“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.)
Tim,
I know this is only a competition for those in the USA but I don’t care I wanted to write and just let you know that I have recently purchased your book after reading about you through tuckermax.com I just want to say that I have read just about everything written by the two of you that I can get my hands on. If nothing else I just wanted to pass on my thanks for such an incredible new outlook on everything. It has given me the courage to quit the 9-5 I have come to so quickly despise and to rather go work for myself, to travel and most importantly to go and live rather than wait until it is all too late. Not looking for any handouts here I just wanted to pass on my thanks to the both of you for opening my eyes.
My father worked at a Levi Strauss plant in Harrison, Arkansas for 39 years. He started there as a “Bundle Boy� at the age of 19, and after devoting nearly four decades of his life to that company, he had worked his way up to a supervisor position only to be forced into early retirement when the plant shut down.
I remember Dad leaving the house for work at 5 am and not getting back home until long after dark (NO paid overtime). He was lucky to get two weeks of vacation a year, but even then he was working from dawn to dusk on the farm. My dad was one of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever known, and despite the possible financial hardships, I was secretly thrilled when he was offered that [lousy] Levi’s early retirement.
You see, my dad had dutifully gone to work every day for 39 years filled with dread and always stressed, but he did it because he was a dedicated employee and thought that was the best way to provide for his family. When he lost his job, I believed it to be the best thing to ever happen, because for the first time ever, I was finally going to see my father really enjoy life!
And for a short time, he did just that and was truly happy. Then, last year he unexpectedly died of a heart attack…. He worked for years putting off his life for that “retirement� that ended up not being guaranteed. I didn’t get the opportunity to be beside him when he passed, but if I had been, I think he would have told me not be consumed with work, and instead, to live each day as if it’s your last.
I’m 26. Two months ago, I “freed� myself from a successful career as a loan officer to start my own consulting business, which is doing surprisingly well. What would I do with 36 extra hours each week? I’d live life to the fullest and do everything my father always wanted to do, but never had the chance….
WOW! What a great competition, bit of a bugger I’m in the UK!
Oh well, good luck everyone!
Jon
Hopefully it isn’t the last, from Australia 🙂
Time to get my thinking cap on! I’m looking forward to entering this contest!
Again, from the UK so a bit gutted that we can’t enter! 🙂 It’s got the old grey matter buzzing though, and I guess that’s the point. Good job Tim!
Pete
Why do legal systems tend to block good things? Too bad, that I’m from Germany and can’t join the competition. But maybe I’ll think of something just for the sake of it. Good look everyone 🙂
Tim,
“our legal system makes it too much of a hassle to do this any other way”
This is a classic example of all that’s wrong with USA Inc.
You are trying to do something simple and worthwhile yet for reasons not of your making, you have excluded most of the world.
Wonder how much money was wasted on some lawyer drawing up the 14 useless point above?
Great idea anyway Tim.
ps The book was excellent
It’s a pity I cannot participate either since I live in Spain. Anyway I would like to contribute with just some things I WILL do when I become a NR:
What I will do with my extra 36 hours:
1. Get back to sleep at least 8 hours a day
2. Do things slower.
3. Travel to distant places to find myself and become a person again
4. Use my knowledge (Software Engineer) to help worthy non-profit organitzations to manage themselves better an do more things (actually I am member of an animal protection society but I have almost no time to really help)
Ummm… can I outsource this??
I have a wife and a 9 month old daughter. We love the warm weather so an island would be best, but, w/the twist of helping others, here’s something on my mind 🙂
My wife always talks of Italy and renting a large villa, so I’m picking a place I’ve never been to, yet have received contacts from, so Italy it is. I have received e mails from athletes in Italy (w/limited English skills) who ask about my Underground training methods.
I would find a way to set up a free seminar for athletes and coaches of all levels in Italy before I arrive and have a translator ready. The seminar would be hands on with my training methods in an effort to spread the word to the coaches and athletes in Italy and ultimately, get them to create an Underground Gym and / or boot camps before I leave.
All the systems would be in place before I leave! The pay back from the coaches and athletes would be to utilize the “pay it forward” concept (just like the movie). They must teach their new methods to at least 3 people and once again their students would pay them back by “paying it forward” to 3 more athletes / coaches.
I have had contacts from Professional Basketball Coaches, athletes of all types and men who somehow stumbled upon my information.
This would be the way to give to a beautiful country and leave w/the systems of “pay it forward” intact. With the internet and my friends on the net w/contacts all around the world, Italy being one of them, I would utilize the power of everyone’s aid and put the lists together to get this seminar set.
If time allows, several seminars of the same magnitude will be given throughout different places in Italy 🙂
Thanks Tim 🙂
–Zach–
This is awesome! I’m from Brazil and can’t join the competition, but this is a nice opportunity for every reader to stop and think what we can do with more free time and how we can help our friends and our community.
[…] You do? Then, if you can encapsulate all the self-fulfilling, productive, and world wellness activities you’d like to do with your extra 36 hours per week in 350 words or less, you could win a round-trip around the world and more courtesy of the 4-Hour Workweek Global Challenge. […]
Hello,
I would use 36 extra hours per week to sleep more. I have great dreams so more sleep would increase the chance of having more life-fulfilling and exciting dreams. I would write them down and publish on my blog. This project would improve the world since when I am not sleeping I am very boring person so my family and friends will be happy during these extra 36 hours per week.
Since I am from Poland (which – according to CIA is not a part of the USA) I understand that I am not in danger of winning a trip around the world. I hate travelling since it decreases the time that I can spend sleeping.
Best regards,
TesTeq
PS. While not sleeping I’ve read the 4HWW book. The methods described in the book make it possible to significantly increase my sleeping time. Thank you.
My greatest pleasure would be traveling to the best beaches in the world and creating a book that would help people gauge for themselves what beach experience from a single guys perspective. Many books tell you about what a great time you will have at xyz beach, but when you get there, you find a crappy beach full of whiney kids and overweight guys in speedo’s. I’ll focus on the best of the best, digging into the real beach culture, South Beach,Puerto Rico, Panama, Costa Rica, Rio, Buzios, Florianopolis, then over to Hawaii, Fiji,Tahiti, a brief layover in the Maldives, then finish it up with the French Riviera, Italy, and Spain. I want to get real with guys (straight), as too many times I’ve been sorely disappointed by travel books written from a family perspective.
I would use the extra 36 hours to start a travel company that would benefit countries that do not receive much revenue from tourism. The company would run specialty tours that would use only local guides, ensuring that the majority of the money generated stays within the community, and not to some giant foreign corporation. Areas such as Rwanda, Cameroon, Nepal, India, Burma, Cambodia, and many others all have the potential to offer safe tours of ecological and cultural importance that many people fear to go to because of inaccurate media reports. I would donate the $1,000 to some friends I met while backpacking across Southeast Asia who started a non-profit in Cambodia that works on providing safe drinking water and educational scholarships to people of rural communities. Check them out at http://www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org!
With an extra 36 hours a week, I would:
* Join and work at the TechShop, a membership-based machine shop in Menlo Park, CA
* Set myself an inventions quota, like Thomas Edison
* Organize weekly “build sessions” where my brilliant friends could come build prototypes of these inventions with me
* Market these inventions diligently – using the great ideas in the book!
* Set up production of the successful ones and invest the profits in more prototypes, rewarding my friends for their effort, and building up more design resources.
* Sneak into and audit lots of classes at Stanford and Berkeley to draw inspiration
* Still have time to commute by bicycle to all these activities
* Develop an online design community to enable this in more places and for more people around the world, by supporting the specific type of communication the design process requires.
Until then, with an extra 0 hours a week, I *will*:
* Do most of the above on the bus commute to work
* Set a slightly smaller inventions quota
* Read books to continue my education
* Bicycle during my lunch break
* Meet with my friends over Skype
* Share my work on my blog
So either way, things should be fun. But I sure would like 36 more hours of it each week, so I’d better go finish the book now.
It’s a real shame this is just for the US.
I must check out “A Map for Saturday”
[…] “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.â€? – Dave Barry (de aici) […]
Question = How would you use 36 extra hours per week?
Answer =
I don’t need an extra 36 hours a week. What I need is a clue about how to use the time I’ve got—I work from home part-time while taking pre-MBA classes. Here’s the rub: the only things that really matter to me right now are: 1) money; 2) travel; 3) clothes; and 4) helping people. Obviously, money is the facilitator, which is why it ranks first. I don’t need money to help people, but I lack the energy (business school prep is draining) and the inspiration (my nose is firmly lodged up my derriere) to do so. I have been increasingly disillusioned with my quality of life, but I can’t bring myself to surrender myself to “the man� in exchange for a bigger paycheck.
So I have the four-hour work week, (actually mine is more like ten), but I don’t have the profit-making machine to support the “impossible dream.� But if I had the energy and the resources, I would:
 Read all the books on my hit list, including the Bible
 Attend a wellness retreat featuring detox, yoga, and meditation
 Spend some time learning about the world’s religions
 Learn a language (or three)
 Get someone (preferably male and hot) to teach me a Latin dance because I’m an ass-shaker at heart
 Have some flattering professional photos taken ‘cuz when I’m 95, I want to look back and think, “Damn, I was fine.�
 Figure out a way to provide adequate mental health care to vets returning from Iraq. I suspect it comes down to leveraging existing resources. For example, why can’t pre-existing mental health hotlines screen vets and refer them based on a triage system to non-military institutions like universities and teaching hospitals?
To recap, I am a 30-year old with a bruised sense of agency trying to figure out how to “be� and to “do� in the purest sense. I’ve asked that question before and was happy with the answer. But I’m ready to ask again and get a different one. Ain’t that what life’s about?
Similar to other posts, my father spent the better half of his lifetime working for a corporation. One year after relocating him to the other side of the country, he was let go due to “downsizing”. My up bringing and my parents’ lives had me believe this was how life was; get good grades so you can go to a good college and get a “good” job. Then work until you’re 65 and retire. After working for the same company for 20 years and getting laid off, my dad still believes this.
All of this changed when a professor in college taught me the power of passive income and taking control of your own destiny. Learning to become self-reliant, the power of time, and being creative in financing your lifestyle was the overall message.
Because of my professor’s impact on my life, I would use 20 of my 38 hours to teach high school part-time in personal finance (a much-needed addition to every high school’s curriculum). I have a background in personal finance and would educate students not only on financial basics, but help to dispel the myth of the “perfect job�.
The other 18 hours I would use to take cooking classes, get back in shape, and read the literary classics that I have always put off.
Tim,
I have always dreamed of going back to Romania. I was there in 1995 for 2 years. During that time I gained a love for the Romanian people and the place they call home.
This is a country that is still behind the rest of the world by at least 10-20 years. Parts of the country even make you feel you are back in the days of Robin Hood. In the mountains during the summer, there is no better place to be. The rolling green hills hit the steep rocky Carpathian Mountains. Around every corner are villages with cobble stone streets and little old ladies carrying groceries from the local market. It is by far one of the most beautiful places in the world.
They also have many orphans and abandoned children. Mostly because their families can’t keep them nor do they have the means to. I am a father of three. My oldest daughter is 5. The next daughter is 3 (has Wolf – Hirschhorn syndrome, makes life an adventure by it’s self). The youngest being my 3 month old son. I want my family to visit heaven on earth. It changed my life dramatically to see what we have and what we take for granted. I want my family to experience even a glimmer of this. To spend time in the orphanages and to just give them what most of these kids need, Love.
