue to re-read certain parts to keep my head in the right place.

  Hayden

• Jason
  February 3rd, 2008
  10:05 pm
  

  Hey Tim

  I come from a low income bracket family and I am a freshmen in college which is being paid for mostly by loans. SO to make sure I have the income to pay for it I already have a internship in my field.

  And To say the least I work from 8am to midnight every day. Two weeks ago I had a nervous breakdown and decided it was time for change. I told my boss that I’m working less, and I will also be working more from home. He saw the value in me and decided to allow it.

  I have read your book twice and I believe I need some help with creating cash flow so that I do not need to work at this internship and I can enjoy my time at school and focus on my studies. In your book you said you need to stick to your strengths. And to be honest my strengths are hard work and finding answers to problems and researching.

  Unfortunately all of my strengths have not turned into cash flow and its not from lack of trying. I did the entire ‘30day challenge’ and found out it was just a sales gimmick for the Immediate Edge. And did some of my own research to no avail.

  Your book also said find a super mentor and try to get a hold of them. And I have chosen you, and who would be better. Your strengths are Product Creation and Research. I have tried to get a hold of you but unfortunately like your book preached you have a assistant wall of flames making sure you only get what information you need.

  So here is one of my last resorts to get a hold of you. If you could find some time out of your world venturing and blogging to help a a student of your teachings. And mentor me in the art of entrepreneurship and automated cashflow.

  Please if you cannot find the time at least find the time for a reply.

  Thanks alot!

  Jason S.

  ###

  Hi Jason,

  Thank you for the comment and kind words. I really appreciate you reaching out. Regarding the mentorship — as you might imagine, I get too much volume to do one-on-one work, but the reader-only forums at http://www.fourhourworkweek.com do have some helpful contributors and would-be mentors who answer questions, just as I do on this blog.

  Best of luck with all, and keep up the good fight — it’s well worth it.

  All the best,

  Tim

• Richard
  February 4th, 2008
  12:56 am
  

  Does anyone else feel that by the time they have read some of the other comments they’ve forgotten what they were going to write about?

  My new tip for commenting:
  Write my comment before reading others.

  I like seeing the websites of the other people who comment, and it’s nice to see other people in various stages of muse creation and success. It keeps reminding me that I’m behind! The road ahead may be long but like Tim says above, “it’s well worth it”.

  What about the weekend challenge?

  Well last saturday I spend 2 hours in a yoga and english teaching/exchange lesson, 3 hours reading and studying about self development, 2hrs at the gym, 2 on chores and cooking, 2 researching internet marketing ideas, and 4 hanging out with the girlfriend. Sunday was Snowboarding, shopping for food, more QT with the girlfriend and cooking a massive vegetable hot-pot!

  If I had already retired would it be similar to that? I think so. Except I did come to the conclusion that if I spent 3 hours a weekend just ’studying’ about exercise I wouldn’t be as healthy as I am now!

  Conclusion: take as much action on wealth/muse creation as I currently do on exercise, in terms of both invested money and time.

  Something I think about… It took me about 5 years of gym training and learning about diet and exercise to get to a point where I am socially accepted as the ‘healthy one’ in the group.

  Is it reasonable to expect that it might take just as long to become ‘the wealthy one’?

  I started learning about it last year so only 4 years to go!

  Rich

• 4 Week or Bust » Blog archive » 4 Weeks To Change Or Bust
  February 4th, 2008
  1:11 am
  

  [...] life, length of life and results in comparison to mine, it is almost shameful. He wrote in his blog this weekend a challenge to write what you would do with the rest of your life if you retired [...]

• Ben
  February 4th, 2008
  1:20 am
  

  I didn’t see this post until Saturday afternoon, but I feel like I had a good jump on this competition without even having read it.

  My ‘Filling the Void’ Weekend:

  Friday night I spent with some friends. We played some Halo 3, Rock Band and Guitar Hero on xBox360. For people not into video games this may not sound too exciting but with the “live” network and the group game play capabilities it actually a ton of fun. This lasted till about 3am Saturday.

  After a few hours of sleep we wake up at 5:30am and go to IHOP and get some breakfast (gotta beat those crowds…haha). We come back a play a few more quick games then get a few more hours of sleep. After our ‘nap’ we decide to catch a movie. After hearing the interesting reviews of “Meet the Spartans” we decided against that and went to see “Natural Wilderness” instead. It was a great movie and not many people had discovered it yet so the theater was nearly empty. After the movie I go visit with my dad and step mother and step brother. My dad and I have been working on a bookshelf for my condo, we were able to finish this little father-son project, which as usual, was a little more work than we anticipated. After we all eat dinner and visit a bit I head home. It was upon returning home that I got to read about the challenge and started considering it.

  Saturday night is a night on the town, me and three friends go to two different bars and meet some cool new people and have a blast. (It helps when someone you know has VIP status!)

  Sunday starts out with a good sleep in till about noon. After waking and checking the mail and a few things online I consider working on designing a new business card. That thought lasts for all of 30 seconds, then I call a friend and ask if he wants to go ride. I’m big into action sports, especially BMX, so I ride as much as I can stand/afford. He’s planning on going already and we make plans. We meet up at a semi-local park where they have a decent skatepark. We’re there for about 3 hours and it’s total bliss. Perfect weather…new people to meet and ride with…everyone throwing down and not getting hurt. We grab some food to end our amazing riding session and I head home.

  On the way, I make plans to head over to another friends place where we have a little Superbowl gathering. We share some drinks and munchies and watch the intense and better than anyone could ask for Superbowl where the New York Giants knock the Patriots, the team without a lose all season, off their pedestal. After the great game, I head home and decide to write about my exciting weekend here. I’m going to practice playing my piano once I’m done writing here, which is technically past the end of the weekend, but since I haven’t slept it still feels like the weekend so I think it counts.

  Although my weekend may not sound extravagant and super exciting, it is perfect for me (a 24 yr old recent college grad) who doesn’t have a ton of money yet and still isn’t tied down to a job. I visited family and friends, met new people, learned or continued to learn a few things, and did what I love (ride my bike). These are all things I’m 100% positive will never get old and can fill as many mini retirements or retirement weekends I can afford to take.

• 4 Weeks or Bust » Blog archive » 4 Weeks To Change Or Bust
  February 4th, 2008
  1:39 am
  

  [...] life, length of life and results in comparison to mine, it is almost shameful. He wrote in his blog this weekend a challenge to write what you would do with the rest of your life if you retired [...]

• Glenn
  February 4th, 2008
  2:46 am
  

  Superbowl weekend was an interesting weekend to start the challenge. I reflected a bit as I was waiting for a client. I have been working since I was 13.

  My Dad told me I could work if I kept my grades up but he said very clearly, “The day you start working, you don’t stop until you die.” A little ominous eh?

  But I have worked since then and I didn’t get to have much fun. I sacrificed, I thought, “then” for “now”. But “now” never materialized. I am still working and never got ahead like I thought I would. I eventually used work as a shield to miss social events that might be uncomfortable because I didn’t learn the social lessons most do in their teens. I learned roles at work and school, getting along better with the adults usually. And though many say I have charisma, I feel I am just playing a role, fooling them like others.

  If I were to retire now, I would spend time with family and friends. I enjoyed the Superbowl with my Dad today and I enjoyed watching the UFC with friends yesterday.

  I am in my mid 30’s and had very few close friends that I thought I could count on until now. Finally in these last few years I have relaxed a bit. I do what I can to be social but work hasn’t gotten harder and I find myself saying no more often than yes to either work or save money.

  I really like to help people. Though I feel I haven’t got my own life questions answered many come to me for my thoughts. My day would be filled with being with friends and family laughing and enjoying our time together, possibly even helping them surmount their tough times.

  And in between I would work on one of those many great ideas I have but can’t seem to find the time to do.

• 4 Weeks to Change or Bust » Blog archive » Answer To A Challenge Made By Tim Ferriss
  February 4th, 2008
  2:52 am
  

  [...] Ferriss has an interesting challenge at his blog.  You can win a Shaun of the Dead Figurine or some first edition books of his.   He wants you to [...]

• Kevin Bedell
  February 4th, 2008
  8:06 am
  

  Answer #1: Last 48 Hours were about a 6 on fulfillment scale. More detail below.

  Answer #2: Absolutely YES.

  Answer #3: I am level 10 (or 11 even) confident that I could fill the time effectively.

  Saturday morning early: Up with my kids, went over some Dungeons and Dragons planning with the 14 year old. Would love to have freedom to dive deep into the game with him: Make our own dungeons and script them or travel to tournaments.

  Later Saturday morning: Did Algebra with the 14 year old — he’s homeschooled and I’m his math teacher. Would love to be able to devote even more time to his education — SAT training/testing, more detailed efforts in math. My work gets in the way.

  Also, the 14 year old wants to WRITE A BOOK. I’ve published a book myself and would love to spend a 6 week slot with him straight out focussed and writing a book with him. We could totally do it if I had time.

  Saturday Afternoon: Skiing with the kids in New Hampshire where I live. Would love to take 4-6 week ski vacations in Winter. Would ABSOLUTELY love it. Weekend skiing sucks because it’s more crowded. I ski after work during the week, but would love to go every day for a month or 2.

  Sunday: More DnD planning, housework, preparing meals. Sunday Afternoon — another 3 hours on the ski hill (40 min drive from my house). The 14 year old stayed home (wanted some time away from his siblings) but the 8 and 10 year olds were with me. The 8 year old is into snow boarding and she’s loving it. She is soo cute and her confidence is really building. The 10 Year old is getting good and he’s begun trying jumps in the terrain park — he crashes a lot.

  Point of all this is:

  – Extra time translates directly to more time with family following family pursuits.

  – I’m extremely creative and have written a lot, plus I write software for a living and I could build valuable web sites.

  – One other thing would be the value of being able to outsource many of my daily chores — like housework and/or cooking and/or some homework time with my son. I enjoy working with him, but I think having a professional tutor a couple days a week would be good for him and allow me to focus on other things.

  Here it is now Monday morning and I just got off SKYPE working with a software developer (for my job) in Asia whose work I’m overseeing on part of one of my current projects. I could so easily manage other parts of my life that way.

  Thanks Tim — I’d love a hard copy of the book as I bought it from Audible and only have an audio copy.

  BTW – we met at MIT at your talk there. The NY Times photographer got me and you together and I was standing next to you in the picture that got published in the NY times.

  -kevin

• Daley
  February 4th, 2008
  9:45 am
  

  Tim,

  The 4HWW book has definately changed me. I recommend it to everyone.

  Who I am: Triathlete, Student, Traveler.

  My dream: Travel all over the world competing in triathlons (Ironman’s & 70.3’s), train whenever, and where ever I want, and live in cities people dream about visiting.

  How I made my dream somewhat of a reality this weekend: Best 48 hours I have ever spent.

  Triathletes are rather regimented people, we plan our entire year, and know exactly what and when we will train…… and it has always bugged the shit out of me. So this weekend I changed that, and finally “broke free” of the monotony. I took some chances, and experienced a few things I would not normally experience. I have realized it is all about putting yourself in situations that are borderline uncomfortable and hope for the best.

  SATURDAY
  (1)I slept in (a triathlete no-no). When I should have been up at 6 a.m. riding with a group of 60 people on the Ironman course in Scottsdale, Arizona. Instead I slept in till noon and signed up for Ironman Brazil in Florianopolis instead.
  (2) Booked my tickets, and started planning my trip. I will spend 3 weeks in Brazil (Florianopolis, Rio, Recife, Salvador), and then proceed to fly to Buenos Aires for another 2 weeks.
  (3) Trained all by my lonesome: Road 70 miles in complete silence allowing myself to finally get some time to think and reflect.
  (4) Remembered it was Carnival in Brazil, so sought out a local Brazil party. Found out that Scottsdale has a large Brazilian community. I contacted the party coordinator and he invited me to sit at his table at dinner (it is crazy how accessible people are, who would have thought).
  (5) Learned how to Samba, ate delicious native food, made some great friends, and met some people who will let me stay at their vacation home in Recife!

  SUNDAY

  (1) Instead of training in Scottsdale like I do every weekend I drove down to Tucson to check out on of the mecca’s of cycling: Mount Lemon, one of the training grounds of the olympic cycling team. There was a gentle 25 mile climb, but being alone and working my ass off through the cool mountain air was just what I needed well worth the two hour trip. It is amazing how much thinking you can get done when you do not have a care in the world are just enjoying being on the road.
  (2) Watched the Superbowl and UFC with my best friends while sharing Red Breast Whiskey on the rocks. A perfect cap to my weekend. Plus the Patriots lost, and Frank Mir made Lesnar look terrible (What the hell was he thinking taking him down?)

  It was the first 48 hours of my new life.

  -Daley

  Explore. Discover. Dream.

• Tammy Jo
  February 4th, 2008
  10:48 am
  

  Pancakes! The perfect groundhogs day morning starts with contraband carbs! The whole house will smell fantastic. we will clean up the daily messes as a family. PLay games, take care of the critters, sledding at the park, and then packing! Silly dances in straw hats and swim suits while its 10 degress outside. Loud steel drum music, coconut jokes. This is is we are getting ready to leave for our mini retirement in Hawaii. Some warm sand, a breeze, and sights never seen.
  This is how it will start once I can get all of the pieces to fall into place. Even with a goal about to be realized-life is still happening. The regular activities, and being able to enjoy them are as much a part of the dream, as the goal.

• James
  February 4th, 2008
  10:54 am
  

  You know what I did this weekend? I played with Legos with my five-year-old. We built a couple of ships from the Star Wars line, one of them rather large, one medium. That’s some pretty detail-intensive stuff right there. Then we finished watching the Phantom Menage, which we started Thursday night. We went to the mall and walked around a little bit, bought Momma a coffee, then went home and made dinner.

  I’ve noticed that my happiness on weekends and days off is directly tied to whether or not I have shut off the computer.

• Sharkbait
  February 4th, 2008
  11:33 am
  

  You know why I’m going to win Shaun and your books? Because I read this post AFTER I had a kick-ass, life-affirming weekend…and blogged about it (with pictures!)

  And I wouldn’t change a thing.

• MacEwen
  February 4th, 2008
  12:44 pm
  

  I saw this post the Monday after it went up. So, I couldn’t prepare my 48 hours. Its interesting to look at in hindsight how I put my time into my weekend without knowing the challenge.

  Here’s how it stacked up. For context, I was in a gnarly accident that I’m recovering well from. Here’s the full details on that http://masterycenter.blogspot.com/2007/11/sooner-or-later.html

  Essentially, I’ve been getting around just fine. I’ve had to make a few adjustments and ask for a lot of help. And, I’ve been in development on several projects which has meant money has been scarce in recent months. I’ve applied for Disability Insurance and so far, been denied.

  I’m on a non-recommended pattern when it comes to lifestyle design. I have no income and all the time in the world. I have a ton of financial commitments to keep, one of which is a follow-up surgery to get rid of the metal hardware in my ankle.

  It’s been frustrating being father to an 8 year old boy and showing up nearly empty handed week after week. Additionally, I’m dating a great woman who is over waiting for me to ask for her hand. That’s not something I’ll do before I’m financially fit. Little bit a tension there.

  So, that’s the context leading up to my recent weekend. And my plan for the weekend was to host an “Indoor Moving Sale” to raise money for the surgery. My son, Romeo, has been very committed to helping. He priced a bunch of his stuff and told me I could borrow anything he made and use it to help pay for the operation.

  He and I worked very hard for the last three weeks to prepare all of our sale items.

