#836: The 4-Hour Workweek Principles — 13 Mistakes to Avoid, The Art of Mini-Retirements, and Navigating the Dizziness of Freedom

This time around, we have a bit of a different format, featuring the book that started it all for me, The 4-Hour Workweek https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357/?tag=offsitoftimfe-20. Readers and listeners often ask me what I would change or update, but an equally interesting question is: what wouldn’t I change? What stands the test of time and hasn’t lost any potency? This episode features three of the most important chapters from the audiobook of The 4-Hour Workweek. The audiobook, produced and copyrighted by Blackstone Publishing, is available wherever audiobooks are sold. You can find it on Audible https://www.audible.com/pd/The-4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-9-5-Live-Anywhere-and-Join-the-New-Rich-Expanded-and-Updated-Audiobook/B0031AS3BE?tag=offsitoftimfe-20, Apple https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-4-hour-workweek-expanded-and-updated-escape-9-5/id1646139635?ls=1, Google https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAABEIGggPM&pli=1, Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7JnUhVyFL0VArWBOCOsZgR, Downpour.com https://www.downpour.com/the-4-hour-workweek-expanded-and-updated?sp=17422, or wherever you get your favorite audiobooks. This episode is brought to you by: Gusto https://gusto.com/tim simple and easy payroll, HR, and benefits platform used by 400,000+ businesses: https://gusto.com/tim Momentous https://livemomentous.com/Tim high-quality creatine for cognitive and muscular support: https://livemomentous.com/Tim Shopify https://shopify.com/tim global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: https://shopify.com/tim Coyote the card game​ http://coyotegame.com/, which I co-created with Exploding Kittens: https://coyotegame.com https://coyotegame.com/ TIMESTAMPS [00:00:00] Start.[00:02:31] Mini-retirements: embracing the mobile lifestyle.[00:09:22] The birth of mini-retirements and the death of vacations.[00:11:03] The alternative to binge traveling.[00:16:14] Purging the demons: emotional freedom.[00:18:43] The financial realities: it just gets better.[00:24:24] Fear factors: overcoming excuses not to travel.[00:30:08] When more is less: cutting the clutter.[00:39:29] The Bora-Bora dealmaker.[00:43:11] Questions and actions.[00:44:22] Take an asset and cash-flow snapshot.[00:45:02] Fear-set a one-year mini-retirement in a dream location in Europe.[00:48:38] Prepare for your trip.[00:59:42] Adding life after subtracting work.[01:01:51] Depression and boredom: it's normal.[01:05:31] Frustrations and doubts: you're not alone.[01:12:01] The point of it all.[01:13:37] Learning unlimited: sharpening the saw.[01:17:24] Service for the right reasons.[01:20:05] Questions and actions.[01:22:46] Make an anonymous donation to the service organization of your choice.[01:24:05] Take a learning mini-retirement in combination with local volunteering.[01:28:42] The top 13 new rich mistakes.* For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show https://tim.blog/podcast, please visit tim.blog/podcast https://tim.blog/podcast/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=podcast-description. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show https://tim.blog/podcast, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors https://tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts https://tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books https://tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss https://twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss https://instagram.com/timferriss/ YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss https://www.youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss http://linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Tim Ferriss?

  Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss. Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. This time around, we have a different experimental format, featuring the book that started it all for me, The Four Hour Work Week. And even though it was published in 2007, it was one of Amazon's top 10 most highlighted books of all time. Last I checked, around 2017. So, this is a bit of a foreshadowing of a point I want to make. A lot of people, readers and listeners, ask me what I would change or update in The Four Hour Work Week, or in other books, but especially The Four Hour Work Week. An equally interesting question, I think a very compelling question, is what wouldn't I change?

• 0:42Tim Ferriss?

  What stands the test of time and hasn't lost any potency? What would I absolutely not touch? And perhaps there are a few minor tweaks here and there, but by and large, what has stood the test of time for almost 20 years? This episode features three timeless chapters from the audiobook of The Four Hour Work Week. A chapter on taking mini-retirements, which challenges everything about the deferred life plan, the slave-save-retire approach, and shows you how to distribute adventure and retirement throughout life, instead of saving it all for the end. The chapter titled Filling the Void, which addresses navigating the dizziness of freedom

• 1:22Tim Ferriss?

  and handling unexpected emotional and philosophical challenges that you can run into, not just after reading The Four Hour Work Week, but if you are an entrepreneur of any type, really, but especially one following the tenets of lifestyle design. And last but not least, The 13 Mistakes of the New Rich, where I outline the most common pitfalls I've seen and people encounter, stumble over when implementing the book's principles. These are all narrated by the great voice actor Ray Porter, and if you are interested in checking out the rest of the audiobook, which is produced and copyrighted by Blackstone Publishing, you can find it on Audible, Apple, Google, Spotify, Downward.com, or wherever you find your favorite audiobooks. Until the next long-form interview, please enjoy.

