Stop Rationalizing and Make Hard Decisions: Learning from Dr. King (23)
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Greetings from London. I thought I’d share the below quote, which was sent to me (Thanks, Thao!) when I was considering whether or not to put up the controversial FISA post. I knew beforehand that it would lose me some readers. The few words below cut through hours of meaningless deliberation and made the decision simple… There are a lot of hard choices and big decisions in life. Dealing with most of them requires facing ...
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Todd Albertson said:
Thanks to Tim Ferris for reminding us of Dr. King's words!
No Schedules, No Meetings–Enter Best Buy’s ROWE - Part 1 - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss (4)
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(Photo: yum9me) Managers often ask me how to use 4HWW within corporate environments. I now have a new recommendation to add to the previous list: read the new in-depth description of Best Buy’s Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). How did a Fortune 100 company increase productivity at headquarters 41% while decreasing voluntary turnover (corporate speak for quitting) as much as 90%? I’ve been fascinated by this unusual experiment since reading about it in 2005. The best ...
The Fortune 500 4-Hour Workweek: Multiplying Output in Groups (Plus: Downloadable Checklists) (35)
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For English subtitles, choose “Danish” from the “Choose Language…” drop-down. There is a misconception that lifestyle design is just for entrepreneurs or CEOs. In reality, the principles — borrowed from economics and behavioral psychology — can be applied within organizations and groups with even more dramatic effects. Just watch the 25-minute segment above from the Danish equivalent of the BBC (DR1), where lifestyle design is tested by both an employee at insurance giant Codan and ...
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Parveen said:
I love the picture of the whiteboard in this post.
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Kolgoth said:
Absolutely fantastic post... Probably one of my favorite for real-world application and usability.
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mitchgroup said:
Yes Tim. Yes Tim. Yes! This quote:If the processes are wasteful (inefficient), performance will decrease when you attempt to scale. The more people involved, the more severe the decrease. If the processes–including prioritization and workflow optimization–are lean (efficient), performance will increase. Combined with other people following the same lean processes, performance can increase in an exponential vs. linear fashion (For any exponentially growing quantity, the larger the quantity gets, the faster it grows)." says it all. It's tough to remain focused on this "process awareness" in the early stages of business. Doing so reaps benefits later. It's that darned delayed gratification deal !
4HWW Cover Story in Men’s Journal (Plus: Be in a Movie) (4)
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“Nothing bothers me more than sloth. The objective is to fix mistakes of ambition and not make mistakes of sloth. I work my ass off.” -Tim Ferriss, from the new issue of Men’s Journal, Sept. 2008 Since I’m going nuts preparing for Burning Man, this post will be a short one. The quote above is from the latest issue of Men’s Journal, where the main editorial cover story is a profile of me and the ...
Time Management Guru-itis: Mark Hurst vs. David Allen and Tim Ferriss (2)
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You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry. I once asked Po Bronson how he beats writer’s block. His answer was “write about what makes you angry.” It works like a charm. If I had writer’s block, this quote from a recent Entrepreneur magazine blog post would surely make the words flow like water. What follows is an example of guru fatigue and an overview of some misconceptions and principles of Bit Literacy vs. Getting Things ...
12 Filtering Tips for Better Information in Half the Time | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss (4)
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If your information were calories, what would you look like? OK, I need to clear something up… Despite how orgasmic it makes Gawker feel, their ace of spades insult from my recent NY Times piece is a partial misquote: “Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters.” The NYT article was very well done, but the truth is that I get some of my information from many different sources, including friends, ...
No Schedules, No Meetings—Enter Best Buy’s ROWE - Part 2 - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss (9)
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(Photo: badboy69) This is continued from Part 1 of my exclusive first blog interview with the co-developers of Best Buy’s results-only work environment, which has increased output at headquarters 41% and decreased quitting up to 90% in some divisions. When you take care of your life, do you develop overcomplicated processes for getting things done? Do you spend your free time coming up with systems and programs for buying birthday presents or making dinner or ...
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Bob said:
I like this philosophy...
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Holly said:
I like this concept and am happy to see some business leaders at the forefront demonstrating that time at the office does not equal productivity. It just makes sense to me that putting people in charge of their lives, giving them space to do the work in a way that helps them be happy and productive will result in healthier, happier people and healthier companies. Motivation by coercion is, I think, having a terrible cost in companies. I hope this takes off fast!!
4HWW Cover Story in Men’s Journal (Plus: Be in a Movie) (1)
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“Nothing bothers me more than sloth. The objective is to fix mistakes of ambition and not make mistakes of sloth. I work my ass off.” -Tim Ferriss, from the new issue of Men’s Journal, Sept. 2008 Since I’m going nuts preparing for Burning Man, this post will be a short one. The quote above is from the latest issue of Men’s Journal, where the main editorial cover story is a profile of me and the ...
The Philosophies of Work: A Conversation with Derek Sivers of CD Baby (22)
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Derek Sivers is a stud. I thought I’d share the conversation we had at SF MusicTech Summit. Dozens of topics covered include: - Testing asssumptions vs. cheating - PR and reaching out to unreachables - Micro-testing ideas and products: from The 4-Hour Workweek to Trent Reznor - Personal outsourcing for creatives - Filling the void and creating meaning outside of the inbox and office Derek is a programmer who lost his stage fright by doing ...