This is just one of the many things my family and I are planning to do with our new life. Reading your book has opened my eyes to be able to fulfill all the many small and wonderful dreams that most might think trivial.
All we have in life is our experiences and the people we share them with.
Thanks again,
Austin
[…] Ferris of Four Day Work Week is holding a competition on his blog. Given that if you only had to work fours a week, you need to […]
With an extra 36 hours a week, I’d follow-through on a couple delayed plans. In 2001 and 2002, I traveled to South Africa to do basketball clinics and coaching clinics. I’d go back and help my friends Thierry Kita and Mark Crandall with the Hoops 4 Hope program. And, this time I’d surf along the coast, finish my oft-delayed novel set in Cape Town that I started in an Exension Creative Writing class in 2003 and go on a safari. Or, I’d visit a coach in Sao Paulo, Brazil who works with hundreds of kids and see what I could do to help his basketball program. And, I’d find a way to help Eric from the Philipines who emailed to seek my advice on re-organizing their national basketball programs.
Before I answer your question I have to give credit where it is due.
Loved the book! 4-Hour
Workweek We were both born in the right year for sure ’77 rocks!
After reading your book I’ve found myself awakened to the NR
lifestyle, and certainly intend to achieve it double or nothing boom or bust.
So How I would use 36 extra hours per
week? <<And don’t go Simon Cowell on me. j/k :)>>
The Focus must be two-fold:
1. I’d do really low-level multi-tasking
which would entail working on myself by becoming a better person and helping
others experience what I have experienced as you cannot lead anyone where you
are not first going yourself.
2. Become more culturally aware and
appreciative of what others do outside of the US of A. This would entail making
unforgettable friends tied to unforgettable memories doing unforgettable things
for the benefit of all involved. There are fun things to do everywhere.
3. I would like to create a residual income
that helps others achieve the NR lifestyle obviously adding to the ranks
of an already existent Global Network of friends who live their dreams and help
others achieve theirs.
How would this be achieved?
1. Involvement in activities that change lives…while enjoying improvement
of myself….those I work with directly benefit as I would seek to help
2. Mutual giving, mentoring, leading and otherwise forging a path of
lifelong friendships
3. Expert involvement is good. Tim what are you thoughts on the matter???
Closing Remarks
I don’t intend to be the last in achieving the NR Lifestyle because it
was never my intention.
Now let me be the first to have caught the eye with these cool techniques.
And if I could do it again? Let it be said…
"Tim, I’d be you, but in my own way making it me, excited and while
seeing it happen."
Many Thanks, Tim
Ian Hudson
Did we miss something when reading the book? All the comments from foreign readers should consider the advice of Mr. Ferriss….
“Never stop..never give up…never take no for an answer.”
Hell, I’d join anyway..find a way…do it! Don’t take no for an answer. Why should you be excluded?!
Make some new rules. Push on.
Best wishes for a happy outcome!
Chuck
“What if I did the opposite?� (Ferriss 30). I read the sentence again as I tried to ignore the white screen of the laptop to my right. My window was open, and I could smell the neighbor’s barbecue and hear kids outside, riding their hot wheels on the sidewalk. Working on Sunday shows dedication, I thought – a strong work ethic. But what if? Until now, my plan had been to work so hard that someone (at one of my three jobs) would hire me full-time, so I could have an office, full health coverage, and (I dreamed) a little coffee cup I could take to and from the water cooler. But what if I did the opposite? What if I kept my coffee cup at home, worked one job, and didn’t apply full-time anywhere? If I did the opposite, I would have the freedom to make my teaching high-impact. That’s what I would do with my 36 hours.
One of my jobs is teaching in an outreach program that offers free university-level classes to the poor and the working poor. It’s no secret that students from the lowest income brackets face the biggest challenge when it comes to higher education. Not only do they lack financial resources, but they often also lack knowledge of basics, like what it means to be a student, what it means to have an opinion and be heard – to be counted in society. With my 36 hours, I’d like to expand our classes and eventually teach overseas as well as at home – to help provide education (and empowerment) to the poor all over the world. I would help students gain the confidence to write, use their voices, and tell their stories. Someday I would also like to learn to speak Farsi, master tae kwon do, and eat kimchi in the middle of the night on a heated floor in Korea. I’ll start with one plan, though. I’ll start by sharing what I love to do with people who need education, inspiration, and the encouragement to speak and be heard.
I turned 21 and got my electrical engineering degree within the last three weeks, switching from full-time student to full-time improviser.
I’ll spend the next few years on the engineering campuses of universities in 6 different countries: Japan, Germany, China, India, Uganda, and the Philippines. I wouldn’t be studying in them; I’d be studying them, immersing myself into the local cultures of making.
It’s the beginning of a quest to turn people into hackers (definition 7) and hackers into teachers; first I need to learn about how hackers are made (and why they aren’t – as a disabled minority female from the developing world in open-source engineering, I want to level the playing field until people like me are not an anomaly).
I’ll shoot documentaries (making my first now) and write blogs, books, and research journals about engineering education (a woefully underexplored subject) and teach classes (on local campuses, open to all) on open-source hardware, software, and content development. Everything will be released under an open license; much will feed into the curriculum and library work I’m already doing for the OLPC project.
A special focus of my open-source hardware design will be devices that can be used by the handicapped but aren’t “made for the handicapped” – bluetooth headsets as hearing aids, webcams as pointers, making devices for everyone that just happen to be assistive for the few who need it. Growing up severely hearing-impaired, I shunned gadgets that marked me as deaf. Now an engineer, I want to create devices without stigma and release the technologies into the public domain.
I would train my speech (muffled from 19 years with poor aural feedback) so I can teach clearly. I’d learn jazz piano (I play classical), and cooking chemistry. I’d sit in the shade with a lemonade and a friend, talking about learning and life – and then plunge back in to live it.
If I was already doing all but the travel as a full-time student, what more could I do with another 36 hours a week? I’m finding out right now.
Simply put I would learn to enjoy life more and spend more time with my family and girlfriend. Having an extra 36 hours per week or more I would start with spending time with my dog, girl friend and family (not necessarily in that order). All the hours I have been working starting and running my company has put a lot of stress on me that I have taken out on my family and my girlfriend.
Spending 15 – 20 mins a day on a walk with my dog with be a good start to spending the extra 36 hours.
Then building a better relationship with my girlfriend would be a high priority, seeing how I would like to propose this year but haven’t due to not being able to give her the attention and time she deserves. Simply driving to spend the day at the beach with her is something we both love and haven’t been able to do in a long time.
My Family, as myself, my brother and sister all have been moved out of our parents house for a while now we don’t spend as much time together. Cooking a weekly meal at my home for all of us to get together would be great. Having the extra time would allow me to re-ignite my passion for cooking and get some more quality time with my family. Everyone loves a free meal, especially my family!
Last but not least, I would spend the extra time on myself. One would be to go sky diving for the first time. Due to running my business taking off work a day to go sky diving has been impossible. Also learn either Muay Thai or Boxing would be a new daily ritual. Both of these activities would add some exercise, socialization and a much needed adrenaline rush. The Italian culture and history has always fascinated me. To help stimulate the mind I would like to take history lessons about ancient Rome and Italy, and to take Italian lessons. Once I get my muse going, take a mini retirement to Italy.
[…] May 29th, 2007 In response to this post/contest at the 4 Hour Work Week: […]
ANSWER
Travel. “Great”, you say, “Join the other 1,246 comments that say they will travel too”. So this is where your “Do The Opposite!” comes in:
Instead of traveling to fully submit myself into native cultures, (which is also awesome), my trip would be focused on the travelers themselves. Why not explore what brings people to travel? It is a very esoteric thing that many say you can not describe… but what if you could?
“Thousands of people from thousands of backgrounds who are all traveling — for what? Lets find out.”
Quick Logistics:
/MEET one hundred different people.
/SPEND QUALITY time with them.
/FIND and POST key questions/answers via different media/technology vehicles (Podcasts, Blogs, etc).
Automation Concept:
/Each traveler is asked to fill out a simple fill in the blank letter (think motivational “mad libs”), as well as some open ended stuff to share anything.
/They are then put to the challenge to meet 5 other travelers and present them with letters, so on and so forth.
/This will enable to remove myself while continuing the concept.
Improve The World in Some Way or This Is Where We Have Some Fun Section:
/Completed letters get exchanged between different people who have filled out a letter themselves – inspiration/perspectives/etc.
/Mailed to people thinking about traveling that signed up on the corresponding blog – this should give them that extra push.
/Selected letters get scanned and made into a travel book.
/Money can be pledged or donated within the letter for social/environmental causes.
/Commitments can be pledged based on the individuals dreams in life. That letter gets put in a self addressed envelope and mailed 1 year later to see the outcome. Receiving a piece of mail that you wrote to yourself can be pretty powerful and a nice kick in the but to re-access how well things are moving.
This little experiment will help the traveler decide what he/she wants out of a trip and then continually motivate them to get it.
It’s such a shame I’m over in the UK… If I wasn’t then I think I would definately give your competition a go!
If I had 36 hrs extra per week I would follow through a series of different ideas that extend from the girl geek dinners and get the concept into schools, colleges and universities around the world as a way of educating, encouraging and extending the technological environment.
I would also finish some software projects that I’ve always wanted to persue and spend more time with like minded innovative people. I would also dedicate more time to climbing and increase my flexibility and strength for the sport through gymnastics and yoga.
Like many I am quick to jump when Ferriss opens his wallet. I’m sitting here in the Delta Crown Room waiting to board a plane to Shanghai. This is my second mini-retirement. The trip was planned in just over a week. This is freedom.
I look at my fellow travelers and a sad feeling comes over me. They are trapped in the miserable lives they always dreamed of. The man getting his shoes shined stares out the window. His face emotionless, his eyes glazed over. I imagine he is telling himself for the millionth time, “Just six more years and I can retire. Then my wife and I can see the world.” He has thought this for over thirty years and it shows.
I am not a 4-hour purist. I work about eight hours a week, but I choose to because I can. Choice is freedom. Freedom from the fear that if we don’t assimilate the world will leave us behind. Good riddance world.
I have given the book to every friend and client. Each takes something unique, a piece big or small, that is changing their lives. Most are skeptical because of the title. I tell them that for many, 4HWW will be a state of mind. I ask them, What if you worked four hours less a week, what could you gain? The principles of the book are sound and can be embraced on many levels.
I am changing the world as a 4HWW Evangelist. This is my job. I carry a book with me and have a stack at home. I give it away to anyone with an open mind. I encourage you all to share your new found joy with others; using Tim’s passion which bleeds through on every page. Be a NR and bring as many people along as possible.
My flight is boarding and I must go. I take a book over to the man with newly shined shoes. “Here you go my friend, this is for you.” Written inside the cover a message, “May you live such a life.”
Simply, I’d build upon what I’m starting. I’m a new entrepreneur (age 26) and with the help of the right tools, I’ve made great strides to having better control of my time, finances and future. One of my initial goals with the newly create time was to inspire other people (particularly young professionals as that is my peer group) to take control and turn their life into actually living. I’m happy to say since Nov. 2006, when I started my business; I’ve since helped two other friends take the first steps in starting something on their own. Next up is my parents as they have owned a small business for 11 years. The problem is however, they still work 70 hours a week and I can’t seem to convince them that stepping back can take them two steps forward. The thing is now, with the few people I’m helping, I’m finding my time commitment about the same as when I was in the “corporate world� (even though it is much more enjoyable and rewarding).