  We were very fortunate. A good friend who is in Real Estate donated an empty home of his that is going into re-hab in a few weeks. We cleaned it and set up our sale there.

  We made it look like the show room floor of Gimble’s. Or very nearly did. We arranged all the items under the track lighting. We were up at 6 am posting signs in the neighborhood, watching our fingers turn white in the uncharacteristic Silverlake cold.

  My son never complained when the person who agreed to bring breakfast never showed up. He never complained when we missed the Superb Bowl to sell two items on Sunday.

  He didn’t complain when we sold his bike, and his toys, and over $150 worth of his memories to people we’ll never see again.

  And with an open heart, he gave me the proceeds of his sale, no question.

  “Here Dad. Let’s go get you better.”

  * * *

  So, I fell about $1500 short on my goal. I still have some great items for sale. I recognize part of Tim’s post said something like, “How you do anything, is how you do everything,” [taken from T.Harv Eker], and generally I agree.

  I’d love to know what this says about my life. I definitely get what it says to me about my son. Additionally, I’m looking for ways to be beyond this surgery and well into my healing.

  I have a LOT of projects and plans that I’d like to be at peak performance for.

  This injury didn’t keep me from three weeks in Hawaii in December. It did modify how I enjoyed myself while I was there.

  I’m at a point where I realize I need to ask for help. I’m not even necessarily writing to win books. I won 12 in a contest several weeks ago and I’m still gifting them to the people who matter most to me.

  I invite people to connect with me through my site. Perhaps I can learn from you. Thanks in advance.

• Alex Berger
  February 4th, 2008
  12:47 pm
  

  This post comes at a great time for me. I graduated from college in May, Spent 3 months (Sept.-Dec.) backpacking through Europe and am now working in a job I absolutely love and which is helping prepare me for my own projects. My weekends and evenings are spent dreaming and working to make those dreams into a reality. I’m going to share 48 hours from this weekend.

  Friday 5:00 – Finished work, made my way straight home eager to get some writing and brainstorming done. From 5-10:00 I worked on several projects. The first was working on a basic blog post that I felt would help friends and family discussing useful web stools, free resources and how to protect themselves. The post took about an hour to write and was a great exercise as it allowed me to go back through the tools and options I have available to me.

  After finishing and posting the blog post, I set to brainstorming. I’m currently working on the business/design plan for what I feel is a product that will revolutionize the way we do remote business, classes & lectures (If I can pull it off WebEx, Video Conferencing etc. will all be DOA). Part of the process I’m going through right now is setting up my own company and looking at the patent process. I spent several hours continuing my on-going research in these areas, brainstorming on the name I’m going to use, and adding a new element to the product’s design (Mindjet is Amazing for this btw).

  10PM-2AM – I got into ballroom 4 years ago and try and hit the club up at least once a week. This week it was Friday night at the local salsa club. As always it was a blast and a great change of pace from sitting at my computer working/research on my project.

  Saturday 11:00AM-4:00PM – Politics fascinate me. Its people, power and ideologies all in one spot. Over the last month I’ve been exploring the power of social networking tools with a good friend as a powerful grass roots enabler. We’ve had awesome results. On our primary info awareness group we’re up to 759 members and our scheduled event for Super Tuesday w/ primary info has 504 “attending” & 109 “Maybe” responses. Saturday we decided to take it to the next level and REALLY push our comfort zones [had not done anything like this before]. We tossed on our suits and ties and hit the local community. Our goal was just to inform and remind people. The 3 of us did 20-30 houses over a 2 hour period. We were not pushing an agenda, just encouraging people to vote and do research.

  5:00-9:00 Pumped up after the experience I decided to cook a nice meal. I always get my seafood from the local Chinese cultural center. As I was picking up some whole fresh shrimp I noticed their live Dungeness Crabs. Without any clue how to cook it, I decided I’d go for it and experiment. After a nice nap, I woke up and started preparing to cook. I don’t like recipes and prefer to just shoot from the hip. To mix it up, I decided I’d record parts of the process to share as part of a blog post on how to eat like a king for $15 or less while only using a microwave, frying pan and pot.

  9PM-3:30AM I hit up the town and enjoyed the pre-super bowl bar scene here in the greater Phoenix Area. Ended up crashing on a friend’s sofa and woke up to Wulfgaar the husky sitting on my head.

  My problem right now isn’t filling the time. It’s finding more time to fill =)

  Proof:
  http://tinyurl.com/22kk9m – Primary Awareness Facebook group.
  http://tinyurl.com/24k8pg – AZ Primary Event
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f65t9sZm6w – Direct Crab Video
  http://tinyurl.com/yt3r78 – Blog post on the crab meal.

• Mark
  February 4th, 2008
  1:04 pm
  

  Hey, just wanted to say thanks, I have been applying everything I have learned from your book and your blog to my life and I can not believe the results I have seen:

  * Started two new fully-automated online businesses. The first has paid itself off within two weeks. The second launches on Sunday and I think it’s going to be another winner.

  * Have changed my thought process. I have hired a person to automate my workflow here at my office, freeing up my time incredibly. Automated other things including my shipping, bill payments, order taking and fulfillment, email and phone calls. I have freed up at least 12-15 hours a week by doing these things.

  * I am taking my first semi-retirement in March 19-24, just a small getaway for 5 days to Switzerland. I’ll be couch-surfing via globalfreeloaders.com and skiing some amazing terrain in Engelberg and Zermatt. (I got a ticket for just $550 roundtrip). If you can make it, I know you like to ski, I would love to meet you there and take you out for dinner to thank you and pick your brain a little more).

  * I am taking my second semi-retirement in May, where I will be renting a room and living in Italy for a month. This will be a real test of income autopilot that I am setting up with the above mentioned startups.

  * Applying your techniques for weight gain (the good kind “muscle” and not the bad “FAT”), I have increased my muscle mass in two months, gaining 10 lbs of muscle, going from a svelt 185 to a more solid looking 194 (OK, so 9 lbs). I need to take a photo, I promised you I would.

  * Saturday I attended auditions for American Gladiators which was just a fun thing that I wouldn’t have done under normal circumstances, but I figured life is too short to just wonder about it.

  * I have outsourced work to India which has worked incredibly well. All I have to say about that is WOW.

  So thanks a lot. You have influenced my lifestyle incredibly and I know of several other followers of your 4hour workweek.

  It’s funny how hard it was for me to click the “Reserve this flight” button on expedia.com, as I purchased my tickets to Switzerland. I think I can get used to this, though!

• Anita
  February 4th, 2008
  2:20 pm
  

  Tim! Let’s see – two weekends ago I flew to Denver for 4 days to see friends I had lost contact with for 17 years – when i came to Wisconsin to live with an enlightened Master and study A Course In Miracles. I googled my friends, then found a good ticket and went.It was fabulous. Last weekend I hooked up with a world class artist friend to breath life and put a deadline on (next weekend) into a stagnating project – kid’s book series beginning with the book titled “Truth”, as a prep for writing a script for a movie on the Course In Miracles. Nothing (and I do mean nothing) satisfies like conscious contact with God, and I want to get the word out.

• chris damico
  February 4th, 2008
  2:24 pm
  

  This contest lines up perfectly with a special occasion holiday my wife and I took. She recently received her white coat in veterinary school. It symbolizes a transition from the classroom to the clinic, where she will get to apply her book knowledge to her patients. Friday began with me leaving work early despite a serious issue brewing while I was on my way out the door. I showed up early to the ceremony and was able to enjoy the unseasonably warm day and sunshine before the show began.

  After many pictures and congratulations, we hosted a banquet to celebrate the momentous occasion with family and friends. We had a chance to catch up with people we haven’t seen in months, and shared food and laughs with the people we hold most dear to us.

  The next morning, we went to buy provisions and headed to a bed and breakfast in the cotton plantation country of South Louisiana. We took a tour of the haunted Myrtles Plantation and had dinner in the carriage house on the property.

  After a lovely dinner, we sat on the porch and smoked cigars and drank wine until late in the evening. We chatted about the past few years and what the future held for us.

  The next morning, we had breakfast in bed and toured the rambling grounds and main house of the plantation where we stayed. We retired to the back porch of our cottage and had a picnic. We spent several hours eating cheese and olives and enjoying the quiet. Our weekend had the right number of phone calls and emails. Zero.

  Later that evening, we cooked a meal we’d never had before, a rolled sirloin roast stuffed with bleu cheese and crab cakes with beurre blanc sauce. I sneaked occasional peeks at the Super Bowl score (who thought that would turn out the way it did?), but otherwise we were incommunicado from the outside world.

  This weekend showed us that we could drop everything and do what we wanted without worrying about things falling apart. Work was there when I rolled in on Monday morning, and nothing blew up. I think this was the perfect presentation of a life of mini-retirements since I’ve been having trouble trying to convince my wife that this is not a dream. I think she’s starting to understand that it could be our reality.

  Pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.damico/Coating

• Ryan Waldron
  February 4th, 2008
  3:55 pm
  

  Oh did I have a weekend…

  My favorite weekend each year…

  The culminating weekend of the Carnival Season.

  I ate and drank. I went to every single Parade here in New Orleans. I met up with old friends. I hung out with family. All while doing one of my all time favorite things to do: Enjoying the greatest city in America.

  My fiancé and I used the time between parades to re-discover magnificently beautiful architecture that had long since grown into nothing more than a backdrop. (Isn’t it amazing how wonderful the world looks on a day with a blue sky through a camera lens?) We walked and explored. You notice so much more walking, even if it is an area you have driven through a zillion times.

  I didn’t let the weekend end at the end of the week though. All the krewe names re-kindled my interest in Greco-Roman mythology, which I have spent the better part of the day re-educating myself on (along with a little bit of genealogy research.

  …And tomorrow in my first step into freeing myself from the binding of working in an office. As tomorrow is the shrove, my office building (a mere block from a parade route) will be closed. I have setup a remote desktop connection, along with a little automated script that will allow me to “work” while standing on the parade route.

  Then as the quasi self-penitent attitude of our city will facilitate, I will use the day after Mardi Gras to once again begin reach for my life long dream of becoming a Marine Officer. (And if there is anything that is further from the corporate hell in which I find myself trapped, Marine Officer Candidate School is it.)

• Jose Castro-Frenzel
  February 4th, 2008
  4:10 pm
  

  Audi R8, funny thing, I watched their commercial during the Super Bowl. Looks like a sweet ride.

  Cool Postings

  Jose Castro

• Robin Turner
  February 4th, 2008
  5:15 pm
  

  I like the idea of a 48-hour microcosm of my retirement, but it’s not very practical given that my plans for my retirement involve things that take a lot longer than 48 hours. For example, I want to master t’ai chi, learn to play the ney (a reed flute used in Turkish Sufi music) and write a novel, none of which can be done in a weekend. (OK, some writers have produced novels in that time, but the amphetamines can give you a really bad hangover.)

  So given the constraint of limited time and the freedom of unlimited resources, I’d probably fly over to Peter Gabriel’s studio and say “Hey Peter, shall we make an album?”

• S'rae Saffold
  February 4th, 2008
  5:52 pm
  

  Well, my mini-retirement challenge is almost over. How did I spend my last 48 hours? Oddly enough, the results are really telling:

  My son Samuel had a cold; so I nursed him. He was bored but unwell; so we snuggled up and watched a movie. I made him Swedish Meatballs for dinner and veggies, which he loved, and put him to bed.

  On Monday morning, I let him rest and recover. No school for him, lucky bunny. My next door neighbour across the hall kept an eye on him while I volunteered to do a workshop at a school for disabled children for an hour.

  I came home, designed some marketing material for a friend, made plans for the surprise trip to Spain that I have planned for Samuel and myself (it’s my birthday this month), went to the gym for an hour, cooked a fantastic meal and ate it with friends.

  It was all so simple and yet so rewarding. When I took this challenge, I set out to prove something. I’m not exactly sure what it was but I think it had something to do with showing that I was worthy of being alive and taking part in the miracle of it. And yet, in the first few hours (when Samuel became ill) I felt like a failure. “You’ve blown it.” I thought. “You should really be more imaginative.” Then I realized: it is the quality of the experience in my heart that matters. It is all about my intention…

  A sunrise isn’t beautiful if I don’t bother to notice. A ski trip isn’t fun if I’m complaining in your heart. A concert isn’t fulfilling if I lack peace of mind and thankfulness…and the mundane isn’t mundane if I can sense the joy in the moment, the love in the acts of service and the light at the end of the tunnel.

  I was highly aware of everything that I was doing this weekend because of the challenge. After I got over my initial guilt over not being “exciting”, I noticed that whenever I ‘checked in’ with myself that I could honestly say that there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

  It was a fantastic two days. I hope that my retirement is filled with the same joy. I pray that I will continue to have the love of friends and family in my life and more opportunites to serve. I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel…and oh, what a glorious sunrise!

  Thanks Tim, I needed to know that.

• sadhu
  February 4th, 2008
  6:21 pm
  

  I would go on a two day meditation retreat. The one thing missing from our busy lives is time for just sitting doing nothing and introspection. We are so busy thinking all the time that we don’t observe what is really going on.

• Aaron
  February 4th, 2008
  8:38 pm
  

  I just spent a fantastic relaxing and romantic weekend in Melbourne with my girlfriend.

  I live and work in Brisbane and have been working out of Melbourne on a fairly large tender for the company that I work for. However, due to the impending deadline for the tender submission, I have had to stay in Melbourne for 3 weeks straight and had to work over the entire (long) weekend last week.

  To reward myself for all the hard work I purchased a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne for my girlfriend and had the company’s leased apartment overlooking Melbourne city, Docklands and the Yarra River to myself for the weekend.

  FRIDAY – Girlfriend flies in. She spends the day sightseeing in Melbourne. I work.

  FRIDAY NIGHT – Pre-purchased tickets for Colonial Tram Car Restaurant. 3 hour trip through Melbourne city and St Kilda, whilst enjoying a 5 course meal and unlimited Wine and Scotch.

  SATURDAY – Spent the day at the Melbourne Zoo. Zoos always make me feel relaxed. I love how all these animals from various parts of the world can be brought together in one place in the name of conservation (and tourism). Always makes me ponder whether I should have become a Vet instead of an Engineer.

  SATURDAY NIGHT – Dinner on Lygon St. Lygon St is Melbourne’s answer to Rome. Walking down this street is always a great experience. Street front cafes and restaurants with Italian spruikers offering various incentives to get you into the restaurant. Ended up with a free bottle of wine and free entrées.

  SUNDAY – More touristy stuff. Did some shopping in Melbourne’s famous laneways. Overlooked the whole city from the Rialto viewing deck. Visited some of Melbourne’s museums and art galleries. Took a tram out to St Kilda beach.

  SUNDAY NIGHT – Buffet dinner at the Crown Casino.

  MONDAY MORNING – Girlfriend boards a plane home for Brisbane, I go back to work.

  All in all it was a much needed relaxing weekend. I am looking forward to the next one which will occur in 2 weeks time when we travel over to Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort on Moreton Island (just North of Brisbane).

  Cheers,

  Aaron

• Jesse
  February 4th, 2008
  11:22 pm
  

  Hi Tim,

  You’ve got the right idea! Here is an excerpt from my life spanning a very recent 48 hours. Woke up in Ekaterinberg, Russia with my best friends step-sister who I had fallen in love with over the last 8 days. She cooks a wonderful spread for us, as the snow falls outside in the forest. It is -15 degrees and we all eat together before I head to the airport.

