We are all way less important than we think we are, but way more important than we give ourselves credit for. Tim is all about living the experiences and managing cash flow. He’s the exact opposite of many money strategists out there, but he makes a ton of sense in today’s world.

52 Weeks of Book Reviews. Week #26 – The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

You don’t need to do 80% of the things you are doing right now. You could drastically cut down on the needless activities and zero in on the 20% of your daily and life activities that really matter. Think about it really hard for a few minutes. Could you just stop doing 80% of the things in your life? What if you outsourced 40% of your activities and just eliminated another 40% of your activities? Could you get by? Tim believes 100% that you can not only survive, but you can thrive in that kind of scenario. The biggest trick here, is to ignore or delegate. The goal is to ignore or delegate 80-90% of your daily activities, by doing that you’ll free up almost all of your time for the few things that absolutely have to be done by you, AND for whatever you actually want to be doing with your life.

We are indeed way less important than we think we are. We could delegate a TON of things that we do, others can complete the tasks just as well as we can, sometimes better. We often keep doing tasks because we feel as if nobody else could accomplish the task at the same level of competence that we can. This is a false assumption that we tell ourselves so that we feel successful at our jobs and tasks. We long to feel useful.

The amazing thing about this book is that if everyone who read it actually did the things inside of it, there wouldn’t be anyone left to actually do the work. What stops the majority of people from following through on the tips and guidance provided in this book? There are many types of jobs and professions in the world today, they don’t all lend themselves to this type of lifestyle. Like many changes, the biggest and hardest step is the first one. You have to be willing to change your profession significantly in order to apply the methods in the book. I choose to work in an office where I manage people and I need to be present to do so. I have learned though, that often I can delegate or just plain ignore many items that don’t actually NEED my attention. This frees me up to complete tasks that are important, but not-urgent that will actually impact the people I lead and serve.

I’m a fan of Tim Ferris’ and I believe in many of his suggestions. Switching to a cash flow model for your life could be a little shocking at first, but also invigorating and thrilling. I reviewed a book earlier this year called “You are a Badass” and the author had decided to make this switch to cash flow management and to extensively travel. I haven’t taken a poll, but I’d say that most people die with “I wish I would have traveled more” thought in the back of their mind. Make that first step and change your life. I have feeling it’s like cliff jumping, once you take that first step it’s too late to go back!