I’ve been feeling overworked and stressed out for some time now. You know it’s bad when the symptoms creep into your daily life and reach out to slap you in the face. Oh, little things like finding yourself obsessing over some small trivial thing, or getting all hung up over something that normally wouldn’t even get your attention.
I realize I’m an information junkie. I try to watch or at least listen to the TV news while sorting through 500 email messages in two different inboxes, and browsing 100 RSS feeds. Not to mention posting to each one of my blogs. I’m trying to save time by multi-tasking (another overused buzzword) and just bogging myself down in the process. It’s almost a form of self abuse. Why in the world am I doing this? Information overload.
Now I’ve recently got interested in this book by Timothy Ferriss, called The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. The title sure got my attention. So I read some of his blog and alot of his points really hit home. Yes, I’m a wage slave. Have been for years. But I’m over 50 now, and for the first time in my life looking ahead to retirement. But I’m not good with money and don’t have alot of savings. And I don’t have a 20 plus year pension plan that I’m vested in. Who stays long enough at one company for retirement vesting anyway? Not in today’s world. The prospect of working until the day I die is not appealing. And living on social security from age 65 is a joke. In that scenario, I see myself as a starving artist living on the street with cardboard as my only currency.
No no no!!! Get out of my brain, dammed vision of doom! I want better. Not rich, but comfortable, with time and money to allow me to do those things I’ve wanted all my life. Time to write, play music, freedom to travel and see the world, or at least more of it than my previous years on this planet.
So I’m buying Tim’s book and reading it cover to cover. I like the tips he has on his website…
- Outsource your life - delegate some tasks; don’t try to do everything
- Setup an autoresponder to announce you’re checking email only twice a day and stick to a regular schedule
- Learn “selective ignorance” to focus on what’s really important and weed out those time consuming distractions
In particular, I like Tim’s statement here:
Above all, remember three things. First, life can end at any time, so don’t postpone it. Second, if it doesn’t end, the average person works 500 months in their lifetime, so there’s no rush to get to the office. Third, people have short memories and are too busy thinking about themselves to worry about you. Take the journey and leave the office behind.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!