  Arriving in Moscow a few hours later at 9pm, I was happy to have built a 10 hour layover into my schedule so I could stash my bags and check out Red Square at midnight. I negotiate a taxi and head down the long stretch of highway straight into the heart of Russia…arriving with a light snow dusting St. Basil’s cathedral and Lenin’s tomb while church music poured out into the bone-chillingly cold night.

  Back at the airport I crash on a couch and awake to a megaphone yelling flight information a couple feet over my head! I go to check in…the lady at the ticket counter looks at my visa and hands it back “visa expired…next!” and waves me aside.

  My heart drops. I ask who I may talk to and an icy cold manager Irina comes over and, after pleading in broken Russian, she helps radio the consulate and American embassy to arrange a special visa to leave. Bless her heart, with 3 minutes left before take off time, the assembled collection of Russian stewardesses waved me off and I am safely on my way to Paris….renewing my faith in humanity and love for Russian women;)

  I arrive as the sun is setting. Dropping my bags at a hostel I rendezvous with some friends to walk down to the Eiffel Tower and drink pastis while watching the tower sparkle with the moon lighting it from behind. We all reflect on how lucky we are to live a seemingly carefree life, lined with passion and full of rich experiences born from dreamlining and premeditated lifestyle design!

• Marc Menninger
  February 4th, 2008
  11:26 pm
  

  I spent a big chunk of my weekend working on one of my favorite hobbies: making homebrewed beer. While I was bottling my second batch of IPA I thought that maybe what I should do is open up a brewpub so I could make beer professionally. That’s all Seattle needs is another brewpub, right?

• Richard
  February 5th, 2008
  1:48 am
  

  Hi Tim,

  Just a question about the prizes.

  Why give 36 books to ?person and not say, 3 books to 12 people?

  Surely it’s easier for 12 people to pass three books to friends and family members, than for 1 person to try to give them away. I think it would spread your book to a wider range of people. Of course they can sell the ones they don’t want on ebay, but I think that’s kind of pointless.

  Plus I think having more winners creates more goodwill. You would personally touch more people. Maybe just one ‘winner’ could receive the the Shaun model as well/instead, and the books could be shared out.

  I guess it makes the judging, finding out addresses and the posting more time consuming, but don’t you think it’s worth it?

  To me, just to win one book would feel amazing!

  Thanks for reading,

  Rich

• Robby
  February 5th, 2008
  3:44 am
  

  I didn’t see this post until today (monday), but it’s great timing because this past weekend I decided to do essentially the same thing you’ve challenged. I realized I hadn’t been paying enough attention to the important stuff in life and desperately needed to bust out of the rut that I’ve been in for far to long.

  So, Saturday morning, I rented a car and surprised my girlfriend with a weekend up in Vancouver (we live in Seattle). I’d never been there before, and it was awesome, among the highlights, we:

  (whole weekend is here: http://robbyalldaylong.com/date/2008/2/2)

  1. hung out in Stanley park (which is beautiful), taking long strolls until dusk, then watched the sunset over the Pacific (which was even more Beautiful)
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2243995218/
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2244001786/

  2. Spent an hour in a Japanese market marveling at how Japanese product design is a billion times more awesome than American design.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2243208885/

  3. Found the largest box of Pocky I’ve ever seen.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2243218565/

  4. Wandered around a completely unfamiliar city for hours, getting lost and loving it.

  5. Found a lowrider mini-truck painted EXACTLY like Eddie Van Halen’s guitar (!!!!)
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2244012040/

  6. Tried durien fruit gelato, just because we heard it was the nastiest thing ever. (it is)
  http://twitter.com/robby1066/statuses/671831392

  7. After gorging ourselves on fondue, walked across town in search of vegetarian poutine at 2am, which was every bit as good as that guy on the Food network said it was.
  http://twitter.com/robby1066/statuses/672137842

  8. Woke up sunday morning in time to check out Chinatown before racing back to Washington to catch the Superbowl with my girlfriend’s family.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/robby1066/2243218539/

  The whole timeline is here on my lifestream:
  http://robbyalldaylong.com/date/2008/2/2

  One of the things I actually found while reading 4hww was that I started fixating way too much on how I was going to break out of my 9-5 job, and wasn’t giving any thought to what I would do with that new free-time. Taking a weekend to forget all about work and obligation and money and just focus on having an awesome time was the best thing I could possibly have done (although, as a side note, I was totally surprised at how cheap the weekend turned out to be)

  I’m more just sharing than anything, because I’m psyched about my weekend, and I guess that Shaun of the Dead figure is pretty sweet too. :p

  Robby

• Jeff
  February 5th, 2008
  3:58 am
  

  Did It ever occur to you, Tim, That not everyone can have their first book on the new york times best seller list? Did it never occur to you, Tim, that a lot of people have to fail many times to achieve things that others may achieve more easily? This is generally speaking not judging you since I don’t know you well enough. Of course, I do know that you got into Princeton, which MOST people CAN’T do.

  ###

  Hi Jeff,

  I’m not sure why this post prompted this — as I have as much trouble with these questions as anyone — but yes, I’m aware of all of these things. I’ve failed plenty myself, and quite of few of them made it into the book.

  All the best,

  Tim

• S'rae Saffold
  February 5th, 2008
  4:38 am
  

  Well, my mini-retirement challenge is almost over. How did I spend my last 48 hours? Oddly enough, the results are really telling:

  My son Samuel had a cold; so I nursed him. He was bored but unwell; so we snuggled up and watched a movie. I made him Swedish Meatballs for dinner and veggies, which he loved, and put him to bed.

  On Monday morning, I let him rest and recover. No school for him, lucky bunny. My next door neighbour across the hall kept an eye on him while I volunteered to do a workshop at a school for disabled children for an hour.

  I came home, designed some marketing material for a friend, made plans for the surprise trip to Spain that I have planned for Samuel and myself (it’s my birthday this month), went to the gym for an hour, cooked a fantastic meal and ate it with friends.

  It was all so simple and yet so rewarding. When I took this challenge, I set out to prove something. I’m not exactly sure what it was but I think it had something to do with showing that I was worthy of being alive and taking part in the miracle of it. And yet, in the first few hours (when Samuel became ill) I felt like a failure. “You’ve blown it.” I thought. “You should really be more imaginative.” Then I realized: it is the quality of the experience in my heart that matters. It is all about my intention…

  A sunrise isn’t beautiful if you don’t bother to notice. A ski trip isn’t fun if you’re complaining in your heart. A concert isn’t fulfilling if you lack peace of mind and thankfulness…and the mundane isn’t mundane if you can sense the joy in the moment, the love in the acts of service and the light at the end of the tunnel.

  I was highly aware of everything that I was doing this weekend because of the challenge. After I got over my initial guilt over not being “exciting”, I noticed that whenever I ‘checked in’ with myself that I could honestly say that there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

  It was a fantastic two days. I hope that my retirement is filled with the same joy. I pray that I will continue to have the love of friends and family in my life and more opportunites to serve. I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel…and oh, what a glorious sunrise!

  Thanks Tim, I needed to know that.

• Tworzenie Stron
  February 5th, 2008
  5:32 am
  

  I want to say that the donations I get from the tech support will go the the charity… not the tech support.

• Interent Komputery
  February 5th, 2008
  5:35 am
  

  I am taking my second semi-retirement in May, where I will be renting a room and living in Italy for a month. This will be a real test of income autopilot that I am setting up with the above mentioned startups.

• Lise
  February 5th, 2008
  5:41 am
  

  Tim this is a fabulous post and the idea mentioned of ‘the lack of an ability to dream’ is so potent imo.

  I see from so many friends, clients and reading online that many people have lost their ability to dream about what is possible, though I think that is changing (a la The Secret). As kids we dream and fantasise continually and then as age and time creep forward we become more adult and ‘realistic’.

  As a dreamer all my life I’ve been told to grow up, stop living with my head in the clouds and be realistic (there’s that word again) whatever the heck that really means (ie don’t ever believe that life can be easier by believing it so).

  It is asked why most lottery winners end up the same or in worse financial state than before they won. I think its a similar reason ~ no one actually prepares mentally/spiritually for when they are not living in survival city. To be freed of all survival issues (have to pay the mortgage/rent, pay the bills, go to work) opens up a huge vacuum and if you are not prepared for ‘working the 4 hour week’ then I think there can be a shock of the space that is left in your life, that used to be filled by those things. But if you do the work before and prepare yourself for what the vision of your life looks like then it will be on and upwards. I imagine for a minute (usually a lot more than that) ok no anything to have to do, no W-O-R-K, bills are all paid, life is materially effortless for I have everything I need, but then what is there left? For some people that’s all there is, take it away and there is nothing. For me, the ultimate life would be to take survival out of the picture and become more philanthropic, more creative, less identified with what I do and more with who I am. I figure having my material needs/wants sown up would give me the time to dedicate to that, it would make me smile coz even now as one who is making inroads to having that life, I get a buzz from helping others.

  May be some of the people who strive for a ‘better life’ through entrepreneurialship, lottery winners, stock traders, whatever don’t really quite believe its going to happen but my hats are off to the ones who create the reality of freedom and have prepared the way.

  Love your blog Tim
  Cheers
  Lise :^)

  ps. oh yeah just to answer to your questions:
  1: 8 whilst nothing over the top incredible a great sense of peace and moment by moment enjoyment on my last two weekends with my darling partner and friends.
  2: Yes!
  3: I think about building this ‘free time’ a lot!

• Luis
  February 5th, 2008
  11:02 am
  

  My fulfilling weekend.

  I recently purchased a condo in Rosarito, Mexico; 15 minutes from the richest nation. This move allows me the comfort of having access to everything “American” while experiencing a third world country. I am on a 2 year plan to “MAKE DOLLARS while SPENDING PESOS”.

  Lastly weekend, I introduce friends to Mexico’s Wine Country (actually, it was my first time) as we drove further into the Valley. I felt comfortable enough to NOT take the more commercialized tour path and instead find our way along the smaller dirt roads. This lead us to discover some great gems and avoid the gringo tours buses. No offense gringos, but some of us are trying to enjoy the weekend…Save the loud, drunk behavior for Papa’s and Beer.

  Small tips allowed us to meander through the vineries, getting the special treatment and the underlying scope of the area.

  At one prominent winery we were given a tour by the daughter who is to inherit the winery that has been in her family for over 100 years, but she had one issue. She is dating and considering marriage to a fellow with a not so prominent Mexican last name and having to face old traditions by having to ponder the fact that if proposed to: She will require a prenuptial agreement…

  One to keep her prominent last name and Two to keep the family business…

  But what if he says NO?

  She was debating these issues while giving us a tour of her family’s winery. WOW!

  We connected, and began to have one of those special moments when total strangers have that elusive bond that makes for long lasting friendships.

  We were in the moment and felt the connection to the land. We discovered how vino is processed and enjoyed several bottles before making our way back onto the main highway.

  Wish I could have captured it, and bottle it for later…But great moments just like great vino are meant to be enjoyed not stored away.

  Thanks Tim.

  I would have never wrote this down if it was not for your blog entry.

  Luis Navarro
  Member of the Couch Surfing Project
  http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/geoluis

• Conga Keystone
  February 5th, 2008
  11:07 am
  

  It’s 1022 days to retirement, or as Paula Poundstone inscribed a bookplate for me–1022 “cottonballs” to retirement. (I happen to be a RN). I have defined myself as a nurse, by the amount of my take-home pay w/ the perks of being the major wage earner, and by keeping my family afloat these past 25 plus years. It will be nice to have a different pace. I see myself having more time for doing relaxing things, such as reading, spending time w/ family, knitting for charity, family, myself; also blogging, doing research online, and perhaps doing some advocacy.

• Luis
  February 5th, 2008
  11:41 am
  

  My fulfilling weekend. Jan 18-21th, 2008

  I recently purchased a condo in Rosarito, Mexico; 15 minutes from the richest nation. This move allows me the comfort of having access to everything “American” while experiencing a third world country. I am on a 2 year plan to “MAKE DOLLARS while SPENDING PESOS”.

  Lastly weekend, I introduced friends to Mexico’s Wine Country (actually, it was my first time) as we drove further into the Valley. I felt comfortable enough to NOT take the more commercialized tour path and instead find our way along the smaller dirt roads. This lead us to discover some great gems and avoid the tours buses.

  Small tips allowed us to meander through the vineries, getting the special treatment and the underlying scope of the area.

  At one prominent winery we were given a tour by the daughter who is to inherit the winery that has been in her family for over 100 years, but she had one issue. She is dating and considering marriage to a fellow with a not so prominent Mexican last name and having to face old traditions by having to ponder the fact that if proposed to: She will require a prenuptial agreement…

  One to keep her prominent last name and Two to keep the family business…

  But what if he says NO?

  She was debating these issues while giving us a tour of her family’s winery. We connected, and began to have one of those special moments when total strangers have that elusive bond that makes for long lasting friendships.

  We were in the moment and felt the connection to the land. We discovered how vino is processed and enjoyed several bottles before making our way back onto the main highway.

  Wish I could have captured it, and bottle it for later…But great moments just like great vino are meant to be enjoyed not stored away.

  Thanks Tim, I would have never wrote this down if it was not for your blog entry.

  Luis
  Member of the Couch Surfing Project

• Tony Pearson
  February 5th, 2008
  12:41 pm
  

  Tim, your book and your blog inspire me!

  I have joined the OLPC foundation for one-laptop-per-child, and was “put to work” putting together a “server” for the OLE Nepal group. This involved taking an old Windows machine I had, wiping it clean, installing Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, all so that we can test out some school software called Moodle. I have never done this before, but was willing to learn, bought some books, downloaded some CD images, and got it done and working over the weekend in time to relax and watch the Superbowl. While this might sound like boring work for others, I am glad to have done it, found it fulfilling for me.

  – Tony

• Leah
  February 5th, 2008
  1:39 pm
  

  So I’m posting this here because it is the most recent post. Since you seem to be a man who gets whatever he wants – why can’t I find any evidence of a girlfriend? Just a cheeky question I’d thought I’d ask.

  ###

  Hi Leah,

  LOL… fair question. I am moving from Man Jose (San Jose) to San Francisco soon, which is where I had my last long-term girlfriend. There are VERY few eligible girls I find attractive in my neighborhood, and I have avoided long-distance relationships, hence no girlfriend.

  I’ll be writing a bit more about related issues — and dates — closer to Valentine’s Day :)

  Tim

• Alex Berger
  February 5th, 2008
  1:51 pm
  

  Just saw this and it reminded me of this post – thought i’d share.

  “Vision with action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare” – Japanese Proverb

  I’ve found that if you do right by those around you, the universe tends to weave a wonderful pattern. It strikes me that for most people, the problem isn’t finding opportunities it’s recognizing them and then having the drive and motivation to act upon them. It seems that people, far too often, act simply to act without truly understanding what their goal is and what it will require. This type of action seems more driven than fear, than actual desire. A fear of failure, of insignificance or even more often a fear driven by others judgment.

  One of the most difficult things is stepping back, asking myself who I am, what I want, where I want to go and then why? Why is such an amazing question. Especially when repeated. Why do things work, why do I want this? Why not pursue this opportunity?

  Jeff – Failure is just another opportunity to try something new. Those who succeed don’t succeed at every task, they are just master failures. Men & Women who embrace each mistaken or dead end as a foundation to build upon and learn from. Einstein was perhaps the best example of this. Instead of contemplating how you’ll judge others, consider reviewing how and why you judge yourself. You, ultimately are your own best teacher.

