Anyone Read Zen Habits?

[kamakiri]

I was just thinking about what I would do when I could take whatever time off I needed. How many people took up Tim's 48 hour challenge (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/02/01/the-weekend-retirement-test-drive-groundhog-day-and-the-rest-of-your-life-plus-competition/)? I did, and you can see my post at #133, and the video I made that morning. Since that day, I have really been thinking about what I would do if I was financially free, and could take the time to actually live life doing the things I want to do.

Possibly it is because I am more attuned to the subject these past few days, but I am also seeing a lot more people searching for the wrong things in terms of the 4HWW lifestyle. I encourage everyone to go back and read the first two parts of the book again. It is not about making a muse so you can sit on your ass. It is about making a muse so you can live your life. Making healthy lifestyle decisions is even more important when you aren't going to the office 6 days a week. This means eating properly, getting exercise, 'sharpening the saw', getting spiritual fulfillment (and I don't just mean church, listening to good music can also be spiritual), and being accountable.

If you don't want to do that, then just quit working and go on welfare. You don't have to work there either, and you can sit around with other like minded recipients at the office instead of these forums. The 4HWW is not some magic bullet that will make your life great in an instant, if it was the party would be this weekend on my yacht, but realistically there is no free lunch. No low time commitment to set up like a low info diet, no web site to become an affiliate of to make your easy money, and no set in stone path to take to get where you want to be.

This quote from Mark Twain really sums up the point I am trying to drive home.


Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.

Discover.

Nothing in life is easy, and in general it takes a few failures before you achieve your goals. Just remember to never make the same mistakes twice, but also never be afraid to make more mistakes.

Two blog posts I read this morning tipped off this post. If you have a few minutes, they are great reading.

20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life - By Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net/2008/02/20-things-i-wish-i-had-known-when-starting-out-in-life/)

Aspiring entrepreneurs no money no problem get started today - From Small Business Trends (http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2008/02/aspiring-entrepreneurs-no-money-no-problem-get-started-today.html/)

The second one especially is an incredible resource to get you moving in the right direction. If you have kept up with me so far, I challenge everyone who reads this to get a business plan for you muse written and either post it here or have another member here review it. Even if it is something completely out there, like a watch phone, just completing the process will do more for you than any amount of wishing and dreaming.

I will start the process and throw my Executive Summary in the next post. If you want to see the rest of my business plan, then email me one of your own.

[kamakiri]

Executive Summary

Game Brain is an energy supplement designed, manufactured, and tested for hard core gamers. It is specially formulated to bring out peak player performance in any game, be that MMOG, MMORPG, FPS, or console based gaming. With technology ever moving forward, computers and systems are getting more powerful by the minute. The days of increasing your reaction time with a cup of coffee are over, heck these days you don't even have time to take your eyes off the screen to find your coffee cup.

It is my passion as the man behind the creation of Game Brain to establish a new set of standards by which all others measure up to in gamer performance. Being an active computer game player myself I train my gaming skills daily. I also keep up with the latest tools for my PC, be they video cards, better RAM, or sound cards, I like to have the best. None of that matters with slow reaction time though. Game Brain has been scientifically engineered to produce results.

Game Brain will get the average gamer to the next level, and the professional gamer to a higher plane of gaming. It will give players the edge, be that one more raid after ten hours of grinding out raiding, or one more kill to hit that last goal of the evening. You can spend nearly unlimited amounts of money optimizing your computer hardware, but there aren't a lot of things you can add to the hardware of your body. Game Brain is the first product that augments your own internal hardware and software to maximize your reaction times, alertness, and concentration.

Game Brain ignites an insane surge in awareness by rapidly permeating the brain with energy, focus, and concentration inducing compounds. By harnessing the power of nanoparticulation, a precise portion of key compounds in Game Brain are reduced down to a microscopic two to 50 microns. That’s up to 7,400 percent smaller than regular supplements and protein particles. With particles this small you can expect lightning fast absorption into the bloodstream which is then shotgunned to the brain cells for hyper-accelerated performance.

