The Book in 3 Sentences

1. Anyone can live life with complete freedom.
2. To achieve this freedom you need to reframe your view of the world.
3. Before you can live your dream lifestyle you need to automate your cash flow and divorce yourself from a job.

Impressions

Great book. It focuses a lot on reframing your mindset towards wealth. The ideas talked about in the book are a lot more prevalent today than when this book was first written so some of the book feels like common sense. Everyone should read this book, the earlier the better. It has such a life-changing perspective on work and happiness, which I think everyone needs to read at least once in their life.

Top 3 Quotes

Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.

The worst really wasn’t that bad. To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.

Be bold and don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it that often anyway.

Summary, Notes & Quotes

Prologue

The classic way of looking at life (Work a 9 to 5, retire and do fun stuff) is outdated and not exciting or applicable in our modern society (These people are known as deferers (D)). The "New Rich" is a way of living that deviates from these principles and involves creating a luxury lifestyle in the present day using "The currency of the new rich", time and mobility. This is known as lifestyle design (LD).

Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.

This book teaches you how to escape this trap, outsource your life and dissappear off the grid to live your dreams.

People don't want to be millionaires ... they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy. It is the freedom that people want, not the money that allows it.

Most rules of the "real world" are wrong and tend to be a collection of illusions that are reinforced by society.

Reality is negotiable. Outside of science and law, all rules can be bent or broken, and it doesn’t require being unethical.

Part 1 - Define

Chapter 1:

Reality is merely an illusion, abliet a very persistent one. Albert Einstein

Money can easily take control over people. Don't let this happen to you.

These individuals have riches just as we say that we “have a fever,” when really the fever has us. Seneca

I also have in mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters. Henry David Thoreau

The first difference between the Deferrers and the New Rich are their goals:

D: To work for yourself. NR: To have others work for you.

D: To work when you want to. NR: To prevent work for work’s sake, and to do the minimum necessary for maximum effect (“minimum effective load”).

D: To retire early or young. NR: To distribute recovery periods and adventures (mini-retirements) throughout life on a regular basis and recognize that inactivity is not the goal. Doing that which excites you is.

etc. etc.

Being Financially rich and living like a millionaire are fundamenatlly differerent.

Freedom Multiplier - the worth of money is multiplied in practical value based on the 4 W's: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it.

Options/the ability to chose is real power.

The first step to becoming part of the NR is to remove false assumptions.

It is pointless to have goals of making slighlty more money than you already have. Rather, you should focus on things that really matter.

Chapter 2

You can do better in life by challenging your self-imposed rules rather than official rules and you don't have to be unethical about it. An example of this is Dick Fosbury who changed the high jump technique, won the gold medal and was copied by almost every other athlete.

Sports evolve when sacred cows are killed, when basic assumptions are tested. The same is true in life and in lifestyles.

Different is only better when it is more effective or more fun. If people are consistently doing subpar at a challenge then it is a good time to ask yourself what the consequence would be if you did the opposite.

If the recipe sucks. It doesn't matter how good a cook you are.

Retirement is the worst-case scenario and should be viewed as a hedge against becoming so old that you are physically incapable of working and needing a reservior of capital in order to survive. Retirement as an end goal is flawed because: a) It assumes that you dislike what you are doing during your most physically capable years. b) Even if you have over $1 Million the math still doesn't add up and you will be living like the lower class in your "golden years". c) A week into retirement you will be so bored and you will want to start working again.

Alternating periods of rest and work are crucial for your survival. You need to plan for the fact that your interest and mental endurance wax and wane.

The NR space out mini-retirements throughout their life for a more productive and enjoyable life.

It is more important to be productive, not busy. Meaningless work is not lazyness.

The timing for somethign is never good. If it is something you want to do eventually, start, and correct course along the way.

If there is a moderate-low potential of damage, ask for forgiveness, not permission.

Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you’re moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.

It is way more productive to focus on levaraging your strengths rather than fixing your weaknesses.

Too much of something becomes its opposite. You should do what you want and not what you feel obligated to do.

Money alone is not the solution to having a good life.

Relative income ($/hr) is way more important than absolute income (Just $)

Some stress is good. Eustress is healthful and growth stimulating stress. You should be removing stress and finding eustress.

Q&A: QUESTIONS AND ACTIONS

1. How has being “realistic” or “responsible” kept you from the life you want?
2. How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret for not having done something else?
3. Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?