• Chole Bartholomew
  February 5th, 2008
  2:41 pm
  

  Tim-

  I discovered this blog post at a really interesting time for me– I’m a devout cyclist and through a silly mistake (read: crash with a speed bump, embarrassingly enough) I made on a short ride two weeks ago I had broken my collar bone. Needless to say, not only was I deeply depressed, I also have been doped up on pain medication, unable to properly attend to my work (caring for children), my art (designing fabrics and making custom cycling caps), or my schooling (interactive design, in my senior year). I could barely put together a coherent email.

  This past Thursday, however, I kicked the Percocet, and found, in fact, I wasn’t in much pain anymore. I started going back to the Neighborhood Bicycle Works (a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that helps youth and adults learn about bicycle repair and safety) and found that I could now teach the customers much better now that I was unable to execute some of the more difficult repairs, and that I was much more patient and helpful because of this. I also learned a lot about the internal workings of a three-speed hub that I overhauled with an engineer.

  This is a group of people, for some reason or another, I had lost touch with over the years because I stopped making room in my schedule, but now with my ‘retiree’ status, I’ve been forced to slow down and really look at what’s important to me, not winning races or logging miles, but being part of the community of cyclists.

  And in the time that wasn’t spent at the bike shop? Well the guys and I went out for drinks at the local microbrewery after we closed, and talked about the local food movement, and all the farmers and bakers we knew (most of the NBW workers are members of the local food Co-Op). Other than I sat at my drawing table drafting pattern repeats that i’d had in my head for a while and re-read Emotional Design by Norman, then started to read some short stories by Saunders.

  I had also spent some time visiting with the children that I normally care for, and, although it was a bit sad to not be able to pick up and hug them, chase them around the park or get really rough and tumble with Jesse, both he and his brother Nico seemed to understand that I would be playing with them again soon, which made me immensely happy.

  I guess that my retirement isn’t exactly purposeful, or exotic, like some of the other posts, but I also didn’t come across this blog until just today, and none of what I did was anything more or less than what I myself was inspired to do. Which I think, is rather the whole point of the thing.

• Haley
  February 5th, 2008
  3:00 pm
  

  I was sitting at work and reading the icy weather reports and contemplating whether it was worth the four hour drive up into the catskills to go snowboarding for the weekend.
  The reasons I shouldn’t have gone seemed to outnumber the reasons why I should. I’d be the least experienced and spend most of the days alone on the slopes, my health insuranced doesn’t kick in for another week, I shouldn’t spend the money, etc.

  After some debate I decided that spending a weekend in the mountains would be way sweeter than doing laundry and watching tv. So I went and braved the slopes for 48 hours of glorious times with friends food and football, I even acquired some great battle scars. The second day was really painful, so I decided to leave my more experienced friends to the slopes and just wander aimlessly to take some photos. I came back relaxed, inspired, and with more perspective. The freedom was worth the drive.

  Here’s my photographic proof.
  http://all-things-grow.blogspot.com/2008/02/catskills.html

• Ven
  February 5th, 2008
  3:10 pm
  

  This past weekend was a long one. Me, my husband, and our little girl caught a plane Thursday morning and flew from cloudy Oregon to sunny New Mexico. We visited with both our families and celebrated the kid’s fifth birthday in style with family and friends (including grandparents and one great-grandmother). It was tons of fun and we got to enjoy the big empty quiet that is Southern New Mexico and soak up some blue sky and sun.

  It is a super-exciting and stimulating mini-retirement? Maybe not. But it was great fun and a chance to connect with the people we care about. And we did it with a little one in tow. I need to download the pictures from the camera, but who would claim a whirlwind tour of New Mexico if it wasn’t true?

• Vincent
  February 5th, 2008
  3:32 pm
  

  answers
  1: 4
  2: YES!!!
  3: 10

  I read this post on monday morning and not friday, yet I still feel as if my weekend was filled with many of the most important things I would do with the extra time I create for myself in my coming mini-retirements. Saturday morning I spent having breakfast with my 2 daughters and then learning and teaching gymnastics to my 2 year old. Saturday afternoon was my other daughter’s 5th birthday party. Seeing her full of life, surrounded by 20 uncorrupted 5 year olds having fun like only 5 year olds can is priceless. Party like a 5 year old is my new slogan! Sunday, in unseasonably warm weather in NJ, I was outside with my kids, playing on the swing set, playing hide and seek, and giving them “super fast” wagon rides around the property. I then spent the rest of the day watching the super bowl with my family, with the night ending as my 2 year old fell asleep on my lap in the waning moments of the game.
  For me the good life does not have to be filled with extensive travel or extravagant luxuries. This past weekend was a glimpse of how I would spend my emancipated time; having breakfast/meals with my family, learning and teaching skills to my kids, and just having fun and memorable moments with the people most important to me. It can happen at home, 1 mile from home, or half way around the world, as long as it happens.
  Many times over the years my wife has complained about the day to day drag of routine, and in response many times I would ask her to describe her perfect day to me, and then push her to make that perfect day happen. Thank you Tim for asking me that same question.

• Anna Nichols
  February 5th, 2008
  6:21 pm
  

  @ Leah and Tim

  Interesting topic. I’ve been thinking about relationships in my life lately – and I’ve come to the conclusion that what Tim experiences as “filling the void” career-wise, I am experiencing relationship-wise. Over the last several years I’ve consistently had relationships in which men are ready to spend the rest of their lives with me within a four-week courtship period. Not that they’re actually proposing (though most probably would if I encouraged it), mind you – they’re not desperate freaks. They just become genuinely and thoroughly devoted, quickly. And they stay that way – even years after we’ve stopped dating in many cases.

  It’s suddenly become rather unnerving. I just moved to a new town, and same song, different verse. First single guy I had a conversation with. Whatever I’m doing, I wish I could patent it because I see women all around me who struggle so much to get the quality they want out of relationships. In fact, my current partner was seeing someone else before he met me – someone who makes more sense for him and who wanted to see their new relationship go somewhere. But, he bailed on her and is smitten with me despite (or maybe because of?) numerous warnings and disclaimers on my part.

  It may sound like I’m an egotistical, cruel bitch. Or, like I’m desperate for constant male attention. But, take my word for it, I’m not. I just believe that nearly any relationship can be fun and a learning experience – so why deprive myself of that? And why put off enjoyment with bachelor #2 today in the hopes that it will increase my chances of finding Mr. Right tomorrow? That doesn’t fit with the Law of Attraction (for all you closet The Secret fans out there). Besides, I’m incredibly upfront and honest about expectations and levels of commitment (or lack thereof) while still doing my best to be sensitive and respectful of my partner’s ego.

  I think I’ve decided to write about it. Obviously – I am right now. I was even looking at the 4HWW as a template over the weekend – just in terms of the organization of the book. I’ve been polling people who know me well and who have witnessed my “techniques” – my mother, my current partner, etc.

  I think it would have to be targeted towards women – and be more interesting than the standard “how to get a guy to put a ring on your finger.” I just couldn’t be bothered to write a book that didn’t have guts and grit – or some good old-fashioned shock value.

  Anyway… sorry to hijack the post. I guess I did mention what I did over the weekend. I was fantasizing about being a Tim Ferriss avatar in the world of relationships. Does that score any test-driving-the-rest-of-my life points? ; )

  If not, I’ll still offer to be a guest poster for Valentine’s Day. Let me know if you need some extra material.

  ###

  Hi Anna,

  Always looking for good material for Valentine’s Day. A Tim Ferriss avatar? Hmmmm…. :)

  Pura vida,

  Tim

• Jeannette Pucella
  February 5th, 2008
  6:24 pm
  

  Well… this weekend, my husband and I are leaving North Carolina to sail our 32′ Bayfield (sailboat) down to the Florida Keys to meet with a guy who just might sell us our dream boat/business, a 44′ Catamaran to do adventure charters on in the Bahamas. It’ll take longer than the weekend to get there. We will probably be offshore out in the Atlantic ocean this weekend, no land in sight, riding the swell, catching our dinner, and sailing nonstop under the sun and stars. It’s always life-changing to put yourself in the position of being 100% self-reliant, and it’s really cool too. Check our website for proof.
  http://www.yachtpuff.com
  /Users/jeannettedougherty/Desktop/IMGP1534.JPG

• jefro
  February 5th, 2008
  7:26 pm
  

  Well, I was all set to write something, but read MacEwen’s post and thought to myself, super tuesday and all, I’d do some politicking.

  If there was a way I would spend the next 48 hours, it would be to spend the time with my son like he did – do something that was right, deemed sacrificial, and with the purpose of something greater than myself. So I say give it to his son. That would be a lesson worth learning, and a example of how 48 hours of life should be lived.

• Dave
  February 5th, 2008
  9:14 pm
  

  Tim,

  Your book seriously made me put in my 2 weeks last Friday. I’m going to take a “pre-mini retirement” after my last day. Your book doesn’t mention taking a small break after quitting your job – do you recommend? Know any cool places you’ve heard about visiting recently? Wanna join me? If you’re serious email me and let’s go! End of February was when I was thinking.

  ###

  Hi Dave,

  Congrats! My recommendation is Patagonia in Argentina — amaaaaazing. San Martin de Los Andes and Villa la Angostura in particular. Rent a car and check out the 5 lakes area. Stunning :)

  Have fun,

  Tim

• Marky604
  February 5th, 2008
  10:47 pm
  

  Aloha!

  Grand idea Tim… As you know people respond well to challenges.. as I read your post I thought to myself.. well I should go out and have a great time.. so I thought of the standard ” well I should go out to the nightlife and drink, etc” but it was damn icy and snowy in Vancouver, so I thought to myself … “that’s not cool… No – one checked with me about throwing all this snow on Vancouver… that’s not why I moved here…”

  So I did some research, checked out some sites you mentioned in your book, but ended up finding a seat sale on Westjet to Honolulu for 524 return taxes inc… and a beach side hostel for 29 bucks a night.

  It wasn’t easy to do it, but worth it.

  And that’s where I am now… I thought the sun wasn’t gonna come out, but it did, and ouch… it is hot@!…be careful what you wish for…

  I did alleviate the heat with dips in the beautiful pacific ocean.

  I talked to some cutie on the beach and I think I’ll be taking surfing lessons tomorrow or the day after… and who knows what after that.

  Well, I think it’s time to mix up some malibu rum and OJ.

  Thanks for sharing your work.

  Mark

  Aloha!

• DennisD
  February 5th, 2008
  11:45 pm
  

  Oh did you catch me in the right two weeks.

  First of all – I don’t know if I qualify since I am a college student, but none of the less I did have a job.. up until last weekend that is.

  So here is the list:

  Two weekends ago:
  -Close friend comes back from 2 month trip to Indonesia/Bali/Switzerland and brings all sorts of interesting things with him – like hand made figurines cut out of tusk and 3 large wooden statues of intriguing women with perky breasts – none of which he’d share.

  - I get fired from my job for going to the bathroom. I am not even 1% worried about this; coworkers start asking me “How does it feel to be free?”

  - I spend an hour and a half in a teacher’s office because he submitted a formal complain about me to the university for “huffing and puffing” during his class. We chat for awhile and come to the agreement that I will get an A and am allowed to write papers in my own thoughts – not school’s brainless thinking.

  - Dressed in suits, my friend and I drive 30 minutes in the worst part of town, to spend $5 cash (only money we had) at the single Popyes in my state and decide to never come back again.

  - I go to a club with friends and proceed to leave with a girl dressed like she just auditioned for an ABBA video. I start resenting falling for just looks.

  This last weekend:

  - I start to feel as if I am getting sick. It is possibly a flu but I heed “Secret”’s advice and repeat to myself “You are in excellent health, and will win an NBA title” After which I gather my friends to hit the college bars. After 5 bars the guy who weighs 115 lbs on a rainy day proceeds to tell our drunk ears that he is “quite sober”. Ten minutes later he is standing in the middle of a dancefloor holding his head and looking concerned. We immediately send him off with a random girl – they walk 2 miles (it is -5F) to her place.

  - Next day I feel even worse but decide to go snowboarding since I’ve been putting it off for a year. Not content with just riding at moderate speeds (this is my 2nd time snowboarding in 2 years) I decide to attempt jumping hills. An hour later my friends are worried that my left wrist is broken and my right wrist is severly sprained. I tell them that I can’t feel my ass.

  - The bill comes on the Superbowl morning – I definitely got the flu. The whole previous night I wake up because of the pain, congestion or muscle aches and have a dream about a revolution against a corporation – which ended up being successful.

  I stay in bed all day, and proceed to lose money on Patriots, my first bet in 2 years.

  I guess I’d rate those weekends 5/10.

  ./if I don’t die from influenza. then 3/10

• Tim
  February 5th, 2008
  11:48 pm
  

  I am loving this blog more now, at first all I saw was people going away for the weekend, so what, but I just read a few about doing what mattered to them. People like me who have come to the conclusion if it’s meaningful to you, it fulfilling. I too will take crazy long fun mini retirements, they are wonderful, BUT the real juice of life is finding something MEANINGFUL and doing it. It may be work to some, even hell to others, but no matter what you are doing if YOU feel fulfilled doing it’s awesome. You can fill your time and will be happy doing it. BTW to the cyclist, and the guy programming computers for kids….hats off to you both, changing the world in a positive way, doing something you love, and not needing to take an exotic trip or spend money to be fulfilled. Don’t get me wrong I will be a rich and VERY mobile, but I still know happiness comes from WHAT you do, and how meaningful it is to you, NOT how much money you have. Thank you all for reminding me of this, in my broke state and from a job I will fire as soon as possible, because it isn’t meaningful. All my unhappiness is sourced from my job, my private life is WONDERFUL and soon the two will be indistinguishable:-))

• miss jojo
  February 6th, 2008
  12:18 am
  

  last weekend i did the following:
  Had coffee in bed with my partner and looked out the window at our view.
  Walked the dog to the gym and attended a circuit class and worked pretty hard.
  Walked back and started to pack in a leisurely way for our weekend trip away.
  Went for a swim at our beach.
  Drove 1.5 hours to Phillip Island to a cabin we rented as a gift for my sister-in-law’s birthday present.
  Had a yummy salad roll for lunch on the way.
  Headed down to the beach with my partner and little nephew and niece and played.
  Cooked a really good bbq.
  Had lashings of red wine and played cards with my teenage step son.
  Met my mum who drove 4 hours to be with us for the weekend.
  Went to bed a little tipsy.
  Sunday morning – headed out for a run.
  Then packed up the teenager and his mate, and the boogie boards, and my mum, and headed down to a surf beach.
  We caught waves for an hour or so.
  Then went back, made lunch and headed out to a wonderful music festival, Chill Island Festival.
  Saw my favourite band ever, the Waifs.
  Saw some other amazing music including John Butler Trio.
  Stayed at the cabin again and took Monday off work (I already planned that).
  Then Monday, more boogie boarding, drove back, unpacked, picked up the dog, went for another swim in the beach and went to bed early.
  How’s that for good. Healthy, family living and a gorgeous music festival. All a gift for my sister in law’s birthday – we decided a family weekend away and great music was more important than another gift from a gift shop.
  cheerio

  Miss Jojo xxxx

  PS do you post to Australia?

• Jean
  February 6th, 2008
  12:35 am
  

  Q1. Past two weekends?

  An 8: Long museum visit (novel research)
  and a 7

• Ashley
  February 6th, 2008
  12:39 am
  

  can someone tell me how i can post an answer to this question and have a hyperlink created for photos, etc, as people have done previously?? sorry i’m not much into web techi-ness!

• Jean
  February 6th, 2008
  1:09 am
  

  Oops! Hit the wrong key, sorry about that earlier (and incomplete) post.