Game Brain is manufactured by a well-established full-service biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organization. An exhaustive search was done to find the best fit partner that had the capacity to grow with the Game Brain brand, and the quality control practices in place to provide the best ingredients and products possible. Our manufacturing partners have invested millions of dollars in analytical testing equipment, personnel and procedures to ensure the quality and safety of their products, and are audited at least once per year by Shuster Laboratories for compliance with GMP Manufacturing Practices for Nutritional Supplements.

[AntonTheKhan]

Executive Summary

Game Brain is an energy supplement designed, manufactured, and tested for hard core gamers. It is specially formulated to bring out peak player performance in any game, be that MMOG, MMORPG, FPS, or console based gaming. With technology ever moving forward, computers and systems are getting more powerful by the minute. The days of increasing your reaction time with a cup of coffee are over, heck these days you don't even have time to take your eyes off the screen to find your coffee cup.

It is my passion as the man behind the creation of Game Brain to establish a new set of standards by which all others measure up to in gamer performance. Being an active computer game player myself I train my gaming skills daily. I also keep up with the latest tools for my PC, be they video cards, better RAM, or sound cards, I like to have the best. None of that matters with slow reaction time though. Game Brain has been scientifically engineered to produce results.

Game Brain will get the average gamer to the next level, and the professional gamer to a higher plane of gaming. It will give players the edge, be that one more raid after ten hours of grinding out raiding, or one more kill to hit that last goal of the evening. You can spend nearly unlimited amounts of money optimizing your computer hardware, but there aren't a lot of things you can add to the hardware of your body. Game Brain is the first product that augments your own internal hardware and software to maximize your reaction times, alertness, and concentration.

Game Brain ignites an insane surge in awareness by rapidly permeating the brain with energy, focus, and concentration inducing compounds. By harnessing the power of nanoparticulation, a precise portion of key compounds in Game Brain are reduced down to a microscopic two to 50 microns. That’s up to 7,400 percent smaller than regular supplements and protein particles. With particles this small you can expect lightning fast absorption into the bloodstream which is then shotgunned to the brain cells for hyper-accelerated performance.

Game Brain is manufactured by a well-established full-service biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organization. An exhaustive search was done to find the best fit partner that had the capacity to grow with the Game Brain brand, and the quality control practices in place to provide the best ingredients and products possible. Our manufacturing partners have invested millions of dollars in analytical testing equipment, personnel and procedures to ensure the quality and safety of their products, and are audited at least once per year by Shuster Laboratories for compliance with GMP Manufacturing Practices for Nutritional Supplements.

Great idea about the gaming supplement. Hell, I will take it when I play my Call of Duty online matches, lol.
I enjoyed reading your entry about the 48 hour challenge. It seems like you need to get rid of your luggage (your business) and go on and enjoy your life.
Peace.

[TimW]

I suppose it all depends on what one's "definition" of living your life is.

How do you define it? Is it visiting other countries? Learning to grow Bonsai trees? Training your goldfish to roll over on command? Becoming a champion bodybuilder or healthfood junkie?

Personally, I enjoy sitting around, doing much of nothing. It allows me to contemplate life, its meaning, etc. I read and enjoy books, revel in the company of my wife and dog (now, two dogs). Watching tv in Spanish to keep up my language skills, or watching poker to see good mind-games and strategy.

Just because I don't feel like traveling the globe (been there, done that) or selling our home and driving the United States in a Winnebago (TM) doesn't mean that I am (or anyone else is) a candidate for going on welfare.

[webgal]

Training your goldfish to roll over on command?

This is my dream! :D

[kamakiri]

I suppose it all depends on what one's "definition" of living your life is.

How do you define it? Is it visiting other countries? Learning to grow Bonsai trees? Training your goldfish to roll over on command? Becoming a champion bodybuilder or healthfood junkie?

Tim - Thanks for the insight. I hadn't even considered that aspect. I was trying to point out that if you want to just sit around, then going on welfare was the easiest way, and it pretty much is.

If, on the other hand that option isn't appealing to you, then you are going to have a very difficult time owning your own time without a plan or a way to do it. If you can set up your life so you can watch Spanish TV all day then by all means do that. I am not judging the results, only the preparation.