Chapter 3

Most people will chose not to do something because of the uncertainty that goes along with it.

Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

You need to look at the possible consequences and see if they outweigh eachother. Most often, freedom will outweigh its consequences.

People disguise fear as optimism.

The worst really wasn’t that bad. To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.

If you are nervous about making the jump, ask yourself these questions:

1. Define your nightmare, the absolute worst that could happen if you did what you are considering.
2. What steps could you take to repair the damage or get things back on the upswing, even if temporarily?
3. What are the outcomes or benefits, both temporary and permanent, of more probable scenarios?
4. If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get things under financial control?
5. What are you putting off out of fear?
6. What is it costing you—financially, emotionally, and physically— to postpone action?
7. What are you waiting for?

Your answers will probably surprise you.

Chapter 4

It is much easier than you think to be able to contact a billionaire or a celebrity.

Doing the unrealistic is often easier than doing the realistic.

Everyone in the world is insecure too, so don't underestimate yourself.

Most people will never know what they want

What is the opposite of happiness? Sadness? No. Just as love and hate are two sides of the same coin, so are happiness and sadness. Crying out of happiness is a perfect illustration of this. The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is—here’s the clincher— boredom. Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all. When people suggest you follow your “passion” or your “bliss,” I propose that they are, in fact, referring to the same singular concept: excitement.

If you don't define what you want, you will end up working yourself to the death.

The worst that could happen wasn’t crashing and burning, it was accepting terminal boredom as a tolerable status quo.

Dreamlining is a way of goal setting used by the NR. You start with something ambiguos that you want and turn it into defined steps. In order to work, they have to be unrealistic goals. It focuses on doing interesting things and not just owning stuff.

"I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have."

Ferriss created a challenge which involved contacting high class people, CEO's and billionaires and asking them questions that intrigue you.

“I participate in this contest every day,” said Ferriss. “I do what I always do: find a personal e-mail if possible, often through their little-known personal blogs, send a two-to three-paragraph e-mail which explains that I am familiar with their work, and ask one simple-to-answer but thought provoking question in that e-mail related to their work or life philosophies. The goal is to start a dialogue, so they take the time to answer future e-mails —not to ask for help. That can only come after at least three or four genuine e-mail exchanges.”

People can do amazing things, and often all it takes is a little nudge.

The next section of the chapter is about the process of dreamlining, which I would recommend reading for yourself. Here is an outline:

1. Create a 6 and 12 month timeline where you list up to 5 things you dream of having, being and doing in that order. If you cannot think of something, write the opposite of something you hate. Be honest with yourself and don't chose stuff out of guilt.
2. Convert these beings into doings. For example: Great cook → Make Christmas dinner with no help. Fluent in Chinese → have a 5-minute conversation with a Chinese co-worker.
3. Chose your 4 most important/exciting ones and determine the cost of these dreams.
4. Calculate your target monthly income.
5. Last, calculate your Target Monthly Income (TMI) for realizing these dreamlines. This is how to do it: First, total each of the columns A, B, and C, counting only the four selected dreams. Some of these column totals could be zero, which is fine. Next, add your total monthly expenses x 1.3 (the 1.3 represents your expenses plus a 30% buffer for safety or savings). This grand total is your TMI and the target to keep in mind for the rest of the book. I like to further divide this TMI by 30 to get my TDI—Target Daily Income. I find it easier to work with a daily goal. Online calculators on our companion site do all the work for you and make this step a cinch. Chances are, this is lower than you expected.
6. Determine three steps for each of the four dreams in just the 6-month timeline and take the first step now. Contact people you know who have already done this and ask them for their research and advice.

Comfort Challenge #1 - Designed to make you feel uncomfortable Stare into people's eyes until they look away. It doesn't have to be weird. If they ask you why you did it say that you thought they were and old friend of yours.

Elimination

Chapter 5:

Forget all about time management. It is pointless to be busy. Busyness is used as a guise for avoiding the few uncomfortable but important tasks that you have to do.

As an employee, liberation comes before automation (DELA) because you are being forced to work a 9-5 job.

You need to convince your employers why you are so valuable that they cannot possibly fire you, then you can start to drop hours.

Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.

Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.

Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.

What you do is way more important than how you do it. Whilst efficiency is still important, it is useless unless used for the right thing.