So to answer the question, I would use the extra 36 hours to refine my craft of managing my time, business, finances and future better. From there I would finish helping my friends get started and my family to restart. Lastly I’d extend what I’ve come to know by setting up a program through Metropolis St. Louis (www.mstl.org), the volunteer organization I have joined since becoming an entrepreneur. I certainly can’t teach these tools the way they have been taught to me, but I can be the catalyst that introduces people to a whole new way to live their life. Although it’s only one small step, this will certainly be a long-time goal fulfilled of mine and another effort to make the world a better place.
Great book, listened to it on Audiobook and bought a hard-copy for re-perusing sections. That sentence doesn’t go against my 350 words, OK? 🙂
After reading your book I had to think what sounded fun to me. It’s interesting because growing up my hobbies were spread across several main ones: computer programming, math problems, and piano playing. That’s interesting because I make a living programming computers now, although the fun parts generally come from my own personal projects rather than my for-pay jobs. Growing up I also got to experience spending extended time on a cabin in the rocky mountains, going hiking, reading for fun, etc.
My dream life has always been aligned closely with your book — being able to work fewer hours, and live in a serene location such as a mountain or by a lake, and using the spare time to enjoy nature by hiking, reading while laying in a hammock out on the deck, or going fishing. Of course, this hinges on living in such an area, which is now my goal for the next few years.
In the short term, I tend to be playing the piano more in my spare time, tackling harder songs than I have ever been able to play (such as Listz’s Hungarian Rhapsody). I’ve began a workout schedule as well, and I’m beginning to read more in my spare time. Additionally though, my hobby of programming has become fun again in my spare time, and I would love to contribute to some open source projects that interest me — give something back. If I had more hours, I’ve been really want to take up playing golf several times a week — walking 18 holes on courses in the area, then the world.
And beyond that, the most important hobby of them all: exploring new hobbies. After all, when you haven’t had enough free time to devote to hobbies, you’re going to need more to fill the time.
Thank you again for the great book. Even if I don’t win this contest, it has had a huge impact on me already.
I would (will) go to schools and speak to children.
Tell them they can do anything. Plant the seed that makes them keep questioning everyhing before social conditioning does its damage.
Thank you Tim.
I have two personal projects that I work on in “my spare time” which isn’t that copious.
I’ve written about 200 pages so far of The Next Great American Novel. I really need more spare time to finish my novel before I forget what it’s all about. The novel is a murder mystery set in a new age community trying to craft a better society and a happier, more enlightened populace.
The other project, which I’ve been working on for years, is developing human-like artificial intelligence for computers. With 36 extra hours per week I could finally get working the different systems needed to give my AI self-awareness, emotions, natural language and motivation. I have a basic prototype which can somewhat understand English and give English responses, but it needs a lot more work. Once complete, it could be used for a variety of tasks, including language translation, search engine enhancement, automated help systems, non-player game characters, and personal companion, but my main goal is to use it as a test bed for exploring how people think and what changes to their thought process can improve their lives.
Currently I work full time as a games designer so I can pay the bills, support my family and send my daughter to college. 36 extra hours a week would let me complete these two projects, which I hope would be of benefit to others.
Assuming that I have not made a DELA, I would use 36 extra hours per week to define (D) my new life plan, eliminate (E) all time wasting activities, use outsourcing to free up my dependency on others (L) and begin automating (A) my new life plan as follows:
With a DEAL in place, I have a team consisting of VA’s, attorneys, and a few other contacts. My DEAL allows me to continuously generate new ideas, products, and product/service improvements. My ideas would be submitted to my team who would then apply for patents (as needed), setup distribution, manufacturing, marketing, support, and sales, etc. I just created a DEAL from a DELA, providing with me 36 extra hours per week while getting paid!
Being able to think openly and creatively without a constant bombardment of misinformation and interruption is invaluable. I am always thinking of new products and innovations but FEAR, irritants, and useless obstacles seem to get in the way. After reading 4HWW, I finally completed and filed my first patent application.
The extra time allows me to take mini-vacations which would fulfill FIVE (5) purposes:
1) To explore remote places and free my mind
2) To meet and understand different people and their cultures
3) Try one new thing at each location (recently, while traveling, I flew a trike)
4) Provide shoes to people all over the world. I enjoy running and my old running shoes can be used by people in other countries. I’m also sure that other runners have multiple pairs of unused shoes in their closets.
5) Spend time with my wife as she studies Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) to become a certified instructor and yoga studio owner. We just started doing Bikram a month ago and I still can’t do half the poses correctly!
If I won the grand prize, I would have a VA or BootsnAll plan the entire adventure. I would spend the two hours with Tim butt-kicking me until my DNA was branded with 4HWW. I would give $500 to The Nature Conservancy (Discovery Planet Earth) and $500 to CCFA.
My daughter Madeline used to ask me every night I layed her down for bed “Is tomorrow Saturday daddy?”
When I asked her why she continued to ask me that question every night she answered, “Because Saturday is the only day we spend time together.”
It broke my heart. I was a corporate slave focused more on my job than my family.
I quit my six figure executive level job and launched my website http://www.everydayissaturday.com.
Although I am not stuck in the rat race per se, I have been working tirelessly on my new motivational website and would love to take a well-deserved trip with my wife and three daughters.
The people we would bless with our testimony of overcoming fear and adversity would help encourage champions everywhere to live the life they love. Once they hear the story of an ex-stutterer turned motivational speaker, who grew up without a father, now being a full-time father – it will motivate them to defend their dream.
I would donate the money to our local Cincinnati child abuse center. Angela and I have a passion for children and want to see every child given the opportunity to live a life of abudance and prosperity.
Thank you,
Sam Crowley
I’m excited about this contest. Figuring out how to help people is one of the main things I think about. I have many a fantasy about how that could look if I had 36 extra hours a week.
I did want to respond to “Tayo” with the “bruised sense of agency.” Girlfriend, you do not need to be rich or have 36 hours a week to make a huge difference in this world. Do something super small like volunteer one hour every two weeks tutoring a kid or washing shelter animals, or pick up groceries for an older neighbor, or take an animal to visit an old folks home. Once you see the high impact of your small actions, you will be unstoppably motivated to contribute in a bigger way.
Contributing to the world in a positive way could look like some of my high-impact project fantasies, but it can also be as simple as living with integrity, meaning; integrating your values into your everyday living. (First, and also motivating, you need to take the time to get really clear about your values.) Again, you can find the motivation to do this by starting small and seeing a big impact. Buying local, organic food is a great way to start living with integrity if you value entrepreneurship, pleasure, health, sustainable living, and a better environment. (One of many low-energy life-style changes that offer a big impact.)
Back later with some of my plans for thoroughly enjoying myself as I make the world a better place.
After a divorce, like most people, you take time to reevaluate your life. What is important and what is not. My focus became my small children. I always loved them but didn’t spend enough time with them. I thought I was the good dad spending time at work and trying to start a new biz online. Now I work a “normal” 40 hours and spend time on my biz after the kids go to bed.
I want to either change to a year round school or home school. That gives us more opportunities to travel (2-3 week blocks). I want to pick up my kids from school and work with them on their homework. It is not the quality but quantity that counts. Stop the video games/TV and play outside. Work in the garden or flowerbeds. Spend time with older ones and help them with their needs. Teach them to be productive responsible people not just consumers.
Part of that training is to travel and experience other cultures. Learn to think global. Learning how others live can help make wiser decisions, for us and them. Most people just focus on the 30 miles around them. Notice how people who travel can be more tolerant? Their horizons are widened when they see how things can be good and different.
I want to share in the missionary work with my children. Religion is not just doctrine. Teaching people how to be honest, hardworking, moral, clean and responsible is valuable everywhere you go. Be an example and model for other religions to get along with each other. Reach people’s hearts and amazing things can happen.
I want to teach people how to start internet/outsourced businesses. I will start with my family and friends. As I travel setup small business seminars in those countries. Find serious minded ones and teach them one-one-one and trade out something of value to me (language lessons, tour guide, etc). In many parts of the world, there is a shortage of local jobs. Helping others creates a purpose in life and that is a life-time job.
With 36 extra hours each week, I would:
a. Take my wife to Egypt and satisfy her fascination with the pyramids and the Pharaohs – I’d at least go to Philly to show her the King Tut exhibit in September.
b. Take my son (who coaches youth ice hockey) to Calgary to visit coach Tom Molloy of Mount Royal College Women’s Ice Hockey. Tom co-wrote a book – THE book – on progressive instruction of youth ice hockey players.
c. Take my daughter to Mexico (she’s a high school Spanish teacher) so she could immerse herself more in the language to improve her fluency.
d. I’d go back to college and finish my degree (22 hours shy). Just because one day I might like to teach.
e. Clear out the clutter and organize my books (once and for all).
f. Read. I’d even take the time to record my reading aloud so I could replay them for my personal use later. Sort of a double benefit.
g. Visit Denmark and find out why they’re the “happiest nation on earth.” Duplicate what I can.
h. Lobby hard to attend a TED conference.
i. Visit Karl Fisch at Arapahoe High School in Colorado – famous for the “Did You Know?” slide show – in order to create improvement in local education (some way, some how).
j. Learn more about SEO and other web sciences so I could teach my kids/grandkids.
k. Visit Athletes Performance in Tempe, AZ (Mark Verstegen) with my son for some personal training and knowledge building.
l. Volunteer to read aloud to kids to foster greater love for books/words.
m. Take a Photoshop/Illustrator class so my photography skills could improve (I’ll need it to capture all the cool moments).
o. Visit England to sit down with Charles Handy, the brilliant Irishman.
p. Take my entire family to Kaui – because we all need to see it at least once.
q. Go to Pawnee City, NE to interview Daniel Whitney (aka Larry The Cable Guy)
r. Smile – a lot. Cry – sometimes. Love – more. Laugh – often.
If I had an extra 36 hours per week, I would divide them evenly between pursuing my personal goals, spending time with my family, and improving the state of my community. I would allot 12 hours for me, 12 hours for my family, and 12 hours for the community.
With the time for myself, I would hone my skills as a linguist, a speed reader, and a writer. With these extra hours, I would learn to speak Spanish, Hebrew, and Japanese fluently by taking advantage of free resources for language learning, as well as practicing with native speakers. My English reading rate would increase to the point where I understand and enjoy at least 1 new book per week. I would also write every day, with the eventual goal of making myself a published author.
The family time would be further divided as follows. For my infant son, Ethan, I would simply spend time bonding with him by playing and caring for him. For my toddler, Colin, I would get him involved in his first organized sports, and finally take him to swimming lessons. And for my Mother, I would help her write her memoirs, so that the memories she has left now never leave us. I would like to increase my contact with my extended family and build upon the Genealogy research that others have already begun.
The hours for my community would be spent in three different ways. First, as I am a recovered alcoholic, I would finally have the opportunity to properly sponsor another recovering alcoholic who is early in their recovery. I would also find opportunities to volunteer with charities that promote literacy and that encourage research into a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, specifically First Book and the Alzheimer’s Association. I would offer them my time and talent for fund raising.
By bettering myself, I become more valuable to my family and to the community at large. I believe that by seeking self fulfillment, we not only enrich our own lives but also the lives of everyone with whom we come into contact.
The Background
Growing up in a very religious home, I was taught that evolution was wrong and evil. I love my parents, but I now realize that their belief that evolution was wrong is simply not relevant to the core convictions of my faith. Unfortunately, as a result of my upbringing, I skimmed over a subject about which I now seem to be extremely passionate: evolutionary biology.
