 June 22nd 2008
 Quotes
 3 comments
Last week I finally bought The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Like Getting Things Done it has something of a cult following. Though I’m only a quarter of the way through I’m already seeing some intriguing ideas that I will no doubt be discussing in the near future. In the meantime I’ve collated a selection of quotes from the book to give you an idea of what it’s all about.
Tim Ferriss: “Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane. Plan accordingly.”
Herbert Simon: “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.”
Tim Ferriss: “What we fear doing is most usually what we need to do. As I have heard said, a person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.”
Dave Barry: “Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate.”
Tim Ferriss: “It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor. The choice is between multiplication of results using strengths or incremental improvement fixing weaknesses that will, at best, become mediocre.”
Reader discussion
|
|
I’ve begun Ferriss’ book, too. What struck me from what I’ve read so far is that it’s not for most people. Ferriss is an extraordinary individual. He exceptionally intelligent, hardworking, and willing to take really big risks. That’s not to say it isn’t a great how-to book for someone who shares those traits, but it’s certainly not for the masses.
What also struck me is that he admits this method is not for people who want to do work that they love. Rather, he makes it very clear from the beginning that this is for people who are willing to work their butts off doing stuff they don’t much like till they have a system set up so they can take big chunks of time off of work throughout the year to do what they really love. Intriguing concept, and it certainly beats doing something you don’t like ten hours hours a day, five days a week like most overworked professionals do nowadays (and I did for about ten years). I guess I just feel lucky that I found something I love to all the time. But, I’m still loving the life lessons in the book and will definitely finish it.
Great selection of quotes you culled so far!
|
|
|
I especially like the leveraging one’s strengths, rather than just trying to fix your weaknesses, allowing them to become only mediocre. It’s really, really hard to become good at everything and to deceive one’s self that this is easily accomplished is foolish. Now I should qualify that statement, saying that one should never stop seeking knowledge, and educating one’s self.
|
|
|
Love the quote from Ferris regarding having uncomfortable conversations and doing something you fear every day. I will work myself ragged to avoid having uncomfortable conversations, only to find that they will await me at the end of the day. And by that time I’m tired and cranky…
|
Leave a comment, reply or question
| 
