“Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages.”
-Dave Barry
Chilling on a Smithsonian research island in Panama. Heaven on earth? Perhaps, but there are hundreds of places like this.
After Memorial Day weekend, many Americans will return to the office and fantasize about taking more time off. If only we could travel the world and experiencing life to its fullest!
What if you could travel the world — and make it a better place — for free?
Swimming with dolphins in New Zealand? Skiing in the Andes? Sumo wrestling and sushi sampling in Japan? Here’s your chance. The first — and possibly last — 4-Hour Workweek Global Challenge.
How would you use 36 extra hours per week?
If you can answer that question in 350 words or less, you could win a roundtrip anywhere in the world, private consulation with me to plan it all, and $1,000 for the cause of your choice.
My goals with this are 1) to get people to take action towards their dreams, and 2) to help people to develop a global consciousness and feel the rewards of contribution.
THE PRIZES:
Grand Prize (one person):
-Roundtrip airfare anywhere in the world, sponsored by the good folks at the BootsnAll Travel Network, who specialize in around-the-world airfare, hostels, travel blogs, and inspiration to get you going on that trip of a lifetime
-Two hours of consultation with me for planning the entire adventure and making it unforgettable…
-$1,000 to contribute to the causes/charities of your choice at your chosen destination (the destination need not be international)
Runner-up Prizes (nine people):
Free DVD copies of the groundbreaking round-the-world travel film, A Map for Saturday. This movie is one of the few cinematic journeys that truly captures the deeper meanings and benefits of travel.
THE JUDGES:
Me, Tim Ferriss, author of the New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek
Charles Best, CEO and Founder of educational not-for-profit, Donors Choose
Sean Keener, CEO and Founder, BootsNAll Travel Network
Noah Kagan, Director of Marketing Evangelism, Mint.com
Brook Silva-Braga, Filmmaker, A Map for Saturday
THE BASIC RULES OVERVIEW:
Criteria:
Your answer needs to satisfy the following criteria:
1. It must not only add fulfillment and excitement to your life (and your family’s, if applicable), but also improve the world in some way.
2. It must be 350 words or less. No exceptions.
3. It must be submitted as a comment to this post or via postal mail (the latter for silly legal reasons). No e-mail submission is allowed, and such submission will be ignored. Sorry, but this can’t be a full-time job for the judges. If you have a blog, feel free to encourage your readers to respond on your blog, then pick the best and paste them as comments here. Postal submissions are not preferred.
Selection:
The judges will select the top ten finalists, and readers will vote to determine the grand prize winner.
Deadlines:
All responses to “How would you use 36 extra hours per week?” must be received (as comments on this post or postal mail) no later than June 15th. The top ten finalists will be announced no later than June 25th, and the grand prize winner will be determined no later than July 4, 2007, Independence Day.
Who can’t enter this contest?
For more silly legal reasons, entrants must be a permanent lawful resident of one of the 48 continental United States or District of Columbia and be 18 years of age or older. Entrants under 18 years of age are ineligible. Contest is void in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories and possessions outside the 48 continental United States or District of Columbia, and where prohibited or restricted by law. By participating, entrants agree to these official rules and the decisions of the judges, which are final and binding in all matters related to this contest. My apologies to the rest of the world, but our legal system makes it too much of a hassle to do this any other way.
FINE PRINT — THE OFFICIAL RULES:
THIS IS A CONTEST OF SKILL. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.
1.CONTEST TERM AND DEADLINES: Contest begins May 26, 2007 at 12:00:01 a.m. (Pacific Time [PT]). Online entries must be received by June 15, 2007 at 12:00:01 p.m. PT. Online entries received after June 15, 2007 at 12:00:01 p.m. PT will not be eligible. If mail-in method of entry is chosen, entries must be postmarked on or before June 15, 2007 and received on or before June 21, 2007 to be eligible. Entries will be judged by the panel of judges June 16, 2007 through June 25, 2007. Prize winners will be announced on or around July 4, 2007.
2.
2.ELIGIBILITY: The contest, and any web site pages and advertisements relating thereto, is intended for viewing only within the 48 continental United States or District of Columbia. To enter the contest and qualify therefore, entrants must be a permanent lawful resident of one of the 48 continental United States or District of Columbia and be 18 years of age or older. Entrants under 18 years of age are ineligible. Contest is void in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories and possessions outside the 48 continental United States or District of Columbia, and where prohibited or restricted by law. By participating, entrants agree to these official rules and the decisions of the judges, which are final and binding in all matters related to this contest.
3.
3.there are two (2) Methods by which to enter this contest:
a. On-Line Method of Entry: Entrants may log on to www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog (the “Contest Website”), click the blog entry for this contest and follow the on-screen directions, then submit their entry as a comment on that post. Only one entry per person. Entry length is limited to 350 words.
b. Mail-in Method of Entry: Entrant may also mail his or her entry to: “4-Hour Workweek Challenge” 1702-L Meridian Ave., Box 126, San Jose, CA 95125. Entries must be postmarked by June 16, 2007 and received on or before June 21, 2007 to be eligible. Entry length is limited to 350 words.
4.
4.SELECTION OF WINNERS:
1.
a.The entries will be judged by a panel of judges in their sole discretion according to the Judging Criteria. The top 10 finalists will be posted on the website, at which point the grand prize winner will be selected by reader (www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog) voting to end no later than July 4, 2007.
5.
5.JUDGING CRITERIA FOR ENTRIES: The entries shall be judged based on the following Judging Criteria with equal weight:
a. It must not only add fulfillment and excitement to your life (and your family’s, if applicable), but also improve the world in some way.
b. It must be 350 words or less. No exceptions.
Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries and the quality of the entries.
6.
6.PRIZES: One (1) Grand Prize: Roundtrip airfare anywhere in the world, sponsored by the good folks at the BootsnAll Travel Network; two hours of consultation with Tim Ferriss for planning the entire adventure;$1,000 to contribute to the causes/charities of their choice at your chosen destination (checks to be issued directly to the charities or causes). Nine (9) Runner-up Prizes: Free DVD copy of the groundbreaking round-the-world travel film, A Map for Saturday.
Actual Value of prize may vary depending upon city of origin. Prizes cannot be assigned, transferred, changed or redeemed for cash value. No substitutions of prizes permitted unless prize cannot be awarded as described for any reason. Prizes will not be fulfilled outside the 48 continental United States or the District of Columbia. Tim Ferriss, judges, and any other sponsors reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value at their sole discretion, unless prohibited by law.
7.
7.NOTIFICATION: Prize winners will be notified by telephone and/or email no later than July 10, 2007. If a potential prize winner cannot be reached within twenty-four hours from the first notification attempt, then such person may be disqualified at the judges’ sole discretion and the contestant with the next highest score may be awarded such prize.
8.
8.PRIZE CONDITIONS: The Winners will be required to execute an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability Release (“Affidavit/Releaseâ€?). If a potential prize winner does not complete an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability Release by July 21, 2007, then such person may be disqualified at the judges’ sole discretion and the contestant with the next highest score may be awarded such prize.
9.
9.CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION/RESTRICTIONS: Any entry containing obscenity, crude language, depictions of a sexual nature, pornographic depictions, violence or other inappropriate conduct or language (as defined solely by the judges) will not be accepted and will result in disqualification. Entrants represent that the entry submitted is the entrant’s original creation, has never been published, has not previously won any other contest award, does not infringe third party rights, and is suitable for publication, does not violate any decency or obscenity laws, and the right to submit it is not restricted. Entry may not defame, libel, slander or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person’s personal or proprietary rights, including trademarks. No mechanically reproduced, illegible, incoherent, unusable, or incomplete entries will be accepted. The judges reserve the absolute right to reject any submission for any reason it deems it to be inappropriate. No correspondence regarding submissions will be entered into with entries except as described herein or otherwise at judges discretion.
10.
10.WARRANTIES/RESTRICTIONS: Each entrant represents and warrants that he/she is eighteen (18) years of age or older, and is eligible to enter. If a prize winner is under the age of majority at the time the prize is awarded, consent must be provided by parent or guardian prior to award. Judges will not be responsible for lost, misdirected, illegible, incomplete, or delayed entries. Limit of one (1) entry per person and per authorized e-mail account holder. In the event there is a dispute over who submitted any given entry, “authorized e-mail account holder” means the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, Internet service provider, or other organization (e.g. business, educational, government, institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. If more than one entry is received from the same person, then he/she will be disqualified. Only complete entries will be accepted. If a submission is incomplete or does not comply with the specifications and rules described herein, then the submission will be disqualified. Neither the judges nor Contest Entities will verify receipt of entries. Entrants should retain a copy of all materials submitted for the contest. All mailed entries become the property of judges and will not be returned.
11.
11.LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: Judges and Contest Entities are not responsible for late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incorrectly addressed, incomplete, illegible, undeliverable, or destroyed materials, for any human error which may occur in the processing of entries, or the acts or omissions of any other entity’s computer(s), or other telecommunications malfunctions which may limit or prevent an entrant’s ability to participate. Judges may prohibit an entrant from participating in this contest or winning a prize if, in its sole discretion, it determines that said entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of this contest by cheating, hacking, deception, or other unfair practices (including the use of automated quick entry programs) or intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other entrants or judge representatives, or if entrant has or had attempted to submit malicious code, .exe files, or any file that contains malicious code. If for any reason this contest is not capable of running as planned, including, but not limited to, infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, or any other causes beyond the reasonable control of judges, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the promotion, then judges reserve the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this contest, except were prohibited by law. No responsibility is assumed for any canceled, rescheduled, unavailable or postponed travel or celebrity availability, production or programming.
12.
12.RULES/WINNERS LIST: To view the Official Rules and/or obtain a list of the winners of this contest, send a self-addressed stamped envelope in a separate, first class stamped envelope to: “4-Hour Workweek Challenge,� 1702-L Meridian Ave., Box 126, San Jose, CA 95125. Please specify “Rules� or “Winners List�. Winners list available after July 21, 2007. Limit one (1) rules request and one (1) winners list request per person/household.
13.
13.CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: This contest is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws. All federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of the winners. Except where prohibited by law, each winner’s entry or acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for the Contest Entities to use, publish, and display the winner’s submission, name, voice, photograph, and other likeness and/or any biographical information the winner may provide, and any statement the winner may make concerning this contest or the prizes, in any and all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide and on the Internet and/or the World Wide Web, in perpetuity, for promotional and marketing purposes, without notification, review, approval or compensation, all as detailed in the Publicity Release. Entrant further agrees to permit Contest Entities the right to reproduce such submission in full or to crop or otherwise edit or modify submission for reproduction at judges’ sole discretion. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the judges, (including interpretations of these Official Rules), the judges and the Contest Administrator, and waive any right to claim ambiguity in this contest or these Official Rules. Winners and contestants also agree at all times, to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless the Contest Entities and judges, their respective parent entities, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising and promotion agencies, broadcast affiliates, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents of each, from and against any claims, actions, demands, damages or liabilities of any kind whatsoever (including without limitation, attorney’s fees, court costs, settlement and disbursements) due to any injuries, damages or losses to any person (including death) or property of any kind resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, redemption, possession, loss, misdirection, misuse or use of any prize or participation in any contest-related activity or participation in this contest, including any claims relating to use, misappropriation or disclosure of any materials submitted herein. All decisions of the judges and the Contest Administrator are final in all matters relating to this contest. If for any reason this contest is not capable of running as planned, then judges reserve the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest. Judges and Contest Entities shall not be liable to any prize winner or any other person for failure to supply a prize or any part thereof by reason of any act of God, any action, regulation, order or request by any governmental or quasi-governmental entity, equipment failure, terrorist acts, earthquake, war, fire, flood, explosion, severe weather, hurricane, embargo, labor dispute or strike, labor or material shortage, transportation interruption of any kind, work slow-down, civil disturbance, insurrection, riot or any similar or dissimilar event beyond their reasonable control.
14.
14.CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE, SUBMIT MALICIOUS CODE, .EXE FILES, OR ANY FILE THAT CONTAINS MALICIOUS CODE, OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEYS’ FEES) FROM ANY SUCH ENTRANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. IN NO EVENT WILL SPONSOR, JUDGES, THE CONTEST ENTITIES, THEIR PARENT, AFFILIATED, SUBSIDIARY AND RELATED COMPANIES, THEIR RESPECTIVE ADVERTISING OR PROMOTION AGENCIES, BROADCAST AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE WEB SITE OR DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM www.fourhourworkweek.com. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE WEB SITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS� WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.
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Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
Hello guys, hope everyone is doing great!
With the newly aquired freedom I would pack up my bags right now and do the following:
Move to a Australia/New Zealand for a month. I grew up on a sea but never got a chance to revisit it since moving to US. I’ve never enjoyed the freedom of surfing atop the ocean, trying to reach that feeling of perfect balance and not be swallowed by the sea.
I would fly to Sahara and do a safari (without animal killing. unless some lions want to wrestle), enjoy the rush of sand surfing and racing a buggy in the desert.
I would visit Egypt and try to sneak inside the Royal tombs and try to understand the inscriptions.
I’d design a giant sling shot on a Caribbean island that would allow people to be launched 15-30 feet up into the water… or through a hoop for the additional prizes!
Traveling aside, what I would really like to do is what I wish someone would have done for a 22 year old like myself long time ago: I would set up a multimedia website where I take requests from people about their dream jobs and then go out and try to show how difficult or easy it is to make it in that specific vocation. The dreamers would be able to see for themselves what that journey is actually like and then have a better idea whether this is indeed a passion or just a caprice. For example – people will be able to submit “How do you become a deep sea diver?” and I would then try to take on that challenge of becoming one and showing them what is needed. I’d limit the level of success to a certain point for each profession because of obvious time constraints, but I believe I could allocate 2-9 weeks per task to succeed. I feel this would serve great inspiration to all those who are desperately seeking it, I know it would help me narrow my choices down tremendously.
Cheers!
Dennis V
After setting up my automatic-revenue generating business, I would go to Brazil and all over the world to learn various styles of mixed-martial arts. In exchange for training, I would teach others how to play basketball and learn English.
To generate money I have 2 ideas. First, I’d create a website for aspiring authors/writers that would offer them a share of the revenue each time one of their stories sold. Authors would post snippets of stories and people would vote them up or down, similar to Digg. If someone wants to read more of the story, they pay a couple bucks and it’s theirs.
My other idea involves a steering mechanism for big boats and yachts. I don’t want to talk about this idea, because it seems like a good invention, and you have to protect good ideas.
You know what else I will do. I will travel around the world with Nik Halik and train people about options trading for a living.
I am currently trading options and having a decent amount success for a beginner. Nik Halik is an amazing speaker and options trader. Probably the best I have ever come across. I would love the extra time to travel to his seminars and soon start speaking with him in helping others create wealth through Options investing.
Of course I am still in the process of learning the trade, but that is a never ending process. With the extra time I will definitely travel and train with Nik Halik. I am very much looking forward to the trip so that I will go to Austrailia and attend his Events.