Ironic, isn’t it?
I’ve discovered during the past two-year journey that I must distinguish between convictions and beliefs. Finding common convictions builds community. Focusing on differences in beliefs tears relationships apart.
What I’d do in my current situation
With an extra 36 hours per week, I would do the following:
1. Continue to learn about my passion.
2. Volunteer with local academic biology research projects.
3. Research how other cultures and religions affect the convictions and beliefs of the local population.
4. Based on personal experience and research, start a website aimed at helping people deal with broken beliefs.
5. Given enough info on the topic, write a book.
What I’m going to do when I’ve implemented the concepts in The 4-Hour Workweek
1. Conduct a long-term extended trip and use the extra 36 hours per week researching the local cultures in person.
2. Mark a few activities off my lifelong goals list, such as the following:
a. Hot-air ballooning with my wife over Tuscany in Italy.
b. Hang-gliding in Greece.
c. Snowboarding till I drop in Davos, Switzerland.
d. Horse-riding in northeast Spain.
Thanks
Not only for the content, but for the book. It’s changed my lifestyle.
What a great contest! Here’s my answer — written in equal hopes of winning the prize, inspiring myself to live into this vision regardless of the contest outcome, and consulting with the person who’s changed my outlook on life more than anyone I’ve not met in person (Tim, if that wasn’t obvious).
For the purpose of this essay, I am going to assume that I have achieved the extra 36 hours per week by implementing the concepts in your excellent book, including creating a muse to meet my Target Monthly Income. As a quick aside, I’d like to note the greatest change the book wrought in my mindset: recognition of excessive reading as a crutch activity – something I’ve used to avoid spending time on creative pursuits while still congratulating myself for being “intellectual”.
With my new 36 hours per week, I will immediately take a structured approach to mastering the three creative skills that interest me most: playing guitar, building Web applications, and writing. These will consume 2-5 hours per day. Another 2-3 hours per day would go towards eustress for the body: starting with my current favorites (swimming, strength training, and snowboarding) and adding others that I *must* explore while still in my physical prime (surfing, kitesurfing, mountain biking, extreme snowboarding). Because my muse will allow me freedom of movement, I will explore these in their prime global locations (surfing in Hawaii and Costa Rica, snowboarding in British Columbia and the Andes, for example). On these travels, I will write about them, enjoy their wines and delicacies, and continue to improve my guitar skills with the goal of publishing a travelogue and playing in a band within 18 months.
The remaining hours of my week I will spend on: batched errands and muse-related tasks, communicating with friends and family (sending letters to them from abroad would be a great way to kick-start my writing habit), and, finally, a bit of fiction reading — which is still a love of mine but will now be a relaxing leisure activity and not a proxy for bold living.
“I create a loving, sacred, safe world by accepting and expressing who I AM.� This is my personal mission statement. As a check for this, I ask myself each day and moment, “How can I best express who I AM now?�
With the Four Hour Work Week Plan, it is my goal to fund a life of following my passions and leading/mentoring others to do the same. I choose to lead my life, not follow it. So, for me, this book is helping me live a life of integrity and accountability.
As a creative person, I choose to take control of my life and how I contribute my skills and talents. I choose to change my life so that I always will have the ability to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to me. I choose to create a life of options.
With the extra 36 hours per week I will live a life of following my passions, for example:
I want to compose music and create musical/visual productions that transform audiences to higher levels of consciousness and awareness.
I want to seek out ways to bring performing arts organizations and corporations together, creating new products/productions that will contribute to both organizations fruitfully while improving the lives of its audiences/markets.
I want to visit the major concert halls of the world.
I want to learn how to play bagpipes in Scotland!
I want to play an Alphorn on the slopes of the Alps!
All of my experiences will have the goal of expressing myself more fully and bringing that awareness into my leading others towards their own acceptance and expression of themselves.
I am a high school teacher. I chose teaching because a) I like to help people, and b) I get a reasonable salary for a short work day and a short work year. Problem is, I spend very little time in my job actually teaching. I spend more time and energy dealing with non-educational issues like student chronic absenteeism, conflict-resolution, and learner apathy! So to get 36 extra hours/week, I would teach on-line while home-schooling my children. Let me rephrase that: I would “world-school� my children. I would spend a few hours per week online conducting necessary educational business while my wife and I explored the world with our daughters. Social Studies lessons while visiting the Pyramids! Science lessons at the Galapagos Islands! How about introducing the children to the music of Mozart while visiting Vienna? While learning Portuguese in Brazil, I might check in on my cyber-students before heading to a beautiful beach with my family.
All this is do-able. I have a Masters in Counselling and my wife has a degree in Biology. We adopted our three daughters who are the offspring of Cambodian war refugees. We are extremely blessed! I don’t want the kids to get the wrong idea that the world is just there for the fortunate to exploit, though. A life lesson would take place in Africa where my family would see the hardships that nations are suffering. We would commit our talents to a project supported by influential social activist Stephen Lewis (http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/index.cfm)–perhaps in an orphanage–and teach our children that giving and getting is not a financial transaction.
I write and my wife is a photographer, so we would document our adventures and sell how-to-books to others interested in “educating� their children (and themselves) this way. I bet I could even convince school divisions to invite us to be guest lecturers (teleconferencing). Got to pay the bills somehow!
p.s. Not interested in travelling w/out my family, so we will have to negotiate!
If I had an additional 36 hours per week, I would be virtually free from daily work. Since I love traveling in Europe, I would go there for an extended period – maybe 3 to 6 months. I would travel to many cities and towns in every European country, and would meet as many people as I could. Every one of them would be handed a brief flyer on the situation in Darfur. The US is slowly waking up to what’s going there, but we need the international community (particularly the EU & Russia) to act now to stop the genocide. Over 400,000 men, women, & children have been murdered in Darfur. We can make a difference; we must make a difference. http://www.savedarfur.org
I have asked myself this question many times.
I joined the Peace Corps to do something more valuable with my time; does it get more valuable than learning Spanish, living in Guatemala, and teaching health classes to indigenous children for over two years? I know now that it doesn’t.
I returned to the US two years ago determined to get my start in the “real world.� I got my masters in public health, gained $67,000 worth of debt and now sit in an office (40 hours per week) editing emails and memos (six hours per week!) for a health-related government contracting company. At first, I thought that there was something wrong with me. Am I lazy? Incompetent? Why can’t I just settle down and focus? I make good money, working with good people and have a decent commute, so why am I not happy at all? Then, I read this book.
I know now that I am too efficient and productive for my job!? I get done in 6 hours what others spend all week working on. I want out. People were telling me that Peace Corps was a great idea, because now I “got it out of my system.â€? I didn’t know it then, but it accomplished exactly the opposite. I am inspired. With an extra 36 hours per week, I would study Portuguese and French. I would choose an international, non-profit organization (Save, IRC, etc) and volunteer, fulfilling my passion for travel and my desire to help. In particular, I would love to work with an organization that focuses on the health and well-being of refugees and victims of torture, domestically and abroad. With the extra time, I would take photography classes, as well, and document my adventures to inspire those who need a little (or not so little) encouragement to get involved. Finally, aside from offering what I have to give, I want to learn something of the local culture wherever I end up: weaving in Guatemala, Flamenco dancing in Spain, organic farming in New Zealand, meditation in India, herbal remedies in China…I can’t wait!
With an 36 hours I didn’t have to work and assuming I had to wrok at least 4 hours a week these are the things I’d do.
1. Be where I am and encourage people around me to be where they are. Cellphones, computers, etc. remove me from where I am; or, they leave me sitting lonely next to someone I’d like to be talking to at a cafe.
2. Find ways to diffuse the concentration of money that is currently held in the hands of the few. A four hour work week is possible for everyone is capital is freed and then smartly organized.
3. Sex. But not some tantric self-enriching yoga kind of sex. Real sex, the kind you brag about to your friends years later or think about during the four hours you’re supposed to be working.
4. Continue persistence. I will always continue my beliefs, everyday, but doing what I have decided I believe in. Voting for third parties, bicycling to work everyday, being friendly to people, using my opportunities to give other people opportunity. Travel and enjoying people.
5. Educate myself. I’d treasure an hour to find out where the things come from. Where the food I eat is grown, the name of the bay the fish I eat is caught at, where the clothes I wear are made, etc. This is the best way to expore the world.
Back in 2002, I started adopting the NR lifestyle you now preach. I now work 20-30 hours per week (not 4 – yet!), but this is still a far cry from the 50-60 hours per week in my previous corporate jobs.
If I had 36 free hours per week, I’d study the lexical similarities across the world’s 6,000 languages, to see for myself if they all really come from a single source, as linguists like Greenberg and Ruhlen claimed.
Btw, I won’t wait until I have that much free time: I’ve seriously started already, I’m progressing alright, and I’m cross-checking the validity of my approach with professional linguists.
And that’s good, ’cause I’ll never win your prize, since I’m Italian – but rules are for bending, right?
Whoops, looks like I missed the point of the contest by half, despite the title of the post. For the record, I’m not a selfish jackass who doesn’t care about improving the world, just a little overeager at the prospect of imagining life with 36 extra hours a week. This time I will actually read the rules in full and submit something in the spirit of the contest.
Great competition. Bummer, can’t enter. (Melbourne, Australia).
Having 36 hours extra a week, I`d probably just do: more. A mere extension of my daily/weekly/monthly activities, because they are simply highest up my ranking list and therefore not to be neglected. Would I really get to grow those cotton plants, take down the chicken hedge, sow those flowers and seeds? Would I really help out my Senegalese friend to find a european festival to perform in? Find a job and save up for a van, …write the damn thesis? I sure hope so and time will tell. All is in my hands. Whether I have 36 hours extra a week, or not.
Anyways, I`m belgian (a.k.a. european) and so by default excluded from the contest. Which is a pitty. So maybe, If I think about it again, in that free time, I`d strive for a more logical, open and equal world, as a mere extension of what I already find important.
Good luck guys, cause the idea is very nice anyways!!
As a medical doctor who specializes in healthy aging/longevity medicine(www.AtlAgeMgmtMed.com), I have been truly blessed to be able to practice the kind of medicine that I believe will make a difference.
If I had an extra 36 hours per week, I would want to be an intrepid explorer-a modern day Ponce de Leon- studying the world’s longest living people. I
would visit and learn from these fascinating people as a physician and a
scientist. I would bring this information back to the American people who
so desperately need it. Unraveling the secrets of healthy aging is key to overcoming the health care crisis that faces American society today.
Can you believe that it is predicted that for the first time in modern history our children will have a life expectancy that will be shorter than our own and
be worse in quality of life? Is this the legacy that we want to pass on to our
youngest who hold the future in their hands? This is due to lifestyle choices
leading to an epidemic rate of childhood obesity and diseases that occur later on in life like Type 2 Diabetes, Cancer, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Heart Disease, etc., Studies have shown that lifestyle choices account for over 70% of how well we age.
With an extra 36 hours per week I would visit the following places where people live significantly longer, healthier and happier lives:
*Okinawa, Japan
*Sardinia, Italy
*Australia- the aborigines are the oldest surviving culture in the world
*Loma Linda, California- home of the longest lived US based population and where I was blessed to be able to live and study medicine for four years
and begin my quest for knowledge about longevity and preventive medicine.
The best way to meld my newly found knowledge with my experiences as a preventive medicine physician would be to author a book. I would present and promote my experiences and let each and every person know that they can live a significantly longer, healthier and happier life and pass this legacy on to their children.
