Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek

I've been reading The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss, which is a really neat book, by the way. Anyway, he asked: "What would you do if you woke up this morning and had $100,000,000 in your bank account?" I was reading this at work, on my break, and my knee-jerk reaction was, "Well, I sure wouldn't be sitting here!" Lol. Basically, his point was, if you could disconnect making money from the time you normally spend making said money, what would you really want to be doing with your time?

So I let my imagination roam free...

(assuming that I could break the time-space continuum and not have any unwanted travel time...)


I'd roll over and go back to sleep until I felt rested. Then I'd fly to the South of France and dip my toes in the warm water. Next I'd sit in a French cafe and eat a croissant and coffee and watch the people walk by.

Next I'd take a train over to Italy and put my toes in the water there. I'd photograph the great Coliseum and take a gondola ride in Venice.

After that, I'd hop a boat to Greece and eat... Greek food... for lunch. Maybe I'd take a nap then.

Then I might fly over to New York City and find that store with the giant piano in it that that guy in the movie Big danced on... and I'd dance on it. Maybe I'd have a hot dog for dinner from a vendor on a street corner.

Next I'd take a train across the length of Canada, stopping for a month in each major city to get of taste of what life was like there. I would adopt the Canadian accent because it sounds really cool.

When I got back to Oregon, I'd buy a house in Portland, in the Laurelhurst district - one of those big, fancy Victorians that is super old but really well kept-up. I'd paint every room, by hand. I'd take forever and paint it whatever color I felt like. Then I'd sit on the front porch and sip coffee.

After that I'd fly to Denmark to visit my old roommate. Then I'd travel further north so I can photograph the Aurora Borealis.

On my way back south, I'd stop off in Ireland and lay in a field to watch the clouds go by. Then I'd photograph the cliffs of Dover.

Continuing south, I'd buy a little cabin in the outback of Australia and explore for a few months. I'd photograph kangaroos, wallabies, and... whatever else lives around there. I'd also learn how to scuba dive and get a water-proof case for my camera so I can photograph the fishies in the Great Barrier Reef.

After that, maybe I'd hop over to Lesotho (South Africa) and stay for a month or two at the orphanage where my (adopted) cousins grew up. I'd help the teachers out there as much as I could, but mostly I think I'd probably learn a lot about life.

Next I'd go back to my Victorian house in Portland and hug my cat. Then maybe I'd go take swing dancing lessons downtown.

***

Anyway, I'm sure I could gone on for quite some time, so I won't bore you with the details. But... it got me to thinking, I've always thought that it would be neat to be rich, but I think my real dream would actually just to be afforded the lifestyle of not being tied down to a 9-5. A job like that is so far from interesting to me that it's not even funny. I'd much rather be seeing what there is to see and creating interesting things and lying back and watching the clouds go by. Maybe, hopefully, someday I can achieve even a fraction of all this. That would be so awesome. :)