Looking forward to it Dearly,
Frank
Jason, if you have read the book you would know that it is foolish to try and protect your idea.
The Story
This is an idea I’d love to see happen, whether I do it or someone else does it.
I’d like to travel around the world (which would take a round-the-world ticket, not just a return ticket) with a video camera and a still camera and have people from all around the world tell a “one word at a time” story: A story in which each person tells the next word only.
This story would be told in all sorts of different languages, by different cultures and different people set to a thousand backdrops all around the world, and it would be made up as it goes along.
The story could be published online in a blog, as a DVD and could be compiled into a book with still pictures of the people and places along the way.
It would be an amazing art project.
That’s what I’d do, with my extra time.
I missed the 350 word limit rule…so here is a shorter version of my idea. If I could establish a decently profitable muse business, I would devote the rest of my available time to my life long dream. At the age of 18, foster children are bumped from the system. There is no subsequent support whatsoever.
So, here’s the plan: Purchase or lease an apartment building that supports a minimum of 24 residents. Invited residents would be pulled from the foster care system when they turned 18. They would attend group activities, financial management classes, individual counseling, nutrition and fitness counseling, to include cooking lessons, GED assistance if needed, and college application assistance if needed. They would be given a paid intern position provided by a local corporation (tax deductible to the Corp.).Alternatively, they could attend the vocational school of their choice during their stay with us. They would be allowed to stay for 2 years. At the end of their stay, they would be given the first month and security deposit to get their own apartment, a car, and assistance obtaining full time employment. Any resident wishing to pursue the FHWW lifestyle would be encouraged to do so.
All of this would be funded and supported through grants, charitable donations and other fund raising activities, such as benefits. Counseling would be handled by graduate students supervised by university professors, or by pro bono work. Residents would be required to return regularly and mentor new incoming residents for at least two years.
We’ll be the YMCA of foster care graduation facilities, in every major city. I was never a foster child, I just can’t stand the idea of these people being tossed like refuse. I need a muse business so that my survival does not depend on this project, as I don’t expect to draw a salary of any kind for at least the first few years.
Hi Tim and friends,
Change, I believe, starts on the inside. 36 extra hours a week (plus all that time in traffic… waiting… wasted… that’s a lot of time!) would mean more time for contemplation and meditation. Using these tools as means to cultivate compassion and peace are the first step. (Did I say first? I meant ongoing.)
Generating compassion (literally, “with passion”) means generating passion which inevitably leads to action. The action I want is to travel with my Swedish friend Larsson and Australian friend Clint to Ethiopia to search for the Ark of the Covenant. It’s there – if you don’t believe me, search wikipedia. 🙂 And my good friends and traveling companions (literally, “with panions”) would make it even more fun.
Of course, the irony of good travel adventure dictates that thing you find is the search itself. Searching, traveling – who needs a holy ark when you can have this experience?
With $1000 (and maybe a little of my own money), I can start a microbank/microlending agency in Ethiopia. I want to give others a chance to reach their dreams, and share them with me, by encouraging them through the trust of lending. And of course, making a very tiny/tidy profit.
(Oh, how I adore you, the glory of compound interest!)
While I might teach them what little I know about entrepreneurship, computers, geography, or other topics, ultimately, I hope it is they who teach me about reaching their dreams.
Dave
Been thinking about this question a lot lately. I’ve been honored to serve in the non-profit sector for most of my 30 year work life, so I have had an experience of social justice. But something is pulling me…
What I yearn to do, as I enter the ‘forest-dweller’ stage of life is to distill the experience and information that I’ve been privileged to in my lifetime. (Check out the Hindu stages of life–very informative in this discussion.)Although there are many great books and teachers out there, my desire at this time in my life (I’m 52) is to not read anymore, go to anymore seminars. It’s only to sit and ‘chew the cud’ of what’s already packed into my head.
I know that from this place of stillness will grow some amazing outward-going energy. I’d love to learn how to draw more people to the virtual community I’ve started (Virtual Tea House) for connection and inspiration. I’d love to spend my 36 extra hours a week (accumulated into a few months!) listening deeply to some indigenous elders from around the world, because I don’t think we can get ourselves out of the mess we’re in without their wisdom and connection to the earth.
And from there, maybe a book? Maybe just more time in my garden? Maybe teaching more? Maybe just laughing more freely. But the outgrowth of the down-time will be felt not just in me, but in everyone and everything that touches me.
An influential book has been “The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature” by Stephen Harrod Buhner. It’s a treatise on letting the heart’s perception and rhythms have their rightful influence. The heart’s rhythms have evolved, until the last little tick of time of human evolution, to be the major entrainers of our life-energy. But through an interesting tangent, the human brain has taken over that function, and our heart–and the heart of the planet–is defibrillating.
My ’36 hours’ will be spent listening to my heart and the heart of the world around me. I’m not sure what I can do about the suffering out there, but I can address the suffering of lack of connection to my own heart, and in that, bring hope and courage to others.
Thanks, Tim, for asking this question.
Nathan- it’s not foolish to protect an idea. You can give away some things yes, but, some things you don’t give away for free. You think Apple wants to give away its patent for the iPhone? Or that Coke doesn’t want to protect its “secret” formula and let others steal it and profit off them?
Gurus such as Seth Godin and Steve Pavlina have had success in giving away ideas for free, but that’s because their ideas are just that– ideas. And the more you spread your ideas, the more you spread your influence. Software can be open source and that can be a good thing, too, because it gets more people to use it. But why should an inventor give away an idea for free, especially if he thinks there will already be enough people who would use the product to make it profitable, without having to give away anything?
If I’m missing something here, please fill me in.
Nathan- it’s not foolish to protect an idea. You can give away some things yes, but, some things you don’t give away for free. You think Apple wants to give away its patent for the iPhone? Or that Coke doesn’t want to protect its “secret” formula and let others steal it and profit off them?
Gurus such as Seth Godin and Steve Pavlina have had success in giving away ideas for free, but that’s because their ideas are just that– ideas. And the more you spread your ideas, the more you spread your influence. Software can be open source and that can be a good thing, too, because it gets more people to use it. But why should an inventor give away an idea for free, especially if he thinks there will already be enough people who would use the product to make it profitable, without having to give away anything?
If I’m missing something here, please fill me in.
With an extra 36-hours/week, I’d dive in deep to exploring the topic, “How can the average person find fulfillment and improve the world their work?� while supporting my favorite philanthropic cause, and create rejuvenation periods for myself where I do things that are not tied to earning money at all.
As a coach for holistic businesses, I have already leveraged myself as a do-gooder by helping healers to heal more people, and I want to increase that leverage. My current clients are people who are improving healthcare & raising consciousness. Yet I am called to step out of the one-person-at-a-time limitations of my business model. I’d like time to just focus on writing & teaching. I’m fascinated with learning more about micro-enterprise development as a type of philanthropy, and want to meet leading visionaries of companies founded on principals of corporate social responsibility.
My own philanthropic cause is wild elephant conservationism. There is much more for me to learn from wild elephants, it would be a dream come true to travel to all the parts of the world where they live. In 2005, I went to Kenya so I could meet Ian & Oria Douglas-Hamilton (2 of my heroes) and visit my favorite elephant rescue organization, The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I cried like a child leaving there, my heart ripped away from the feeling of “being home,� in Africa. I still have dreams of elephants, and have started a blog http://www.SacredElephants.net that has potential to turn into an online revenue-generator for elephant conservation. I’d like to meet more of my elephant-loving heroes and expand Sacred Elephants from it’s meager blog status to the philanthropic vision that I saw when I started it.
Because I am so self-identified through my work, it’s essential that I begin taking time completely away. No matter how good the outer results, I’ve had the awareness that to not simply ENJOY this world is to be unappreciative of life itself. I’d like regular sabbaticals where I am not allowed to work at all, but rather to seek pleasure and beauty, and love every minute of it.
36 Hours
Three years ago a Fortune 500 CEO asked me from across the diner table, “What will you do if you don’t get this job?� My answer left him staring at me with his moth open so I could see the mash potatoes he was eating. It all seemed quite logical to me. If I didn’t get hired, I would have taken my horse and ridden it from Canada to Mexico through the heart of the Rockies along the Continental Divide Trail.
He wanted more background an so I informed him that, tracing the backbone of America, the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail, also known as the King of Trails, runs the length of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico. The King of Trails runs through, 5 states, 20 Wildernesses, 3 National Parks, 1 National Monument, 25 National Forests, and 8 BLM land areas comprising areas tread by Lewis and Clark, roamed by Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, and inhabited by Native Americans more than 5,000 years ago. Scores of individuals have ridden horseback across the continent but none have completed that CDT traipsing across some of Americans most rugged and beautiful terrain.
“Who would hire you after that?� he wanted to know. No one at all. I would use the ride to garner publicity and fundraising for a ranch where struggling teens could learn about hard work, dedication, and responsibility. These teens would come from, and return to, some of the most difficult environments: broken homes, inner cities, crime and drug use. However, they would return with new skill sets, skills that would form a foundation where other life lessons can be learned. Theses life lessons will help them rise above undesirable situations to become happy, fulfilled and giving adults.
Three years have passed and I’m up for a significant promotion. My new boss asked me, “What will you do if you don’t get this promotion?� Interestingly, I have had the answer for over three years for a question asked only moments ago. In fact, I did get the promotion, but I might just do this anyway.
Teaching kids how to make furniture. That is what I love and would do with 36 extra hours a week. I want to start a wood shop in the local art center and teach people how to make things that they can sit on, store treasures in, play with. You can make and have beautiful things around you. There is a real magic in that creation. Learning how you can make functional art has so many different impacts on your life. I would start a furniture apprenticeship for young people who could not afford it otherwise and would help them find the money to buy the materials to get it done.
With another 36 hours,
My life will become complete.
It’ll be the wind
That steers my sails,
A new road beneath my feet.
And not just 36 hours
But 168 will I gain,
Never wasting another day
Waiting to go to work again.
The days will become my own
To spend them as I wish.
The freedom to cross my greatest dreams
Off an old and dusty list.
Another 36 hours. . .
My moment of life will count.
I’ll change the face of every soul
As I carry my visions out.
I’ll think back on my childhood:
The drugs, the violence, the lack—
My mother raising three men on her own
With no one to get her back,
And I’ll carry on my legacy,
Show the world how to rise above—
How a poor boy from the trailer park
Can return the world’s cruelty with love.
Another 36 hours. . .
Surely I can light the way
For all who think they lack the power
To stand and seize the day.
My brothers and my mother,
I’ll show them how to automate too.
Finally they’ll chase their dying dreams
And refuse to hide from Truth.
The tragedy of modern slavery
Is those who don’t believe in themselves—
Children who grow and gather their dreams
To sit and rot on the shelves.
If we all just use every moment
To make our moment of life truly count,
I think we’ll find in due time
No one must do without.
Everyone has a candle
Burning in their soul—
An urge to fulfill a purpose
That would make their existence whole.
And with my extra 36 hours,
I’ll set an example for the world:
You can become more than your hand in life
If you’re willing to break the mold.
Another 36 hours. . .
It’s always been my dream.
I’ve strived and I’ve struggled to reach my goal
And failed but still believe.
I know I can still find a way
To leave this world a better place.
My muse will take away my cage.
Another 36 hours will replace it.
To help the world, I’d:
• Make a video Web documentary through a blog with a large readership about how I freed myself from work, inspiring others around the world to do it themselves
To stay excited and fulfilled, I’d:
• Look into the world’s largest telescope
• Look into the world’s most powerful microscope
• Meet computer scientists at MIT and help build artificial intelligence
• Travel to San Francisco, New York and London to visit friends
• Set up appointments to meet mentors like Steve Jobs
• Write a book of philosophy
• Write music and become a rock star
• Buy a multi-touch wall computer
• Move to Tucson, AZ to be with my girlfriend
• Hire chefs to cook a five-star course for my girlfriend
• Surf the beaches in Mexico
• Fly first class on all occasions
• Visit my grandparents in Oregon
• Buy an iPhone
• Think with more mindfulness
• Listen with more attentiveness
• Breathe with more depth
• Sing with more joy
• Learn to be happy without a job title
To Brad:
That is an excellent story. The only part I dont like is that you would teach teens hard work. That would simply be swapping struggling for more struggling. The only thing humans have to work really hard on is their emotions. After that everything else becomes easy. Just look at Tim’s results.
To Tim:
One last thing I will do.
After I get back from my trip I will put up 50% of the runner-ups airfare for their trip to anywhere in the world. In order to help spread the joy as there are a lot of excellent comments on this blog.
(Reposting after editing to 350 words.)
I’ve been honored to serve in the non-profit sector for most of my 30-year work life, so I have had an experience of social justice. But something is pulling me…
What I yearn to do, as I enter the ‘forest-dweller’ stage of life, is to distill the experience and information of my lifetime. (Check out the Hindu stages of life.) Although there are many great books and teachers out there, my desire at this time in my life (I’m 52) is to not read any more, go to any more seminars. It’s only to sit and ‘chew the cud’ of what’s already packed into my head.
I know that from this place of stillness will grow some amazing outward-going energy. I’d love to learn how to draw more people to the virtual community I’ve started (Virtual Teahouse) for connection and inspiration. I’d love to spend my 36 extra hours a week listening deeply to some indigenous elders from around the world, because I don’t think we can get ourselves out of the mess we’re in without their wisdom and connection to the earth.
And from there, maybe a book? Maybe just more time in my garden? Maybe teaching more? Maybe just laughing more freely. But the outgrowth of the downtime will be felt not just in me, but in everyone and everything that touches me.
“The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature� by Stephen Harrod Buhner is a treatise on letting the heart’s perception and rhythms have their rightful influence. The heart’s rhythms have evolved to be the major entrainers of our life-energy, but the post-modern human brain is increasingly taking over that function, and our heart–and the heart of the planet–is defibrillating as a consequence.
My ‘36 hours’ will be spent listening to my heart and the heart of the world around me. I’m not sure what I can do about the suffering out there, but I can address the lack of connection to my own heart, and in that, bring hope and courage to others.
When I have 36 extra hours per week I will help my community locate and/or build a serene, multi-generational, multi-faith center with ample spaces, grounds and parking for various groups to gather anytime, 24-7, for celebrating, sharing, helping, creating, healing, meditation, praise, worship, teaching, learning, performing, recreation, music, eating, planning and to be a staging area for going out, being useful and doing good in the greater comunity.
Thank you.
If I had 36 additional hours each week, I would primarily do more of the same. That is because my life’s work isn’t “work� in the miserable American sense of the word – my work is the manifestation of my values, core beliefs, talents, and my purpose for being on this planet.