• 2:06Speaker 01

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half-mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question?

• 2:14Tim Ferriss?

  Now would be an inappropriate time.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

• 2:31Speaker 02

  Fourteen. Mini-retirements. Embracing the mobile lifestyle. Before the development of tourism, travel was conceived to be like study, and its fruits were considered to be the adornment of the mind and the formation of the judgment. Paul Fussell, A Broad. "The simple willingness to improvise is more vital in the long run than research." Rolf Potts, Vagabonding. "If you've gone through the previous steps—eliminating, automating, and severing the leashes that bind you to one location— it's time to indulge in some fantasies and explore the world." Even if you have no ache for extended travel,

• 3:15Speaker 02

  or think it's impossible, whether due to marriage or mortgage, or those little things known as children, this chapter is still the next step. There are fundamental changes I and most others put off until absence or preparation for it forces them. This chapter is your final exam in muse design.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  The transformation begins in a small Mexican village in a parable that's been shared in various forms around the world.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  Fables and Fortune Hunters. "An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor's orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish. "How long did it take you to catch them?" the American asked. "Only a little while," the Mexican replied. "Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the American then asked. "I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,"

• 4:33Speaker 02

  the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket. "But..." What do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican looked up and smiled. I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor. The American laughed and stood tall. Sir, I'm a Harvard MBA and can help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. He continued.

• 5:18Speaker 02

  Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise with proper management. The Mexican fisherman asked. But, senor, how long will all this take? To which the American replied. Fifteen, twenty years, twenty-five tops. But what then, senor? The American laughed and said. That's the best part.

• 6:02Speaker 02

  When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company's stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions. Millions, senor? Then what? Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings, where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.

• 6:35Speaker 02

  I recently had lunch in San Francisco with a good friend and former college roommate. He will soon graduate from a top business school and return to investment banking. He hates coming home from the office at midnight, but explained to me that if he works 80-hour weeks for nine years, he could become a managing director and make a cool $3 to $10 million per year. Then, he would be successful. "Dude, what on earth would you do with $3 to $10 million per year?" I asked. His answer? "I would take a long trip to Thailand." That just about sums up one of the biggest self-deceptions of our modern age: extended

• 7:18Speaker 02

  world travel as the domain of the ultra-rich. I've also heard the following: "I'll just work in the firm for 15 years, then I'll be partner and I can cut back on hours. Once I have a million or two in the bank, I'll put it in something safe like bonds, take $80,000 a year in interest, and retire to sail in the Caribbean. I'll only work in consulting until I'm 35, then retire and ride a motorcycle across China."

• 7:46Speaker 02

  If your dream, the pot of gold at the end of the career rainbow, is to live large in Thailand, sail around the Caribbean, or ride a motorcycle across China, guess what? All of them can be done for less than $3,000. I've done all three. Here are just two examples of how far a little can go. The dollar figures in this chapter are all from a period immediately following President Bush's reelection in 2004, which correlated to the worst dollar exchange rates of the last 20 years. $250 US: Five days on a private Smithsonian tropical research island with three local fishermen

• 8:29Speaker 02

  who caught and cooked all my food, and also took me on tours of the best hidden dive spots in Panama. $150 US: Three days of chartering a private plane in Mendoza wine country in Argentina and flying over the most beautiful vineyards around the snow-capped Andes with a personal guide. Question. What did you spend your last $400 on? It's two or three weekends of nonsense and throwaway forget the work week behavior in most US cities. $400 is nothing for a full eight days of life-changing experiences. But eight days isn't what I'm recommending at all.

• 9:13Speaker 02

  Those were just interludes in a much larger production. I'm proposing much, much more. "The Birth of Many Retirements and the Death of Vacations." "There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mohandas Gandhi.

• 9:33Speaker 02

  "In February of 2004, I was miserable and overworked. My travel fantasy began as a plan to visit Costa Rica in March 2004 for four weeks of Spanish and relaxation. I needed a recharge, and four weeks seemed reasonable by whatever made-up benchmark you can use for such a thing. A friend familiar with Central America dutifully pointed out that it would never work, as Costa Rica was about to enter its rainy season. Torrential downpours weren't the uplifting jolt I needed, so I shifted my focus to four weeks in Spain. It's a long trip over the Atlantic, though, and Spain was close to other countries I'd always wanted to visit.

• 10:19Speaker 02

  I lost "reasonable" somewhere shortly thereafter and decided that I deserved a full three months to explore my roots in Scandinavia after four weeks in Spain.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  If there were any real-time bombs or pending disasters, they would certainly crop up in the first four weeks, so there really wasn't any additional risk in extending my trip to three months. Three months would be great.

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Those three months turned into 15, and I started to ask myself, why not take the usual 20- to 30-year retirement and redistribute it throughout life instead of saving it all for the end?" "The Alternative to Binge Traveling." "Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." Charles Kiralt, CBS News reporter.