The 80/20 Principle (Pareto's law): 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the inputs

For example:

1. 80% of the consequences flow from 20% of the causes.
2. 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort and time.
3. 80% of company profits come from 20% of the products and customers.

This ration is often skewed further (Eg. 95/5)

The 80/20 principle should be applied to lots of areas. For example: find the 20% of customers that are leading to 80% of your misery and stop contacting them, Find the 20% of advertising that is leading to 80% of your revenue and multply it.

Parkinsons Law: A task will swell in percieved importance and complexity in relation to the time alloted for its completion.

If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it’s six days of making a mountain out of a molehill. If I give you two months, God forbid, it becomes a mental monster. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.

The 80/20 principle and parkinsons law are inversions of one another; Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20) and shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law). We need to be using these ideas together.

You need to be asking yourself regularly: Am I being productive or just active?

The key to have more time is doing less.

Define a to-do list and a not-to-do list.

Hypothetical cases will help you here: If you had a heart attack and had to work two hours per day, what would you do? If it was 2 hours per week, what would you do? Who or what is causing you stress, consuming your time, starving your motivation etc.

You need to be honest with people and if they bite back, it is just a confirmation of your conclusions.

Remove the splinters and you’ll thank yourself for it.

Don't multitask, if you can prioritise properly, there will be no need to anyway.

Shorten your schedule to force yourself to prioritise better.

Comfort Challenge #2: If someone asks a question like "What should we do/eat etc?" offer a solution and don't deflect it back on them.

Chapter 6

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

Problems will solve themselves if you stop listening to information and empowering others.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also very practical. You need to start to develop a selective ignorance.

Most information is time-consuming, negative and irrelevant to your goals.

The less information you consume, the more you will remember.

If there is something you need to know, contact 10 friends who are knowledgeable about it and share your values and then make a decision based on that.

To read faster:

1. Trace under each line as you read it quickly. This prevents regression.
2. Disregard the first and last 2 words on each line. Move in further once you get comfortable.
3. Attempt to only take two snapshots/fixations per line on your first and last word.
4. Practice reading too fast for comprehension but with the above techniques for five pages and then reread comfortably.

Q&A: QUESTIONS AND ACTIONS

1. Try to go on an immediate one week media fast. (Dopamine Detox)

No newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, or nonmusic radio. Music is permitted at all times. No news websites whatsoever. No television at all, except for one hour of pleasure viewing each evening. No reading books, except for this book and one hour of fiction pleasure reading prior to bed. No web surfing at the desk unless it is necessary to complete a work task for that day. Necessary means necessary, not nice to have.

Use the extra time to bond with family or learn the principles in this book. At work, complete tasks productively, as per the last chapter, and then do more of these excercises.

Ask a colleague if there is an important news at lunch break.

Be strict with yourself. You can use chrome extensions to block certain websites.

1. Develop a habit of asking yourself whether the information you are consuming will ever be used for something important.
2. Starting something doesn't automatically justify finishing it

Stopping something is often 10 times better than finishing it.

Comfort challenge #3: Get the phone numbers of 2 attractive people of the opposite sex each day. You can throw them out afterwards. The mall is a good place to do this.

Chapter 7

Learn to be difficult when it counts. Being asserrtive will get you preferentail treatment without having to beg or fight for it.

An interruption is anything that prevents the start to end completion of a task.

1. Time wasters - can be ignored with little or no consequence.
2. Time consumers - repetitive but important tasks
3. Empowerment failures - where someone needs approval to make something small happen

How to remove time wasters:

Disable email alerts

Check e-mail twice per day, once at 12:00 noon or just prior to lunch, and again at 4:00 P.M. Never check first thing in the morning.

Before doing this, create an email response to notify people. Here is a template:

Greetings, Friends [or Esteemed Colleagues], Due to high workload, I am currently checking and responding to e-mail twice daily at 12:00 p.m. ET [or your time zone] and 4:00 p.m. ET. If you require urgent assistance (please ensure it is urgent) that cannot wait until either 12:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m., please contact me via phone at 555–555–5555. Thank you for understanding this move to more efficiency and effectiveness. It helps me accomplish more to serve you better. Sincerely, Tim Ferriss

Move to checking it once per day as soon as possible. People rarely have emergencies. "If it can wait, let it wait"

Use two phone numbers, one for emergencies and one not. Listen to voicemail if you want to gauge importance. Your office phone should be silent at all times and allowed to go to voicemail. Use a similar template to the one above.