For the last 15 years, I have worked on women’s rights and human rights issues through nonprofit organizations, a women’s foundation, and the Clinton Administration. In the US I have helped to reduce sexual assault, domestic violence, poverty, stalking, and unemployment. Overseas, I have worked on rape camps in Bosnia, brothels in Thailand, promoting women’s rights in post-apartheid South Africa, preventing trafficking of women and children, spreading micro-credit programs, and providing human rights trainings. With 36 extra hours, I would devote more effort to ending violence, inequality, poverty, and other human rights abuses. Unfortunately, there is enough work to fill the time! I would also strategically use the extra time to sit on boards of organizations, thereby increasing my impact through sharing my expertise, strategic thinking, and fundraising and management skills.
Having said all that, I would add a little more fun and health to my life with 36 extra hours. With the extra time, I wouldn’t have an excuse to avoid the gym! I would take more time to cook healthy meals. I would use more of my cell phone minutes to stay caught up with friends who are spread around the world. I would spend more time playing with my cats. I would host more parties. And I would take more weekend trips with friends to explore the amazing Bay Area.
If I won this contest, I would include India in my travels. In India, I would like to spend a couple of weeks in an ashram for yoga and meditation (advancing my health-related goals and learning to calm my busy mind!), and I would like to volunteer with a local human rights NGO as a way of connecting to the culture.
Hello Tim:
My idea is to fully immerse myself in 4HWW methods and to use the trip around the world to teach children how to use them in school and in life. A world of 4 hour kids that can change the world would be created. A mother website would keep all up to date and be a communmity. Who knows, perhaps world peace would ensue.
Ciao,
Howard
I will use an extra 36 hours per week to spend time with my Father, who just turned 70. I would take him to England where he grew up in an orphanage. I have always wanted to go to England, just he and I, to visit the orphanage, the environment where he lived, and reminisce on his childhood moments of happiness and sorrows as he did for me growing up here in the United States. He certainly gave us a childhood he was always dreaming of, and I would love to share this incredibly special time with him together.
He is 70, and still working; afraid to retire due to the fear of being poor once again. He recently shared over the phone that he was concerned about surviving on Social Security year after year with inflation. I want to use this trip as an opportunity, and example, to: 1) present the 4 Hour Workweek book, and teach him the principles; 2) show him he can be the NR now with a few changes in his current strategy; and 3) devise a plan together where he can retire comfortably and fearlessly with or without a monthly stipend from me! We can make this trip into a documentary to show the world that children who grow up in orphanages can succeed in business and family at any age.
I am proud of my Father, grateful he did not abandon us, as my Mother did, and as his Mother and Father did to he and his siblings. I want to say, “Thank you” to him for everything…for loving to his best ability and for surviving his life. These vibrational gifts of healing and gratitude will be sent throughout the universe.
I live in Florida. My Father lives in Missouri. We see eachother once a year. With this trip and creating our 4 hour workweeks, we can visit anyone anytime we’d like! Let this documentary be an example that everyone in the world can create the luxuries and freedom of time, income, and mobility together. Let us lead the way by example!
I have been looking for a way to succeed working only 4 hours a week for a long time. Consequently, my workweek is quite a bit more than 40 hours. I haven’t yet been able to achieve that freedom. I would greatly appreciate your help.
First thing I would do is rest…after having been rejuvenated, peaceful calm and relaxed I would want my family to enjoy my trip to Australia and New Zealand with me. Beatiful countries.
Be healthy and fit.
Sing, dance and make music with great joy and love.
Live completely and fully in “the now”.
Love and be loved.
Encourage my family and friends to “be and do and have” their own 4 hour work week.
Be a great example of “if she can do it, I KNOW I can do it!”
Many blessings upon you.
Technology will solve all the world’s problems. Today, the biggest challenge the world faces is providing cheap, clean, and abundant energy. With unlimited cheap, clean energy, so many problems are conquered. Human-made greenhouse gasses are eliminated, halting global warming. Cars become electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell powered. Clean-burning hydrogen becomes the portable chemical fuel, generated from electrolysis of water. Oil becomes irrelevant. Money, politics, and wars over the Middle East cease. Water shortages no longer exist, as abundant energy allows desalination of sea water. With abundant and clean energy, even perfect, effortless recycling becomes a possibility. Throw all your garbage and toxic waste into a giant plasma incinerator. Extract the resulting ions and magnetically separate them into their pure elements, and then resell the pure elements back to the manufacturing sector.
All this follows from cheap, abundant, and clean energy. So how do we make this happen? Much of the needed technology already exists. The first step is to fully support nuclear power. Specifically, take a look at Wikipedia on the Integral Fast Reactor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_Fast_Reactor This particular reactor very efficiently consumes fissile fuel without long term radioactive waste products. Short term radioactive waste from this reactor is a manageable storage problem.
Next, we must fully support research in clean nuclear fusion technology. Fusion technology promises clean, abundant energy from elements extracted from seawater. The waste product from fusion is helium, which we use to fill our balloons. I’m convinced that fusion technology progress is mostly limited by politics and money. Fusion research continues on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, but the pace is not fast enough. We need the technology now to provide all the benefits I’ve discussed.
If I had 36-hours per week, I would dedicate my time to making this a reality. I can’t do it alone, but I can use the time to educate and lobby Congress, private companies, environmental groups, foreign governments and international corporations to support this cause.
If I succeed, it will be far more satisfying than anything I have ever done.
Thank you for the challenge, Tim! We are absolutely devouring your book and recommending it to everyone we know. As an unjobbed, unschooled family, we have been paying the bills through consulting and entrepreneurship, and are now very excited about taking the next steps toward outsourcing and developing our muse(s).
With 36 extra hours a week, we would seek to connect children around the world. Last holiday season, our older daughter initiated a shoe drive to collect gently used shoes from friends and family, instead of the customary exchange of gifts. We collected over 100 pairs of shoes! We then sent the shoes to a home for AIDS orphans in Tanzania with a friend who was visiting there. The children sent back drawings and letters of thanks, but the human connection was missing.
Imagine if we could meet these children, dance with them, share games and laughter, learn Swahili from them and teach them some English, and really allow ourselves to be changed.
Imagine if we documented the whole experience and brought the stories back to share with families across America, fostering a sense of global community and awareness.
After such an incredible experience, we would be even more inspired to continue with other similar projects – bringing art supplies to children in China, or Spanish books to kids in Panama, or computers to kids in India – immersing ourselves in their life experience, then bringing their stories back to North America.
What an education for our children, who will most likely never enter the halls of a school designed for the industrial era, but will have a truly global perspective, learning from and sharing with peers from diverse cultures.
It’s the long tail of education, with each student following a unique path, learning more from other people than from institutions. We want to write about it, spread the discussion, and live it. Connecting kids around the world is one step towards a more peaceful world, and of course it will also be fun!
If I had 36 hours a week and the income to do what I wanted, I would travel, pick up a hobby, take care of my family, and find ways to make my community better. Better schools, reading programs, parks, sports, etc.
I blew out my knee while working as a police officer. I was chasing a drug dealer and slipped in some mud. I fell and my knee hit a rock. I did catch the guy, but ended up messing my knee up. Three surgeries later, I walk almost without a limp, but I will never run again.
I guess I see things differently from most people, but
I believe you can’t change the world if your home and local community are not in order. Sure I would love to invent a new bio fuel, solve global hunger and cure AIDS, but I can’t do that alone. What I can do is help change the community where I live and hope that people will respond in kind. If you change your community, when people move to another area, they will bring change with them.
I will set up community art centers in underserved communities, first in America, where a generation is being lost to drugs and crime, then (if I have any time left) to other countries that need it most. These schools would emphasize the understanding and practice of the Arts as the path to creating a vital, vibrant cultural life for their community. It is culture, after all, that gives meaning and power to life.
Hi Tim,
Thank you for this contest. Great idea! Great book!
If I had 36 extra hours per week I’d do a lot of cool things.
I’d enjoy my life to the fullest by focusing on what I want.
I would make joy my number one priority.
I’d spend more time with my three young homeschooled children, reading, playing, exploring the outdoors, traveling, and opening their eyes to all that this world has to offer.
I would teach people about the Law of Attraction and the Art of Allowing. I would teach them how they can create the life of their dreams by believing that they are worthy of anything they can dream of, whether it is health, prosperity, freedom, or a 4-hour work week. ☺
I’d spend time raising money to make the best BMX track in Jefferson County, WA so that kids of all ages, boys and girls, can come and enjoy BMX racing, get exercise, have fun, and participate in a great individual sport that is family-centered.
I’d market my husband’s artwork so that more people would have the opportunity to enjoy his unique style and his creative and joyful artistic expression. (www.mikebiskup.com)
I’d dance more, exercise more, make love more, learn French, travel to Mexico, spend time with friends, support global peace projects and organic food production, garden, read great books, listen to more music and audiobooks, go to live concerts, attend our local community events, and hang out at the beach with my family and friends.
I would start a website/blog for parents to support them in raising their children with respect, freedom, and unconditional love – to help them parent in JOY!
I’d do The Work of Byron Katie for free with people who want to break through their limiting beliefs that keep them locked in fear, sadness, anger, and depression.
I’d spend more time outdoors, experiencing nature and wildlife.
I’d help others learn how they can live the four-hour work week lifestyle and embrace a joy-filled life.
Thanks!
Lisa Biskup
– Homeschool my kids so they can see the benefits of living life to its fullest and to the beat of their own drums
– Take my wife and kids with me whenever I travel
– Spread the word wherever i go about the tangible contribution of http://www.50lanterns.org/, where the poorest of the poor’s lives are changed by receiving solar powered lanterns
– Speak Italian
– Read Czechoslovakian so I can read Milan Kundera in his original language
– Become a top level cook
– Become a pilot
– Go to Italy, Prague, Vienna, Ireland in that order
– Trace my family lineage as far back as I can
36 hours a week…..I would do three things.
1) Nothing: I would set aside time to have nothing planned. In a world in which “Not doing� is seen as laziness, I find that true relaxation is an activity as rare as true productivity. I would call my grandparents, cousins, and friends more often. I would take walks with my family and I would read….not about motivation or great achievement but about love, beauty, and personal experience.
2) I would work on the crucial elements of climbing the seven summits; a personal dream of mine. These include physical conditioning, technical climbing skills, confidence, and money. I was lucky enough to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and will be attending climbing school in Ecuador this upcoming January. Continuing to increase my physical and mental stamina coupled with pursuing business endeavors that allow passive income will give me the time, money, and mindset to complete this dream.
3) Travel to disaster areas to aid in the rescue and rebuilding efforts. After volunteering in Mississippi in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, I found that those who have been hit hard by an unforeseen event are paralyzed by the shock. The extremely rewarding experience I had with Katrina inspires me to follow this important medium to give to those in need. I would use some of my time to travel to spots that had recently been hit by natural disasters and help in the recovery process.
Conclusion: I am an explorer at heart. In the essay I wrote to gain admissions to the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, I compared myself to Roland of Gilead in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Russell Crow in Master & Commander. If there is one thing that I am passionate about, it would be experiencing new situations. If I had 36 extra hours per week, only great things could result. Whether it’s photography, muay thai, climbing, languages, wine, writing, or woman, the premise of this essay (if I had 36 extra hours per week) is not so much a what if question for me, but rather a well-defined goal that I will achieve in the near future.
Thank you,
Mike Cooke
My best friend refers me to your book, insisting that it’ll change my life. He tells me how excited he is to apply what he’s learned and capitalize on the wisdom you’ve imparted. He tells me that I need to write 350 words on, “What I’d do with 36 extra hours per week?” to win a trip around the world… and when I ask him why he doesn’t try himself he says it’s pointless because he’s too busy to take the trip! Ahhhh, the irony. So anyway, how many words do I have left?
With 36 extra hours a week I’d do a lot. Here’s one of my better ideas that I may never have the time to follow through on – unless of course I heed the advice of your book. For many years I’ve seen a gaping need in our educational curriculum. We’ve been teaching foreign languages forever without giving students any incentive to succeed. What 8th grader desires to speak with someone in a foreign language? Or thinks they’re going to someday travel the world? Very, very few. Simply put, they aren’t motivated to learn a language because they haven’t been properly exposed to the wonders of the world in a way that excites them and ultimately encourages them to travel! I propose building a website with History Channel slash MTV style travel videos using multicultural action correspondents to excite kids about traveling and meeting people from other cultures – then marketing the programs to be used as teaching materials in schools. Imagine students watching kids their own age hike Machu Picchu, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, ride the Siberian Express or track lions on an African safari? The site would work to facilitate student travel and even encourage kids to post their own international adventure videos. Inspire kids to explore and they’ll discover a reason to study!
I’ve mentored a 16 year-old for the past 5 years. Opening his mind and the minds of other kids to the possibility of travel can improve the world. I’m sure of it.
PS – I win, my mentee comes with!
Take the adage of Think Globally, Act Locally to heart.
With an extra 36 hours of time each week, in the prime hours of 9-5, I would spend more time on homesteading and foraging.
Living in rural Maine, I’m surrounded by the natural beauty of oceans, lakes, woods and fields. While beautiful, much of it is edible as well. There are crustaceans, seaweeds and mollusks in the ocean; fish and crawdads in the lakes; mushrooms, wild animals, edible wild vegetables and herbs in the fields and woods. They’re there for the taking, they’re natural, organic and sustainable.
In addition to foraged goods, homesteading offers an alternative to commercial petroleum based agriculture. Growing fruits and vegetable, raising bees, chickens, goats and sheep – all reduce my carbon footprint and impact on this world.
Use of our natural lands for subsistence is possible, but time consuming. Not only do you have to find and identify these things, but you need to prepare and preserve them due to their seasonality. Small scale homesteading and farming takes a huge time commitment, and planning that time to remain able to move about the planet is a challenge I could use some help with.
What would I do with an extra 36 hours a week? Make my life more local, sustainable and green.
If I only had to work four hours a week, there would be many changes in my life.
The first change would be to help my parents more. They’re both in their 80s, and need some assistance. Since my mother has advanced Alzheimer’s and is also unable to walk, it seems like she could never receive too much attention. My father, who suffered a stroke some time ago, is physically active, but still feels overwhelmed at times. So there are chores like grocery shopping to take care of for two households.
I also have a five month old baby; I’d like to spend more time with her. My wife could also use more help; she too feels overloaded.
With the extra free time I’d like to take classes in Teaching English as a Second Language. I could teach locally for now, and far in the future, overseas. I taught English in Mexico before, but I want to learn how to excel at it.
As a registered nurse, I work with private duty patients with such special problems as being handicapped, elderly, children with autism or needing a ventilator (a machine to help them breathe).
I generally work 12 hours a day, including every Saturday, leaving home before 6 to drive to work, and getting home after 8 p.m. Getting up early on Saturday morning, restricts my social activities on Friday nights, and also on Saturday nights, since I’m sleepy from getting up so early. So I hardly ever make social plans with friends who live nearby. With all this free time and extra money, I would completely stop working on weekends, and reserve them for social, family and church activities.
While I would have to coordinate travel plans with other family members, I’d take a lot more short trips to see friends in different locations.
There’s a lot to see in Australia, a big trip there would be the grand prize.