• 11:19Speaker 02

  If you are accustomed to working fifty weeks per year, the tendency, even after creating the mobility to take extended trips, will be to go nuts and see ten countries in fourteen days and end up a wreck. It's like taking a starving dog to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It will eat itself to death. I did this three months into my fifteen-month vision quest, visiting seven countries and going through at least twenty check-ins and check-outs with a friend who had negotiated three weeks off. The trip was an adrenaline-packed blast, but like watching life on Fast Forward. It was hard for us to remember what had happened in which countries,

• 12:04Speaker 02

  except Amsterdam. I refer, of course, to the amazing bike-riding opportunities and famous pastries. We were both sick most of the time, and we were upset to have to leave some places simply because our pre-purchased flights made it so. I recommend doing the exact opposite. The alternative to binge travel, the mini-retirement, entails relocating to one place for one to six months before going home or moving to another locale. It is the anti-vacation in the most positive sense. Though it can be relaxing,

• 12:46Speaker 02

  the mini-retirement is not an escape from your life, but a reexamination of it, the creation of a blank slate. Following elimination and automation, what would you be escaping from? Rather than seeking to "see the world" through photo ops between foreign but familiar hotels, we aim to experience it at a speed that lets it change us. This is also different from a sabbatical. Sabbaticals are often viewed much like retirement, as a one-time event. Savor it now while you can. The mini-retirement is defined as recurring.

• 13:29Speaker 02

  It is a lifestyle. I currently take three or four mini-retirements per year and know dozens who do the same. Sometimes these sojourns take me around the world. Oftentimes, they take me around the corner. Yosemite, Tahoe, Carmel. But to a different world psychologically. Where meetings, email, and phone calls don't exist for a set period of time.

• 14:01Tim Ferriss?

  Just a quick thanks to our sponsors and we'll be right back to the show. Creatine isn't just for muscle. It's essential daily fuel for your brain, your body, and long-term performance. For me, I have Alzheimer's and dementia risk in my family. The cognitive benefits are the reason I take creatine every single day. And today's episode sponsor, Momentous, is the gold standard in creatine. There's a lot of BS floating around, but I choose them. Why? Because they source Creapure Creatine, the purest, most effective creatine monohydrate available. So if you've been curious about creatine, this is your moment to get back on track or try it for the first time. Momentus is also now introducing the Momentous Creatine Chews. Each chew delivers one gram of pure Creapure Creatine Monohydrate.

• 14:46Tim Ferriss?

  I was skeptical of these chews and I was like, I'm never going to use these. It turns out that I use them all the time. They're super convenient and they are NSF certified for sports. So you get the gold standard purity without all the mess. Head to livemomentous.com and use code TIM for up to 35% off of your first order.

• 15:05Tim Ferriss?

  I asked millions of you about Gusto on social media and I've never seen such overwhelmingly positive responses. It was kind of bonkers, honestly, because I've done this dozens of times. And it makes sense. More than 400,000 small businesses already trust Gusto and it's been named the number one payroll software by G2 for fall 2025. If you're a small business owner looking to simplify payroll and HR tasks, because why would you want to spend more time on those things? Gusto could be the game changer that you need. Gusto is the all-in-one payroll benefits and HR platform designed specifically for small businesses. They automatically file federal, state, and local payroll taxes, handle W2s and 1099s, what a pain in the ass all those can be, and offer straightforward health benefits and

• 15:48Tim Ferriss?

  401k options for nearly any budget. Now is the perfect time to choose Gusto to take care of your team and stay compliant. So go to gusto.com/tim to see why nine out of 10 Gusto customers recommend Gusto. Listeners get three months free once they run their first payroll. Again, that's G U S T O dot com slash Tim. Terms and conditions apply.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  Purging the demons. Emotional freedom.

• 16:19Speaker 02

  This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfection. St. Augustine, 354 A.D. to 430 A.D. True freedom is much more than having enough income and time to do what you want. It is quite possible, actually the rule rather than the exception, to have financial and time freedom, but still be caught in the throes of the rat race. One cannot be free from the stresses of a speed and size obsessed culture until you are free from the materialistic addictions, time famine mindset, and comparative impulses that created it in the first place.

• 17:07Speaker 02

  This takes time. The effect is not cumulative and no number of two week. Also called TOOWEAK coined by Joel Stein of the LA Times. Sightseeing trips can replace one good walkabout. By all means, go ahead and take a post office celebratory trip and go nuts for a few weeks. I know I did. Rock on. Ibiza and glow sticks, here I come. Have some absinthe and drink lots of water. Following that, sit down and plan an introspective mini-retirement.

• 17:48Speaker 02

  In the experience of those I've interviewed, it takes two to three months just to unplug from obsolete routines and become aware of just how much we distract ourselves with constant motion. Can you have a two-hour dinner with Spanish friends without getting anxious? Can you get accustomed to a small town where all businesses take a siesta for two hours in the afternoon and then close at 4 o'clock PM? If not, you need to ask, why? 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.