I just see so many people coming here wanting to live the easy life, but not wanting to pay the dues necessary. It does take hard work. There is no free lunch. Once a muse hits that magical point of success though you are golden. How many people here have hit that point? Not too many I would guess, and in most cases it is due to a lack of proper preparation.

I know it sounds cliche, but the old maxim: 'Failing to plan is planning to fail' is perfectly applicable here.

Planning with an 'I think I want to sell gerbil training ebooks' post on the 4HWW forums is just not going to get you anywhere. Now if you came back with a well though out 10 page business plan on how you would train gerbils, where you would sell your book, and a marketing plan, that would change my mind. I would bet against that being a million dollar idea, but you might just gain enough sales to pay for hosting and some pocket money for the next poker game.


I am not saying that in order to live the 4HWW you need to live with the jet set. Only that if you do want to do it, you need to examine your motives, and if you just want to sit around, then go on welfare, but if you want a successful muse then you need to prepare for it.

[Grayman]

Next steps for Game Brain:
- Develop IV input system to deliver Game Brain directly to bloodstream
- Develop software that can map a keyboard shortcut to IV system to seamlessly deliver Game Brain from within a game. Perfect for gamers looking for the extra edge in a marathon session.
- Profit?

[TimW]

Kamakiri

Dude, I am with you...I have had email conversations with another board member about how is seems there are a large number of folks who read Ferriss' book, come on here with no plan but a desire to do...whatever...then have the balls to ask what their "muse" (God I hate that word) should be.

Perhaps going on welfare is easy, but I can tell you that going on unemployment is a PITA. So much so that I just stopped taking it after a couple weeks when the unemployment "counselor" chastised me for not looking for a job one week...when I went back to California to attend my father's funeral. Choice words were had on that phone call. :)

I agree that there is work involved. It may not all be hard, may not follow the typical Puritan work-effort that seems to permeate the USA, but it does take work.

As Heinlein wrote in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress",

TANSTAAFL.


:)

[TimW]

This is my dream! :D

Cool. Will you buy the e-book? :D

[webgal]

Cool. Will you buy the e-book? :D

You bet. Where do I buy?

[kamakiri]

Kamakiri
Dude, I am with you...
:)

I am glad I am not the only who thinks the term 'muse' is lame. I just get an image of an old lady in a long robe living in my back yard or something.

gray - I already have the plan set up, and was looking more for business plans from others on the forum, but thanks anyway. A sort of business plan exchange is what I am trying to facilitate. Not necessarily to copy what others are doing, but to start a discussion on the things that actually work. Not that I wouldn't out right copy something I though was a good idea (I would). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Heck, if it is a good idea and copyable, it will be copied by the competition within 5 minutes of being released anyway.

[nofziger]

I agree with the posters who have said that you have to define what "living your life" means for you.

I have worked on eliminating, streamlining, outsourcing and getting myself out of the office (employee not entrepreneur)...but my goal isn't to travel the world and take month-long mini-retirements. While I do want to travel more, and I'm doing that already, my main goal is to free up time so I can care for my mother as she is dying.

I'm an only child of a single mother who has advanced cancer, so when it comes to caretaking, the buck stops with me. I have to take her to appointments, manage her insurance and her finances, and monitor her medications. All of this takes time.

If I hadn't already managed to get myself out of the office 33-50% of the time and freed up at least 25% of my work time, there's no way I could do all of this.

[Caesar_X]

Executive Summary
Game Brain is an energy supplement designed, manufactured, and tested for hard core gamers.
If I can get back to your original Executive Summary, I think this is a very interesting niche. Even though I make casual games now, I come from a hardcore gaming background and I think this could appeal to a lot of people looking for that "edge". Almost every hardcore gamer I know drinks Red Bull or another energy drink while they are playing games. A supplement wouldn't fill that "need" to be drinking something while playing. But you could teach them that taking a supplement before gaming is even better.

A few celebrity endorsements could really help here, and honestly I don't think they would be very expensive to get. For instance, I used to work with a guy who was a world-class tournament Starcraft player. He had appeared on Korean TV and had something like 14,000+ games of Starcraft 1 under his belt!

I hope you are running as fast as you can with this idea, because it's a good one.