Other plans: biking, reading, writing books, music, acting.
Living life to the fullest, interacting with loved ones and making new friends, are the ultimate goals.
I just want to give props to everyone who’s shared their thoughts here. Very inspirational. Best of luck to all of you.
– Joe
Unlike most of the previous posters I have the great fortune of working in the nonprofit sector and everyday I am able to see the change that I am making in the world. This is a fantastic feeling and I can’t imagine working in a job where I wasn’t able to have that impact. My dilemma is that while I spend 40 hours a week (I am moving towards four hours a week though, using tips from the book) making the world a better place, the nature of paid work is that it takes the joy out of the experience. Whether you become a professional surfer or you give away money to nonprofits professionally, which is what I do, you start to lose the passion that brought you to that career in the first place if you are depending on that position for your daily bread and a roof over your head. I would do my job for free if I was wealthy but having income tied to the position makes it more and more difficult to only spend time on the parts of the position that you enjoy.
If I had an extra 36 hours a week I would:
-Spend more time on my passion of bringing young and diverse people into the nonprofit sector (check out my blog on this topic at http://www.newvoicesofphilanthropy.blogspot.com)
-Finally implement some of my many ideas about how to generate passive income using principles from 4HWW.
-Teach my children that creating a common good is so important to living in a just and free society. Sometime when you spend your whole day working on improving your community and making the worlds a better place, you forget to show your children why that is important. I want to spend time volunteering with my kids and traveling around the world with them to show them that 95% of the world does not have access to the same financial and civic resources that we do, so that they can appreciate the gift that they have been given by just being born a U.S. citizen.
I’m sitting here at work starring at a screen after being outside for my 1 hour “recess�. This job which most would consider a great job for a 21 year old used to be enjoyable, it used to be my passion and now I’m lucky if I can get through a day without wanting much more from my life.
My job has been pushing me to want out for the past few months. I just kept saying its not the right time, I wont be able to make ends meet, I wont be able to live the lavish life I currently do, Ill just wait another month and things will be right. I’m sure those thoughts are very familiar to many.
A few weeks ago a very good friend returned from an international trip. He had a new perspective on life, a refreshed sense of what really mattered and an itch to escape the conventional structure of life as most know it. The position I was in with my job made me easily influenced and in a half hour phone conversation made me decide my life needed to change and it needed to happen now.
Soon after that I stumbled upon you book which immediately put everything I had always wanted to do within immediate reach. I immediately took action dreamlining and implementing the principles you discuss in your book. At that point I decided it was time to eliminate any excuses or fear I’ve ever had. I would not live life for my weekends any longer.
To jump back to the present, sitting here at my desk doesn’t feel so bad; in 2 days I’m telling the boss that I will no longer be supporting their goals. I made a commitment to myself that my first office job will also be my last. I will no longer be spending my time immersed in tech jargon staring at a computer screen for 10 hours a day. I need that extra 36 hours to change the world. I am reclaiming my life and giving myself the “endless summer�.
My list of what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life would go on for pages so ill keep it short. I will learn everything I can, accomplish everything I’ve ever wanted, and bring my assistance to the unfortunate in the US and abroad. I’m determined to leave my mark and positively change the world.
[…] idea of winning a trip sounds cool, but that’s probably not in the cards for me. I’m too unlucky when it comes […]
If I had an extra 36 hours per week I would:
Spend an extra 20 minutes in bed each day cuddling with my love
Take cooking classes from local chefs in France, Italy, Greece, Brazil, China, India, and Japan
Obtain a joint graduate degree in social work and public health
Learn enough about carpentry, plumbing, and electrical wiring to be useful in building/repairing homes
Ride horses
Become fluent in Mandarin and Tibetan
Travel around the world living with, learning from, and helping people as needed, frequently returning to Western China/Tibet to volunteer for the Winrock Sustainable Tibetan Communities project.
If I had an extra 36 hours a week I would quit my job, sell my house and car, and move to Buenos Aires, Argentina to teach English and study philosophy at the University, and get a maid to clean my house, do my laundry and cook me breakfast for 2 hours for 20 Argentine pesos, or $7 US. I would learn how to dance the Argentine tango and I would always tango in custom made suits with my initials on them that my tailor in Argentina fits me for and my virtual assistant in India sends to tailors in Thailand who assemble the clothes and then send back to me. After I became totally fluent in Argentine Spanish I would move to Kyoto Japan to once again, teach english and promote literacy, and to meditate with the Zen monks and learn aikido, wear kimonos, practice calligraphy and become skilled in the arts of samurai warriors. After I attained fluency in Japanese, I would embark on a journey, beginning on New Year’s Eve in New York to go to all of the giant festivals all across the world for a year, document my experiences and then write a book about it, running with the bulls in Spain, Carnaval in Rio, Chinese New Year’s in Bei-Jing; after achieving notoriety as an author, I would spend the next few years in poorer countries promoting literacy, delivering books to small impoverished places that otherwise would never receive the joy of knowing how to read, to be transported to a fictional land through words, or to have the ability to educate and improve themselves through reading. I would donate my time and money help the children of Sierra Leone get and eduction and show them that there are options out there for them other than the life they have become accustomed to. I would adopt a girl from China who had been unwanted or abandoned due to the still stringent birth laws. I would dedicate my life to world travel and philanthropy.
When I graduated college I told everyone who asked what I was looking for in a career that what I wanted was casual dress and flexible hours. I have come close, but with the help of this book I will be able to achieve just that.
Leap and the net will appear. That is my favorite quote and I have it posted on my office wall. I just picked up this book on Friday, and visited this website today, in time to participate in the contest. I am taking a leap.
With an extra 36 hours a week I would spend more time with my husband. We just got married in October and I feel like we never get to see each other. He is a professional Muay Thai fighter and teacher, and I would love to go to Thailand with him. I have never traveled abroad, and it would be great to train Muay Thai and learn more about the culture and traditions hands-on.
I would reconnect with myself and my goals. I would resume my acting career. I would resume my belly dancing career. Both are my loves, but have been put on the back burner because my life is being spent in front of a desk, trying to get money so I can quit and pursue my dreams. I would spend more time being an activist in regards to our environment and global warming. I would volunteer at our local animal shelter. I would backpack in Hawaii. I would take a trip to Alaska with my dad. I would go to Venice. I would learn to speak different languages. Because of this book I see how silly I have been, and how I have been going about this the wrong way. These are things I want to do NOW, not wait until someday when maybe I have the money and maybe I am retired. Screw what society would like to impose, I am looking forward to my 4 hour work week, and living with my own lifestyle design!
How would I use an extra 36 hours a week? I find this question hard to answer because I can’t take my attention away from the question’s underlying assumption: work is bad! Why is it that how we spend 40 hours a week, our very reason for waking up five days a week, is so bad that we would like it be to one-tenth the duration? As a recent college graduate at a crossroads of making my life a meaningful adventure or a 9-5 lifestyle I just endure, the idea of spending 40 hours a week wishing time would pass by faster is painfully depressing. Young Americans are in a situation unlike any other in history and geography: we don’t need to work to get food on the table, to support our families, to simply survive. Being so young and so uncommitted to any real responsibilities, how do so many of us so easily accept spending forty hours a week doing something we loath, or at best merely tolerate? When did work become work? Or, more relevant, why didn’t work stop becoming work?
That said, how would I use an extra 36 hours a week? Working! But not working some inflexible, unfulfilling 9-5 that serves no purpose other than to put money in my pocket and perhaps to pave the way for a more prestigious, higher paying 9-5 that I can spend 40 hours of my future weeks enduring. I would spend 36 hours a week doing something that challenges me, that I constantly learn from, that allows me to grow as a person and to give onto others. I hope that when I make the decision of how to spend my post-college years, I keep this in mind because, for any halfway talented young American lucky enough to be from a halfway affluent family, how to ideally spend 36 hours of your week is not a hypothetical question. It would be a waste of my youth, my life, and my fortunate situation to live otherwise.
The addition of 36 hours a week would afford me the opportunity to work with my son on his development needs. He currently is 15 years old, so I only have him for another 3 years before he is off to college. I need to instill in him values which he currently does not possess. Primarily, speaking skills with adults, a sense of commitment, and self-confidence. I am concerned about his ability to compete with others given these weaknesses.
He is very kind, trusting, and a joy but needs a dose of reality prior to entering the competitive arena.
In addition, I have always wanted to work with The Nature Conservancy and would pursue a role with that organization to support their efforts especially with Latin America.
My grandfather always said there are two types of people in this world: Those that do the work and those that take the credit. It is better to be in the former as there is less competition.
Many young people dream to travel but don’t feel capable. Many others travel but don’t get out of the experience what they could. In five months of living and studying in India I discovered that it is an excellent place to develop a new understanding of the world. With more time in my week I will work to make my dream career a reality, to develop an experiential education program that will help young adults work for their dreams and develop a global consciousness. This program will delve into community service, work to learn the local language, foster self-directedness, and instill an appreciation for nature in young adults.
Cultural learning will take place on the level. We will study Hindi at the Landour Language School, time will be spent in home-stays, and travel will utilize public transportation. We will have extended stays to experience and learn about social organizations such as Navdanya (http://www.navdanya.org/), the Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org/), and modern leper colonies. These organizations are led by people making their own ideals become reality and effecting social change. Students will contribute to the people of India and also learn real world applicable ways to make their own dreams possible.
The role of the group leaders will be to facilitate learning not to dictate it. Students will be encouraged to fundraise a portion their program fee. In addition they will complete a personal project where they may take up Indian music, cooking, meditation, journalism, creating a photography portfolio or documentary. They will work as a team to choose, organize, and lead a group trip to some location in India. Students will have challenging adventures hiking in the Himalayan Mountains and camel trekking in the Rajasthani desert.
The idea here is to make people more capable, and let them see for themselves what changes the world needs. With the help of this prize I would feel able to accomplish this goal. In college I studied group facilitation and I now work leading adventure programs. I know my capabilities and my accomplishments will follow where my heart guides me.
Thanks for the consideration.
[…] Enter here: Writing Contest […]
“What I would do with an extra 36 hours a week”
I would use the time to create my life long dream of having a non-profit that assists individuals in creating the life of their dreams. Whether they choose to start a business or work on improving themselves. I will contract experts in all areas to insure everyone is covered for whatever they need. The people the non-profit assists would agree to donate at least 5% or more of their income or businesses income for a set time to the organization to fund future endeavors. This is something I see myself waking up in the morning and being very passionate about.
Thanks for creating the space to dream!!!! feels good…
I would put those 36 hrs into creating a roadtrip across the united states to go and interview the most amazing people that have all followed their dreams and are living a life that they love like Tim Ferriss… We would film the whole adventure and also have an internet tv show with our videos and stories of what we were exploring!! 🙂 My intention would to provide entertainment and education for people and to wake people up that we can do anything that we want to do and there is a whole world of possiblity out there. The next film/adventure would be to travel the world and study, taste, experience, celebrate life… focusing mostly on spirituality and healing….. yummy I would be in heaven!
I would also create an online community that transforms the way that we as women view ourselves and our bodies. To travel and uncover the beauty secrets and interview women and get the different views of beauty worldwide. To bring connection to women all over the world so that we can all join together and celebrate our Goddess nature! 🙂 To become a voice for women to love themselves and give them the tools, the love and the knowledge so that they can dare to be their most radiant selves. Which is a nonprofit that I want to start this year, the we are beautiful foundation.
My own personal dream is to become a cover girl on a fitness magazine – I just started a blog today http://www.iamyourcovergirl.com. so, i would spend a lot of time optimizing my body, mind as well…..Hot!!!! 🙂
My life purpose is to continually grow and expand myself to be the most amazing woman I can be and be an example of what is possible.. and inspire others to do the same!!! To live by this quote – “The rules of reality can be bent, just requires thinking in different terms” 🙂
Can’t wait to meet you!!
Alexandra
I work for a wonderful company that provides services for people with developmental disabilities, but a lot of the work that I do is the “filler/crap/useless running about” that Tim discusses in his book. With 36 extra hours a week I would spend a little more time with my family, a little more time in the sun, and a lot more time doing the really important work that needs to be done in the area of civil rights for people with developmental disabilities, physical disabilties, and other populations that don’t have the same rights as others. I’d advocate for everyone to have the right to go where they choose, work if they desire, marry the love of their life, and travel without fear.
With 36 extra hours a week I would teach The Art of Living course, http://www.artofliving.org. The 36 extra hours at my disposal would allow time for organizing the course, setting up complinentary intro sessions, and honing my communication skills. It would also leave time to participate in the Art of Living Foundations service projects. I have been with the Foundation 10 years as a volunteer and organizer and have not completed the Teachers Training course due to time and $$ constraints. I would use the airfare to travel to India for the next teachers training Pt 2 to be offered as I cannot attend the one closer to home (Canada) this summer. I’m asking that everyone peruse our website as no matter what, I’m a winner with the knowledge I’ve garnered from the Art of Living courses.
meow
your kiki
I would spend 36 hours more a week trying to revive the zombies around me.
– Alek G.
Since the age of 6, I’ve had an inexplicable passion for Tibet and Tibetan culture. I would use my extra 36 hours to move to western China and work with the Sustainable Tibetan Communities project. I would apprentice with home builders to learn how to actually, physically build a green home. My mister would, of course, come with and start a micro-lending organization. We would take several hours each day to become fluent in Tibetan and Mandarin. Another hour or so to go hiking or horseback riding. Three hours of tea-drinking, momo-eating, and friendship-building in our new hometown. Ending the day with cooking classes, reading, and watching the sunset… this all just gives me the shivers. I’ve got to make it happen.
With 36 extra hours a week, I would negotiate a dramatically reduced workload and salary, and continue to work at this job I love on my own terms.
I’m the worship pastor at a church in Columbia, Illinois. Some of what I do—teaching, personal and spiritual coaching of college students and young adults—I love. Other parts—administration and endless meetings—I dislike. They are not my strengths and are a waste of time. By reducing my salary, the church could hire others to handle administration.
I’m 36 years old. It’s time for me to focus where my strengths and the world’s need come together.
With the extra time, I would take frequent trips to international locations where the churches and Christians are suffering. I’ve traveled to Indonesia, France and Cuba so far. I’m planning to return to Cuba and go to China.
My muse (currently in development!) would fund my travel, subsidize the travel for the students I take, and provide money to share with and bless our suffering brothers throughout the world.
I would take college students with me to expose them to the rest of the world and to help them see what’s being done in the spirit of Jesus Christ, far more than they will get in narcissistic American churches. They need their eyes opened early so they can spend their lives to bless the world.
I’m planning a dream trip around the world for 2010. So far I plan to take a week long seminar at Oxford, and to tour Britain, the home of four of my heroes: Churchill, Tolkien, Lewis and Shakespeare. I would study French in France, and then travel to West Africa, where I am working on opportunities to teach in English and French language seminaries. I also have dreams of visiting the child I sponsor through World Vision in Zambia, traveling to Sydney to meet and learn from the globally influential worship team at Hillsong Church, learning Spanish and rafting the Grand Canyon.