  Q1. Past two weekends: About an 8, in summary:

  Long museum visit (novel research), morning run, visit with inspiring friends(about to travel far south with newborn), a few hours of frosty photography, shared silence with my elderly father, learned how to draw comix in a workshop, a few hours of writing, had a dinner date (alone) with my love. Would’ve been a 10, but writing didn’t move into flow (this time).

  Q2. Yes, I want to retire from my 9-3 / 3 days per week job.

  Q3. A 10 – Absolute confidence.
  The challenge weekend:

  Followed crows east at twilight to their communal roosting site (hundreds of them), started website that makes my heart do a happy dance, photographed neighbourhood trees, bought spring flowers for the front window, journalled, spent Sunday morning holding my daughter (she had the flu).

  Started thinking about the projects that are in the someday file and checked my bookshelves. The books are like breadcrumbs waiting to lead me to weaving, dyeing, building with cob and straw-bale, growing better tomatoes, writing great novels.

  I’ve said this all in a pretty cut and dried manner, but the main reason I’ve responded was the the quote:

  “found myself completely taken in this moment … And I was there, at least in my mind, which, really, is all that matters.”

  I think he’s talking about the sense of awe and wonder that comes when you’re not just going through the motions. Being present, whether to comfort a sick child or revel in the raucous chatter of a community of crows makes the day wondrous. This seems to me to be the point of the four hour work week. Use the time available to live deeply and without reservation.

  That’s pretty much what I intend to do. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
  Cheers.

• Ivan Campuzano
  February 6th, 2008
  1:40 am
  

  Hey Tim just wanted to really thank you for your blueprint…I now Live in Prague…I read your book a few months before I moved…it inspired me to start my site and It was also my excuse to get a business license here and a way for me to get a visa without having to work for anyone:)…I have a lot of work to do but thats the exciting part…again..thank you so much..If you are ever in Prague let me know, the woman are great here ;)…Ivan Campuzano

• Jason Schleifer
  February 6th, 2008
  2:39 am
  

  Hey Tim

  I have been working in Japan teaching English for the past year or so. Although most of my friends think my life is exotic and crazy the truth is that I spend a lot of my weekends with other English speakers drinking beer at a pub for foreigners. Basically what I would do if I were back in the US. I decided that the combination of my birthday, the new year, and this blog should change my weekend plans. So I took an overnight bus with a friend to Tokyo. Walked around the biggest fish market in the world. Ate the best ramen in Tokyo (possibly Japan.) Let my inner child run free at a 5 story toy store. Drank shochu with beautiful girls. Generally I believe it to be one of the best weekends I’ve had in my life. Pictures and details are in my blog at http://thelyfeinjapan.blogspot.com/

  I created this blog after receiving a copy of 4hr. work week for Christmas. It really does make a great present

• Helen O'Donovan
  February 6th, 2008
  3:10 am
  

  Hey Tim,

  Glad I read this now.
  You see I’ve got lots of plans. I’ve got so many exciting plans for 2008 they’re just bubbling up inside of me! Within the next 6 months I’m going to get promoted, get a 30% salary increase, tender my resignation and go bottle feed lion cubs in Zimbabwe (uber cute). After that I’ll head down to Australia and do some kind of work that allows me to spend most of my time diving, sightseeing and meeting new people. On my way home to Ireland I’m going to stop off in South America for a look, after that – who knows?!
  All of these plans are great and they will get done, the thing is I’ve realised that I’m so busy making plans that I’ve forgotten to enjoy the fruits of my 2007 plans (very John Lennon I know) I’m living abroad in what has to be one of the strangest countries on the planet and I’m restless so I’m making plans for months ahead instead of smelling the roses now so to speak… so today, instead of leaving work ‘groundhog style’ and mapping possible routes to get out of here – I’m going to go out (without a plan) and party like an animal.. well that’s a start! :-)

  Thanks for shaking me up,

  Helen

• Jeremy
  February 6th, 2008
  12:15 pm
  

  Hi Tim. I bought an audio copy of your book in May from audible. I enjoyed the book so much that I bought a hard copy before I finished it. It was then that I started by escape plan from my job, and in August I became self employeed. So now, my time truly belongs to me. I make a point to do work that I really enjoy and that I would probably do for free if I was independently wealthy. But this past weekend I put all work aside and just had fun. Saturday morning I got up and trained in my new sport, Judo, for 2 hours. That was followed by about 1.5 hours of sparring in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is one of my biggest passions. I have video of this sparring session, but since it was just me getting beat up, I didn’t post it anywhere. A link to the school where I train is teamtooke.com. I’m really focused on getting my Brown Belt right now, so that’s where most of my non-business focus has been on lately. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with some friends of mine and getting ready for the UFC. My UFC plans fell through, which wasn’t so bad because I was pretty exausted. The next morning, I went back to the MA school and sparred for about an hour with the head BJJ instructor, which was awesome. I felt like I had already increased my stamina from the day before. When I got home, I got on the computer to review the sparring that I did the day before and made some mental notes on how to improve. I’m not a big football fan so I didn’t watch the Superbowl (I hope that doesn’t go against me). Instead I went over to my Dad’s house, caught up on some TV shows and the new book I’ve been reading, Lunar Park, before I went to bed. The weekend was pretty laid back. There was no stress and I had a really great time because of it. I tried to make an effort to push the NR lifestyle, but honestly, this is what most of my weekends are like now.

• Craig
  February 6th, 2008
  12:28 pm
  

  Hi Tim,
  What a great idea!! Lets get thinking about those mini-retirements with a two-day no-obligation trial!
  Here’s how mine is going…
  Day one…changed diet radically…using your 20lbs in 30days suggestion, I purchased the groceries needed and the vitamin supplements…
  Learned an important lesson…whats life all about if you dont learn as you go along, right? Niacin and slow-release niacin are very different…guess which one I bought…yes…the straight niacin…guess what I learned…niacin is a vasoconstrictor…how did I learn this…I turned red…not blushed a little…red like I could be spotted from the Space Station red…
  Went for a nice brisk walk (in Ottawa Canada in February, brisk is good!!!) while listening to the 4-Hour Work week on my Ipod.
  Starting working on a startup business website, using the knowledge base and skills that I have (high school teacher of 20 years) and began planning a cruise for March Break…not the cheapest time to go but if I wait, I wont go so lets cruise.
  Thank you for the guidance your book has shared so far…I am sure there is much more to come and much I can share with others!
  Keep enjoying life!

• Glenn
  February 6th, 2008
  5:03 pm
  

  This is my second comment as I have had a couple of more days to think about it. I think the term retirement truly means “leaving what you did to provide for your family or did what you thought would be best.” Bob Knight didn’t say retire for that reason, he is just stepping aside. He still loves basketball and did what loves. Now he will just do something else. Probably speeches.

  Many fear change as I do myself. We are unsure that the “plan” will work. So working in some jobs, such as mine which have high earning potential or others which have great security in a cubicle, are not where we want to be. I have met with many artists and creators and wished I had the gumption to do what they did but felt I would end up penniless and a failure.

  The real underlying question is what do you want to really do? This is where Donny Deutsch misunderstood you. I bet you are giving more than 4 hours a week in your endeavors, but IT ISN’T WORK! Deutsch, who I love for what he does on his show, was too focused on working like a dog with your passion. I can spend hours on a personal project or idea and it never feels like work.

  I think the 48 hour challenge it great because it is immediate.

  My answer to what I would do is, “Whatever the hell I wanted to do.” And that would fit me fine.

  1)My weekend was almost perfect, work being the part that wasn’t and even then it was 9.5.

  2)Fuzzy goal as my debts are more than I would like and it seems that this job is about the only way out save bankruptcy.

  3) 10, no a single doubt that I would enjoy retirement. I have taken a few 3-5 week vacations in the past. My mind was even more creative and my motivation higher. For the time being I am feeling stuck but am trying to change that.

• The Weekend Retirement Test Drive: Panama | Alex Shalman . com
  February 6th, 2008
  6:03 pm
  

  [...] perfectly with what Tim Ferris was talking about last week, when he offered a challenge to create a 48 hour mini-retirement in order to see what one would do with free time. The point is that if you can’t be creative [...]

• Kevin Rehberg
  February 6th, 2008
  9:08 pm
  

  Hi Tim,

  First off I want to say your book is awesome. Second, I’m glad I discovered your blog and third, glad I read this one in particular.

  So my weekend (since you asked):

  Went to a Super Bowl party Friday night with Phoenix Suns players Boris Diaw, Grant Hill and Shawn Marion (who is an ex-Sun as of about an hour ago- Shaq anyone?). Pam Anderson was also there along with Terrell Owens. Pam hid out in the corner the whole time, but she did look pretty good. I can send a photo of myself and Boris as evidence of presence at said party, if needed.

  Saturday woke up early and went to Starbucks where I worked on a book I am writing as well as a website. Thanks for the inspiration as your book helps guide me through the process.

  Went and played basketball with a few friends for the first time in a while.

  I made dinner for my girlfriend and one of her friends, then we all went to a concert Saturday night.

  Sunday consisted of a quick workout at the gym, and some laundry after that. While the laundry was running, I continued work on my book (might need some help with the publishing process if you have any more advice to share).

  Then I planned out the things I needed to accomplish and do the next week, which I always do on Sunday – I find it helps relax me seeing what the week holds in store.

  Sunday night was dedicated to what else? The Super Bowl! Man, what a game that was.

  After the game, I bought a one way ticket to Barcelona – where I will be traveling to in April. Unfortunately, I bought a return flight from Venice back to the states… not ready to pull a complete Tim Ferriss… yet.

  By the way, love that car. Freakin’ sweet, man!

• Lewis Howes
  February 6th, 2008
  9:15 pm
  

  Video link for proof of the things I did this past weekend.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XTU-8wWvdo

  Question answers
  1) Personally fulfilling weekends- 8
  2) Yes, even though I love my job (playing football)
  3) 10!

  In this video you will see how I lived my life during the 48-hour “fill the void” challenge. Most of these things I do on a regular basis because they are a part of my Lifestyle Design. Here is what I did:

  1. I played the guitar (with no thumb, see video for example) go to http://www.chordfind.com to teach yourself like I did.
  2. Practiced Spanish- recently traveled to central Mexico to study the culture, practice Spanish, and for a Lucha Libre introduction (Where WWF wrestling began)
  3. Practiced my next speech for my Toastmaster Club entitled “You’re in the Zone”, how athletes must find that mental trance to become the ultimate competitor. AKA “living in the moment” for non athletes. http://www.toastmasters.org for more club info
  4. Went to the gallery hop- First Saturday of every month in the Short North of Columbus, Ohio are new art gallery openings. (See http://www.fieldstofactory.blogspot.com/ for an example of an extremely talented artist who is featuring Mexico and the U.S.)
  5. Went to a 60’s themed thrift store and danced with monkeys.
  6. Read 4HWW and thought of new muses. Told 5 individuals about the book and referred them to http://www.fourhourworkweek.com, also bought one 4HWW book to give as a gift.
  7. Went outside, walked and played with my dog, and got my energy level up.
  8. Worked out in the Gym- I have had a full arm cast on for the past 5 months from a bone graft surgery on my wrist. I get it off next week hopefully, but need to stay in shape to get ready for the Arena Football season and prepare for the NFL-my ultimate goal. Go to http://www.vipersaf2.com click on the video and you can see a td by me.
  9. Went salsa dancing! One of my favorite passions is salsa dancing; it is a great skill to have and an international language. During your travels for any of your mini retirements you can almost always find a salsa club, and if you still haven’t mastered the local spoken language, you can always meet people and communicate through the art of salsa. It’s a great workout too! http://www.salsapower.com/cities/index.htm for more info on salsa clubs around the world.
  10. Hung out with friends and family. You can see me at my cousin’s party with other friends watching the Giants win the Super Bowl.
  11. Read the 4HWW blog, and worked on my own podcast. I am currently putting together a weekly podcast interviewing top professional athletes to give motivation insight on the things they are passionate about, how they made it as a pro, and the steps to get there. (A similar format to Donny Deutsch The Big Idea) Check out http://www.talkshoe.com for podcast information.

  Things I did that you don’t see in the video.
  1. Learned how to do video editing- this one. Used Final cut Pro
  2. Called two Major League athletes and asked them for advice, also asked them if they would be on my podcast. (- World Series winner and centerfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a 4th overall pick in MLB draft, current pitcher for the Detroit Tigers). Also personally met with one former NFL player and Ohio State WR standout on networking with other top profile athletes for my podcast and book.
  3. Introduced myself and emailed 4 individuals on http://www.Linkedin.com to ask about possible relationships with one company I am forming and two products I have developed.
  4. Talked with two of my mentors- Owner of- http://www.amspirit.com on a networking company he is helping me form, and owner of- http://www.trident-design.com, http://www.powersquid.com, and http://www.thirstylight.com, my inventor partner with one of my inventions.
  5. Mentored two individuals. Even though I am young, I know that you can’t just receive help and information from others, you must continue to give back constantly for the law of abundance to fully operate, or you could say, “You reap what you sow”. One was a friend of mine starting his new business, after we talked I told him what Tim Ferris said to me once, “surround yourself with much smarter people than yourself” and have many mentors. The other was someone who found me online and wanted my help finding him a sports related job and how he can connect with individuals in the industry.
  6. Went to a local university to meet with a professor of web site design. Asked if I could hold a competition with her top five students to create an automated site for one of my niche companies, so I may continue to live the NR way. Offered $100 for the winner, a site for their portfolio, and future business. She was excited because she wants her students to get real life experience. A win-win for both of us.
  7. Had dinner and lunch with my family members. I like to stay in contact with my siblings and parents as much as I can.
  8. Talked with the head scout of team Arkansas for the All-American Football League (a new professional football league starting in April for NFL type athletes who have all graduated with a four year degree. http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com ) Promoted my athletic abilities and my highlight film (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8530133387887838201&q=lewis howes&total=32&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 ) and talked about playing for his team this year, it is a good possibility!

  Some other information:
  http://www.rotary.org and http://www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org for community service projects. If you really want to learn another language, join rotary and host an exchange student. Growing up my family hosted seven different exchange students for 6 month periods. I basically had big brothers and sisters from around the world. Host someone from Mexico or Spain if you want to learn Spanish, and practice with your new guest.

  Thanks for everything Tim, your message and Lifestyle Design inspires us all!

• Lewis Howes
  February 6th, 2008
  9:18 pm
  

  My video evidence for the 48-hour “fill the void” challenge
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XTU-8wWvdo

  Question answers
  1) Personally fulfilling weekends- 8
  2) Yes, even though I love my job (playing football)
  3) 10!