• 18:33Speaker 02

  Take at least two months to disincorporate old habits and rediscover yourself without the reminder of a looming return flight. The financial realities. It just gets better. The economic argument for mini-retirements is the icing on the cake. Four days in a decent hotel or a week for two at a nice hostel costs the same as a month in a nice posh apartment. If you relocate, the expenses abroad also begin to replace, often at much lower cost, bills you can then cancel stateside.

• 19:13Speaker 02

  Here are some actual monthly figures from recent travels. Highlights from both South America and Europe are shown side by side to prove that luxury is limited by your creativity and familiarity with the locale, not gross currency devaluation in developing countries. It will be obvious that I did not survive on bread and begging. I lived like a rock star, and both experiences could be done for less than 50% of what I spent. My goal was enjoyment and not austere survival.

• 19:50Speaker 02

  Airfare. Free, courtesy of Amex Gold Card and Chase Continental Airlines Mastercard. Muse's are low maintenance but often expensive in one or both of two tactical areas: manufacturing and advertising. Shop for providers of both that are willing to accept credit cards as payment and negotiate this upfront if necessary by saying: "Rather than trying to negotiate you down on pricing, I just ask that you accept payment by credit card. If you can do that, we'll choose you over competitor X." This is yet another example of a firm offer and not a question that puts you in a stronger negotiating position. For a detailed explanation of how I multiply points for traveling

• 20:35Speaker 02

  using concepts like piggybacking and recycling, search for both terms on fourhourblog.com. Housing. Penthouse apartment on the equivalent of New York's Fifth Avenue in Buenos Aires, including house cleaners, personal security guards, phone, energy, and high-speed internet: $550 US per month. Enormous apartment in the trendy Soho-like Prenzlauerberg district of Berlin, including phone and energy: $300 US per month.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  Meals. Four or five-star restaurant meals twice daily in Buenos Aires: $10 US. $300 US per month. Berlin? $18 US. $540 US per month. Entertainment. VIP table and unlimited champagne for eight people at the hottest club, Opera Bay in Buenos Aires: $150 US. $18.75 US per person times four visits per month equals $75 US per month per person. Cover, drinks, and dancing at the hottest clubs in West Berlin:

• 21:57Speaker 02

  $20 US per person per night times four equals $80 US per month. Education. Two hours daily of private Spanish lessons in Buenos Aires five times per week: $5 US per hour times forty hours per month equals $200 US per month. Two hours daily of private tango lessons with two world-class professional dancers: $8.33 US per hour times forty hours per month equals $333.20 US per month. Four hours daily of top-tier German language instruction in Nolendorfplatz Berlin:

• 22:40Speaker 02

  $175 US per month, which would have paid for itself even if I had not attended classes, as the student ID card entitled me to over forty percent discounts on all transportation. Six hours per week of mixed martial arts (MMA) training at the Top Berlin Academy, free, in exchange for tutoring in English two hours per week. Transportation. Monthly subway pass and daily cab rides to and from tango lessons in Buenos Aires: $75 US per month. Monthly subway, tram, and bus pass in Berlin with student discount: $85 US per month.

• 23:25Speaker 02

  Four-week total for luxury living. Buenos Aires: $1,533.20, including round-trip airfare from JFK with a one-month stopover in Panama. Nearly one-third of this total is from the daily one-on-one instruction from world-class teachers in Spanish and Tango. Berlin: $1,180, including round-trip airfare from JFK and a one-week stopover in London. How do these numbers compare to your current domestic monthly expenses, including rent, car insurance, utilities, weekend expenditures, partying, public transportation, gas, memberships,

• 24:09Speaker 02

  subscriptions, food, and all the rest? Add it all up and you may well realize, like I did, that traveling around the world and having the time of your life can save you serious money. Fear Factors: Overcoming excuses not to travel. Traveling is the ruin of all happiness. There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy. Fanny Burney, 1752-1840, English novelist. But I have a house and kids, I can't travel. What about health insurance? What if something happens? Isn't travel dangerous? What if I get kidnapped or mugged?

• 24:54Speaker 02

  But I'm a woman, traveling alone would be dangerous. Most excuses not to travel are exactly that: excuses. I've been there, so this isn't a holier-than-thou sermon. I know too well that it's easier to live with ourselves if we cite an external reason for inaction. I've since met paraplegics and the deaf, senior citizens and single mothers, homeowners and the poor, all of whom have sought and found excellent, life-changing reasons for extended travel instead of dwelling on the million small reasons against it. Most of the concerns above are addressed in the Q and A, but one in particular requires

• 25:39Speaker 02

  a bit of preemptive nerve calming. It's ten o'clock PM. Do you know where your children are? The prime fear of all parents prior to their first international trip is somehow losing a child in the shuffle. The good news is that if you are comfortable taking your kids to New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, or London, you will have even less to worry about in the starting cities I recommend in the Q and A. There are fewer guns and violent crimes in all of them compared to most large US cities. The likelihood of problems is decreased further when travel is less airport and hotel hopping

• 26:21Speaker 02

  among strangers and more relocation to a second home. A mini-retirement.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  But still. What if?