Mark Warnock
Two years ago I was walking home from work when two men assaulted me. I refused to give in to their demands, and though they tried to twist my arm, I escaped them. I escaped because I am a freak show contortionist. Although they tried their best to bend and break me, they could not. My shoulders pop out of their sockets, I can bend my body in half, stand on my hands and head, wrap and unwrap myself. I am a freak. I am proud.
My dream is to revive the Freak Show I performed with in college. With 36 hours a week, free from my nine to five grind, I would do just that. I would build my show and take it on the road, travel across the country and the world.
I love to perform and write. I want to educate and inform people about self defense and self awareness though the Freak Show. In a freak show, performers take risks and push the limits of human endurance, facing fears and phobias directly. They face these fears logically and rationally, where others might panic and give in to fear. Panic and fear lead to far worse things than standing on glass, eating fire, or laying on a bed of nails. With the show as a vehicle, I could teach the same kind of self defense that saved me, and teach techniques to others in this increasingly dangerous world.
I want to use the freak show as a vehicle for promoting awareness of the strength of the human body and spirit. I want to educate against fear, for reason, and I want to do it with the people who have often been the ones to usher in change, the freaks, those who are different, those who are willing to take risks, to change.
I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to bring world peace, fix the health care system, and stop global warming. I believe that people can, in a sense, give others great value after they have first taken on the task to improve themselves. How can you truly enjoy life without doing things to improve yourself? Eventually, I want to become a professional pick up artist. Most people will laugh when they read this. I love women and want to help men develop their confidence and abilities to be the best they can be in all social interactions. Most guys lack the social abilities to get the woman they truly want. Every guy wants an attractive woman with a great personality that complements them, but most guys settle for something less. Most problems and lack of happiness in people’s lives comes from unsuccessful relationships. People don’t have to live an unhappy life. I want my skills and experiences to reflect the interesting personality, high confidence, and frame of mind I want to exhibit. It’s easy to remain stagnant and settle for less, is it not? To better develop these traits, there is a long list of things I would like to accomplish. I would love to become a practitioner of self hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming, to be a magician, how the play the violin (again) and the piano, learn Spanish (even though I took 5 years of it) and Italian, become a black belt in a school of martial arts, and to develop my security business (www.shadowatch.com). Not only will these skills help me achieve my personal goals, but will allow me to convey the strong frame of mind and social status I need when interacting with anyone. This, in turn, will allow me to teach other individuals these same traits.
I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to bring world peace, fix the health care system, and stop global warming. I believe that people can, in a sense, give others great value after they have first taken on the task to improve themselves. How can you truly enjoy life without doing things to improve yourself? Eventually, I want to become a professional pick up artist. Most people will laugh when they read this. I love women and want to help men develop their confidence and abilities to be the best they can be in all social interactions. Most guys lack the social abilities to get the woman they truly want. Every guy wants an attractive woman with a great personality that complements them, but most guys settle for something less. Most problems and lack of happiness in people’s lives comes from unsuccessful relationships. People don’t have to live an unhappy life. I want my skills and experiences to reflect the interesting personality, high confidence, and frame of mind I want to exhibit. It’s easy to remain stagnant and settle for less, is it not? To better develop these traits, there is a long list of things I would like to accomplish. I would love to become a practitioner of self hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming, to be a magician, how the play the violin(again) and the piano, learn Spanish (even though I took 5 years of it) and Italian, become a black belt in a school of martial arts, and to develop my security business (www.shadowatch.com). Not only will these skills help me achieve my personal goals, but will allow me to convey the strong frame of mind and social status I need when interacting with anyone. This, in turn, will allow me to teach other individuals these same traits.
I like the posts that are to the point, but I really can’t do that with my hopes and dreams. First I have to tell you about Ghana. Last summer, as a part of my undergraduate scholarship, I traveled to Ghana for three months to intern on a women’s health project with a nonprofit there. As it turned out, the nonprofit only taught me how not to run an NGO, and I was the only person to have ever volunteered with them regarding health. Ever. I ended up basically writing a book (including general healthcare for women and reproductive health issues like STIs, birth control, pregnancy, and childbearing) and teaching it to women in Sogakope, my home base, and lots of small outlying villages.
While I was living this adventure, I met Aggie, who is simply amazing. She used to work in the streets of Accra, rescuing children from homelessness and sheer destitution. She transferred her work to Sogakope and the Bwim region of the country, and now she has a free school for children who can’t pay for private school, as well as five orphans living with her as her own children. Yeah…she’s incredible. The Bwim region of the country has a terrible AIDS problem, and that’s where our work came together: she is building an orphanage there for the AIDS orphans, and I taught sexual health classes there to the slightly older members of the population.
I’m a junior in college, majoring in Women’s Studies and International Studies. I could use my 36 hours a week to study more so I could get good grades and have the official pieces of paper necessary to begin my life as a nonprofit worker. But I’d rather use my 36 hours a week to fundraise for Aggie’s orphanage, write new and better classes (perhaps even translate them to Spanish, which I’m in Costa Rica learning right this moment!), and travel, teaching as I go. Women’s education and healthcare are, to me, the most important factors in saving the world, and I want to save the world in my own small way.
With 36 more hours a week, I’ll take my 10-year-old triplets to Europe for the trip of a lifetime — a year of culture and language immersion.
I already have an online business that supports us, and realized while reading 4HWW that everything can be outsourced. I’ve hired a VA firm and am transitioning everything over to them.
The biggest “aha” for me came on page 28: “…far from being a reason not to travel and seek adventure, children are perhaps the best reason of all to do both.” I realized that the world can be their school — instead of reading about art & history, they can see it, touch it, experience it. I researched accredited homeschooling programs and found several that have worked well for others.
You should’ve seen the looks on my children’s faces when I proposed the trip — sheer excitement, wonder and happiness at the prospect of us spending time together, seeing new things, meeting other children, learning new languages. That’s all kids really want, to spend time with their parents — they don’t care about all the “stuff”.
We watch European travel videos nightly, and use pushpins to mark places of interest on the map. The kids now have European penpals and have found other traveling families online. I found a couple of books on overseas travel with kids, but there’s not much out there.
Which brings me to how our trip will make a difference: we’ll connect with other globetrotting families, interview them, and compile their stories into a book about the rewards and challenges of such an adventure. We’ll have a travel blog for sharing photos and videos of the families we meet. I’ll also create an online community where families can freely exchange overseas travel information and experiences.
This will show other families that this IS doable, and list specific resources to help them get started living the life of their dreams, including ideas for creating profitable muses! I’ve written a book on using the Internet to promote local business, and plan to spread that message in Europe as well.
I would spend more time with my sons. Although my sons are quite young now, I want to teach them many new skills that I didn’t have the opportunity to learn until I was much older. I think that I can accomplish this while giving back to the community as a whole. I also would like to expose them to many new cultures through the wonderful vehicle of world travel.
As soon as my boys can swing a hammer with any real skill, I would like to get them involved with Habitat for Humanity. It’s a great organization with at wonderful goal. Not only would I like to volunteer locally, but I’d eventually like to travel to the many international sites where Habitat for Humanity International helps build communities. I think I and my sons would learn a great deal, both technically and socially, from the challenge of building homes for deserving families in Uganda, or a school for a community in Guatemala. Combining these excursions with educational opportunities while on these trips would be the ultimate goal. Get to know the local peoples, learn about their culture, and visit local historical sites. Then there are the real adventure trips, like building homes in Tahiti or New Zealand. Or even the more local opportunities, like rebuilding communities in New Orleans. “Yes, Son, that is an alligator in that house!�
Another task I would like to get the family involved in would be planting trees. A goal I have is to take my family to all the National Parks in the nation (and a few international ones as well). One great thing we can all do is to plant trees in our forests, especially ones that have been devastated by clear-cutting and other detrimental logging practices. I did a lot of tree planting in my youth, and think it was a great experience. You get to experience the beauty of the forest and do something good for it in return.
These are just a few of the things I would do. But 350 words won’t cover it all. More later!
Ode to Timothy. and that ain’t Hay.
Just a thought.
Thanks Tim for The 4 – Hour Workweek.
Thanks Tim for turning my whole business world upside down.
Thanks Tim for bringing me one of those rare moments in life where you know exactly what you need to do.
Thanks Tim for keeping me up until the wee hours in the morning for 4 days after I read your book.
Thanks Tim for making the first thoughts before I went to sleep and then upon waking, figuring out which Muse I was going to bring to life.
Thanks Tim for on the 5th day when it hit me like a ton of bricks that the answer was right before me. Thanks time for helping work 114 hours in 6 days on my Muse and be able enjoy every single minute of it because I knew it was indeed going to leading me to my 4 – Hour Workweek.
Thanks Tim form for making me excited about everything again.
Thanks Time for having one single thought that changed everything for anyone that wants to take control of their own thoughts. The thought I am thanking your for is “ I think I will right a book�.
What a great thought!
Thanks Tim
Just a thought…
(no this is not my entry) 🙂
Change is coming. My insides feel unsettled. My husband feels it. Whatever the change, it will be better. It won’t be the first time.
It took 60-hour weeks and illnesses for me to stop working. My husband, in the military at the time, brought home an opportunity: Italy. For three years, we absorbed ourselves in the culture and language. We slowed our pace. We allowed the discovery of what makes us each happy. I wrote the stories I formerly put aside; my husband helped develop paintball there. Our relationship became sacred. Life made sense. Despite military pressures, we lived beautifully. Years before you wrote your book, we lived your guidelines.
In July of 2002, we left the military and returned to the States. Life seemed difficult again. We did not entirely forget who we became. We still write and play paintball. But we felt pressured to “fit in�: we bought a house, gave in to family obligations and my husband works 60-hour weeks. We allowed distractions.
We know this. It is time to change. We want to return to Italy, where we first felt at home. To remember. To discover what has changed, what has remained. Does Aida still own the pizzeria? Does the priest still hold confessions outside? Does our surrogate grandmother still make gnocchi? Do we still fit? We need to remember our lessons, our place because this trip would end by helping another couple move stateside.
As far as the money goes, I want to give it to our friends. My friend is American; her husband, Italian. After a year of marriage that has weathered the death of a parent, the birth of a child and two jobs lost, they are moving to the States. With yet another change, they are excited yet terrified. Afraid of losing a slower pace, afraid of fitting in, afraid of distractions.
We want to show them it is okay to step on and off one’s path. To quit when necessary. To begin again. We need that for ourselves. We want that for them.
Thank you,
Syndy
Guess what? I HAVE ALREADY WON THE PRIZE! Because I am already on my way to the 4 – Hour Workweek. It is not a matter of if, only of when and it looks like it will be soon indeed. My uberMuse has already started making money! It is partially up and running and she is doing great! It is so exciting.
What am I going to be doing with my 4 – Hour Workweek? I am going to be applying the same leveraging principles that I learned from Tim into farming and planting. As to the crop, read on.
You can give a away a dollar to charity or even a whole day of your time, but if you give that same dollar or time to a an Entrepreneur, it gets multiplied a thousand fold. I am using the biggest lever know to man. The human desire to better oneself. What am I going to be planting and farming? That would be Entrepreneurs of course.
If you asked me to explain what an Entrepreneur is to someone that has never heard of the term, I would say this. An Entrepreneur is the person that rather than just cutting a flower to take to a friend, takes a pot of them along so their friend can enjoy them all of the time.
My good deed will be to plant as many Entrepreneurs as possible. With just a little time and effort you can help plant one who can effect change for thousands of people. Each one giving away thousands of pots of flowers!
Capitalism and Entrepreneurs have helped more people than all other institutions combined. They have won two World Wars, stamped out slavery, fascism, communism, and have freed billions of people from oppression and poverty. Both of the above give people hope that they too can better themselves if only given the opportunity.
I plan on giving as many people as I can that opportunity. I believe Entrepreneurs are the best seed for change that can be planted. See you in the fields !
36 extra hours per week!
I begin my journey having awoken from a restful sleep, awaking to my own internal clock not that of a blaring radio or alarm clock, invigorated and alert I easily jumped out of bed in anticipation of the journey before me.
My new home a modern day studio on wheels complete with a shower, kitchen, full-sized bed, flat screen television, microwave, satellite and more awaits.
Having said goodbye to my friends and family, with only one concern, that I hope to make up for on my travel blog: smartgreenliving.com
Going on my journey means not being an advocate for GAL the guardian ad litem program, an organization committed to being a voice for the thousands of abused and neglected children throughout our communities see http://www.vfcgal.org
By mentioning it on my blog I hope to more than make up for my absence by spreading the word and involving a lot more people.
As I trek across the country learning, educating and spreading the word about another topic near and dear to me, restoring the only planet we have.
Stopping along the way and sharing all my findings, discoveries, revelations, people and places who are making a positive impact on planet earth on my blog.
Between gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, sustainable architecture, earth building, solar, wind, bio fuel processing..
After finishing my trek across the United States, I begin preparations for my trip into Russia where I would be a volunteer for one of the International youth Camps like Planet XXI Project in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
As well as traveling, practiceing my Russian and seeing the beautiful architecture in Moscow etc..
Oh and the $1,000.00 would go to the GAL to be used to buy little items like dolls, teddy bear, truck or school supplies. many of these children dont even have that!
If I had an extra 36 hours a week I would make videos or CD’s for teachers that show them how to incorperate fine art into their classrooms. I would use a variety of age level students, to be able to meet the needs of all teachers. The videos/CD’s would show the teacher and the students actually doing the art project.
I would also like to make a teacher’s guide to go along with the videos/CD’s. These guides would include materials, objectives, timeline-if necessary, procedures, web page links, and helpful book information.
If I had 36 extra hours a week, I would:
Write more letters to friends and loved ones on cards I’ve designed with my personal photos
Study music and become a more proficient classical/electric guitar/electric bass player
Start a jam band, attend a music school
Build a classical guitar
Learn to play Francisco Tarrega’s “Requerdos de la Alhambra”
Improve my relative pitch, study principles of singing
Make clocks from exotic woods and give them as gifts to those who have taken time to shape my life
Study furniture design and create piece of furniture for personal use and for sale
Become a better craftsman, and make an 18th- Century Pennsylvania Secretary desk with hidden compartments
Rebuild my fathers original 1971 Nova and give to my father as a Father’s Day gift. It was his first car and is still in the family.
Scuba dive and lobster hunt when they are in season on the California coast.