Tim –
With 36 free hours per week I would indulge my greatest passion – making theater. When I graduated college in 1994, I landed a dream job – working as choreographer Merce Cunningham’s assistant. I traveled the world for four years, longing for a time where I could produce my own work in this amazing world.
I left Merce’s company in 1998, and began producing my own work while working 40-hour weeks in a highly stressed corporate environment. I acquired debt to purchase costumes, pay performers and rent space. I was so stressed for money that I burnt out in 2002 and have been laboring in the same job since wondering “what am I going to do with my life??�
The good news is that I have an online business which is growing and I am nearly out of a $30K hole. I will leave my job come December when I will be completely clean of debt, and my online income will surpass my living needs. There will be extra that I can use to produce my work.
I believe there is a great service opportunity with theater. My work is a blend of performance and dance which translates across borders. I want to take my work into war-torn, strife-filled regions, to facilitate cultural exchange and artistic reconstruction (these regions would have recently emerged from conflict, not active war zones). The proceeds from the performances would go to rebuilding dance studios, cinemas, theaters, poetry cafes, concert halls etc – allowing for a sense of normalcy and culture to return.
Part of my interest in theater is to understand and incorporate many differing cultural traditions into my worke. Should I win your trip, I would travel to India to study the Terrukuttu performances native to the villages. These shows are vignettes taken from the extraordinary epic “The Mahabharata�. I seek to understand these ancient performance styles, and allow them to thematically, stylistically and even (dare I say it) mystically, inform the work I do.
[…] Miss: The 4-Hour Workweek Global travel contest, “The Endless Summer: How to Travel the World — and Improve It — for Free.” The […]
With 36 extra hours per week, I would move onto a sailboat and travel the Caribbean and Central/South American coasts. My dream is to do some anthropological exploration of the incredible variety of cultures in those regions. I am currently working as a community researcher and I would love to bring that skill set to many different types of communities.
How would that help the world? One particular issue I would explore is how communities make decisions. In my experience, decision making (and acting on those decisions) is the single hardest aspect of making community work. By writing about different techniques of decision making across cultures, I hope to add to the understanding of how to communicate and create better communities.
Good luck to all!… But here goes my best effort.
What would I do with an extra 36 hours???
As a result, of chasing more money (and doing it on my own) and realizing that God hasn’t yet created a clock with more hours for the ‘busy’. The book has shocked me like a taser back into my utopian ideal, I know I have the power to control… Because, as we would all agree – time has a way of quickening after grade school, and you realize that each day races by in a blur sometimes.
So, not if… but when I create this extra 36 hour pocket of time – I would:
1. Spend more time playing with my little niece (4) and nephew (2) – I learn more from them than most anyone else.
2. Not only learn the Tango… but like yourself, Tim, actually compete in a competition. Because I always try harder when there’s a goal.
3. Talk to my Mom and Dad more and learn even more about their past and my past…
4. These extra hours would actually allow me to not only look but hopefully develop an amazing relationship with a special woman I could marry…(to be continued someday)
5. That would be enough… because if I learned anything from the book. Cramming isn’t success! Besides – those 4 things would make me a very wealthy man.
What would I do on my trip?
Finally, be able to go and visit the 2 kids I’ve sponsored through Christian Children’s Fund (great non-profit! They don’t preach the religion, they just help.) I’ve planned 2 other trips to Ghana to see Afilua and Abdullah before but cancelled, because of client conflicts.
I’d bring over stacks of coloring books and picture books for them – and sit down to color or draw with them…when you don’t speak the language, pictures are the next best thing.
Than I would go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, and stand at the top with a sign that said, “Thank You Tim Ferris and 4 Hour Work Week”
Well there you go… thanks for the opportunity to participate!
phew – what am I going to do with another 36hours. Just cutting out TV and not reading the news in excess allow me to use my time a lot more effectively
If I had another 36 hours per week, I would use them as follows:
4 hours: finalize my wedding plans and devote care and attention to all detail until Sep 29th, the big day!
3 hours: split in 1.5 hrs each for two extra long work-outs in the gym or pool per week
3 hours: cook a super-fine meal once a week for us and/or invite friends over to enjoy together
(only up to 10 hrs now!)
3 hours: split in 1.5 hrs, perfect my French conversation skills, read in French news and write a few e-mails in French to practice
1 hour per day (7hrs): stroll around town (Zurich, Switzerland) in areas that I have not yet explored, take pictures, write notes on restaurants, shops, cafés
3 hours: write a travel story based on walks around town
(only up to 23 hrs, 13hrs to go)
3 hours per week: volunteer in a care home or help someone study a language (I speak a few…)
1 hour per week: call friends that I have not talked to
5 hours per week: coach someone or offer extra hypnotherapy sessions
and finally 🙂
4 hours: Paint, paint, paint, take pictures of my paintings, post them on the web and sell them via my new webshop (under construction).
That’s it…wow that’s a lot.
Can’t participate in the competition anyway but it’s a great exercise.
Have fun and enjoy.
Daniela
Zurich, Switzerland
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What a difference a year makes! Monday, the sun wakens me at 8:30am and I head downstairs for breakfast till 9:30am. “Muse Mail� consumes 30 minutes before you know it. Language lessons are not till 2:00 so I realize I have some extra time and take off into the woods behind my house for a short 2.5 hour hike. I slept a little late this Tuesday and then make my way to the table around 9:00am. Aikido lessons, the gentle defense, start right after the meal and continue till 1:00pm. After strength training at 3:00pm I sit down to an exhausting business brainstorming session from 4:00pm to 5:00pm. Personal research has taught me that I am most productive in the late afternoon after exercise. I am up “early� Wednesday morning for what is arguably my busiest day of the week. Breakfast at 8:30am is followed by the meeting with Eddie, a troubled teen at church, who noticed my lifestyle and sincerely wants to turn his life around. Our dialogue begins at 9:00am and continues through lunch till 1:30pm. Later, the hour interview with the new VA, Aditi confirms she is the right choice for my next venture. Thursday begins with a light breakfast followed by strength training till 9:30am. I spend the better part of an hour going over financials from last month while sipping Kopi Luwak coffee, de-café of course, on my porch. I spend the rest of the day preparing for mini-retirement number… My wife and I catch the afternoon plane to Nassau followed by a boat ride to Rum Cay. Friday morning finds me at Rum Cay where I greet the sunrise on the beach before joining my wife of 20 years, Cindy at the breakfast buffet. We spend the day tanning until 2:00pm. We board the research yacht “Blood Pressure Medicine� and sail out to the wreck of the H.M.S Conqueror. I look forward to the weekends “work� studying tool use among bottlenose dolphins. My head snaps up off my desk as the phone rings. It is time to start building my dream!
My wife who reached the U.S. as a refugee in 1983 from Laos loves the culinary delights of her native land but living far from any family members and not knowing other Lao people in the community has made it difficult for her to learn the culinary aspects of her heritage. I know she is not alone and that many other Lao refugees also miss the familiar taste of home like sweat inducing papaya salad and minced meat salads.
On my first and only trip to Laos in which I stayed 1 week I was introduced to a countless number of dishes that I have never seen in the U.S. These recipes have not been documented in any English cookbooks and have a very slim chance of ever being passed on. During this trip I learned how important food is to the Lao people, it is not just something to eat, preparing and eating food is a social event that helps unite the community and build bonds from one generation to the next. It was amazing to see the little kids preparing vegetables, the teenagers working the mortar and pestle, the adults cooking noodles over a coconut husk powered flame, and the senior citizens plating the delicious food for all to eat.
If I had 36 extra hours per week I would return to Laos with my wife and work to construct a cookbook that would be the most complete digest of Lao cooking. I would document recipes from each region of the country, from the street vendors, from family dinners, the temples, and from restaurants. I would document the recipes with photos and interview the people to provide information on the cultural aspects and history of each dish. The book would work to preserve the culinary heritage of Lao people for generations to come and would provide not only Lao-Americans but anybody in America with the opportunity to prepare a piece of Lao culture in their own home.
Friday, I’m sitting in my cubicle now thinking that I should have taken a sick day and went windsurfing, but had to be here. Long hours ahead. I know that I’ll go windsurfing on the weekend and it will make me happy. Happiness and unhappiness is just like a coin and the greater the coin the greater the contrast is. Somehow everything is bipolar. Everything has action and counteraction…
Western culture is driven by fear, Oriental, including Japan by the feeling of shame. One has a fear of unknown or death; another has a fear of shame that this moment won’t be beautiful. It will take me more then 36 hours a week to challenge my fears, but 36 hours would be a good start.
I have always loved astronomy. It was my hobby for many years and then one day I woke up and thought that I cannot touch anything I see and it made me sad. And then I thought that it would be so great to touch as many things as I can and not just dream about it.
I always thought about owning a tiny submarine or being able to dive to at least half a mile holding my breath. Touch as many things as you can even if it means kicking your behind for 6 hours out of 36 to get moving.
-My folks will only be happy if I’m happy!
I do IT security at a large financial company in Maryland. With the 36 hours per week, I would spent most of it working on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program (www.laptop.org). I fully believe that the best way to help children (and everyone else) in less-advantaged countries is to expose them to opportunities that would allow them to “leapfrog” into the modern era. This program aims to do that. Communications and information sharing is key and can balance out the asymmetry of these environments and give the children (and adults too!) in these parts of the world the same advantages as the rest of the world. This is where my time would be best spent.
Hey people, why are you all so hung up on not being American?
Let’s do a little calculation. The value of the round-trip ticket: $5000. If it’s more, it doesn’t matter, as you’ll see. 50 weeks per year at 36 hours per week would be worth $5000 if your annual salary were just over $5500.
If your salary is $50K (a more reasonable estimate, I bet) then 6 weeks of 36 extra hours per week would be worth more than $5000.
The real prize on offer here is the 36 hours per week, not the airfare. That’s just Tim’s trick to get you to try out his methods. And they’re open to everyone, even those from outside the USA.
Simple and not terribly altruistic: I’ll create more art. It’s what I do best and it’s what I enjoy the most.
A 4 hour work week amounts to a savings of over 60 hours per week for me. THAT is freedom.
I have recently learned on this journey of life that if I make my life richer, I also make the world richer. I have not lived by that precept to this point. I have slaved and driven myself and am now learning how to relax. The importance of this is brought home by the fact that I have already out lived both my father and my brother. There is a devine karma involved here.
Time is not free as it cannot be recovered once it is spent, so it behooves me to have a Plan of Action.
I will benefit by having a richer and fuller life which will make this world a richer place.
1) My family will benefit by my increased involvement. This especially includes my two daughters and my grandson.
2) My friends will benefit by having me to mentor them to help achieve the same lifestyle. We would go to a fine restaurant each week to eat great food and make great plans by which a 4 hour workweek can be achieved for them.
3) I will persue my creative desires of song writing and script writing.
4) I will be in a better position to help those who need help.
5) I would document via the net my specific plan of action to achieve the Dream in my life to encourage others to Dare the Dream.
My trip will be a recorded video documentary to be published on the net about the freedom and riches to be had by brave people daring to live the dream. I would drink a margarita in Cabo as the sun sets in the pacific and I would drink a great scotch in Scotland while smoking a fine cuban cigar.
And I will raise a toast to Tim Ferriss!
An extra 36 hours
I can say that the first 25 hours that I have extra will be spent with my family. These additional hours would be spent taking care of my wife’s pregnancy example 17 hours between doctor visits and getting to know my daughter better Chuck Cheese, Disney World, finding great places to eat out while mommy is busy and being a human versus in a hurry to get somewhere else. The observation is I enjoy spending time with my family and would enjoy the additional time with my family.