  In this video you will see how I lived my life during the 48-hour “fill the void” challenge. Most of these things I do on a regular basis because they are a part of my Lifestyle Design. Here is what I did:

  1. I played the guitar (with no thumb, see video for example) go to http://www.chordfind.com to teach yourself like I did.
  2. Practiced Spanish- recently traveled to central Mexico to study the culture, practice Spanish, and for a Lucha Libre introduction (Where WWF wrestling began)
  3. Practiced my next speech for my Toastmaster Club entitled “You’re in the Zone”, how athletes must find that mental trance to become the ultimate competitor. AKA “living in the moment” for non athletes. http://www.toastmasters.org for more club info
  4. Went to the gallery hop- First Saturday of every month in the Short North of Columbus, Ohio are new art gallery openings. (See http://www.fieldstofactory.blogspot.com/ for an example of an extremely talented artist who is featuring Mexico and the U.S.)
  5. Went to a 60’s themed thrift store and danced with monkeys.
  6. Read 4HWW and thought of new muses. Told 5 individuals about the book and referred them to http://www.fourhourworkweek.com, also bought one 4HWW book to give as a gift.
  7. Went outside, walked and played with my dog, and got my energy level up.
  8. Worked out in the Gym- I have had a full arm cast on for the past 5 months from a bone graft surgery on my wrist. I get it off next week hopefully, but need to stay in shape to get ready for the Arena Football season and prepare for the NFL-my ultimate goal. Go to http://www.vipersaf2.com click on the video and you can see a td by me.
  9. Went salsa dancing! One of my favorite passions is salsa dancing; it is a great skill to have and an international language. During your travels for any of your mini retirements you can almost always find a salsa club, and if you still haven’t mastered the local spoken language, you can always meet people and communicate through the art of salsa. It’s a great workout too! http://www.salsapower.com/cities/index.htm for more info on salsa clubs around the world.
  10. Hung out with friends and family. You can see me at my cousin’s party with other friends watching the Giants win the Super Bowl.
  11. Read the 4HWW blog, and worked on my own podcast. I am currently putting together a weekly podcast interviewing top professional athletes to give motivation insight on the things they are passionate about, how they made it as a pro, and the steps to get there. (A similar format to Donny Deutsch The Big Idea) Check out http://www.talkshoe.com for podcast information.

  Things I did that you don’t see in the video.
  1. Learned how to do video editing- this one. Used Final cut Pro
  2. Called two Major League athletes and asked them for advice, also asked them if they would be on my podcast. (- World Series winner and centerfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a 4th overall pick in MLB draft, current pitcher for the Detroit Tigers). Also personally met with one former NFL player and Ohio State WR standout on networking with other top profile athletes for my podcast and book.
  3. Introduced myself and emailed 4 individuals on http://www.Linkedin.com to ask about possible relationships with one company I am forming and two products I have developed.
  4. Talked with two of my mentors- Owner of- http://www.amspirit.com on a networking company he is helping me form, and owner of- http://www.trident-design.com, http://www.powersquid.com, and http://www.thirstylight.com, my inventor partner with one of my inventions.
  5. Mentored two individuals. Even though I am young, I know that you can’t just receive help and information from others, you must continue to give back constantly for the law of abundance to fully operate, or you could say, “You reap what you sow”. One was a friend of mine starting his new business, after we talked I told him what Tim Ferris said to me once, “surround yourself with much smarter people than yourself” and have many mentors. The other was someone who found me online and wanted my help finding him a sports related job and how he can connect with individuals in the industry.
  6. Went to a local university to meet with a professor of web site design. Asked if I could hold a competition with her top five students to create an automated site for one of my niche companies, so I may continue to live the NR way. Offered $100 for the winner, a site for their portfolio, and future business. She was excited because she wants her students to get real life experience. A win-win for both of us.
  7. Had dinner and lunch with my family members. I like to stay in contact with my siblings and parents as much as I can.
  8. Talked with the head scout of team Arkansas for the All-American Football League (a new professional football league starting in April for NFL type athletes who have all graduated with a four year degree. http://www.allamericanfootballleague.com ) Promoted my athletic abilities and my highlight film (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8530133387887838201&q=lewis howes&total=32&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 ) and talked about playing for his team this year, it is a good possibility!

  Some other information:
  http://www.rotary.org and http://www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org for community service projects. If you really want to learn another language, join rotary and host an exchange student. Growing up my family hosted seven different exchange students for 6 month periods. I basically had big brothers and sisters from around the world. Host someone from Mexico or Spain if you want to learn Spanish, and practice with your new guest.

  Thanks for everything Tim, your message and Lifestyle Design inspires us all!

• Ashley Morken
  February 6th, 2008
  10:34 pm
  

  1) 6
  2) NO – give me my dreams!!
  3) Maybe 7, although potential 10 now after this weekend…

  So my husband of 5 months (booyah for newlyweds!) and I returned from our 2nd movie ever, Sweeney Todd, and read this “challenge.” We thought this wasn’t necessarily the most convenient weekend to be retired, but that’s kind of the point now, isn’t it??

  I’m an ICU nurse, he’s a sales engineer for a sound/light production company. We work far more than we want to @ things we don’t dream about doing. The first thing we did was spend a fabulous Friday night together, talking about our love for our city (Fargo) and how much it needs a real lounge. Similar to the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis (http://www.kittycatklub.net/photos.html). So we drove around to see the current downtown buildings for sale and began to make plans for designing a lounge and what all would be entailed. We’d seriously be working towards making one happen if we were retired. We tried a new drink @ home (since there is no lounge in Fargo) – the boilermaker – and proceeded to get tipsier than either of us had ever been and had the time of our lives having a danceclub party in our apt. Would definitely create sweet random times with my husband every chance we got if we were retired…

  Saturday, I trained for my first marathon and took time to look up local runs like the “freeze your buns 5K” to help. I kept asking, what would I/we be doing if we were retired? I would spend more time with meaningful old friends over a cup of coffee, so I drove an hour north to my college best friend (and recent maid of honor). We proceeded to talk about losing our dreams and what we’re going to do about it. Later I met up with my trendy band brother (in the same town) and took him to a music store to let him know my husband and I decided to buy him his keyboard he’s been wanting for to start his next project (which will come in this week). If I was retired now, I’d listen to people’s dreams and start helping them make ‘em happen. So I did. I also played a mandolin there and decided I should really get one soon. I’ve talked far too long about learning it after seeing the folky 2-man band “jayber crow.”

  Spent the drive home that afternoon calling old college friends and catching up, asking them where they’re at with their dreams. Came home to wait for Justin (who worked) & started to bake random desserts I’ve been waiting to do for us and others. Then I used the old fabric I’ve been saving to start designing things with, took out the sewing machine we got for our wedding, and surprised myself that I can actually complete a project (a handbag) in just 1.5 hours! Maybe Etsy.com is calling my name!

  I kept asking Justin “what would we be doing right now if we were retired.” He said, “we wouldn’t make very many plans.” So he made us dinner and we did some rockband and we had a beautifully quiet Saturday night (partly because I got sick from the nachos (!) and we couldn’t make it to the biker bar like we “planned”).

  Sunday morning, I was scheduled to work a 12hr shift, but got them to put me on call! Justin played drums @ our church (something we’d definitely keep involved in even if we were retired). I went to Barnes, bought a “teach yourself Swedish” book and spent some of the afternoon learning about Swedish and made a date with our Swede friend, Simon, to have him begin to teach us this week (he was too busy studying on Sunday). We’d do mini-retirements to Sweden if we were retired, so thought we’d best get going on the language even if they all speak English.

  Justin worked on his recording studio and made a purchase for it he’s been putting off on ebay! This is both of our dreams – to work with musicians. He also built some more stuff for his current gear and put more time into an artist’s work he is currently working on…

  Justin’s mom was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s and if we were retired, we’d by far spend more and better quality time with our family. So we went to visit them (in Fargo) and ended up spending the evening there to chill with his family and brother’s friends for the game (woot for teenage boys!). I finally took time to blog my thoughts, which I really miss doing and find a heck of a lot of relief once I do (http://sunsetsandcitylights.blogspot.com/). I baked more while I was there and we talked more about our lounge dream to his dad, a successful entrepreneur with crazy dreams himself.

  Then I bought the mandolin!! The same one from the music store, but on ebay!! Justin made one last call to a local successful “metalcore” band to agree to help them this coming weekend record a new CD!

  I got to end our night with a little bit of Swedish that I learned that day “Jag älskar dig” or “I love you” to Justin as we jump into our cold bed ready to wake up out of retirement the next a.m…well, not ready to…

  Already I see us changing…let me tell ya, The Four-Hour Work Week” is a dangerous book to read, but is the saving grace to those of us who won’t put up with having our dreams on the back burner for long!

  Here’s our photos on Flickr!
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/23541226@N03/sets/72157603866122577/

• cstarz
  February 7th, 2008
  12:22 am
  

  Hola Tim…great blog. I am going to be 33 in the morning. I stay home with my three children all under seven. My husband is in the oil industry. he works out of town Monday to Friday and sometimes more. It is amazing to me that so many people have so much time, touring around Europe…scuba diving…mini-vacations. How is it that they are so blissfully spoiled. Yesterday one of my great friends was unable to afford the gas to make it to playgroup! My peer group and I are all middle class. Our husbands work constantly we shuttle children around all weekend we do science projects. We watch little league, we Iron shirts and make potato salad. when do I make time for these for filling life changing events when I struggle to make ends meet and time stretch??? I know I am not alone.
  ps I’m gonna try the all beans all the time diet … sounds wonderfully bland and rewarding.

• James
  February 7th, 2008
  12:32 am
  

  As a college student, I began my weekend with a leisurely 11 am wake up time. Since this was my first weekend of freedom, I decided to start off on a strong note. I spent an hour honing my Spanish skills(using Rosetta Stone. After a light lunch, I worked out for an hour. I decided to proceed to another activity. There was only one problem, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Sure I could watch a rerun on TV or read the same book over again, but nothing really new or exciting.

  What Tim had said, “If you can’t fill the time, there are questions you need to ask and skills you need to develop.” came flooding back into my mind.

  So I decided to change my direction and use my freedom to evaluate my priorities. I decided I needed to work on a muse, as well as decide on some non-school related activities that spark my interest.

  As I took a walk and thought about this, I realized how dominant school had been in my life. Like most children, I had been attending school nine months of the year for my entire life. My friends, experiences, and knowledge all stemmed from this structure of school. Then it donned on me. This is why it is so hard for me and many other young people to do what we love. We are bound to the limits of school that we have trouble thinking beyond it.

  For all of our lives, school has dictated how we spend our time and has provided a social structure for us. While the school experience can be both enlightening and adventurous, it restricts the skills necessary to deal with freedom. A college education in many parts of the United States is preparing someone to become an employee, not an entrepreneur. We are taught to follow the rules, do a good job, repeat for 40 years, and have a happy 10-20 year retirement.

  I decided this wasn’t for me. So I started charting a new course. Since I could not cherish the freedom of this weekend fully, I decided why not do something better: create a plan to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to have a lifetime of freedom. So that is exactly what I did. I put aside academic knowledge and wrote down all my skills and knowledge. While it was a fair amount, it needed to be improved.

  I decided to focus on the following areas in the next 90 days(after this period, it will be time to reevaluate). These were initial ideas followed by more detailed goals.

  1. Physical wellbeing(workout more efficiently by using some of Tim’s techniques as well as working with a trainer)
  2. Muse development(if I want to achieve freedom, I need a financial vehicle to get me there)
  3. Self-directed learning(taking a topic not taught effectively in school and begin an intense self-education in that subject)
  4. Hobby creation(finding other things to preoccupy my time as well as develop my mental acumen)

  Here are my results and what I will be doing for the next 90 days

  1. Working to gain 15 pounds of muscle, as well as eating a healthier diet.
  2. Studying the art of advertising, as well as launching my own website to begin testing some product ideas.
  3. Studying psychology of compliance and what causes humans to do what they do. This will benefit me in all areas of my life.
  4. I have decided to pick up writing as a hobby. I am beginning work on a screenplay, as well as ideas for short stories.

  All in all, while the mini-retirement did not turn out how I thought it would, it pointed me in the right direction. These two days have helped identify what needs to be done and to me, as a college student, that is the most important result.

• Alex Shalman
  February 7th, 2008
  1:20 am
  

  Hi Tim. I have taken a weekend mini retirement in Panama. It was an awesome adventure. My friends and I were the only foreigners in this native celebration. We literally participated in the parade, and held the peoples flag as they Marched behind us. Not bad for a weekend trip if I do say so myself. I know for sure that I wouldn’t be bored retired, or with unlimited resources, because I’m never bored now, and my life just keeps on getting more exciting all the time. The link includes stories and pictures. I hope to win the contest.

• Shapes
  February 7th, 2008
  2:02 am
  

  Tim,

  I initially read this post in my news feeds on the Sunday morning local time (across the Pacific as it were). I didn’t live my weekend as a mini-retirement, but you did give me cause to think about how I -do- spend my weekends and free time. The answer is: not very well.

  You have helped me come to the realisation that despite my best efforts this year, my priorities keep sliding out of all perspective to how I want to live my life as a father, husband and human being. I now realise that despite half-realised, ill-thought out dreams to the contrary, I’m -not- ready for release from the daily grind as I don’t know what I want from my life. I really don’t, and that’s a shattering conclusion to come to when you think you have all the answers. At least I’m young enough to still make changes.

  I have nothing to show for my revelations except a simple blog post (link should show up above). You’ve provided me with the simple gift of perspective, and for that I thank you.

  I have yet to read your book. I’m starting to think that perhaps I should.

  PS You’ve got a bunch of great readers. So many interesting tales of what can be achieved with a sense of fun and a spare 48 hours!

• Brandon
  February 7th, 2008
  2:05 am
  

  Tim,

  The broader vision’s easy. I’d build a nice little house/studio, not unlike the house here: http://www.simondale.net/house/

  I’d fill it with furniture, not unlike the furniture I’ve already built here: http://brandonweaver.com/gallery/woodworking/rustic_furniture

  And would spend my days working on novels or essays (or building when I was ready for something more physical.)

  But alas, building requires land, which last I checked requires money, so that will have to wait for a little while as I save up for it.

  In the meantime, I’ve recently switched from driving to taking the train to work which gives me roughly 90 minutes a day to write or read, and I work 4 (10-hour) days a week so I can spend the 5th at the library for some more dedicated time to study and write. Currently I’m busy with my first novel, and am enjoying it quite a bit.

  This past weekend my wife and I went on a small adventure to this little fountain pen shop, where I got a very wonderful pen as a self-reward for a month of solid writing. Switching to the train has really allowed me the space to start pursuing some of my longer term dreams.

  On a side note, I’d like to say I really appreciate your take on living. I find that I can get rather easily buried underneath life and fail to accomplish what I really care about. Your blog is a great encouragement to not only to stay on top of things, but to reduce the number of things to stay on top of. I really enjoy reading your thoughts on this. Thanks for that.

  Brandon

• Greg Birch
  February 7th, 2008
  3:29 pm
  

  48 hours, in my mini to Seattle 2 hours. Pick up a friend and dinner a couple of more hours. Drive to Kennewick pick up Jim 5 hours. Spend the remaining time tracking down Timothy Ferriss ask him to drink a beer with us and discuss the in and out of lifestyle design so my two friends believe me, and are convinced this can be done. Comfort challenge, spend at least 24 hours with a couple of smelly drunk friends on a road trip in a classic mini cooper without getting arrested, divorced, lost or asphyxiated by the smell of Jim’s feet. Chances of mechanical difficulty 98%, chance of finding Mr Ferriss 2% chances of 3 friends on the road again changing each other’s lives 100%.
  See you in a couple of days. We’ll buy the beer.

• William P.
  February 7th, 2008
  8:19 pm
  

  Hi Tim,

  I can’t say that I’ve been able to apply the 48 hour emancipation challenge, but I praise you for initiating this. It’s a great exercise in throughly blocking out one’s goals. The reason for my inability to follow through with the challenge is that I’m only 16 years old. I have no control over a lot of things in my life, however, I don’t mean to make myself seem like a regular teenager. Whether or not that excuse permits me to say that I am unable to be apart of the challenge, I can honestly say that I’ve been a very goal-oriented teen.

  As with many people my age (and beyond), there are times where one just tends to stick around, being alive without any real direction or dreams. This was how my life went for a few years, but it was only a matter of time before I really found the urge to juice my life of all its enjoyable potential. I wish this were the case with other individuals, but… well you know. That’s why I think it’s so great that you’re pushing this experiment, although I’ve noticed that a lot of the folks who comment are relatively successful already, but there’s always room for growth, right?