For urgent calls: Cut out small talk and get straight to the point. If they go into a long description say, "[Name], sorry to interrupt, but I have a call in five minutes. Can you send me an e-mail?”

It is your job to train those around you to be effective and efficient.

If someone proposes an email, steer them to email instead.

Respond to voicemail via email when possible

Use the "if, then" structure to save time. "Dear Susan, has the equipment arrived yet? If so, please advise me on... If not, please contact John Doe at..."

Meetings should only be used to make decisions about predefined situations, not to define problems. If someone proposes that you meet with them or “set a time to talk on the phone,” ask that person to send you an e-mail with an agenda to define the purpose

Say thanks in advance to stop people from bailing out.

If you can't stop a meeting from happening, define an end time.

Don't let people enter your cubicle. Do not disturb signs tend to not work that well.

Your default response to someone who does should be: “Hi, invader. I’m right in the middle of something. How can I be of help?” If its longer than 30 seconds, ask them to send an email.

Use the puppy dog close: ask to try something out for a period of time and say you will stop if it doesn't work out.

Use it but don't fall for it. If someone says, "just this once", they will expect it in the future.

How to deal with time consumers:

It is more productive to do repetitive tasks in batches.

Calculate your hourly rate of pay.

Calculate how much time you will save by batching tasks and muliply it by your hourly pay.

Test each different period of batching (daily, weekly etc.) and calculate how much money the problems take to fix.

Keep going further apart until just before the money you save is less than that which you lose.

How to deal with empowerement failure:

As an employee you want to have as much decisionmaking power as possible

It’s amazing how someone’s IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.

Give people responsiblility (Eg. Say that if a problem can be fixed with under $100 they should do it.) The less micromanaging you have to do, the better.

People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.

If you are a micromanaged employee, speak to your boss and explain that you would be more producted if you were interrupted less.

Bosses are supervisors, not slave masters.

COMFORT CHALLENGE: For the next two days, do as all good two-year-olds do and say “no” to all requests. A simple “I really can’t—sorry; I’ve got too much on my plate right now” will do as a catch-all response.

Automation

Chapter 8

Any task that is long, repetitive or boring can be outsourced. You can get cheap digital personal assistants from third world countries like India.

Remote management and communication are two of the NR's most important skills

Becoming a member of the NR is not just about working smarter. It’s about building a system to replace yourself.

Never automate something that can be eliminated. That is a waste of money.

Tasks must be time consuming and well defined.

Have fun with it. Pester your friends etc.

The pros of jumping time zones and visiting third-world currency are twofold: People work while you sleep, and the per-hour expense is less. Time savings and cost savings.

These virtual assistants will cost between $4-$15 USD per hour, with the higher end for P.H.D. level tasks.

Language is the largest barrier. You won't know how good your assistant is unless you try out several.

It is better to hire VA firms with backup teams rather than solo operators.

If you use trusted businesses than the misuse of financial and confidential information is rare.

Prohibit VAs from subcontracting work to untested freelancers without written permission.

Never use debit cards as their transactions can't be reversed like credit cards can. Create unique logins to website that your VAs need.

Request someone who has “excellent” English and indicate that phone calls will be required (even if not). Be fast to request a replacement if there are repeated communication issues.

Sentences should have one possible interpretation and be suitable for a 2nd-grade reading level.

Request a status update after a few hours of work on a task to ensure that the task is both understood and achievable.

Use parkinsons law when setting time constraints. 24 - 48 hours is usually good.

Set an order of importance for the tasks to be done in.

COMFORT CHALLENGE - Criticism Sandwich: Praise someone, then deliver criticism and then close with a topic-shifting praise

Chapter 9

NOTE: The following chapters are a bit outdated

A great way to make tons of money is through starting a business. You need to find what you are going to sell. Chose something that won't cost over $500 to test, will take under 4 weeks to fully automate and won't require more than 1 day per week of management.

It is critical that you decide how you will sell and distribute your product before you commit to a product in the first place.

First, chose an affordable and reachable niche market. It is easier to fill demand than create it.

Ask yourself what communities you are a part of or understand. Look at your resume, habits and hobbies etc. Find out which of these groups has magazines and ask them their readership numbers and advertisement costs.

Chose two of these niches and brainstorm, but don't invest in, products.