The next seven hours will be spent on organizing a business (which consists of 11 properties that I purchased starting in January 2007) that I started. This organization would be to ensure cash flow is positive to start taking some more time off my career-job (Lockheed Martin) to spend with family and start a hobby (writing for a living). The observation is that the additional hours not spent working for Lockheed will be spent to ensure that I have money to commit to my family and community (Donating money and time PBS, Walk a-thons).
Final four hours I plan to start exercising again. I started exercising in August 2006 and then stopped do to Gym disagreements on payments. I have purchased some weights and walk at least a few hours a week, however I would like to spend these four hours working out to get into a shape that my wife would like to see me nude in. The observation is I was working on this when I allowed other people to get in the way.
Final observation is with an additional 36 hours in my life I would spend it with the ones I love and work to ensure that they are taken care of while making a better community.
Due to growing up in the tropical jungles of Papua New Guinea amongst reformed cannibals and my work in other third-world nations, I’m often asked for financial assistance. But there is a limit to what one person can do. Besides, despite over US$80 billion in foreign aid last year, most will remain in a destitute state. Clearly money alone is not a long-term solution. Education is necessary to galvanize people with both the impetus and innovativeness to solve their own problems.
With an intense desire to create a program that would help people help themselves, I went to sleep a few weeks ago meditating on a possible solution. The next day, I awoke with the concept for a competition which with very little dollar investment can reap huge dividends. The ValYOU Freedom Leadership competition is designed to imbue a community with the incentives and self-empowerment to restore dignity and honor. Participants are asked to 1.) Start/Join an action team, 2.) Pick a project designed to tangibly liberate their local community, and 3.) Submit a report of accomplishments before completion deadline (September 1, 2007 – March 1, 2008). I am personally offering a cash prize of $1000 and hope with corporate sponsors and your charitable contribution of $1000 to provide regional prizes. Visit http://www.valyou.org/groups.htm
I am so thrilled that already, people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and even New Zealand want to get involved in the contest. Imagine if we could document meeting some of these people face-to-face. Please thank film maker Brook Silva-Braga in advance for me as I sincerely hope I win this competition and shake his hand for using his talents to help better our world.
Specifically, I would use the extra 36 hours per week to complete the nonsectarian leadership training program I am currently developing for these groups to download and listen to each month. Tim could help teach too! I would be delighted to glean his ideas and consultation input. Together, we can truly help people feel the rewards of global contribution as well as personally design the life they deserve.
[…] it — for free. If you live in the United States, you have a chance to win Tim Ferriss’ The Endless Summer: How to Travel the World — and Improve It — for Free competition and get a roundtrip air ticket to anywhere in the […]
In two year’s time, my small business saw an increase in profit of more than 1000%. Now, I want to use my skills and knowledge to help fledgling business owners in developing countries increase their profits and improve their local economies. The amazing part? I’d drink in the various cultures of the world while helping others. An extra 36 hours a week would both provide me the life of my dreams, and directly help combat poverty in developing nations.
A small business pulls folks in developing countries out of poverty and promotes economic growth, which benefits many members of the local community. But many of these small business owners need marketing and business consulting help. They need someone like me, who can brainstorm with them on how to increase their exposure, improve their efficiency and attract loyal, repeat customers.
Imagine a world filled with entrepreneurs at all levels—to do so is to imagine a world one-step freer from poverty. The kiva.org organization inspired me—now I want to take it a step further and help not just with my money, but with my knowledge and experience. My consulting work and marketing advice would be pro bono—my reward would be the world itself—the beaches of Thailand, the villages of Cambodia, the Fale huts of American Samoa.
I’m already living part of my dream. In two months, I will move to Malaysia part-time to create a more fulfilling life. Weekends on tropical islands in luxurious huts that stand over water, and frequent trips to other SE Asian countries is also part of the plan. Along with my husband, I’ll travel the region, live a calmer, more peaceful life, and learn what I can about various cultures to help my long-term dream of helping small businesses across the world. But like most people, I need more time. I also need to leverage Tim’s knowledge and advice. I believe it’s possible to live both an amazingly rich life AND dramatically help others. It’s what I am called to do. Winning this contest will help that happen sooner.
If I had 36 extra hours a day, I would plant trees.
Due to growing up in the tropical jungles of Papua New Guinea amongst reformed cannibals and my work in other third-world nations, I’m often asked for financial assistance. But there is a limit to what one person can do. Besides, despite over US$80 billion in foreign aid last year, most will remain in a destitute state. Clearly money alone is not a long-term solution. Education is necessary to galvanize people with both the impetus and innovativeness to solve their own problems.
With an intense desire to create a program that would help people help themselves, I went to sleep a few weeks ago meditating on a possible solution. The next day, I awoke with the concept for a competition which with very little dollar investment can reap huge dividends. The ValYOU Freedom Leadership competition is designed to imbue a community with the incentives and self-empowerment to restore dignity and honor. Participants are asked to 1.) Start/Join an action team, 2.) Pick a project designed to tangibly liberate their local community, and 3.) Submit a report of accomplishments before completion deadline (September 1, 2007 – March 1, 2008). I am personally offering a cash prize of $1000 and hope with corporate sponsors and your charitable contribution of $1000 to provide regional prizes. Visit http://www.valyou.org/groups.htm
I am so thrilled that already, people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and even New Zealand, want to get involved in the contest. Imagine if we could document meeting some of these people face-to-face. Please thank film maker Brook Silva-Braga in advance for me as I sincerely hope I win this competition and shake his hand for using his talents to help better our world.
Specifically, I would use the extra 36 hours per week to complete the nonsectarian leadership training program I am currently developing for these groups to download and listen to each month. Tim could help teach too! I would be delighted to glean his ideas and consultation input. Together, we can truly help people feel the rewards of global contribution as well as personally design the life they deserve.
To Tim and Staff
If I had 36 extra hours a week, I would have 204 hours a week at my creative use. This would be nice.
I watched a T.V. program today that I do watch frequently. It is a not-for-profit organization that has people travel around the world. Teaching about different cultures and lands. I have always been fascinated by this show and dreamed of traveling with them.
This particular episode was about Ireland. A land filled with mischief, much history and GREAT beauty. Im sure you have been there though and could tell me far more about it than I could you (I look forward to our 2-hour chat about it as this is one place I will be going).
Wtih my extra time I will take the filmmaking courses at http://www.fullsail.com. After completion I am going to volunteer to work as a film maker for this oranization. I think it is absolutely fantastic and helps people visualize their dreams of traveling abroad(at least I know it does for me).
By the way I am currently learning Home investing from a couple mentors so this goal is not for the purpose of making money. This is for living a dream that I have had since I first saw an episode.
At the same time I will learn many different languages. As you stated learning languages helps us to learn our own language and how we choose to use it in our minds. A Vital key to accomplishing our goals!
This is a wonderful opportunity that your offering to us and I am very grateful. Actually, I have already accomplished these events in my mind and the universe is responding. Thank you in advance for choosing me to take the International trip.
In the words of Topher Morrison,
“Dare to Dream! And Live each day as an Epic Adventure!”
http://www.tophermorrison.com
Joe Tye said it best,
“Ego seeks security, Soul seeks Adventure.”
Thank you, Tim, for this generous and inspiring offer. I am almost 29, and feel that I must make a change in my life now; not later, but now. Before I am 30 I want to be living the life I have always known I am meant for, but was hindered by work and debt. I have always resisted the corporate rat race, and as a result have spent year after year in school hoping to find a way around it all. All the time I have racked up considerable amount of debt. While I have found meaning in many of my pursuits, they have kept me entangled in a trap between growing debt and the 40-hour prison (I’ve more often chosen the former due to my absolute distaste for the prison). I know without a doubt that with 36 extra hours in the week, sufficient income and financial support, and the insightful approach of the 4-Hour Workweek, there would be no obstacles to what I am able to accomplish and experience in this world.
What would I do with 36 extra hours in a week?
*I would write the book that I have started and am confident would be published. Everyone who I’ve shared it with has said I should write it. Time is all I need.
*I would create free resources for all those seeking to live the 4-Hour Work Week. I’m doing so now, but I would be much more able to do so with 36 hours in a week. I want to FREE people from the rat race.
*I would dedicate my time to a website I have co-created: BuddhistGeeks.com. This site is not about making money, but inspiring people. Of course, it takes time, and time in this society has unfortunately been glued –or so we’ve mistakenly believed- to money.
*I would take care of myself and visit family more often. Oh, and travel, travel, travel.
*350 words cannot contain all that I would want and be able to do and experience:) I thank you for inspiring me to make this a reality.
Thank you all so much for the excellent responses! My sincerest apologies for any issues with the site — it appears there were some issues with Firefox 2 and we should have sorted them out.
For those of you in other countries, here’s an idea, since I feel badly that I can’t offer you this contest for US legal reasons: why not hold your own contest?
If you get some sponsors in your country to offer prizes (like the trip, etc.) and you host the answers/entries on your own site, I’ll be happy to link over. It shouldn’t cost you anything if you set it up properly. Point out to sponsors that I will help promote.
Go get ’em, and keep the great answers coming!
Thanks to all, and have a wonderful week,
Tim
Implement Plan B immediately: remove artificial structure of time and build relationships instead of calendar. Spend focus on people instead of tasks that while important were never essential. No longer wishing, but living.
Without toil, only passion: promote free trade. Also, train people in developing world. Prove more than survival possible and help them to dream.
Be succinct to honor your time.
It’s 3am and I’m wide awake – every night for 3 weeks now – knowing so much has to change. 3 weeks ago I touched down in NYC after 21 days abroad – Melbourne. Bangkok. Koh Samet. Two of my closest friends – one at university down under, the other working in Thailand – each mentioned they’d found a week of downtime in their otherwise slammed schedules. They joked that I should blow off work and come visit. A forty hour week, rent on the first and a totally baseless fear of the unknown is usually enough to draw the usual response from everyone – “I wish I could…” or something equally non-committal. I slept on it, rolling the idea around in my head. It quickly became real and one by one, the excuses faded away. Nothing was worth passing up that opportunity – no job, no commitment, no price – nothing. I was in.
Fast forward. Jet engines thrusting me back into my seat as I tell myself I’m ready for it all. No turning back. What I could not possibly have known at that moment – is that the next 3 weeks we’re going to completely and irreversibly change my outlook on the world and force me to question everything I naively thought I had all figured out back home.
A theme’s emerging in nearly every response – everyone believes another day and a half each week will somehow create such balance and spark a new passion for life and learning that there simply isn’t time for in a 7 day span. We choose to create time for our passions or we choose to defer them. It’s our choice and we affirm it with every new day. Giving you my own ambitious list would just be more of the same – so you won’t see it here. It isn’t about having more time, it’s about what we do with the time we have. I’m 22 years old and not so long ago I felt successful by every measure – until I took myself half way around the world. 3 weeks – 21 days – 500 hours – was all it took to turn 22 years experience into one inescapably humbling question of what the hell I’m actually doing with the 168 hours a week I already have…
…and the answer is to do it all again. Endless global perspective defines the people that shape our world and make it better. I’m ready to jet.
—
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. – H. Jackson Brown
I have created a life with free travel where I frequently go overseas with my homeschooling son and my partner who is a yoga teacher. Soon we travel to Peru to lead a Karma Yoga Journey to an orphanage and we will teach yoga to the participants who are also volunteering as well as local groups who want us to offer yoga classes such as schools and an old folks home.