Learn to sky dive, Learn to cliff dive,
Find things to jump off of, hang Glide
Scuba dive with Giant Squid
Learn technical diving to dive a sunken ship and recover “treasures” from the depths
Race an ostrich
Learn how to ride a horse
Study a Brazilian dance form
Study Capoeira
Do yoga daily
Be able to do a hand stand with in 2 months of trying
Learn to play chess
Learn to make beer
Learn to cook Thai food
Learn to make soups
Learn to speak Spanish
Grow Orchids
Read more books about history, travel, etiquette, things relating to personal interests
Learn about the California Coast and Marine life
Travel and photograph the California Coast and create a book of my trip
Travel to places known for things I am interested in learning
Participate in organizations promoting Coastal awareness and protection
Volunteer for a County Search and Rescue
Support film makers who want to do work like the “Blue Planet” series
Buy investment property
Give through United Way
Develop a consumer product that has to do with music, scuba diving or wood working
Support music programs on the K-12 level
With 36 extra hours per week, I would like to learn how to do nothing.
I currently manage to sneak productivity into absolutely everything I do—even things I do for enjoyment. I haven’t read a fiction book or seen a non-educational movie in years. I drive everywhere with (non-fiction) audio-books playing rather than music. At home, I spend all my time cleaning, organizing, and doing “important� things on the computer.
I plan for future productivity by writing out extensive schedules and to-do lists; then breaking the lists down further into time categories (e.g., today, this week, this month, this year) and logical headings (e.g., work, school, phone, online, finances, household).
I constantly promise myself (and others) that when I finally get caught up with everything, I will take some time to relax and have fun. However, it is recently occurring to me that this time will never actually come; but that the reason might lie more in my addiction to “doing� than in the amount of things I actually have to do.
Therefore, my extra 36 hours will be spent forcing myself to do “unproductive� things (e.g., read fiction, socialize, take walks on the beach) until it feels comfortable rather than stressful. I will also engage in meditation and other such practices that might help me to relax, be more mindful, live in the present moment, and learn to enjoy life.
Getting over my fear of being unproductive would benefit my friends and family by allowing me to spend time with them, enjoy their company, and listen to them without impatience or agendas.
This would benefit the world by preparing me to be more helpful to others whenever I have the opportunity. With these newfound skills, I would be willing to take the time to get to know people in-depth by spending quality time with them, listening to them, and hearing their opinions about what I could do to help them rather than using a pre-planned agenda based on my own concerns, interests, biases, and opinions of what would improve their life.
With my extra time I will be able to accelerate:
1. Getting One Million Quitters to stop smoking! My company enables the average Joe to invest a couple of grand and retire within a year. We teach “helping professionals” how to have the satisfaction of counseling people to quit smoking and earn six figures in 4-10 hours per week, saving lives and families!
2. I’m teaching my teenage daughter how she can follow her dreams and not have to work for a living, but can enjoy herself and make the world a better place while living an abundant life.
3. I’ve taught homeless people how to make money online at the public library and I’d expand this into a program.
Too many passions to list – I do them for the joy of it!
Given 36 additional free hours per week, I’d have to do something math related. I’m a recent graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics going on to work toward my master’s and eventually PhD. What would I do to help other people and myself? I’d teach mathematics, of course, because I think that’s one of the subjects that has the most payoff for the information learned.
Reading through the first quarter of The Four Hour Workweek, I was inspired to think deeply about the 80/20 principle and how Tim has asked us to apply it to many different aspects of life. I’ve come to the conclusion that on the academic level, learning math provides an immense amount of benefit and insight into all sorts of areas like law, medicine, science-related fields (physics, chemistry, biology), economics, and even business.
I’d like to teach young children around the world who don’t have access to the education that I’ve had about the beauty and power of mathematics so they may be off on a powerful start to learning and helping to change their own world into a better place. If we teach young people in Africa, Asia, South America and other disadvantaged areas, these people will help find ways to manage themselves and take charge of their own lives. They’ll be the next generation of climate scientists, water managers, computer techs, and agricultural analysts.
To help others, I’d teach math as most people do not envision it: as a manner of communication. Whether it be with professors, business partners, or your future self, it has the power to convince people of your ideas and about the way of the world. The deep and analytical thinking you gain from studying mathematics at any level provides you with more than just the ability to solve equations and word problems, it allows you to communicate with others about the world and the inherent patterns contained therein. That is how I would like to inspire people to make change.
If I had an extra 36 hours per week, I would do whatever it took to start a successful string of micro-lenders, specifically in the Phillipines, my native country. It is an unfathomable concept that many times, stopping the cycle of extreme poverty requires as little as a $2 loan.
How many people can I help if that’s all it takes for them to get enough of a lift that they are no longer in debt and able to finally begin accumulating profit, no matter how small. Consistent profits of 5 cents a day compounds to a better life and freedom, whereas taking on consistent small debt just to break even everyday is slavery.
There is enough money and enough know-how in the world to end extreme poverty, yet we focus efforts on silly things such as buying RED t-shirts at The GAP and think that we’re going to help those in need. The poor don’t need handouts; they need credit, and someone to believe in them as human beings, who when given the opportunity, will do WHATEVER it takes to succeed.
They’re already ‘surviving’ on NOTHING. Just imagine what they can do with just a little bit of credit and faith in them.
That’s how I would spend an extra 36 hours a week.
Thank you for allowing me to discover what I really want.
With 36 extra hours, I would:
-Spend a little more time on this response to make it wittier.
-Pursue my desire to make language learning games. In previous travels, I’ve found language learning books and software that are very good, but even the best grow dull over time. Unintentionally, games have taught me the name of every piece of medieval armor. So, I get frustrated when there are no games to teach me kanji or Thai tones.
-Travel to handpick a team of outsourced talent to make language learning games.
-Pick up new languages while traveling, both for research and for personal enjoyment.
-Publish affordable game-based language learning software that is both fun and affordable.
-If all goes well, gather language games into a master project that would be an online world where people from all over could learn each others’ languages through games and socializing. I believe learning each others’ heart languages and making friends across cultures is foundational to solving the bigger challenges in our world.
-Finally, I have a soft spot for Burmese refugees in Thailand. I’d donate time and funds to causes with creative helps for this group without a country. Specifically, I’d like to support a photographer friend who spends his time trying to raise awareness of their story.
You, the reader of this essay, might have felt what I feel. But the tension in the air around me is what you cannot feel, and my tears crashing onto this piece of paper is what you cannot see. My responsibilities to myself have engulfed me, pulled me down underneath the crashing waves of routine daily survival. One rip current after another pulls my family farther and farther apart, and I don’t have the time I need to help.
Family and laughter are so essential to human life, as a pair, and separately. My family, like many others, has fallen apart before my own eyes. I won’t go into it, because that is not what this essay is about. I must keep my chin up…I have 36 extra hours added onto each week of my life! These extra hours have been my dream since I saw my first condom…don’t get ahead of yourselves…since I saw my first condom floating in the Atlantic Ocean. From that first sighting, I only wished that I could take time every evening to clean up the Florida coastline, the place I call my home.
It gets better…This will be a team effort that will include my entire family. Working towards a goal together is the best way for people to bond. My brother and I will start to communicate again, my mother will feel like she has a purpose in life again, and my father will finally get to see his whole family cooperating as one. I believe that if we are able to physically make our natural environment clean, that we will in turn notice the waste in our lives that needs picking up. In making our beaches clean we will feel more inclined to go there as a family to see what is possible when we’re able to take time to work with one another instead of fighting and wishing we were apart. Our environment reflects our lives. A clean one is much easier to love and live in. With 36 hours I would save the two most important things in my life.
Through experience, I’ve reluctantly grown to appreciate just how important spaciousness and a slower pace of life are to my well-being – and how effective and focused my efforts can be when I allow myself to operate from that healthier place. Alas like so many in our fast-paced world, I sacrifice this far too readily and over-commit my time and energy to countless competing demands. Thus the first step is to just…slow…down. Simply having more time is no panacea: without deliberateness, thirty-six extra hours per week will quickly overflow again. I must invest these hours consciously for this pace to be sustainable.
To me, one such conscious investment involves youth rites of passage. Throughout history, cultures have honored and ritualized the significant transitions of life, such as birth, death, marriage – and especially the threshold between childhood and adulthood. Sadly, we seem to have lost touch with the latter in our modern Western world, where we often ignore the wisdom of our ancestors and of indigenous cultures about initiation rites. Our spirits have an intrinsic need to be accepted into ‘the tribe’ as a full-fledged, responsible adult; without this opportunity, young people often create their own, sometimes in unhealthy ways.
I would love to spend some extended time learning about (and experiencing, as possible) the rites of passage of cultures around the world: Africa, South America, Australia… These communities frequently involve themselves in the transformation of their young people in a much more direct way. How does this affect the way that youth relate to their communities and the world around them? And more importantly, what does this have to teach those of us in the “modern� West?
Of course, it’s simplistic to think that someone with an American upbringing could take a quick trip and have a meaningful impact from lessons of cultures very different than his own. But as the father of three now-young boys who will be soon moving into adolescence and on to adulthood, I strongly suspect that this is a journey worth undertaking with consciousness and humility.
11:00 AM
June 15, 2007
I am living Parkinson’s Law.
July 24, 2006
I begin work at a financial firm as a bond trader. 60 hours per week minimum. No lunch break. No sun, sky, or nature.
Yet I am excited. I have made it. I am a college graduate, I have obtained a respectable job, and I am banking a dream salary. I will always remember this day.
December 25, 2006
Christmas at my girlfriend’s house.
I am burnt out and thankful to have a day off. I enjoy the food, the company, and the holiday atmosphere, but something is missing.
I can’t help but experience jealousy as I watch her younger siblings open their presents. They are laughing, smiling, and approaching each moment with such verve for life. They are wise beyond their years.
Five months at my new job have passed. I am depressed.
May 2, 2007
Enter 4HWW. I back my way onto the book’s website after perusing Tim’s blog. It is a clever enough tag-line that I call Barnes & Noble.
It is my lucky day – one copy is in stock. I leave work early. As I read the book in Love Park, there is sun, sky, and nature.
May 17, 2007
I quit work today. Two weeks after picking up 4HWW, I am a free man. I have one new business in development, no respectable job, and I am not banking a dream salary. I will always remember this day.
36 hours a week. I would spend half of the hours helping children and returning as a tutor to a Learning Center I worked at in college. In turn this will help spend the other half reclaiming the child in me and fulfilling my dreamlines.
‘Ichi Go Ichi Ei’ – Each chance encounter could be the one that changes your life. I stumbled across that quote, which was used to describe Japanese tea ceremonies and living each unique moment to the fullest.
With your blessing, I am off to Japan to enjoy the sounds, sites, and sushi. Here’s to living in the moment.
I have had the answer to this exact question since my graduation from college in 2004. That May, I remember eagerly reading through stories written by people who had recently completed Peace Corps service. I was particularly moved by one man who had the insight to create at least 36 extra hours per week for himself, and used that time to travel to a small rural village in Brazil to help develop their economy. Basic economic principles and institutions were completely unknown in this town. He helped farmers work together to increase yields and decrease competition through expanding growth of crops. He also established the town’s first bank, which provided a solid economic infrastructure to grow.
Following this man’s example, with 36 extra hours per week, I will assist in community and economic development in poor and underdeveloped countries. Traveling is the thing I am most passionate about in life, and volunteering in this capacity will allow me to live in regions of the world where I may not otherwise get the opportunity to travel. Also, this work fits perfectly with my entrepreneurial spirit; with the knowledge and experience gained through volunteering, I plan to establish my own organization.
Teaching business and economic principles can increase the knowledge and wealth of rural and impoverished towns. For a very underdeveloped town this could lead to important advancements like efficient agricultural techniques to increase harvest yields. For a more advanced area, this teaching could fuel growth in education and therefore create more job opportunities, including jobs that utilize technology to connect with more advanced countries of the world. Even seemingly non-related issues like the AIDS epidemic could be positively impacted since a well-educated society would be more likely to understand the risks of unprotected sex.
Within 350 words, it is difficult to express all of my big ideas to make a positive global impact. As a believer in the principle of interconnectivity, it is my hope that increasing economic development in a small town has the potential to spread quickly and affect the larger surrounding area, country, continent, and eventually, the world.
Last November, I enjoyed the Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand. People launched lanterns up into the air, filling the sky with pinpricks of light as the lanterns ascended up into the heavens. The river sparkled with candlelight as thousands of lit krathong floats (with candles, leaves, flowers, incense, and coins) bobbed downstream as people released them in order to let their troubles float away. The mood was festive as firecrackers and fireworks of every shape and size lit the night sky.
However, the next morning, the scene was not so beautiful. Refuse of every shape and size clogged the river, murky and reeking of spent fireworks. Plastic lanterns, chunks of styrofoam from the krathongs, and various wrappers and stray bags floated near the shores, along with discarded fireworks. No doubt the river’s inhabitants of the river were severely distressed by the sudden infusion of non-biodegradable debris and chemicals.
With 36 extra hours a week, I would expand upon my current 9-5 job in environmental education to expand environmental awareness abroad while keeping local traditions alive. Transitions to more environmentally friendly (and often more traditional) alternatives (such as banana leaf krathongs for the festival) would make a great impact.
Environmental education is important because it spreads knowledge. Instead of working on one project with a localized impact, spreading education helps local people work on their own projects, targeting the areas that they believe need the most improvement and would have the greatest impact on their lives. Education is the key to this knowledge and I would like to do my part as a steward of the Earth to spread ecological awareness far and wide. Hopefully, by using those 36 hours a week for education, I would be able to multiply those hours by each person who learned something and was able to transform their newfound knowledge into a project that would benefit others.
I could certainly use 36 extra hours per week. As far as philanthropy goes, I would use the extra time to really develop two of my already-created websites, which I believe can contribute greatly to society. One is called ForYourCause.com, and it combines online consumerism with fundraising. Basically, by doing some everyday shopping on the site, a percentage of any purchase made goes to the charity of your choice, at no extra cost. From hotel bookings to buying a book online, a percentage of the money goes directly to your charity, every time.
The second website is WhatWhyWhere.net. This site is the newest network of local merchants and entertainment information on the Web. The main focus will be on restaurants, retailers, real estate and entertainment venues in cities all over America and eventually across the globe, complete with information such as virtual tours, directions, editorial recommendations, photo galleries, score cards, ratings and user reviews. What distinguishes WhatWhyWhere.net is that all listings are NOT rated or listed according to the highest advertising bidder, but through the integrity of actual reviewers who have been there, seen it, experienced it, etc.
I might also polish off my screenplay, titled, The Laundry Room—a true story about some misfit cops in the Atlantic City Police Department. I’ll then shop this around while I write another screenplay (I think I have one more in me) .
I would also use this extra time to experiment with my band, The ViP Lounge, as well as my home studio, which I am always trying to improve. Satisfied with my studio, I would try starting an independent record label, thereby recording and signing original bands and musicians, not so much for the sake of profit, but rather to generate a unique platform for original, unique, creative music and art. A scene, if you will.
As serious as I am, all of this would be entertained at my leisure. There will be much travel, whether it’s a few days exploring here in California, or 6 months in Africa.
Given 36 additional free hours per week, I’d have to do something math related. I’m a recent graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics going on to work toward my master’s and eventually PhD. What would I do to help other people and myself? I’d teach mathematics, of course, because I think that’s one of the subjects that has the most payoff for the information learned.