People can understand you but should never misunderstand you. You need one sentence or phrase that encapsulates the product and its benefits, eg. Apple's "1,000 songs in your pocket".

It should cost consumers $50 - $200. This is a good price range. Aim for an 8-10x mark-up. It should take no more than 3-4 weeks to manufacture. It should be fully explainable in an online FAQ. This will avoid 1000s of messages from consumers.

Purchasing an existing product at wholesale and reselling it is the easiest route but also the least profitable. It is the fastest to set up but the fastest to die off due to price competition with other resellers.

Licensing: Some of the world’s best-known brands and products have been borrowed from someone or somewhere else. This is, however, dealmaking-intensive on both sides and a science unto itself.

The third option is to create a product yourself. Come up with an idea and then get freelancers to make a prototype (elance.com) which can be given to manufacturers.

Information products are low-cost, fast to manufacture and time consuming for competitors to replicate.

Being an “expert” in the context of selling product means that you know more about the topic than the purchaser. Expert status can be created in less than four weeks if you understand basic credibility indicators.

You can paraphrase content, repurpose content in the public domain, license content or consult an expert.

To become an expert in 4 weeks: 1) join 2 or 3 official-sounding related trade organisations. 2) Read the 3 top-selling books on the topic 3) Give one free 1 to 3 hour seminar at the closest well-known university. Optional: Offer to write 1 or 2 articles for magazines. 4) join profNet

COMFORT CHALLENGE: Call at least one potential superstar mentor per day for three days.

Chapter 10

To get an accurate indicator of commercial viability, don’t ask people if they would buy—ask them to buy.

Microtesting involves using inexpensive advertisements to test consumer response to a product prior to manufacturing. This can be done cheap and fast through the internet.

The basic process consists of the following: Create a simple website with a more compelling offer than your competition. Test the offer using google adwords campaigns. Cut losses for failures and manufacture the winners for sales rollout.

Use SEO and keyword tools to outsmart competitors.

You can create a better offer by: Using more credibility indicators, Better guarantee, Better selection, Free of fast shipping.

Calculate your results and decide whether to divest or invest.

COMFORT CHALLENGE: Go to a market and try to bid down items that are over $150 to under $100

Chapter 11

Once you have a product that sells, it's time to remove the human element and automate it.

Calculate profit margins using higher than anticipated expenses.

Contract outsourcing companies that specialize in one function vs. freelancers whenever possible so that if someone is fired, quits, or doesn’t perform, you can replace them without interrupting your business.

Ensure that all outsourcers are willing to communicate among themselves to solve problems, and give them written permission to make most inexpensive decisions without consulting you first.

You need to create a scalable business architecture.

Phase 1: 0-50 Products shipped: Do it all yourself. Determine common questions that can be put on a FAQ page.

Phase 2: 10+ Units shipped weekly: Add the FAQ to your site and continue to add questions. Start looking for the cheapest fulfilment services.

Phase 3: 20+ Units shipped weekly: You now have enough money to use an end-to-end fulfilment house. You can optionally set up a call centre.

Customer service is providing an excellent product at an acceptable price and solving legitimate problems (lost packages, replacements, refunds, etc.) in the fastest manner possible. That’s it.

The more options you offer the customer, the more indecision you create and the fewer orders you receive. Some ways of minimising decisions include: Offering only a basic and premium plan, Offer one fast shipping method, Do not offer overnight shipping, Eliminate phone orders, Don't offer international shipping.

Eliminate bad customers. Lots of examples how are in the book.

The lose-win guarantee: Rather than offering a boring 30-day money-back guarantee, put your money where your mouth is. Eg. "Delivered in under 30 minutes or its free", "110% guaranteed to work within 60 minutes of the first dose.". It looks risky but its worth it.

Make your company look big: Don't be a CEO or Founder, this screams startup (vice-president or director are good). Put multiple emails and numbers on your site for different departments. In the beginning, they can all forward to one address. Set up an IVR remote receptionist. Use a PO box, not home addresses.

COMFORT CHALLENGE: Randomly lie down in public for about 10 seconds. Its fun to do with friends watching.

Liberation

Chapter 12

If you are able to work remotely, you can travel the world without your boss even knowing.

Make your company invest in you so that it becomes harder for them to fire you.

Call sick days to prove your efficiency at home. Create a list of how much more you got done to show your boss. You can use less commute times and fewer distractions as excuses.

