The 4 Hour Workweek, Expanded And Updated

While I didn't like a lot of his business advice, which appears to be “make up a crap product and then seek rent on it for the rest of your life,” the rest of this book is great. It feels like a spiritual relative of Sebastian Marshall's Ikigai — reading this book will have you spending a lot of time pondering “hmm, what kind of life do I really want to live?” The answer for most people I've talked to is “not like this,” but the fear gets in the way.

This is a good book about getting over the fear. It's got helpful little exercises for comfort zone expansion, tactics for dealing with bureaucrats, strategies for building prestige, and lots more. And a lot of prompts for trying to figure out what you'd rather be doing, and for figuring out how to get there from here.

The gist of all of it is that people don't really want to be millionaires, they want to have what they assume is the millionaire lifestyle. So computer how much money per day you'd actually need in order to live how you'd like, and then work towards that number. Waiting to live until you're too old to appreciate it is a crap strategy.

The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals. Doing big things begins with asking for them properly.

Tim Ferris is a wealth of ideas that don't stay anywhere near the proverbial “in the box” thinking. The first third was the best for me, with a lot of reframing of conformist ideas about work and how, when or where to do it. The rest is more for entrepreneurs. Lots of advice on how to start a business on the cheap and travel tips. I highlighted a lot in this book and have started listening to his podcast.

Recommended for: people who want to go beyond the comfort zone, are ambitious and/or want to get out there and live.