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Chadd said:
Love the Publicist from Rolling Stones bit..
12 Gems of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Plus: 200 Tweets - (18)
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The unbelievable Oregon coastline. (Photo: liquidskyarts) Six weeks ago I conducted my first social media travel experiment. I posed a simple question and let your responses to me on Twitter and this blog dictate exactly what I did on a 12-day roadtrip with my brother from San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada. No packing or planning was done before jumping in the car (the best proof of this: I needed a friend to FedEx my passport ...
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Jim Conroy said:
Check out the Maple Bacon doughnut. Fantastic
» How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times (2)
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What I sounded like, running around the yard, at 1:43pm ET this past Friday Last Friday, the impossible happened and a lifelong dream came true: The 4-Hour Workweek hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list! Thank you all for your incredible encouragement and support. More unbelievable, this week 4HWW is simultaneously #1 on the NY Times and #1 on the Wall Street Journal business bestseller lists. How is this possible? How could a ...
Push vs. Pull Processes (Tim Ferriss) (35)
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All push and no pull doesn’t work in personal or professional life. (Photo: markal) Preface: This is a guest post from Michael Port on standardizing business processes–or personal productivity–to minimize excessive trial-and-error. ### Waste is a constraint. Reducing waste in your organization is one the easiest ways of reducing constraints. And here’s a surprise—waste in offices is usually greater than in factories, especially because it’s easy to hide waste in cumbersome or non-existent processes. Creating ...
Escaping the Amish - Part 2 (31)
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(Photo: Stuck in Customs) This is the final continuation of Part 1, where Torah Bontrager — who escaped the Old Order Amish culture to attend Columbia University — explained common misconceptions and myths about the Amish, as well as the pros and cons of being raised in this alternative American culture. Here we chronicle the actual escape… This two-part piece is not intended to generalize all Amish. It is a chronicle of one person’s experiences ...
Escaping the Amish - Part 1 (52)
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In February, I received an e-mail from a reader using a Columbia University address — Torah Bontrager — that ended curiously: “…and if you ever want to hear how I escaped the Amish, let me know.” Those peace-loving bearded folks from Witness? I called Torah, and after just a few minutes, I knew this post had to be written. For those of you who feel trapped because of a job or self-imposed obligations as an ...
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TJ said:
OMFG... you must read this girls story!
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Alpha said:
fundamentalism is fundamentally flawed.
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Chris said:
nothing too surprising if you've read about this culture before, but still good to be reminded. There are no such things as Amish Children or Christian Children or Muslim Children. There are only manipulated children of religious parents. Surely, kids may mature into adulthood and decide the religion they were raised into is the one they choose, but how much of that decision was based on the years of indoctrination? I feel sorry for children of Amish upbringing. How limited ones options must feel when attempting to enter modern society w/o years of practice using computers, internet and other modern tech. Good for her, though, for making it out and into Columbia.
Pimping Firefox: The Basics (Matt Mullenweg, Garrett Camp, and More) (4)
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Don’t pimp real foxes. That’s just mean. (Photo: wildphotons) 38.16% of the people who visit this site are still using Internet Explorer (IE). It’s like buying a hybrid car for the gas mileage and then driving with flat tires and the doors open. This post will serve two purposes: first, to introduce beginners to features of Firefox (FF) that make it worthwhile; second, to introduce more experienced users to the favorite add-ons of Matt Mullenweg ...
Why Bigger Goals = Less Competition (Plus: Major Media Opp) (9)
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SPRING 2005, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY I had to bribe them. What other choice did I have? My lecture at Princeton had just ended with smiles and enthusiastic questions. At the same time, I knew that most students would go out and promptly do the opposite of what I preached. Most of them would be putting in 80-hour weeks as high-paid coffee fetchers unless I showed that the principles from class could actually be applied. Hence ...
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TJ said:
Tim is my idol!
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badboybob said:
Kaboom! Tim Ferris puts achievement and effort in perspective in this simple post excerpted from his book 'The 4 Hour Work Week'. It was great then and it's even better now. Read this... now!
Swimming the Amazon: 3,274 Miles on the World’s Deadliest River (6)
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February 8–Inahuaya, Peru The more dangerous the trip gets, the more momentary we all become. Songs sound better, foods taste better, and seventy-cent-a-bottle cane whiskey is fun to drink. Last year on April 8th, Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel became the first man to swim the entire length of the Amazon River from headwaters in Peru to the Brazilian port city of Belém: 3,274 miles. It took him 66 days with a support crew of ...
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Pipsy said:
Love this interview and ending story. Inspiring.
Mom-and-Pop Multinationals: How to Go Global (7)
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The Wilburns have used freelancers in India, Israel, and Britain. (Photo: Dana Smith) Here is the beginning of a worthwhile article in the current issue of Businessweek called “Mom-and-Pop Multinationals.” Ever wondered how much personal outsourcing really costs? How to divide and delegate the various tasks that consume your time? This article includes several useful case studies: From the outside, the gray Victorian with the stained-glass windows on a gentrified block i