Propose a revocable remote work trial period (1 or 2 day a week). Make sure that these days are your most productive. Bump up your trial to a 4 day week. If you time it right you can get allowance to go fully remote.

Another technique is to use a pre-planned emergency as a way of remote working and then proving to your boss the increased efficiency like the previous technique.

Chapter 13

Getting fired is often a Godsend.

Pride is stupid. Being able to quit things is crucial.

Quitting isn't permanent. You can always pick up a job or another career path further down your life.

If you have a second cash flow, you will almost always be able to pay the bills. Eliminate expenses.

It is easy to transfer health insurance and retirement accounts. They won't disappear.

It won't damage your resume if you take a break, and often a 2 year trip around the world will help it.

There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth. 1) Result of a decision or act. 2) Result of not doing something.

Imagine that your business has gone bankrupt and you have been fired from your job. What would you do to survive?

Chapter 14

Extended world travel can be enjoyed by anyone no matter their financial status. You can get trips across the world for under $500.

Instead of travelling the world after you retire at 65, spread it out throughout your life in shorter trips (or longer!). These are known as mini-retirements and are recurring.

Learn to slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself and those around you. Chances are that it’s been a while.

Travelling overseas allows you to stop paying bills and can lead to a much cheaper lifestyle.

Most excuses are just that - excuses.

If you are worried about taking your kids with you on a long trip, do a shorter trial run first.

When you arrive somewhere, take language lessons for at least a week.

Airfare can be bought for 50-80% less. Use credit cards with rewards, purchase tickets in advance or just before. Aim for departure and return between Tuesday and Thursday. Consider buying a ticket to a large hub then another ticket to the country of choice (Eg. Australia → Singapore → Nepal).

Get rid of clutter before you travel. Only take the bare necessities with you. Get rid of most of your possessions (80/20 them). This can lead to better mental clarity.

Rather than pack for all contingencies, bring the absolute minimum and allocate $100–300 for purchasing things after you arrive and as you travel.

Start by going to an overseas country that isn't dangerous.

Chapter 15

Having too much free time is bad for you.

In the beginning it will be enough to go out and live all your dreams.

It is normal to feel bored. Don't fuel this fire.

Social Isolation is one of the main reasons for depression. Meet new people.

Doubts invade your mind when there is nothing else to fill it.

Hard questions are hard because they are too undefined, making them a waste of time to try and answer. Eg. What is the meaning of life?

Before spending time on a stress-inducing question ensure that the answer is “yes” to the following two questions:

1. Have I decided on a single meaning for each term in this question?
2. Can an answer to this question be acted upon to improve things?

If you can’t define it or act upon it, forget it.

It is important to fell good about yourself and enjoy what you do. How this is achieved is different for everyone.

To live is to learn. There is no other option.

Whenever you travel, chose skills to learn and obsess over. Language aquisition is a perfect example.

Do not become a cause snob - Everything needs help so don't get into the "my cause is better than your cause" mindset. Do your best to improve the world and hope for the best.

Speed addiction is a thing. Take time to just do nothing. Learn to turn down the static of the mind so you can appreciate more before doing more.

Make an anonymous donation to a service of your choice. This helps dissociate feeling good about service by getting credit.

Revisit dreamlines and make new ones.

It is fine to work again, as long as that's what you would rather be doing.

Chapter 16

Common New Rich mistakes:

1. Losing sight of dreams and falling into work for works sake.
2. Micromanaging and emailing to fill time.
3. Handling problems your outsourcers or co-workers can handle.
4. Helping outsourcers or co-workers with the same problem more than once, or with non-crisis problems.
5. Chasing customers, particularly unqualified or international prospects, when you have sufficient cash flow to finance your nonfinancial pursuit.
6. Answering e-mail that will not result in a sale or that can be answered by a FAQ or autoresponder.
7. Working where you live, sleep, or should relax.
8. Not performing a thorough 80/20 analysis every two to four weeks for your business and personal life.
9. Striving for endless perfection rather than great or simply good enough, whether in your personal or professional life.
10. Blowing minutiae and small problems out of proportion as an excuse to work.
11. Making non-time-sensitive issues urgent in order to justify work.
12. Viewing one product, job, or project as the end-all and be-all of your existence.
13. Ignoring the social rewards of life.

Chapter 17

Life is neither a problem to be solved nor a game to be won.

So be bold and don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it that often anyway.

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