Reading through the first quarter of The Four Hour Workweek, I was inspired to think deeply about the 80/20 principle and how Tim has asked us to apply it to many different aspects of life. I’ve come to the conclusion that on the academic level, learning math provides an immense amount of benefit and insight into all sorts of areas like law, medicine, science-related fields (physics, chemistry, biology), economics, and even business.
I’d like to teach young children around the world who don’t have access to the education that I’ve had about the beauty and power of mathematics so they may be off on a powerful start to learning and helping to change their own world into a better place. If we teach young people in Africa, Asia, South America and other disadvantaged areas, these people will help find ways to manage themselves and take charge of their own lives. They’ll be the next generation of climate scientists, water managers, computer techs, and agricultural analysts.
To help others, I’d teach math as most people do not envision it: as a manner of communication. Whether it be with professors, business partners, or your future self, it has the power to convince people of your ideas and about the way of the world. The deep and analytical thinking you gain from studying mathematics at any level provides you with more than just the ability to solve equations and word problems, it allows you to communicate with others about the world and the inherent patterns contained therein. That is how I would like to inspire people to make change.
36 extra hours. . . Yippppeeeeee!! I’ll split them between time for me and time for other people.
4 Hrs – volunteer to answer the phone for 1-888-NeedHim, a ministry showing people how to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior at http://www.needhim.org/
4 Hrs – run 5Ks like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
6 Hrs – volunteer to do balloon sculptures at my church’s vacation Bible School
2 Hrs – walk the trails for fun and exercise with family and friends
4 Hrs – take friends to Whole Foods and introduce them to organic products
1 Hr – catch my favorite TV show: Rachel Ray
4 Hrs – go with friends to local organic farms to pick fruits and vegetables
4 Hrs – entertain with balloon sculptures for nonprofit fundraisers
2 Hrs – curl up on outdoor lounge reading
2 Hrs – eat at Café Max with family and friends
1 Hr – eat homemade ice cream at Henry’s with family and friends
2 Hrs – thank God for my blessed life and pray for my family, friends, and country
As for winning the roundtrip airfare anywhere in the world. . . I’d like to use the ticket to fly one of my Mom’s friends from Vancouver to Dallas. That would be a delightful surprise as they haven’t seen each other for 30 years.
With 36 extra hours a week I would study dance all over the world, and become a travel writer, with a conscience.
While I’d love to become an excellent follow in any dance I’m lead in, and I’d love to explore the arts all over the world; my main goal would be to live as a citizen of the world & leave each location better than I found it. As a travel writer, I would not just focus on soaking in the sun from the world’s best beaches, but also aim to shed light on issues of global human & environmental importance.
Example Articles and Books:
* How to educate one’s self, and one’s children all over the world.
* How to travel and do something good with your trip, like building fresh water wells for poverty-stricken villages in Africa, loaning fifty bucks to a low-income mother in a third world country; knowing she’ll start a business, bring her family out of poverty, and remove her children from an abusive situation.
* How someone partying in New Orleans could take a bit of drink money and pour it into a different kind of Hurricane. Instead of the sweet rum cocktail that N’Orleans is known for, spend some time and money fixing up schools and playgrounds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, who are still living in tiny “pull behind” trailers, in forgotten slum villages.
Other Projects Could Include:
* Starting a campaign to equip schools, malls & apartment buildings with “green roofs.” Greenspace & Solar Panels on roofs of such buildings would be a huge help to the environment and utilize responsible energy.
* Skydiving in Hawaii and using extra time to shed light on the plight of Oahu’s homeless population & rainforest issues.
Having 36 extra hours per week and living the “Endless Summer” would change my life, allowing me to learn, dance, write, educate, and live all over the world; and using some of those 36 hours per week for charity & awareness work would improve the world wherever I go.
Sincerely,
Meg Meyer
Saving the world, 36 hours at a time….
I just submitted my entry to Tim Ferriss’ contest: “The Endless Summer. Whew.
I’d been mulling it over and thinking about so many of the different ways I could improve the world with winning this contest, that I almost thought myse…
As readers of the 4-Hour Work Week can attest to, we all seem to have a whole lot of dreams and not a whole lot of time. We all desire some fulfillment (an adventure perhaps) but the means on how to do so alludes us. I always hear friends and family proclaim how they would love to travel to X or Y and do Z and A if only…and then promptly dismiss it because the realities of achieving it seem slim to none. Love surfing? Love traveling? Is there actually a way to combine the two… and do it all the time? Most wouldn’t even consider it much less try. Stories like Hans Keelings’ are rare indeed… Or are they?
What I would do with an extra 36 hours a week is solicit dreams, as far-fetched as they come, from as many people as I could find, to as many destinations as can be conceived. Then I would go about finding individuals who made such “far-flung� dreams into living-breathing reality. (Be a freelance writer who changes residences as often as one changes toothbrushes? etc) I would then use my ticket to begin my journey across the globe, talking to these individuals and documenting their stories. My aim would be to inspire others to invest in their dreams, to be motivated by real life examples, and to forever stamp out the fear of impossibility by putting a face to his/her great dream. My aim would also be to inspire interest in places known and little known, to encourage travel, awareness, and (hopefully) economy to areas around the globe. The end result would be a virtual “Book of Dreams� (and possibly a film) that all can access and be inspired by. A forum would also be created so those who want to contact these individuals (and those who would share in kind) would be able to connect and further make their dreams a reality.
Sharing is bliss and this would bring fulfillment by adding to mine. :o)
Life’s a Gift…Use It!
I “discovered� The 4-Hour Workweek on my 65th birthday in April. I may have come late to the party, but I’m there!!!
If I were to describe a typical week, here’s what it might look like:
Waken as the first light enters my room, dress, and head to the beach. As the sun floods the morning sky and anoints everything with its golden brush, enter the still-cool water and swim for about a mile.
Shower/dress for the day…casually, of course, because there’s no place in Paradise for “monkey suits� anymore! Keoki has brought a perfectly ripe papaya for us to share; she does this several times a week, since she learned I’m almost as addicted to them as I am to chocolate (Saturday’s only, of course!)
Tend the garden so it continues to surround me with beauty and provide luscious food with such little effort. Flowers are coming along nicely for the dozen or so mixed bouquets that I anonymously deliver every week to those in care homes with Alzheimer’s. (And, yes, I’ve “peeked�…their faces do light up with glee as they connect with the aromas and beauty that mysteriously comes into their lives!).
Create a flower garland for my “adopted� 94 year-old Auntie when we get together for our weekly language lessons. She is teaching me Hawai’in in exchange for teaching her, so she can surprise her 137 descendants by speaking in English with them when they gather to celebrate her 95th birthday. Our lessons are going well: I’m learning how gentle…yet strong…her language is, and she’s learning that in my native tongue there sometimes is no comparable vocabulary or concept, so we make things up to suit us and share a private language!
Travel off-island for my weekly “work� at the rehabilitation sanctuary for injured/orphaned animals who would otherwise die, including threatened and endangered species.
Close each day by reflecting on how fulfilling my life is, and send the Universe a blessing earmarked for Tim Ferriss, who shared the road map to creating my own private Paradise!
Please delete previous post (mea culpa, mea culpa for creating it in Word to check word count, and not converting it to plain text before posting). Here is a more readable version.
Life is a Gift – Use It!
I discovered The 4-Hour Workweek on my 65th birthday in April. I may have come late to the party, but I’m there!
If I were to describe a typical week, here is what it might look like:
Waken as the first light enters my room, dress, and head to the beach. As the sun floods the morning sky and anoints everything with its golden brush, enter the still-cool water and swim for about a mile.
Shower/dress for the day (casually, of course, because there is no place in Paradise for monkey suits anymore! ). Keoki has brought a perfectly ripe papaya for us to share; she does this several times a week, since she learned I am almost as addicted to them as I am to chocolate (Saturday only, of course!)
Tend the garden so it continues to surround me with beauty and provide luscious food with such little effort. Flowers are coming along nicely for the dozen or so mixed bouquets that I anonymously deliver every week to those in care homes with Alzheimers. (And, yes, I have peeked. Their faces do light up with glee as they connect with the aromas and beauty that mysteriously comes into their lives!).
Create a flower garland for my adopted 94 y/o Auntie when we get together for our weekly language lessons. She is teaching me Hawaiin in exchange for teaching her, so she can surprise her 137 descendants by speaking in English with them when they gather to celebrate her 95th birthday. Our lessons are going well: I am learning how gentle, yet strong, her language is and she is learning that in my native tongue there sometimes is no comparable vocabulary or concept, so we make things up to suit us and share a private language!
Travel off-island for my weekly work at the rehabilitation sanctuary for injured/orphaned animals who would otherwise die, including threatened and endangered species.
Close each day by reflecting on how fulfilling my life is, and send the Universe a blessing earmarked for Tim Ferriss, who shared the road map to creating my own private Paradise!
Honestly, I would use an extra 36 hours for some serious physical training. Martial arts and being amazingly fit and capable, physically as well as mentally, have always been huge passions of mine; to be a non government, female James Bond type traveling the world. I would train with different masters and gurus of varying physical (particularly martial) and mental arts, study different styles of dance, become skilled at gymnastics, rock climb, participate in ocean sports and learn how to do evasive driving amongst other activities and adventures. I would also study several languages while I’m wherever I am, because language has always been a fascination of mine and an area of continuous study; it will increase my understanding of those I train with and those I help in return. I want to give back what I gain.
I will develop a revolutionary self-defense and empowerment program mainly geared toward women around the world where it is possible, because having mentally and physically strong women in the world is important to me and necessary for change. With stronger people in the world, a domino affect will take place as they succeed with their passions and help create change toward their own causes. I have more to offer than only teaching a seminar for a couple of hours with a few basic defense stances and wondering if the women (and men) will ever think about or do them again. I want to engage the participants rather than talk for an hour about positive thinking. It will be an adventure. I have in mind differing programs depending on the location and specific need to be addressed. This will, of course, require lots of travel and study of the culture and country before and during the process as well, which I will also greatly enjoy doing.
As a black belt and explorer of many languages and activities, I scratched the surface of this endeavor before entering the standard 9-5 workforce. I’m excited about diving back into it with powerful results for myself and the world.
It’s not a matter of what I would do. It’s a matter of what I’d do first. The probable activities:
1) Planning. Only requiring 4 hours to have necessary funds to continue to house, feed, support my family as we’re accustomed changes my risk profile. I’d plan the following:
– Physical Fitness. Admittedly, it ain’t a big dream. But I was happier and more productive when I had an hour a day for running. Plus, it would set a good example for my 4-year old son.
– Decluttering. I would sell, donate, give away, or trash 90% of what is boxed in my garage. This really *is* a big one (again, for me)—I’d be happier, would have an area to set up a home gym, and would be able to start working on the car with the kid (he’s very into mechanical things. And how he turns out is one of the biggest contributions I can make to the global goodness.)
– Family travel. Inspired by stories I’ve read in the beginning of 4HWW, I plan to take sailing lessons. Intend to take the family on a month-long boat trip as soon as we can do so safely. With 36 more hours per week, that would be sooner.
– Book Project. Like many, I have a book idea. However, mine requires empirical data gathering, which could go quicker. This is not only beneficial to me, but would fall into the “improve the world” category, by giving folks a tool to achieve things they consider outrageous.
– Company project. Build out a social networking/user-content-driven idea. I’m working on this, now. But I have little time to spend on it, when the first bullet item keeps me in my “conventional” job. Another “not only profitable, but improving the world” possibility, in that it will create connections that people currently realize they want only when it’s “too late” to develop them.
– Re-engage the guy that wants me to help plan resort developments in Roatan. (With a purely selfish interest of getting a plot/house myself.)
2)Execution
3) Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Looks like I’m about 3 hours late (though not the 5 hours late suggested by the timestamp.) (Tried to log in this morning, but kept getting a blank page…nonetheless, should have filled this out last week. A good exercise, nonetheless.)
The extra 36 hours, I will find every possible to automate my business and to expand the cash flow. The gained finances and freedom time, I will shift my energy to help the community as part of service and philanthropist.
Every month, I will host different fundraising event to raise the money for a charitable organization. It may be art auction, wine and cheese tasting party, or any creative fundraising events that will benefits the charitable organizations and patrons.
With the business being automate, I will cycle across the America to publicize a charitable organization in need or funds. Meanwhile, cycling, I will enjoy seeing the America and to do several fundraising events on my stops. After accomplished this journey and I will move to the next continent.
I will have a stop-list which is a to-do list to assess myself first. Often, we are doing many different things for everyone else and forget about ourselves. During a stop-list for an hour, we assess our mental, physical, and spirit. My stop-list would be reading an inspiration stories, meditation, and exercise. This will keep me in check because my well-being is being take care first and I can help others to accomplish the greater goals.
Having the business automated and steady cash flow, I would go off the tourist path to a beaten path. The beaten path is best way to see the world. Get immersed and appreciate the differences because it will make us a better person. I will stay in the location taking my time explore the area. During my stay, I will get involving with the community to help them improve by building a habitat, teaching in a school, or some kind of service that will create a lasting improvement. While my stay, I will immerse in the community to take classes or lessons to improve myself in lieu of personal and professional development. It may be a marital art lessons in Asia countries, Latin dancing in Latin countries, wine-making in Europe, Cooking lesson in Italy, and kind of unique that will expand my personal and professional development.
I would use the extra 36 hours to further my dreams which consist of:
1. Traveling around the world.
2. Completing my college education with the goal of attaining a P.H.D. in Astrophysics.
3. Using this knowledge to work with a dedicated and inspired group of individuals to create the first extraterrestrial mining colony on the moon. The mining colony would be run from earth using robots!
The first lunar mining colony would be built on one of the lunar poles for two good reasons: First, the lunar poles are subject to the greatest amount of sunlight, thus it is highly practical to use solar power as an energy source. Second, there is much speculation that the element Helium is present in great amounts on the lunar poles in the form of Helium-3, deposited by the solar winds over the last 4.5 billion years. Helium-3 could make the dream of cheap non-polluting fusion energy a reality. This would be a great benefit to the earth and mankind.
Further, the dream of a lunar mining colony is the subject of much intense research and study (see the Colorado School of Mines website for one source of info and links). As with the Apollo program to put a man on the moon, the many benefits to the world that will come from the advances in science and tecchnology are as yet unknowable. However, unlike the Apollo program, the funding for this venture will most come from private enterprise rather than government funding.
Admittedly, this may seem like the dream of a demented Trekkie, but it is this vision that excites and inspires me to step outside & enlarge my comfort zone. It has inspired me enough that I am putting together a business which I believe will allow me to experience the 4 hour work week within the next 12 months.
Additionally, being able to travel around the world would be a great way to recharge one’s creative batteries and an opportunity to spread a message of hope and love.
With 36 hours a week to spare I would use my understanding of software and linguistics to translate the language of humpback whales. This is a project of some size I have never been able to really get started on due to time constraints, working 50 hours per week and unable to take more than 2-3 days off of work at a time.