• 26:34Speaker 02

  Jen Eriko, a single mother who took her two children on a five-month world tour, had a more acute fear than most, one that often woke her at 2 o'clock AM in a cold sweat. What if something happens to me? She wanted to prime her kids for worst-case scenario, but didn't want to scare them to death, so, like all good mothers, she made it a game. Who can best memorize the itineraries, hotel addresses, and mom's phone number? She had emergency contacts in each country whose numbers were loaded into the speed dial of her cellphone, which had global roaming. In the end, nothing happened.

• 27:18Speaker 02

  Now she's planning to move to a ski chalet in Europe and send her kids to school in multilingual France. Success begets success. She was most afraid in Singapore, and in retrospect, it was where she had the least reason to be worried. She took her kids to South Africa, among other places. She was scared because it was the first stop, and she was unaccustomed to traveling with her kids. It was perception, not reality.

• 27:51Speaker 02

  Robin Malinsky Rumel, who spent a year traveling through South America with her husband and seven-year-old son, was warned by friends and family not to visit Argentina after their devaluation riots in 2001. She did her homework, decided that the fear was unfounded, and proceeded to have the time of her life in Patagonia. When she told locals that she was originally from New York, their eyes widened and jaws dropped. "I saw those buildings blow up on TV. I would never go to such a dangerous place." Don't assume that places abroad are more dangerous than your hometown. Most aren't.

• 28:33Speaker 02

  Robin is convinced, as are other NR parents, that people use children as an excuse to stay in their comfort zones. It's an easy excuse not to do something adventurous. How to overcome the fear? Robin recommends two things. One, before embarking on a long international trip with your children for the first time, take a trial run for a few weeks. Two, for each stop, arrange a week of language classes that begin upon arrival and take advantage of transportation from the airport if available. The school staff will often handle apartment rentals for you and you will be able to make friends and learn the area before setting off on your own.

• 29:19Speaker 02

  But what if your concern isn't so much losing your children, but losing your mind because of your children? Several families interviewed for this audiobook recommended the oldest persuasive tool known to man: bribery. Each child is given some amount of virtual cash, 25 to 50 cents, for each hour of good behavior. The same amount is subtracted from their accounts for breaking the rules. All purchases for fun, whether souvenirs, ice cream, or otherwise, come out of their own individual accounts. No balance, no goodies.

• 30:01Speaker 02

  This often requires more self-control on the part of the parents than the children.

• 30:08Speaker 02

  When More Is Less: Cutting the Clutter

• 30:14Speaker 02

  Human beings have the capacity to learn to want almost any conceivable material object. Given then the emergence of a modern industrial culture capable of producing almost anything, the time is ripe for opening the storehouse of infinite need. It is the modern Pandora's Box and its plagues are loose upon the world. Jules Henry "To be free, to be happy and fruitful can only be attained through sacrifice of many common but overestimated things." Robert Henry I know the son of one decamillionaire, a personal friend of Bill Gates,

• 30:58Speaker 02

  who now manages private investments and ranches. He has accumulated an assortment of beautiful homes over the last decade, each with full-time cooks, servants, cleaners, and support staff. How does he feel about having a home in each time zone? It's a pain in the ass. He feels like he's working for his staff, who spend more time in his homes than he does. Extended travel is the perfect excuse to reverse the damage of years of consuming as much as you can afford. It's time to get rid of clutter disguised as necessities before you drag a five-piece Samsonite set around the world. That is hell on earth.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  I'm not going to tell you to walk around in a robe and sandals, scouting at people who have televisions. I hate that kashi-crunching, holier-than-thou stuff. Turning you into a possessionless scribe is not my intention. Let's face it, though, there are tons of things in your home and life that you don't use, need, or even particularly want. They just came into your life as impulsive flotsam and jetsam and never found a good exit. Whether you're aware of it or not, this clutter creates indecision and distractions, consuming attention and making unfettered happiness a real chore.

• 32:25Speaker 02

  It is impossible to realize how distracting all the crap is, whether porcelain dolls, sports cars, or ragged t-shirts, until you get rid of it.

• 32:37Speaker 02

  Prior to my fifteen month trip, I was stressed about how to fit all of my belongings into a fourteen by ten foot rental storage space. Then, I realized a few things. I would never reread the business magazines I'd saved. I wore the same five shirts and four pairs of pants ninety percent of the time. It was about time for new furniture and I never used the outdoor grill or lawn furniture.