  This year I’ve grounded in some major goals:

  1.I came across your 4-hour body article and I am currently doing my own research as I believe that most of your principles (or the principles of success in general) highly depend on personalization.
  2.I got a copy of The Four Hour Workweek for my dad because he’s always acted unreasonable about achieving his goals, and now he wants to start a company with me!
  3.Earn enough money to return to Japan (I went for the first time in 2006 through MISCA) and see all my friends again, while utilizing the BIT method of travel.
  4.I’m going to see how much Japanese I can learn in three months. I’ve pretty much got a head start on this one due to having connections with my Japanese friend’s English cram-school teacher, and he owes me.

  I’ve found that when I’m working towards achieving my goals, a few principles always pop up. Taking off from the Buddhist belief that everything can be learned from nature, it seems goals are realized in the same way the Grand Canyon was formed: with time and pressure. Self-criticism is the key, I believe, in realizing one’s goals. Most of the time I find that I’m not anywheres near what I want to be when I’m living my dreams. I take this information and criticize my personality and every other facet of my being to fully understand what it is that I need to do. It’s a ridiculous and very necessary weeding process that conceived a great habit of mine where I constantly point out my mistakes and evaluate how I can make things better, this becomes the pressure, and then it’s only a matter of time.

  This takes me to another prevalent concept of success: progress without effort has a lot less value than an honest mistake. There is so much valuable information in negative results. Let me put it this way, photographs are developed by exposing the negative image, which leaves the positive image. Although it may seem kind of counterproductive, one would be less prone to becoming mislead. Allow me to quote Miyamoto Musashi “…if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into bad ways.” It’s hard to be critical when everything is working out, but with that kind of attitude, a fatal mistake could appear without warning. I don’t mean to preach, my intention is to hear your thoughts on these concepts, and to have you understand that I intend to compete. That $750 could be a great help in budgeting my return trip to Japan.

  All in all I’m not living the 9 to 5 monotonous lifestyle, and I never will. I’m glad that I’ve had the correct combination of experiences to install a successful attitude and I’m not planning on backing down or compromising my goals, not ever. By my belief, it’s only a matter of time before I start living my dreams. Thanks for your time.

  Much Love
  -William

• Mike
  February 7th, 2008
  11:16 pm
  

  Tim:
  I must say that you are my hero, and I look forward to meeting you. This weekend I am launching a worldwide online community for teens and young adults to share the great things they are doing. The message is it doesn’t matter what your grades are, your age, your race, or your circumstance – You can Do Great Things, and I beleive in you. My two teenage children are helping me with the clothing line and the logo.
  I have to tell you, I can’t get much more life changing, and fulfilling than that. Serving Hope, Building Self Esteem. I am booking a flight to Costa Rica in April for a little fishing and golf, and I am going to contact the School Officials in as many surrounding towns I can to speak about DoGreatThings.ning.com
  I am looking to partner with OLPC and one day we will be giving away OLP day as designated by one of the members of the site. The person receiving the laptop will then be invited to connect with the person that “chose” them.
  Tim – It is Going to BE AWESOME!!!!!

• Amy
  February 7th, 2008
  11:29 pm
  

  Tim,
  This is an exceptionally fortuitous post for me. I read your book in August when I was working as a consultant for a large global firm. I quit my job in October and signed a contract with an ex-client to work independently for their company. Now, I work 7 months out the year making 60% more than I did at my last job. Saturday was day one of my first mini-retirement. I did several things over the next 48 hours that I am not sure I would have without your prompting:

  I finally opened the ‘Learn Spanish with Carlos and Chiquitita’ dvd i borrowed from my niece with the hope that I will have a basic understanding by the time I go to Central America in March. Next, I dyed my hair blond to test the theory about having more fun! And finally, I picked up a group of friends and spent the night at the base of a waterfall in cloudland canyon. I know these are not life changing events, but when you can remember that discovering your true purpose is your only real obligation in this life, trying new things seems that much more significant.

  So, thank you for the challenges. Your message continues to remind me of the saying, ‘you can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf’.

• Justin
  February 8th, 2008
  12:41 am
  

  I read this Monday night. I sell random things on eBay. But spend a lot of time checking their prices and responding to emails about specifics and shipping. So here’s what happened when I let things go and followed this challenge.
  48 hrs: Monday night-Wednesday night.
  After reading this post, I watched House and read the 2nd chapter in How to Win Friends and Influence People. Went to sleep.
  Woke up. Ate.
  Went and voted while wearing a Horse costume (note the write in ballot). 2nd in line!
  Went home showered/shaved/ate/
  Went to my sister’s and played with her kids. http://tinyurl.com/yoch6f
  http://tinyurl.com/2dfw67
  http://tinyurl.com/yr6hcc http://tinyurl.com/yvkdph
  She let me use her piano..tried to play Samson by Regina Spektor.
  http://tinyurl.com/yw2×7y
  http://tinyurl.com/yw2×7y
  Scheduled a test drive: http://tinyurl.com/29nvvb
  Hung out with a girl. We made stuffed animals. http://tinyurl.com/25vvnf
  Watched “Lola Rennt”. http://tinyurl.com/yop9fy
  Went to sleep.
  Woke up late.
  Based on some of your language learning advice, I reviewed my high school Spanish & college German—translated some sentences (checked them on happy planet) and decided to polish up on my German first. http://tinyurl.com/26krso
  http://tinyurl.com/23lc5x
  Did Volunteer Work at the community center helping children.
  Signed up at Gold’s Gym for a “penny a pound.” And talked them into letting my weight – be my target Weight not my Current weight. Worked Out.
  http://tinyurl.com/29×8k4
  Had dinner with a friend who wants to start a business, since I want to do consulting in my spare time when I retire (for longer than 48hrs) I said
  I’d coach him for free and promised him a copy of your book. Winning these books would be great to jumpstart my spare time/retirement consulting: “Here’s a book, I’m going to Germany.”
  Watched LOST. Typed this up.

  The most fun—playing with my nieces, the most worth while—volunteering, the most exciting hanging with my friend/girl (when I’m retired, hopefully I’ll have a companion to travel with), the most telling—my auctions sold even without me responding to questions and checking their prices every 30 minutes.

• Justin
  February 8th, 2008
  1:04 am
  

  Hi I left a comment with links to lots of pics. I don’t know if it got deleted because there were too many URLs in the post, but I don’t see it.

  I don’t want to repost it in case it is waiting to be moderated. Let me know if it isn’t in there so I can repost it in time for the deadline.

  Thanks.

• Michelle
  February 8th, 2008
  1:11 am
  

  [This from a working mom with a high-level management job...well-educated family living in CA...seeming to "have it all."]

  I first read Tim’s Groundhog post at 3:30am Sunday when I couldn’t sleep…too depressed. But it got my attention – one day left to complete the challenge, so it really felt like Groundhog Day.

  I love Bill Murray when he transforms himself by looking outward to serve others & to improve himself (reminiscent of page 270 of 4HWW).

  In Northern California it poured Saturday night…i kept thinking what i could do that would really make a difference…how i could really make this day worthwhile.

  Tim’s post inspired me to:

  * give a toasted bagel/hot chocolate to a homeless person (gosh the look on her face was priceless, as was the look on my son’s face)

  * discuss over lunch the movie Groundhog Day & the transformation the main character underwent (our kids liked hearing about fixing the tire & catching the falling boy)

  * phone & then bring flowers/chocolates to an elderly neighbor who had moved away – we hadn’t talked with her in many months – turns out she had become bedridden & we were her only visitors in weeks besides the nurses and the direcTV guy

  * visit the cemetery & spend time remembering my father-in-law with our kids

  * make 54 muffins (the kids’ idea) & give them to our neighbors — we tried to tell them how much they meant to us (before they moved away & became elderly)

  For self-improvement, I tried a new seafood pasta recipe that I wouldn’t have tried otherwise. Not quite like learning to play the concert piano or carving ice-sculptures, but then the director of Groundhog Day said that Murray’s character had about 10 years of the same day.

  I’m impressed looking over Tim’s blog at what some folks accomplished…moving forward on their businesses…doing serious self-improvement…enjoying quiet or exciting moments.

  One moment that stands out in my day was my daughter getting ready for our upcoming trip…snorkeling in the bathtub.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/22908016@N07/2249392965/

  By Sunday night, it hit home that one day isn’t really much time. On the last day in the movie, Bill Murray RUSHES around helping this person or learning that skill.. he has all these things he wants to do & he knows he has limited time. But then don’t we all.

• Pearl Alexander
  February 8th, 2008
  1:27 am
  

  For the last year and a half, I’ve been working on my interests in Japan, music, writing, and design while living in Japan teaching English.

  I’ve passed Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test
  (http://pearlalexander.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/???/ )
  have upcoming performances with Japanese taiko drummers (my group here:
  http://www2.ginzado.ne.jp/shayo/yosidamati/bunsuidaiko/ta7.jpg) and a peformance in which I will sing and play jazz play at a local establishment.

  I’ve also recently been asked to contribute to stippy.com, a popular blog about foreign life in Japan, learned Japanese cooking (http://pearlalexander.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/gooooooya/ ), and made plans to visit the shibori dying studios in western Japan and sell the works resulting from that on Etsy.com.

  Because I think of the results of these projects as the grist of my labor rather than the fruits of it, I can’t yet fathom a large payout so much as I plan to maintain a financial security that enables me the continued freedom to pursue my interests. In other words, I want to make my interests pay for themselves. Thus, retirement doesn’t image so differently from my current workload and activities, other than that I could live off my savings and not feel the clock ticking.

  If my next 48 hours were my emancipation, I would go back to somewhere like here: (http://flickr.com/photos/11715260@N02/1258195005/in/set-72157601726672577/ ) and sit for a while and think about the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met.

  Then I would get up and resume what I had been doing before I sat down to reflect on it.

• Pearl Alexander
  February 8th, 2008
  1:32 am
  

  Sorry, that first link can be viewed on the first page of my blog: http://pearlalexander.wordpress.com. The address included Japanese characters that didn’t show up.

  Thanks,

  Pearl

• Pizzamancer
  February 8th, 2008
  4:05 am
  

  The Road Less Traveled

  I took a few days to think about this blog post, and decided that the first step in getting out of the daily grind was always the hardest. I have been in business for myself since 2001, and grew my small pizza shop in to a four store chain over the past seven years. During that time, I made more and more money, bought my first Porsche, first house, and many other fine toys. I also forgot who my family was, missed my son’s first school play, and gained a nice beer gut. February 6, I took the day off and started my retirement.

  My first step of the day was to seek out and find the highest mountain in the prefecture. I started climbing at 6am, and finally made it to the top later just before noon. I made it to the top, paid my regards at the small shrine, and took a few minutes to collect my thoughts and choose the course I would take over the following 48 hours.

  Here is a short video of the view from the top:

  Or http://www.youtube.com/v/ixSRJK0J-0U (if the code didn’t work)

  After an hour of meditation on the topic, I headed back down to civilization, and directly to my home office for a goal setting session. I came up with the following mission statement:

  Over the next 12 months, I will:
  1.Make $10,000 a month.
  2.Look better naked
  3.Learn all 2,000 daily use kanji
  4.Spend more time with my family
  5.Cultivate a great garden
  6.Sell my pizza chain

  After setting my long term goals, I got to work on the short term ones. First off, I contacted a broker and began the process of looking for a buyer for my business. I expect to have it sold within the next three months (Anyone want to buy a pizza chain in Southern Japan?). I had an early dinner meeting with my accountant to bring her on board, and begin the process of valuating my business. Owning the pizza chain is nice, but very time intensive, and I am sure that the last thing I will say on my death bed is that I wish I had worked more.

  I have a few small streams of income outside of pizza, and I will nurture those, and work on an idea that I have been tossing around in the back of my head for a while. As a hobby, I study economics, and I have a tight knit group of advisors who I plan on using in my next business model. It is an economic consultancy for online games, or MMORPGs. Currently there is a very real exchange rate between gold and Yen (or dollars), and as soon as the IRS takes virtual world money seriously, there will be some consequences that game companies (who traditionally focus on graphics, playability, continuity..) have not, and are not interested in looking into.

  At home that evening, I planned out my garden with my son. At 6 he is an avid gardener, and a great helper. We will be planting a few more rose bushes, and a kiwi tree as soon as it warms up a bit. After he went to bed, my wife and I shared a bottle of wine and a warm bath. If I ever leave Japan, I will be sure to build a Japanese bath in my new house.

  Thursday morning began with a trip to the gym. I work out regularly, but still have a bit of a gut, and I discussed this with a personal trainer. We developed a 4 day a week work out plan tied with a great nutrition plan designed to maintain my weight, but decrease my body fat % to my goal of 8%. I haven’t seen my abs since high school, and was beginning to miss them. I also renewed my ties to my high school kendo team. With enough practice, I will be able to take the 2dan test by the end of the year.

  I picked up a kanji dictionary, the same one I used in college, and developed a plan to learn 5 a day over the next two years. That, combined with reading more Japanese books should do the trick there.

  I picked up my son early from school, hopped on the ferry, and took the family out to a local hot spring, and talked more about the future over a dinner of yaki niku, and finished the evening with a dip in the natural hot spring of Iwojima. All in all it was a very satisfying two days, and I made some serious progress toward getting out of the daily grind.

  Thanks for the push in the right direction Tim.

• Rebecca
  February 8th, 2008
  12:12 pm
  

  Great site! I just found it through a link at Get Rich Slowly, and will be picking up the book this afternoon. Last weekend was far from ideal–got in a big fight with my boyfriend which will likely lead to a breakup. Maybe it would have been better if I had found this post before then:) That said, my weekends usually leave me content and recharged. It helps that I try to make a point to leave work at work. I get up early, take some time to reflect on my goals and progress made toward accomplishing them, then, depending on the season and weather, I go snowshoeing, take my dog for a long walk, or go to the local Farmer’s Market. I spend a few hours with my parents, I’m starting to worry about running out of time with them. I have dinner with my friends. 8-10 times a year I take a workshop of one kind or another (the next one is knitwear design!). Here’s what I don’t do on the weekend: Check my work email, ever; Spend time with people I don’t enjoy being around; Time-sucking errands that could eat the whole day if I let them (dry-cleaning, prescriptions, oil changes for the car, etc.). Basically, if I won’t like doing something, I try my hardest not to do it on the weekend. Overall, my weekends are usually pretty fulfilling. Funny, I didn’t realize that until I had to actually think about it. Thanks!

  If I had more free time and disposable income, I would spend a lot more time taking classes, learning about everything I can think of (intensive Spanish in Mexico for 6 weeks, 2 months in Italy studying art history, etc.), I would also devote more time to furthering my Big Ideas (not sure I’m ready to reveal them yet) and volunteering, both home and away.

  Thanks to everyone for the inspiration. Financial Independence is a great goal, but if there aren’t any dreams beyond it, I can’t imagine how lost one might feel.

• Yvonne Caples
  February 8th, 2008
  12:26 pm
  

  “The challenge in life — the beauty in life — has to do with trying to balance movement with stillness. Which is to say, action and contemplation… I want to balance the two so that I can try to understand the world and understand myself, and so that I can go out and learn and offer what I can, and then come back in, as it were, and gather myself, find out what I really think and believe, place solid foundations underneath my life.”
  -Pico Iyer

  I want to balance the stillness and action in my life that Pico Iyer talks about. My 48 hours is a combination of the routines that ground my life and a few special treats that whisk me away from that routine to a place where I can frolic, play and reflect.