This will benefit the world in several ways; a verifiable translation of humpback communication will hit the human psyche like a signal from SETI. Sophisticated language is the only thing that separates us from the rest of the animals; stripping that distinction will guide us to a better understanding of our place in the universe.
Well, I could be wrong. They might not be really talking. Listen to some whales singing to each other for a while and you tell me.
Best wishes.
36 extra hours
Via bullets
Commit
Organize my space
Lay out the game plan
Research
Put together resources
Eliminate, delegate, consolidate
Out source
Reavaluate
80/20 principal
Write copy for sponsorships
Test drive new home on wheels
List of all tech equipment needed
Brush up/learn camera, audio, editing
Mind mapping the green-sustainable living concept
Reserve domain names
Set up smartgreenliving website
Set up Green blog
Automate the bill payments etc.
Create a loose questions format template
List names of the green interview people, places,stops
List of play activities to do in each state after interviews
Print up T-shirts caps with web address
Punch in all interviewee addresses on GPS
Outsource all interview set up calls / e-mail correspondence
Say my goodbyes
Turn in my Guardian Ad Litem files, folder , badge
Publish there website http://www.vfcgal.org on my blog
Replace myself by creating enough awareness of the need for volunteers to help with the abused-neglected children crisis
Meet up with Tim fine tune
Launch Green websites go live
Start cross country trek learning , sharing, spreading the word about the people / places impacting our planet positively
Spend four hours interviewing, editing and publishing
36 hours gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, earth building…. depending on which part of the country I am in
Meet new friends dine with the natives go on date
Wrap up the last of my interviews on the west coast having crossed the entire U.S.
Donate the thousand dollars to GAL organization to be used for the storage closet where we keep dolls, teddy bears, toy trucks, school supplies etc (a lot of them don’t even have one)
Begin the second half of my journey on the international side
Fly into Kharkiv, Ukraine volunteer on one of the International youth Camps like Planet X X I project
Practice my Russian with the natives
Take in the sights culture do some exploring
Strengthen international relations
Make some friends go on date take in night life
See the Black Sea, Carpatheian Mountains, Odessa, Moscow
Get on the train heading to Europe
What would I do with an extra 36 hours a week? Oh, hell, that’s easy – HAVE MORE FUN!! I would ride my bike through mud puddles, play with puppies, dance in the rain and do more naked cartwheeling. I would learn to ride a motorbike, windsurf, and play the guitar. I would tell dumb jokes and sing silly songs just to make people smile. Ride roller coasters and horses, swim with manatees, parasail, and go fishing for blue gills with my Dad.
In fact, this could be the beginning of a brand new career for me. I’m envisioning my new business cards: Teri Gage Taylor, Director of Fun and Games at the Get a Life Institute. Promoting a healthier, happier world through play.
Fighting the War on Stress: Just Have Fun!
It’s widely known that stress can lead to heart attack, strokes, fibromyalgia, insomnia and a host of other ailments. It also contributes to road rage, domestic violence and suicide rates. Stress has also been proven to reduce productivity and affect one’s ability to learn. How do you relieve stress? Lighten up, relax, laugh, have fun.
Just try to imagine how much the nicer the world would be if everyone could spend just a few hours a week having fun.
We’re a nation of overweight, over-stressed workaholics who’ve forgotten what it means to really have fun and everyone’s talking about the health care crisis in America. Do you think maybe, just maybe, there might be a connection? Do you think maybe, just maybe, the answer could be “Have More Fun!�
After all, laughter is the best medicine!
With 36 extra hours in a week, life would become a hobby. Work would still be done, but it wouldn’t feel like work as the average person knows it. It would feel like an extended hobby because it would be made of the activities that inspire life. Activities in which I feel God’s pleasure while doing, despite being strenuous or challenging.
With 36 extra hours per week, I would give answers to the nagging questions that run through my head when there are more ideas to develop than time in a day. “Which projects would I tackle if my job actually gave sabbaticals?� “What could I get done if I didn’t have to put 7 hours into sleeping each day?�
Evidentially, I have a list of goals I dream to accomplish. If only given the time (and with the help of your book, I am learning how to take it back).
I would take Japanese lessons, take MMA fighting classes for fitness, blog, develop a video collaboration business plan, floss… Wait!
“All this sounds dandy, but can it actually be accomplished each week,� I stop and ask myself. For the proof see here.
I’d start a local environmental education outreach program.
Most people have heard about how the Earth’s going to hell in a handbasket, and have read tips on what to do to stop global warming. So what do they need me for? Because obviously folks aren’t doing much. People tune out environmentalists because they don’t believe they can personally have any impact, that helping the Earth is expensive, they don’t know what to do exactly, and maybe because a lot of environmentalists are annoying granola hippie freakos.
But I’m cute and not annoying! I’ll show people just what they should change to have the most effect, which things are the easiest, and how it can actually save them money. Just unplugging phone chargers and turning the TV and computer off instead of leaving them on standby saves enough energy to power a whole village in Botswanna for 10 years (uh… I made that up, but depending on how big the village is… I’ll research a real statistic when I have the extra 36 hours!), and can cut your electricity bill by 10%.
Making a difference doesn’t have to be painful. Of course it’s best to give up meat, never fly, and take the bus, but you can help even with simple things, too. I think poor people especially don’t know what they can do, but they’re the ones suffering most from pollution, and have the least resources to deal with problems that happen due to climate change (look at all the people still displaced by Hurricane Katrina!).
Businesses, groups, anyone who would have me would be my target clients. I would be helpful, but not pushy, engaging and convincing.
My services would have to be free, because most people don’t care enough about saving the planet to actually pay.
I’d do this for 30 hours a week. The other 6 hours I’d like to spend learning to play the bagpipes. I’ve always wanted to learn! I’d spend 5 hours a week practicing, and one hour brainstorming ways I could use my bagpipe powers to help orphans, and cute, fuzzy homeless animals.
36 extra hours
Via bullets
Commit
Organize my space
Lay out the game plan
research
Put together resources
Eliminate, delegate, consolidate
Out source
Reavaluate
80/20 principal
write copy for sponsorships
Test drive new home on wheels
List of all tech equipment needed
Brush up/learn camera, audio, editing
Mind mapping the green-sustainable living concept
Reserve domain names
Set up smart green living website
Set up Green blog
Automate the bill payments etc.
Create a loose questions format template
List names of green interview people, places and stops
List of play activities to do in each state after interviews
Print up T-shirts caps with web address
Punch in all interviewee addresses on GPS
Outsource all interview set up calls / e-mail correspondence
Say my goodbyes
Turn in my Guardian Ad Litem files, folder, badge
Publish there website http://www.vfcgal.org on my blog
Replace myself by creating enough awareness of the need for volunteers to help with the abused-neglected children crisis
Launch Green websites go live
Start cross country trek learning , sharing, spreading the word about the people / places impacting our planet positively
Spend four hours interviewing, editing and publishing
36 hours gold prospecting, spelunking, hiking, racing, climbing, wine making, organic farming, earth building…. depending on which part of the country I am in
Meet new friends dine with the natives go on dates
Wrap up the last of my interviews on the west coast having crossed the entire U.S.
Donate the thousand dollars to GAL organization to be used for the storage closet where we keep dolls, teddy bears, toy trucks, school supplies etc (a lot don’t even have them)
Begin the second half of my journey on the international side
Fly into Kharkiv Ukraine volunteer on one of the International youth Camps like Planet X X I project
Practice my Russian with the natives
See the sights take in the sights culture do some exploring
Strengthen international relations
Make some friends go on dates
See the Black Sea, Carpatheian Mountains, Odessa, Moscow
Get on the train heading to Europe
College debt has created a new era of indentured servants. Upon graduation, many individuals opt for higher paying, mind -numbing jobs just so they can make payments on their loans. Dreams are set aside, but too often these temporary deferments turn into permanent prisons. This is the greatest tragedy of my generation, and what I would most like to change. Having 36 more hours a week would help greatly in this colossal challenge.
It is not as simple as eliminating all college debt. The end goal is for all of my peers to pursue their dreams. The world immediately becomes a better place when people follow their dreams and listen to their hearts. College debt is just one barrier on this road. One of the bigger issues is the systemic feeling of hopelessness that has caused people to give up before even trying.
The ideas I have for addressing both of these issues are:
1. Develop a means for students to reduce costs of books. This could be made possible through a collective college book loaning system or E-textbooks that utilize newer web-technologies like wikis.
2. Educate. Teach students how to think positively and manifest their dreams, create the world they want around them, and take better responsibility for their financial life.
This is a woefully incomplete picture for what has to be done. There is much more brainstorming to undertake, and even more action to be taken to complete the goal of liberating America’s youth.
One of my central beliefs is that if you want to improve the world, start by improving yourself. My recent dreamlining revealed my most important goals:
1. Become a published author.
2. Have a gorgeous, adventurous,
intelligent, understanding girlfriend.
3. Have a personal assistant.
4. Buy a MacBook Pro.
I would utilize my extra 36 hours to bring these dreams to fruition. This experience would provide the necessary insight in how to help others achieve the same.
:: If I Had 36 Extra Hours Per Week ::
Women in Nepal are brought up with the notion that they are inferior to men. They are not encouraged to have opinions or develop their individuality, and they suffer from gender discrimination and lack of education. I intend to help the movement to free these individuals from the chains of their society. For me, the opportunity to travel to and work in a foreign country would the adventure of a lifetime. Just to experience the culture would be something of a dream.
If I had 36 extra hours per week I would work to develop education facilities for women in Nepal. These institutions would teach women to embrace their individuality and see themselves as worthy individuals that deserve the education, quality of life and respect that the men of their society take for granted. Females of all ages would receive a basic education and the opportunity to express themselves through different mediums such as photography, art, and literature. The women would be taught how to create opportunities for themselves and become working and respected members of society. This project would also create jobs for women who were able to teach at the school.
Women brought up in this culture often do not question the way it functions. I hope to teach them how to question all facets of their society and defy the “group mind� through independent thinking. I want to create an opportunity for them to rise above the discrimination and give them the tools they need to make a life for themselves.
Rather than doing 20 different things with my 36 extra hours, I would put my time and energy into this one project so that at the end of my life I can look back and honestly say that I accomplished something, that I made my mark on the world.
-D.S.
With 36 extra hours in the week, life would become a hobby. Though work would still take place during the extra time, it wouldn’t be work as the average person knows it. No, the work would be more like working a hobby, because the activities would be the types that inspire life– the type of activities in which you feel God’s pleasure while carrying them out. It’s what you were born to do.
With the extra time, I would give answers to the nagging questions that speak up when there are more ideas than time in the day. “What could I accomplish if my work gave actual sabbaticals?” “What could I get done if I didn’t have to put 7 hours into sleeping everyday?”
Evidentially, I have a whole list of activities and goals I would work toward if I could only find the time (and with the help of your book, I am learning how to take the time back).
With 36 extra hours, here are the hobbies I would work day-to-day: get Japanese tutoring, develop the business plans for the three ideas I have rolling in my head, volunteer, take a MMA fighting class for exercise, floss, blog, real estate… Wait!
“All these activities sound dandy, but can they all actually be worked toward every single week,” I ask myself mid-list. “Tim would probably appreciate an actual plan instead of just wishful thinking. I can do that!” Click here for the logistics behind the extra hours.
I would push myself to accomplish many things with freeing up 36 hours a week. I would spend time with my new wife, dog, family, and friends. Since moving over 700 miles away from my family last year I realize how important relationships are in my life. I would get on a regular workout schedule to increase my fitness and strength levels. Working in an office the past two years has not been conducive to my fitness endeavors and I realize what I don’t use today can be gone tomorrow. I would continue my research into personal development and publish the results and information on the internet for others to benefit from. I would start a leadership academy to instill leadership principles in the youth of the world. People should not be afraid to strike out on their own and also understand that we can accomplish much more and help others in the process through working with those around us. I would also participate in coaching a local high school track team. I ran track in high school and college and love running; I enjoy helping others achieve their goals and being able to positively influence young runners would be a true blessing in my life. Along the lines of health and personal development, I would also take the time to speak about the benefits of balanced nutrition on our health. To aid in my speaking I would need to get all the practice I can get, so I would participate in local Toastmasters meetings and events. I love to travel and would love to experience the world’s wonders with my wife. I would also take classes in any variety of interests I have currently and in the future, including scuba diving, professional car driving, and martial arts.
Sorry about the time of the post, I thought the website was running on Pacific time. I posted it right before midnight in the Central time zone, doubt that helps my case, but I thought I would at least try….
Hello B, wherever you are,
Thanks for your comments! Never expected to get a response to my response. How cool is that?
In any case, I hear what you’re saying about doing small things. That’s actually how I think much of the time—I definitely believe that subtle changes in one’s behavior can be catalytic. It can be as simple as asking for help when I need it, as opposed to “sucking it up” or giving the guy on the street a dollar just because he asked, without judgment, reservation or analysis. (Yes, I know it’s more complicated than that, but does it always have to be?)
As far as getting my values/priorities in order, I’ve spent
the better part of 5 years working on that. I’m good on that front. Just waiting for my “unifying theme.” I’ve read some brilliant ones in this blog. But who knows, maybe I don’t get one. And maybe that’s okay. : D
And yes, I’m aware that I don’t need an extra 36 hours and/or fat wads of cash to “do the do.” But it sho’ couldn’t hurt.
Hey Gil Martinelli,
I’m willing to team up with you. After getting your PhD in Astrophysics, help me establish DT fusion as the clean energy source on Earth (post #123). Once that is established, it should be easier to make your moon mission a reality to mine the moon for He-3 fusion fuel.
Write and post the winning entry to 4-Hour Workweek contest before the deadline. Get ready for my big consultation with Tim. Learning from the 4-Hour Workweek, dream big but create actions for now.
Meditate. Reflect on 33 years of life spent working for a sustainable global community that is peaceful and just. Start with amazing, supportive farm family in rural Canada; mix in liberal arts education, world travel and creative money-generating work. Add heartbreak and bouts of pessimism. Be present. Give all that I am and all that I have in service of all that I love.
Vision. Leverage my network and Tim’s network and the networks of everyone who reads my winning entry to transform the $1,000 prize into funds and matching fund for projects funded by the new rich. Mobilize thousands. Raise millions.
Action. Help people achieve their dreams. Help people to develop a global consciousness and feel the rewards of contribution. Repeat.
Breathe. Read some books. Learn to read Arabic and cook lamb. Ride horses. Take singing lessons and learn to play the guitar. Grow food and flowers.
Wonder. Foster organizational, cultural and individual change. Create massive culture shift from an economic model that serves dominance and war to one that supports life and relationships. End war. End sexism. Eradicate poverty. End racism. Make lots of friends and lots of money.
Celebrate. Live well.
And I’m quite thankful that I submitted my entry at 12:27 central, rather than 12:27 PST. 🙂