• 33:07Speaker 02

  Even getting rid of things I never used proved to be like a capitalist short circuit. It was hard to toss things I had once thought were valuable enough to spend money on. The first ten minutes of sorting through clothing was like choosing which child of mine should live or die. I hadn't exercised my throwing out muscles in some time. It was a struggle to put nice Christmas clothing I'd never worn into the go pile and just as hard to separate myself from worn and ragged clothing I had for sentimental reasons. Once I'd passed through the first few tough decisions though, the momentum had been built, and it was a breeze.

• 33:52Speaker 02

  I donated all of the seldom worn clothing to Goodwill. The furniture took less than ten hours to offload using Craigslist. And though I was paid less than fifty percent of the retail prices for some and nothing for others, who cared? I'd used and abused them for five years and would get a new set when I landed back in the US. I gave the grill and lawn furniture to my friend who lit up like a kid at Christmas. I had made his month. It felt wonderful and I had an extra three hundred dollars in pocket change to cover at least a few weeks of rent abroad. I created forty percent more space in my apartment and hadn't even grazed the surface.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  It wasn't the extra physical space that I felt most, it was the extra mental space. It was as if I had twenty mental applications running simultaneously before and now, I had just one or two. My thinking was clearer and I was much, much happier.

• 34:56Speaker 02

  I asked every vagabond interviewee in this audiobook what their one recommendation would be for first-time extended travelers. The answer was unanimous: Take less with you. The overpacking impulse is hard to resist. The solution is to set what I call a "settling fund." Rather than pack for all contingencies, I bring the absolute minimum and allocate $100 to $300 for purchasing things after I arrive and as I travel. I no longer take toiletries or more than a week's worth of clothing. It's a blast.

• 35:36Speaker 02

  Finding shaving cream or a dress shirt overseas can produce an adventure in and of itself. Pack as if you were coming back in one week. Here are the bare essentials listed in order of importance. 1. One week of clothing appropriate to the season, including one semi-formal shirt and a pair of pants or skirt for customs. Think t-shirts, one pair of shorts, and a multipurpose pair of jeans. 2. Backup photocopies or scanned copies of all important documents: health insurance, passport, visa, credit cards, debit cards, etc. 3.

• 36:20Speaker 02

  Debit cards, credit cards, and $200 worth of small bills in local currency. Travelers' checks are not accepted in most places and are a hassle. 4. Small cable bike lock for securing luggage while in transit or in hostels. A small padlock for lockers if needed. 5. Electronic dictionaries for target languages. Book versions are too slow to be of use in conversation. And small grammar guides or texts. 6. One broad strokes travel guide. That's it.

• 37:04Tim Ferriss?

  Just a quick thanks to our sponsors and we'll be right back to the show. Not to be a salty old dog, but in the early 2000s, back in the day when I was running my own e-commerce business, the tools were atrocious. They tried hard, but man was it bad. You had to cobble all sorts of stuff together. I could only dream of a platform like Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, and now 10% of all e-commerce in the US is on Shopify. Now, back to the early 2000s, then, nobody even thought of AI. Who could have predicted, even in the last 24 months, the magic that is now possible with AI? Shopify has been ahead of the curve, and they are packed with helpful AI tools

• 37:49Tim Ferriss?

  that will accelerate everything: write product descriptions, page headlines, even enhance your product photography. Best of all, Shopify expertly handles everything from managing inventory, to international shipping, to processing returns, and beyond. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com/Tim. One more time, Shopify.com/Tim. Hey folks, Tim here. My bestselling card game Coyote, which I made with the amazing team at Exploding Kittens, just won the Pop Insider Best Geeky Game of 2025, and also Best Stocking Filler in the Made for Mums Toy Awards 2025.

• 38:31Tim Ferriss?

  It is on sale everywhere. It's cheap, it's fast to learn, has 4.8 stars out of 5. People are loving it. CoyoteGame.com will take you to all the retailers, but you can find it everywhere. It is a game of thinking fast and laughing faster. Think charades, meets hot potato, meets a bunch of brain fun. It's good for your head. It's perfect for families with kids age 10+, or adults who are kids at heart or don't take themselves too seriously. A lot of adults love this game. And as I said, it's available everywhere: Amazon, Walmart, Target, 8,000-plus retail locations, you name it. So, please check it out. I loved making it. People are really enjoying it. It has 300 or 400 million-plus social views of gameplay

• 39:13Tim Ferriss?

  online. And try it, enjoy it this holiday season. Check it out, CoyoteGame.com. One more time, that's CoyoteGame.com, or anywhere you buy your games. Now, back to the episode.

• 39:29Speaker 02

  The Bora Bora Dealmaker Baffin Island, Nunavut.

• 39:36Speaker 02

  Josh Steinitz, founder of NileProject.com, stood at the edge of the world and stared in amazement. He dug his boots into the six feet of sea ice and the unicorns danced. Ten narwhals, rare cousins of the beluga, came to the surface and pointed their six-foot-plus spiral tusks toward the heavens. The pod of 3,000-pound whales then fell into the depths once again. The narwhals are deep divers, more than 3,000 feet in some cases, so Josh had at least 20 minutes until their reappearance.