  The Routines:

  4:30 am morning run with my dogs and husband: Getting up early to be with my family and exercise is one of the best parts of my day and truly helps to get each day off to the right start.

  Hot Oatmeal Breakfast & Salad lunch: I have found that by automating these two meals with super healthy foods, the rest of the time I can eat what I want without stressing about it too much.

  Hot Yoga: Hot Yoga is 90 minutes of mind and body healing that I have come to cherish. It keep my body nimble and gives me time to meditate.

  Morning Study: My mind is clear and fresh in the morning. After my morning run, I like to spend a couple of hours reading and writing. This is also time to plan my next travel getaway and to learn about the place I am will travel to. Currently, I am preparing for a trip to Costa Rica.

  Afternoon Nap: A pause for rest in the afternoon keeps me productive the rest of the day

  Evening Walk: This is my time to unwind and appreciate the day that I have had. The dogs appreciate it too.

  Weekend Cleanup: I believe strongly in taking care of what I have so I can take less from the world and show my intention and appreciation to the universe. Keeping my house clean and clutter free is an important part of that.

  The Special Treats:

  Bagels and Coffee Breakaway Breakfast: Getting a break from oatmeal and tea once a week is delicious and fun

  Dinner Party with Friends: Connecting with friends and food. Need I say more.

  Hiking up in the Mountains with my parents: My family is very important to me. It is they who have taught me to appreciate nature.

  Lunch with my husband at the Banana Leaf Café: Banana Leaf is a cheap Malaysian restaurant that my husband and I love. Chatting about our life over yummy Malaysian cuisine is pure delight.

  This is the weekend, of course, but my life during the week still contains the routines along with the a handful of projects that I am passionate about and that allow me to lead a productive, quality life where I grow and give back to the world that has given me so much.

  Yvonne Caples

  P.S. I have not read your book, yet. I have put a hold on the next available copy at the local public library. I have been waiting a couple of months, but am currently 6 out of 76 holds, so maybe in a month I will have the opportunity to read it during my morning study. Now, of course, if I could win this competition that woud solve this problem entirely.:)

• » My Ideal Weekend Compassionate Warrior’s Guide to Living
  February 8th, 2008
  12:34 pm
  

  [...] I entered the following post in a contest on Tim Ferriss’ Blog: [...]

• Anotha Timmy
  February 8th, 2008
  5:19 pm
  

  The next 48 hours of my emancipation …

  Easy.

  While I can compete with anyone else here to see if I can fill 48 hours with impressive ‘NR’ stuff like eating at the nicest restaurant on the planet … dancing with a star … surfing a monster wave … tandem skydiving with a supermodel… learning 12 languages , eating all 31 flavors … see all the wonders of the world…

  The most SATISFYING thing I could possibly spend once ‘emancipated’ … is using my brain, my skills, my money, and my two hands … to help those in the greatest need.

  I was nearly killed in a tornado a few years ago … and since then I have wanted to find a way to give back in the same way that so many gave to me. With my money .. time .. and even research to reduce the death toll that storms always bring with them…

  The past 48 hours I would have spent all of my time recovering , assisting , giving … sharing … anything I have … with those that have lost so much in the Tennessee / Kentucky / Mississippi storm damage.

  Yeah , there are some folks that didn’t have much money, maybe even live in mobile homes … But they still need help … not just a wad of money thrown in their direction.
  Rebuilding, … restoring … renewing .. recovering. Setting up ways to assist those that lose everything so quickly. Researching technological ways to prevent the loss of life. I know I can find a way … and that is why I am working toward emancipation like everyone else here.

  … love your book , your blogs … your time dedicated to helping us achieve what you have achieved …
  TIME!

• tim b
  February 8th, 2008
  5:27 pm
  

  I’m a bit late posting this, but I’ve just gotten back to a place with internet so here goes…

  I read this post on Tuesday from my iPhone and was truly inspired. Currently I’m on a business trip to The Big Island of Hawaii where I’ve been following many of the principle’s of 4HWW. I decided to really push things for the next 48hrs after reading this challenge and…

  - stuck my scooter in the back of a friends truck across the island.
  - camped out 1 night on the beach and stayed another night at a friends place in Waimea.
  - Drove 200 miles, averaging about 20mph while I explored the northern and western coasts of the big island!

  http://cslice.com/hawaii08/

  Great challenge, it truly inspired me.

  - Tim B

• Nate Myers
  February 8th, 2008
  6:41 pm
  

  I’m a college student who desperately wants to make movies. I’ve finished writing my first screenplay and am devoting this weekend to editing it. When it’s finished, I’m going to send it to a director I know in hopes that he will give it to a producer to look at. I cannot see myself doing anything else besides working in film, so this weekend will be important because I’ll either get closer to selling this screenplay, or improving my craft. Besides that, I’ll be planning my summer trip in Costa Rica, trying to determine the best combination of cities to visit in 11 days after volunteering there for a week. Tim, if you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Those two tasks will mainly occupy my weekend, but I also hope to see more of Lake Michigan as the ice covering it slowly melts, find a good Indian restaurant in northern Chicago, and enjoy the snow before it’s gone.

• Bradley J Manilla
  February 8th, 2008
  6:59 pm
  

  My name is Brad Manilla and in T-minus 1 year, I will be moving to Costa Rica to chase my dreams and focus on my non-profit aspirations. While the 4HWW was a fantastic tool in articulating how to offset expenses and live portably, I’ve been focusing on my part of the deal: creating void fillers. I am taking photography classes, Tae Kwon Do lessons and generally trying to push myself just beyond my comfort zone to prove to myself what I am truly capable of achieving. While I’ve been stockpiling money in preparation and haven’t consumed much in the last year, I have come to a personal/spiritual fulfillment level that has since alluded me.

  I spent my Groundhog Day weekend in just the same manor. After leaving Chicago for business in Tampa earlier in the week, I decided to stay in Florida and went camping…by myself…for the first time ever. While this may not seem like a feat to some, it was an incredibly complicated process planning, coordinating & packing for a camping trip piggybacked on a business conference.

  After the conference, I grabbed a rental car and enjoyed a nice 2 hour long drive towards the campsite in 80 degree weather enjoying the sunset along the way and even stopping to witness a control-burn forest fire. I reached the park after sunset only to find the gates locked, but luckily found the nearest camper with the combination and proceeding to setup my friend’s tent…by myself…for the first time…in the dark. Oh, the hilarity that did ensue. Luckily, I packed my sense of humor and purchased a nice supply of Beef Jerky and Nascar Brand apples (no joke) at the convenient store earlier to celebrate the victory over my tent I assumed would manifest itself.

  The next day I woke up at 5am and drove an hour away to my next challenge…snorkeling with manatees. Now manatees may be the cows of the sea, but they reside in a thing I fear immensely, the ocean. After watching 9 too many Shark Week’s on the Discovery Channel, I am terrified of the ocean. But with my impending Costa Rica relocation and planned Latin American globe trotting, I desperately want to personally take part in the adventures I see in documentaries like Planet Earth. So I slipped on my wetsuit, jumped on a boat and lowered myself into the water filled with Manatees.

  Now, I don’t pretend to be a hero or even relatively brave, but there is one thing that I am and that’s honest. Those damn manatees scared the crap out of me the first time I saw them and I about swallowed my snorkel. I know that they are the fat kids of the ocean but I have never seen a 2,000-3,000 animal in the wild before, LET ALONE be swimming with the thing. It took me a good 15 minutes to adjust to my environment which I had to come to terms with and realize I couldn’t control. But once I accepted my circumstances, I turned on my underwater video camera I bought just for the occasion and began shooting the big, lovely animals that now seemed more reminiscent of childhood cartoons. It was a living fantasy.

  After swimming around for the hour is was off to location 2 where the manatees were more playful and the water murkier. I don’t like murky water, and I sure don’t like deep murky water. But embracing the rush from the previous experience, I jumped right in and searched for manatees. Now when I say searched, I mean swim in a general direction with 3 foot visibility hoping to stumble upon a manatee and not simultaneously hit it or scream like a girl, thus scaring it away. The manatees alluded myself and the two new friends I made, but my friends discovered if you dove down 5 feet, everything cleared up and there was a whole new world.

  HA. Dive down. Are you crazy? I am just fine on the surface thank you.

  Well, after they repeated that a number of times, surfacing only for another breath and to discuss the 5 foot long Tarpin swimming about, I had to try. I held my breath dove down and about SHAT myself when I found, as described, a completely foreign world. Multiple 5 foot Tarpins circled below us and I was amazed at these prehistoric beasts that seemed to have avoided evolution. I was so fascinated with them that I completely forgot about my cartoon manatees (whimps) only to almost smash into one that seemed to appear out of no where.

  This time, I got the nerve up to actually touch the large mammal. It was incredible. I began stroking its back, a texture comparable to a wet football to which he (or she, I don’t know where or what to look for) rolled partially over exposing his underside for me to pet. HE/SHE LIKES ME!!! It was incredible. And truly a monumental hurdle I crossed.

  After the trip concluded, I spent the rest of my camping trip shooting photography of my beautiful surroundings and simply lost in thought. I couldn’t help but wonder what other extraordinary adventures I had missed on my previous trips. But I live by the motto that you don’t worry about what you can’t change, change what you can and know the difference between the two. Life’s too short for regrets and, as I found out last weekend, is also to short to be paralyzed by fear – whether that be from getting in the water or moving down to Costa Rica. Its all possible, I am capable…now its only a matter of time.

• William
  February 8th, 2008
  7:53 pm
  

  I accomplished a lot more than I thought I would, but not everything I wanted to. I’m in a unique situation. But I’ll let you all jusdge for yourself on my new blog (part of what I started for this challenge). You can read about all of it at http://3nnui.net. I hope I win, but if I don’t I learned and gained things far more valuable than prizes. Tim, let me know what you think!

  William G.
  aka Chiron

• She Who Must Be Obeyed
  February 8th, 2008
  7:53 pm
  

  What is this ‘boredom’ you speak of? There isn’t enough time in a day! My problem is focus, though, so this challenge was great motivation to get focused on a couple fun & creative things and get them done.

  In last 48 hours, I…

  - Recorded this song for a Magnetic Fields tribute album (release date = February 20th).
  - almost finished the cover artwork for the album (but wanted to post this comment in time). I’ll be posted with the MP3 (in the above link) within the hour.
  - Wrote this post yesterday.
  - Recorded some backup vocals for a friends song (a work in progress not yet fit for public ear consumption).
  - Wrote a new original song and recorded a raw version (also not yet fit for public ear consumption).
  - Meditated 2x
  - Did yoga 2x
  - Frolicked in the snow with some friends for awhile and had warmed up at a coffee shop. Great times.
  - etc.

  time’s up.

• William
  February 9th, 2008
  12:48 pm
  

  I’ve been told that people were having trouble getting to the complete long article I posted on my blog and referenced above. It’s a new blogging system, so I expected a couple of hiccups. Anyway it’s been fixed and all of the photos, youtube vids, and google maps should show up now. pWned!

  She Who Must Be Obeyed:

  Boredom has more to do with *what* you’re doing, not so much *how much* you’re doing. My days are usually fairly busy without a lot of extra time. But, I am soooo bored because it’s always the same old stuff. And after a while that leads to a sense of ennui (dissatisfaction through boredom) then to depression and the downward spiral continues if you’re prone to depression.

  By the way, I really like your new version of Born On A Train!

• Ashley
  February 12th, 2008
  12:00 am
  

  Are we in the know on who won this challenge?? I’m new to this ‘game’ and am not sure if I’m just running in circles trying to check… thanks much!!

  ###

  Hi Ashley,

  This will be announced in an upcoming blog post. It’s coming soon — promise :) Easiest thing to do is subscribe to this blog. Then you can’t miss it: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/feed

  Tim

• OnlineSmarts
  February 13th, 2008
  12:41 pm
  

  wow – right on the money … such an interesting idea that somehow I never really paid attention to. We’re all trying to figure out how to make money online, free ourselves from the office, so we don’t have to get paid in proportion to how much time we invest in work … and if we actually achieve that goal and have more free time then what do we do with it?

  I was so busy with getting to that state that I never seriously bothered for ask myself what I’d do if I actually get there. Your idea of treating weekends as examples of what this ‘free time’ retirement would be like is just brilliantly simple. Thanks Tim – I know now that I have to seriously consider how to properly use the free time I’m working so hard to obtain.

• Birgit
  February 14th, 2008
  4:23 am
  

  Hi there! I love your book – which was recommended to me by a German author and friend. I was always working outside the 9-5 schedule and intent to remain there, but I regularly fail at making the necessary income for it :/ This year I’m trying to reboot parts of my business. Your book is a part of the process.

  This whole weekend I’m going to attend a course in self-experience in the hope to break open some of my thinking blockades. It was recommended to me by someone I met on an acquisition conference I attended in January (a very valuable last minute decision). I also got myself a business coach – not sure how good it will work, but she’s just relocating from Germany to Nigeria ;) So the right people are around me. And dang, I want keep my free time, because I need it for writing, drawing, swimming, and many more new hobbies…!

• bev
  February 14th, 2008
  10:18 am
  

  As I read your highlight of the f500 snowshoe snow queen this morning I stopped reading the rest of my emails, put on my snowshoe togs and and amd now heading out (while my laser print runs off one of my jobs!)

  I work at a home office and need to get reminded to GET OUTSIDE

  Thanks!

• hacking the human race, four hour work week, timothy ferriss | Life of (f)Utility: Hacking the Human Race
  February 21st, 2008
  3:42 pm
  

  [...] Check it out.  This is one of the seminal books which has significantly changed my life in the past three months.  [...]

• Pizzamancer
  March 4th, 2008
  6:45 pm
  

  Who won?

• Technosyncrocity » Lifestyle Reboot - Part One
  May 22nd, 2008
  4:11 am
  

  [...] existence in an effort to improve myself mentally and physically. The Reboot is inspired by Tim Ferriss’s “lifestyle design” philosophy and Clay’s “baselining” idea, with liberal doses of Leo Babauta’s fitness [...]

• rhino video games
  June 25th, 2008
  6:11 pm
  

  rhino video games…

  Do you have a newsletter to sign up to?…

• Wendy
  October 28th, 2008
  10:52 pm
  

  “Who is willing to participate in making this day extraordinary or, at the very least, have a funny story to tell all your friends?” This was my opener for leading rounds of row, row, row your boat on BART trains.

  Having recently read this blog, I thought, no reason to wait until the next Groundhog Day. Why not tomorrow? I pitched my idea to two friends. One said, “I have a hard time believing people will sing on a BART train.” Pause. Would I quit? No. I was invested. I committed to doing it with or without my friends. I replied, “Of course they will! I am confident!!”

  My objective was simple: play at 1000% and invite others to join in. These are a few of our highlights.

  I was inspired to discover at least one person on every train was an enthusiastic supporter and encouraged us. Note to self: excellent screening method for potential friends.

  Inside the Ferry Building, we sat down to play patty-cake. Side-splitting laughter guaranteed.

  Outside I asked two men enjoying the swing music if they danced. “Not in public” they replied. Men, listen up: when a hot woman asks you to dance, say yes!

  Observation: no one questioned these two girls or looked at them oddly. At what point did I start telling myself I was too old for the monkey bars?

  At the park it was somersault races and Red Light, Green Light. Look – our little playgroup that could gained critical mass.

  The delight topper: Derek tickled one of my feet while Jas sucked on the toes of my other. Half of my body moaned and melted while the other half jerked and squirmed.

  Oops – need an email address to share my snapfish photo album. Readers *insert imagination here*

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