I run a yoga products company and Karma Yoga Journeys, which is a new initiative about to finally make an inaugural journey. I could use some help in working fewer hours as we keep our online businesses going while we travel. I am excited about reading your book to see how it can apply to small businesses.
My plans for this coming year include 5 weeks in India, 5 weeks in Mexico, and 2.5 weeks in St.Lucia. I will be planning more service oriented trips to Latin America, the Caribbean, and South America so that others can experience amazing cultures and sacred site and help in places where help is needed in whatever way the community wants. I want to see this iniative grow.
Personally, with more hours of free time, I plan to do more yoga, read aloud to my son, practice piano, teach a Fantasy Writing and Literature Class to homeschooled kids once again, and study homeopathy to become a certified homeopath. I have long dreamed of bringing health education to developing countries. Knowing more about homeopathy will help me do so. Of course, I will continue to travel with my family and learn about cultures along the way. I will spend more time reading books which is my passion. I will work more at the community organic farm where I already volunteer. I want to get involved with more volunteer work feeding people in the local community by making food for the homeless.
I would be honored to have your assistance in “making it so” as my dream life.
As the mom of a one year old, I would use my extra 36 hours to expose my son (and in doing so, expose myself and my husband) to all the things that he can’t learn in daycare. What sand feels like in between your toes and how tall the Eiffel tower is. How long it takes to hike the Great Wall of China and how the sun doesn’t go down if you are in Norway on June 21st. He would learn colors by watching the sun set in Hawaii or looking at the Aurora Borealis. He could learn numbers by counting the seashells on the beach and learn to say hello in languages all over the world.
I want to raise a son who shares my passion for travel and life; one who knows that you don’t have to be a slave to your desk for 50 years in the hopes that one day there will be enough money in an account to sustain your last 20 years. I want him to grow up with parents who aren’t constantly exhausted and stressed.
In expanding my horizons as well as the horizons of my family, I would want to take a piece (or a few) of each culture we visit and bring it back to my community so that other kids can experience it as well. I would love to see the looks on kids’ faces when they see a mosquite trapped in amber from the Baltic sea and hear about the trees full of sap that were crushed by glaciers that then melted and formed the Baltic millions of years ago and how the amber washes up on the shore in Gdansk, Poland. Or bring masks from aboriginal cultures how they to this day choose to remain a secluded culture to preserve their way of life.
Be it though a traditional classroom setting or at the local library’s story hour, I would love to expose other children to what the world has to offer. Through that exposure, I would hope that their curiosity would awaken and their own desire to travel and explore would come out.
Ode to Changing the World in your Spare Time
Tim Ferriss made a challenge;
In came the hats through rings,
“If you could work less hours,
How much better could be things?”
“If your work made up four hours
Instead of forty,” Tim has said,
“Where might you go; what might you do,
To sate the ideas in your head?”
Only one may win, it’s true,
The contest Tim has placed.
This should not bother you, though,
Since the point he makes is great.
If we control our gadgets
Instead of them controlling us,
Oh, what the world could look like!
We should all make quite a fuss!
So in that vein I place
these words upon the the screen.
That since we’ve not yet conquered space,
This planet must be green:
If I didn’t have to work
Forty hours every week,
I would spend time the world over –
To the people I would speak!
My life has most been spent
In practice being green.
The Earth can be quite
Beautiful – wherever it is seen;
Most business only focuses
On profits all the time,
To reach that goal but harm the Earth
Should seem like it’s a crime.
There are many many options
That help businesses to make
The money that they need
Without forcing them to take
The things the Earth provides
without giving something back!
Paul Hawkins and The Lovinses,
The Lorax, and Al Gore,
So many different people
The world over say “No More!”
There is no goodly reason
Why we cannot make our dough
While preserving what’s important –
so let’s work to make it so.
And with the many hours
Tim is helping me to hatch,
I’d like the chance to help the Earth
AND business – BOTH – no catch!
Namaste,
Andrew
I would love an exotic trip off the beaten path, but 36 hours a week would be used for something here in the US. 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. Suddenly, an individual that is probably severely damaged both from personal events and the system itself is now expected to romp out into the big city and become a functional, networking, financially successful citizen. That’s even more surprising when you consider that many people without such disadvantages are able to accomplish that, and they have family and friends to count on.
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, an inexpensive vehicle, and a permanent position with the corporation that they interned with if they have earned it. If for some reason they did not get offered the position, they would be given assistance obtaining full time employment. Naturally, any resident wishing to pursue the Four Hour Work Week lifestyle would be encouraged and mentored towards success.
All of this would be funded and supported through charitable donations and other fund raising activities, such as benefits, as well as government funding if and when we qualified. Counseling would primarily be handled by graduate students under the supervision of local university professors, or by established professionals wishing to do pro bono work. Residents would be required to return regularly and mentor new incoming residents for a period of not less than two years.
I would like to be the YMCA of foster care graduation facilities, at least one 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.
My wage slave ways used to be just fine for me. I was content with what I was paid, I’d sneak out early on Fridays and life was good. Then everything got “messed up� in the most wonderful way. Our daughter was born almost 2 years ago and since then I have begun to resent each moment I am at work. Not that I don’t like my job. It’s just that every unnecessary conference call, every planning meeting that results in more planning meetings, every technical difficulty that has me waiting for IT before my work life can continue are stealing us from each other.
My 36 extra hours a week would allow me to help my daughter crack open the great wide wonder of life and help her find the everyday magic that makes life worth living. Facing the reality of our very bad public school district and the fact that private school would be more than our house payment, my “help myself/help the world� opportunity would be having the time and resources to send my daughter to our local public school and invest the money we’d spend on private education for practical purchases such as new books, or art supplies. I could be very involved and nurture the education she would receive and make sure it was everything it could be. Then the trick would be getting all the other parents who send their children to private school to do the same. If every like minded parent took ownership over their local public school, I can’t believe that any of us would have to flee to the alleged superiority of private education. If public schools in my area can be so lax and float on the stream of indifference, then how could they not just as easily be bent to the will of a few motivated parents? I would not be able to change the world, only my daughter’s classroom one year at a time. But if more parents did that, think where our children would be.
Two years ago, I was headed towards becoming the “fat (wo)man in the red BMW�. I had just graduated from Notre Dame and I was going to law school, where I would learn to bill eighty plus hours a week while taking out six figures in loans. “You’ll have to work hard and pay your dues� every one told me. However, I didn’t think this was a prize worth winning.
So after having a quasi-breakdown that involved hopping on a flight to Spain and living in Seville and then Fez for while, I decided to opt out of law school to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a writer. I started a blog, started querying editors, and established myself as a freelance writer and web media consultant.
So now I’ve solved part of the NR equation – I’ve escaped the 9 to 5 and I can live anywhere with a satellite signal. Granted, I don’t have a 4 Hour Work Week yet, but I’m working on it. However, I don’t view the creative aspects as work, and I’ve definitely mastered the work hard vs. work smart equation (don’t tell my clients!).
First, I would use my extra 36 hours for planning how to take my work on the road, starting with “Dudes Making a Difference� – an organization with the goal is to fund the education of Nepali children. For $800 a year, these kids can go to school – they learn English and have internet access – so teaching them how to use the Internet to their best advantage could have a huge impact. But I’m not completely selfless, however, so while I’m in Nepal I want to climb Everest (to the base camp).
That’s just one example of how I would use my skills – writing, marketing, and internet savvy – to help others to help themselves. It all comes back to the adage – “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.â€? I might not have tons of cash to donate, but I have my abilities and my time.
American teens absorbed in My Super Sweet Sixteen, designer wardrobes and virtual communities live in a cotton candy bubble that, with an extra 36 hours tacked onto my week, I’d like to pop. As a fifteen year old, my world opened up when I spent a month in rural Thailand and realized there was a world beyond playing Super Mario Brothers. I’d love to give the same opportunity to other kids. Thirty-six hours a week would give me the time to begin high school mentorship groups focused on studying other cultures/countries, organizing summer group trips, and raising the money to get there. Tourists? Think again. My teen groups would be involved in planning their group’s trip and, once they arrive in the country, would volunteer in orphanages and classrooms overseas.
I’m not talking about sitting around eating pizza and calling it Italian Night. I’m talking about teaching kids how to become a Citizen of the World.
Forgive me getting all Angelina Jolie on you. But my fellow travel addicts know that feeling when the world suddenly opens up. We feel lost in the sea of cultures yet found in the exploration of them. We no longer feel defined by the designer label on our ass but by our own humanity. We connect. Understand. Travel.
Teens don’t need another mommy/daddy paid trip for a photo op at the Pyramids. They need a real world experience. Given the time, I would love to take what I have learned as a traveler and invest it in today’s teens, showing them how to open the doors to the world.
Hmmm…I wonder if I could do that with 20 hours? Or the 5 extra that I could scrounge up right now. Hey, this is a good idea!
(Angie steps off her soapbox and looks around). I’m ready to get started! Pizza anyone?
Tim,
If I had 36 more hours per week, I would:
1) Offer Hope. By lending a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on…..at children’s hospitals. Some of our most ailing children need us, even if it is only emotional support. I would seek out area children’s hospitals in visits of hope. It’s a personal mission to help small survivors pull through any pain, to offer love to those hurting most. To gain more than what I could ever hope to give.
2) Bicycle. Not just through my neighborhood, but a leg of the Tour de France. To relive the heroism of Lance or the less notable who finished the fable race. To feel the thighs burn and the calves ache, while experiencing the rolling beauty of rural France. And to end the leg with a celebratory glass of bubbly.
3) Learn to Bake. And not just brownies and cookies. I want to master pastry from the best French culinary chefs in Paris. So I can bring signature beignets, croissants, and other buttery treats to the children and nurses on the hospital hope visits. Plus share the 36 hour workweek with others. I’d call them my “time treats.�
4) Consult with Tim to catch the entrepreneurial spirit to narrow a best fit business opportunity. Over French espresso, we would hash the pluses of each of the 4-5 concepts that are unique, exciting and empowering. With Tim’s coaching I would embark on one that would ultimately change my life. And maybe yours, too.
5) Love my mother. More. In fact, a visit to France would be a boost in the best years of her retirement. And to spend seven days with the loved one who spent a lifetime of dedication to her family, would create lasting memories. For both of us.
Tim, thanks for the gift of time. And the opportunity to seize it……or the potential of this gift and at every 4 hour work week!
[…] all about the 4-Hour Workweek Global Challenge, including the rules (every contest has rules, much as we’d like to avoid them). The deadline […]
As a nontraditional homeschool mom, I have seen our growing crew of autodidacts develop their talents in ways that blew my whole concept of “education� right out of the water! These kids have made the most of learning in real-time from the real world, both online and off, and age knows no boundaries. They’ve certainly taught us a thing or two over the past fifteen years of this unschool odyssey, and the best part is that it translates well into adulthood! We’re thoroughly convinced that freedom to pursue one’s passions is the key to living a rich, full life from Day One. “The 4-Hour Workweek� complements that ideal beautifully, and is now an integral part of the program offerings at our CO-OP Model Learning Centre.
My longtime vision for the CO-OP has been to bring together like-minded individuals and families actively engaged in designing and implementing the life of their choosing. The title of my own book might be something akin to “The 2-Hour Schoolday� (I would say School “week,� but the idea that it’s possible to get a “real� education without being tied to a desk for hours on end is even more challenging to most than breaking away from the workaday mindset!) Thirty-six free hours per week is ample time to show others by example how to escape the conventional school scene, live & learn anywhere in the world, and join the NR at any reasonable age or stage of Life.