• 40:20Speaker 02

  It seemed appropriate that he was with the narwhals. Their name came from Old Norse and referred to their mottled white and blue skin. Noveler. Corpseman. He smiled, as he had done often in the last few years. Josh himself was a dead man walking. One year after graduating from college, Josh found out that he had oral squamous carcinoma. Cancer. He had plans to be a management consultant. He had plans to be lots of things. Suddenly, none of it mattered.

• 41:01Speaker 02

  Less than half of those who suffered from this particular type of cancer survived. The reaper didn't discriminate and came without warning. It became clear that the biggest risk in life wasn't making mistakes, but regret. Missing out on things. He could never go back and recapture years spent doing something he disliked.

• 41:28Speaker 02

  Two years later and cancer-free, Josh set off on an indefinite global walkabout, covering expenses as a freelance writer. He later became the co-founder of a website that provides customized itineraries to would-be vagabonds. His executive status didn't lessen his mobile addiction. He was as comfortable cutting deals from the overwater bungalows of Bora Bora as he was in the log cabins of the Swiss Alps. He once took a call from a client while at Camp Muir on Mount Rainier. The client needed to confirm some sales numbers and asked Josh about all the wind in the background.

• 42:12Speaker 02

  Josh's answer: "I'm standing at 10,000 feet on a glacier and this afternoon the wind is whipping us down the mountain." The client said he'd let Josh get back to what he was doing. Another client called Josh while he was leaving a Balinese temple and heard the gongs in the background. The client asked Josh if he was in church. Josh wasn't quite sure what to say. All that came out was, "Yes?" Back among the narwhals, Josh had a few minutes before heading to base camp to avoid polar bears. 24-hour daylight meant that he had much to share with his friends back in the land of cubicles.

• 42:55Speaker 02

  He sat down on the ice and produced his satellite phone and laptop from a waterproof bag. He began his email in the usual way. "I know you're all sick of seeing me have so much fun, but guess where I am." Q&A: Questions and Actions It is fatal to know too much at the outcome. Boredom comes as quickly to the traveler who knows his route as to the novelist who is over certain of his plot. Paul Thérault, To the Ends of the Earth

• 43:32Speaker 02

  If this is your first time considering a commitment to the mobile lifestyle and long-term adventuring, I envy you. Making the jump and entering the new worlds that await is like upgrading your role in life from passenger to pilot. The bulk of this Q&A will focus on the precise steps that you should take and the countdown timeline you can use when preparing for your first mini-retirement. Most steps can be eliminated or condensed once you get one trip under your belt. Some of the steps are one-time events, after which subsequent mini-retirements will require a maximum of 2 to 3 weeks of preparation.

• 44:16Speaker 02

  It now takes me 3 afternoons. Grab a pencil and paper, this will be fun. 1. Take an asset and cash flow snapshot. Set 2 sheets of paper on a table. Use one to record all assets and corresponding values, including bank accounts, retirement accounts, stocks, bonds, home, and so forth. On the second, draw a line down the middle and write down all incoming cash flow: salary, muse income, investment income, etc., and outgoing expenses: mortgage, rent, car payments, etc. What can you eliminate that is either seldom used, or that creates stress or distraction

• 45:00Speaker 02

  without adding a lot of value?

• 45:04Speaker 02

  2. Fear set a 1-year mini-retirement in a dream location in Europe. Use the questions from Chapter 3 to evaluate your worst-case scenario fears and evaluate the real potential consequences. Except in rare cases, most will be avoidable and the rest will be reversible. 3. Choose a location for your actual mini-retirement. Where to start? This is the big question. There are 2 options that I advocate. A: Choose a starting point and then wander until you find your second home. This is what I did with a one-way ticket to London, vagabonding throughout Europe

• 45:46Speaker 02

  until I fell in love with Berlin, where I remained for 3 months. B. Scout a region and then settle in your favorite spot. This is what I did with a tour of Central and South America, where I spent one to four weeks in each of several cities, after which I returned to my favorite, Buenos Aires, for six months. It is possible to take a mini-retirement in your own country, but the transformative effect is hampered if you are surrounded by people who carry the same socially reinforced baggage. I recommend choosing an overseas location that will seem foreign but that isn't dangerous.

• 46:30Speaker 02

  I box, race motorcycles, and do all sorts of macho things, but I draw the line at favelas, Brazilian shanty towns. See the movie City of God, Ciudad de Dios, to get a taste of how fun these are. Civilians with machine guns, pedestrians with machetes and social strife. Cheap is good, but bullet holes are bad. Check the US Department of State for travel warnings before booking tickets. Travel.state.gov Here are just a few of my favorite starting points. Feel free to choose other locations. The most lifestyle for the dollar is stressed. Argentina. Buenos Aires, Córdoba.