The CO-OP is intended to be a cultural learning experience in itself, a grass-roots effort springing up in locations all over the world where individuals are free to come and go, create and collaborate at will. The working model is similar to the Central Perk café in the sitcom, “Friends,� only with a larger stage and dance floor, meeting room(s) and dressing area in the back for costume changes, et al. Our oldest daughter is a student instructor at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, so my dream is to integrate a living gallery of creative talent at work and play. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Some friends and I recently started a entrepreneurial non-profit business with the goal of getting clean water to people in other countries who don’t have it. It’s called Unda Water. We sell bottled water in Philadelphia, and give the proceeds from our sales to benefit clean water efforts in Africa and China.
The process is slow because we have our own regular jobs, and we can’t give Unda Water as much time as we would like. With an extra 36 hours per week, I would devote myself to making Unda Water happen faster, getting water to people in developing countries faster.
The excitement of this project comes from quickly and decisively change the lives of thousands of people for better, while at the same time shifting our employment away from working for other people toward working for Unda Water. It improves the world by increasing sanitation and reducing dehydration in water-starved places.
It also improves my life and the life of my family, because I would gain considerable job satisfaction from working on Unda Water full time instead of scrabbling for work as a feeelance writer.
The thing is, we have the water. We have some start-up funding. We have the organizations we will give the proceeds to. It’s already happening. It’s just happening slowly, and I’d like to make it happen faster.
With the ticket, I’d fly to China and visit the sites where we would be funding well-digging efforts, meet our local contact, take pictures, and cement relationships. I’d spend the money on promoting Unda Water in Philadelphia.
Sound good? Email me at jeff.quick@gmail.com. I don’t care if you’re not Tim Ferriss. If you have questions or want to find out more, email me.
[…] World , Travel Tim Ferris, the Author of The 4-Hour Workweek has teamed up with BootsnAll to give away a trip around the world to the winner who can answer one simple question: How would you use 36 extra hours […]
Paint!
My Extra 36 Hours
One hour in spiritual devotions and prayer: 29 hours left
Two nights of fun and family vacation planning with husband: 21 hours left
Minimum two hours of fun–or meaningful interaction only–with the kids: 7 hours left
At least a half-hour per weekday helping when least expected with kids in tow, as part of homeschool curriculum: 4.5 hours left
–buying a single mom groceries
–paying for an elderly man’s meal
–working in City Mission
–organizing food pantry
–cleaning roadside
— visit nursing home down the street
Two hours developing and managing new source of income enough to hire yet another single mom for outsourcing, enabling her to stay home and focus on kids without money worries: 2.5 hours left
One hour analyzing activities with 80/20 filter and making sure there isn’t “work creep� into my satisfying lifestyle: 1.5 hours left
One hour straightening and de-cluttering home to enforce simple lifestyle: .5 hours left
Half-hour listening, watching or reading something that makes me laugh so hard it hurts: Done
I would transform the health care system in the United States. I would address this challenge on three levels: increasing the education and proficiency of individual health care consumers on prevention, improving the care and effectiveness of health care providers, and developing new government policies which support communities and social enterpreneurs in solving difficult health care issues.
So many people need a whole new education on erasing the beliefs that keep them trapped in jobs, unhealthy lifestyles, and living for tomorrow. They have lost touch with the inner wisdom that can free them to make a difference in the world. This wisdom would help people to know on the inside how to overcome the difficult challenges in their health, relationships, and working in organizations.
As the everyday person uses this wisdom to improve their health, they will need less from the health care system. They will walk away from the old systems that are more about making a profit than providing quality care. These changes will ripple to other institutions that influence health care and awareness. For example, new systems will emerge that provide better education and alternatives for public schools that feel squeezed financially and have to install sugary snack vending machines to get funding they desperately need. Our children will hopefully be less obese.
I would also work with industry providers on developing preventative, treatment effective and cost effective systems for serving the less fortunate. Providing low tech, high touch services for the underserved would drastically reduce the need for high cost emergency room interventions. For those who need special interventions, there will be more funding available due to the reduced demand from a healthier population.
Also, I would work with government policy makers in creating innovative programs that focus funding, community resources, and social entrepreneurs toward resolving difficult health care issues. Teaching government leaders how to transform their systems of bureacracy would be part of the change process.
By addressing this issue on these three levels, I would work with others in transforming the health of individuals, our health care systems, and the government that regulates it.
I’d teach people to write. Not “creative” writing, but clear, powerful expository writing. There is true power in the ability to state something simply — to seize meaning. The act of gathering one’s thoughts and committing them to the written form is visionary. I believe that the power to understand and change one’s life through the act of writing is available to everyone and I’d use an extra 36 hours a week to prove it.
[…] Author of the NY Times Bestseller, The 4 Hour Work Week, has an awesome contest going on over at his blog, and someone has to win so why shouldn’t it be […]
Hello Tim,
My passion is helping underprivileged and/or abused children. Two years ago, I started a program for children right here in San Jose.
Each year, about two weeks before Christmas, we take underprivileged children Christmas shopping. Each child is chosen by their Teacher, Principal or Counselor, based on improvement in their grades, attitude or their willingness to do good deeds for others.
Each child is granted a $150 shopping spree at the local Target store on Capitol Avenue near McKee Road. On the morning of the shopping spree, Target opens early just for our group. The parents of these children bring their child to the store and turn them over to one of our volunteers, who then take the children shopping. This is so the child is free to choose what they really want without any outside influence. In my experience, most of these children buy for family first and use what’s left over to get something special for themself.
In our inaugural year, we raised enough money to take 115 children shopping. Last year, we were able to take 211 and this year, I have set our goal at 300 children. Needless to say, I am working very hard to raise the $45,000 necessary to make this happen.
So, what would I do if I had an extra 36 hours per week? I would dedicate it to travelling up and down the state of California and getting this program started in several communities. That is my goal over the next twelve months. After getting it going in several places here in California, I would use the time to start branching out to other states.
The thing I like most (besides helping the kids) is that every one who helps out on this project is a volunteer, so every dollar we raise for this fund goes directly to the children. All donations are 100% tax-deductible as this is a 501(c)3 fund. Yes, I’m always fund-raising, but it’s for a good cause.
God Bless,
Robert Prieto
San Jose Chairman,
Jimmy Durante Children’s Fund
Fraternal Order of Eagles
http://www.ChristmasForTheKids.com
P.S. I picked up a copy of your book at the Barnes & Noble at the Pruneyard in Campbell yesterday. When I opened it I was surprised to find that I got an autographed copy! How totally cool that is! Cheers!
If I had an additional 36 hours per week I would spend it on:
-5 extra hours sleep
-5 hours reading
-5 hours biking or hiking
-3 hours dog training and showing
-1 hour on dance lessons
-2 hours on horseback riding lessons (before I get too old!)
-2 hours volunteering at the humane society (and become part of the disaster rescue team)
-2 hours volunteering at church
-2 hours volunteering at the therapeutic riding center
-2 hours assisting family members
-2 hours as a volunteer budget counselor (helping others to retire early)
-5 remaining hours spent on traveling, writing, taking various classes, learning to ride a motorcycle and an ATV.
My dream has been to visit England. I am 53 and have not yet realized that dream.
I would also like to become an environmental and social activist. I may need more than an additional 36 hours, but for now 36 additional hours would be a blessing!
That has been my goal for quite some time….forever, really….To travel the world and make it a better place. It has also always been my vision that, because of my great passion, conviction and commitment, that I would be able to enlist sufficient support and funding for this transformational project of mine.
I have managed to sabotage every job and relationship that does not support this vision. As a matter of fact, I just got fired on Monday, two days ago……..AND……it was on my birthday! Quite exciting, actually. To me it symbolizes the opportunity to Birth my new project! The Universe has created a wonderful opening! And the Universe also led me to this site!
There seems to be so many books with a message similar to that of The Four Hour Work Week. So the first time I was introduced to it, I deleted the email. For some reason it crossed my path again, I decided to explore it further, and got the sense that it was Much, Much more, and indeed, very different. I did purchase it online (even before I learned of this contest) but have not yet received it. I very much look forward to reading, and applying, it!
For me, “Workweek� will not even apply. My life will be my work! My work involves connecting women for personal and global healing. To quote Christiane Northrup, “Personal Healing is Planetary Healing�. She also introduces the theme, “Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World�.
It is time for a Conscious Evolution. And I am here to assist in birthing that process, as we ALL are! I wish to create personal invitations for EVERYONE to join me, join together and EACH DO OUR PART! To join the Resonant Field. What are we here for if not to help one another?! And I believe that the internet is also going to be a very influential tool. (I will need a little assistance in that area!)
I am very mobile and can be there tomorrow! I look forward to hearing from you!
I can’t answer how I WOULD use 36 extra hours a week. Instead I will answer how I HAVE spent the last five years after adopting a lifestyle much like Tim’s.
I’ve taken a voyage in my own sailboat from San Francisco to Miami over the course of two years creating many strong friendships and and visiting amazing destinations…
Visited the pacific coastal cities along Central America through Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Explored the San Blas Islands of Panama, home of the indigenous Kuna indians.
Traveled through Cuba by land and sea to experience what a culture with 50 years of isolation from western influence looks like.
Experienced the best diving in the western hemisphere in the Cayman Islands.
Raced and won one of the most prestigious sailboat racing events in the Caribbean, Antigua race week.
Participated in Key West Independence week, which culminates in the world’s largest air-land-and-sea food fight.
Drove across this great country, twice. Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, New Orleans, Chicago, DC, Miami, LA, Yosemite, Crazy Horse, Dallas… The rest of the world is amazing, but don’t forget here
is pretty amazing too.
Burning Man, many times. Europe, less times.
More recently I got my pilot’s license. Then I built and am currently flight testing my own airplane. The process has taught me volumes about engineering.
How do I manage to finance all this stuff? I don’t have a car payment, I don’t have an apartment.. Half the time I didn’t have a storage unit. I don’t buy CRAP that most people buy in an effort to make themselves feel better. Never mind the Hagen-daz and Chicago-style pizza.. America has a problem with binge-consuming. A wise Hollywood script-writer once wrote: “The things you own end up owning you”
For income I work as a computer networking consultant, on a per-project basis, and am able to arrange my work so that I have projects in the summer which leaves fall/winter/spring for travel. When your income only comes 3-6 months of a year you LOVE our progressive tax system. The cost of traveling is much lower than living in the US. ESPECIALLY if you make a point of working in the part of the country with highest cost-of-living, and therefore highest rate of pay. It’s like getting a discount when you leave to go travel!
But never mind me. My girlfriend has been doing this thing for 8 years. I met her on a sailboat race in Mexico. See how she spends her 36 extra hours a week at http://www.wherescherie.com .
BTW. Not interested in winning the contest. I get around good enough already.
Cheers,
— Greg
Given the extra 36 hours i will spent dealing with my self and hour a day as self-inventory of have i done in a day,if it does move the rock, then review and prepare of what can be done the next day, then i will do everything i can in my power to extend the best love acts and messages to all important people i know as if i was only given a another 24 hours or less to exist in this planet.Giving time and love to my wife,my kids, my parent, sisters, people in our church, streetchildren and most of all to my own soul,renewing and giving God the thanks for giving me all the resources to stay alive in a day and be very thankful for it as the Only source of my Life..of course thus include from saving me from sin.