• 47:15Speaker 02

  China. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei. Japan. Tokyo, Osaka. England. London. Ireland. Galway. Thailand. Bangkok, Chiang Mai. Germany. Berlin. Munich. Norway. Oslo. Australia. Sydney. New Zealand. Queenstown. Italy. Rome. Milan. Florence. Spain. Madrid. Valencia. Sevilla. And Holland. Amsterdam. In all of these places, it is possible to live well while spending little. I spend less in Tokyo than in California because I know it well.

• 47:58Speaker 02

  Hip, recently gentrified artist areas, not unlike the Brooklyn of ten years ago, can be found in almost all cities. The one place I can't seem to find a decent lunch for less than $20 US? London. Here are a few exotic places I don't recommend for vagabonding virgins, though veterans can make them all work. All countries in Africa, the Middle East, or Central and South America, excepting Costa Rica and Argentina, Mexico City and Mexican border areas are also a bit too kidnap happy to make it onto my favorites list. Four. Prepare for your trip. Here's the countdown. Three months out.

• 48:44Speaker 02

  Eliminate. Get used to minimalism before the departure. Here are the questions to ask and act upon, even if you never plan to leave. What is the 20% of my belongings that I use 80% of the time? Eliminate the other 80% in clothing, magazines, books, and all else. Be ruthless. You can always repurchase things you can't live without.

• 49:12Speaker 02

  Which belongings create stress in my life? This could relate to maintenance costs, money and energy, insurance, monthly expenses, time consumption, or simple distraction. Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. If you sell even a few expensive items, it could finance a good portion of your mini-retirement. Don't rule out the car and home. It's always possible to purchase either upon your return, often losing no money in the process. Check current health insurance coverage for extended overseas travel. Get the wheels in motion to rent, swap, or sell your home. Renting out is most recommended by serial vagabonds,

• 49:56Speaker 02

  or end your apartment lease and move all belongings into storage. In all cases where doubts crop up, ask yourself, if I had a gun to my head and had to do it, how would I do it? It's not as hard as you think. Two Months Out Automate After eliminating the excess, contact companies, including suppliers, that bill you regularly and set up auto-payment with credit cards that have reward points. Telling them that you will be traveling the world for a year often persuades them to accept credit cards rather than chase you around the planet like Carmen Sandiego. For the credit card companies themselves and others that refuse,

• 50:40Speaker 02

  arrange automatic debit from your checking account. Set up online banking and bill payment. Set up all companies that won't take credit cards or automatic debit as online payees. Set these scheduled checks for fifteen to twenty dollars more than expected when dealing with utilities and other variable expenses. This will cover miscellaneous fees, prevent time-consuming billing problems, and accrue as a credit. Cancel paper bank and credit card statement delivery. Get bank-issued credit cards for all checking accounts, generally one for business and one for personal, and set the cash advances to zero dollars to minimize abuse potential.

• 51:25Speaker 02

  Leave these cards at home, as they are just for emergency overdraft protection. Give a trusted member of your family and/or your accountant power of attorney, which gives that person authority to sign documents, tax filings and checks, for example, in your name. This is a serious step and should not be taken with those you do not trust. In this case, it helps because your accountant can then sign tax documents or checks in your name instead of consuming hours and days of your time with faxes, scanners, and expensive international FedEx-ing of documents. Nothing screws up foreign fun faster than having to sign original documents when faxes are unacceptable.

• 52:10Speaker 02

  One month out. Speak to the manager of your local post office and have all mail forwarded to a friend, family member, or personal assistant, who will be paid $100 to $200 per month to email you brief descriptions of all non-junk mail each Monday. There are also services like EarthClassMail.com, which will receive, scan, and email all of your non-junk mail to you as PDFs. Get all required and recommended immunizations and vaccinations for your target region. Check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.gov/travel.

• 52:51Speaker 02

  Note that proof of immunizations is sometimes required to pass through foreign customs. Set up a trial account with GoToMyPC or similar remote access software, and take a dry run to ensure that there are no technological glitches. This would be used if you leave your computer at home or in someone else's home while traveling. This step can be skipped if you bring your computer, but that is like a recovering heroin addict bringing a bag of opium to rehab. Don't tempt yourself to kill time instead of rediscovering it. If resellers or distributors still send you checks, the fulfillment house should handle customer checks at this point, do one of three things:

• 53:36Speaker 02

  Give the resellers direct bank deposit information, ideal; Have the fulfillment house handle these checks, second choice; Or have the resellers pay via PayPal or mail checks to one of the people you are trusting with power of attorney, far, third. In the last case, give the person with power of attorney deposit slips so he or she can sign or stamp and mail in the checks. It is convenient to become a member of a large bank: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, Citibank, etc., with branches near the person assisting you so that they can drop off the deposits while running other errands. No need to move all accounts to this bank if you don't want to.

• 54:21Speaker 02

  Just open a single new account that is used solely for these deposits.

• 54:27Speaker 02

  Two weeks out. Scan all identification, health insurance, and credit debit cards into a computer from which you can print multiple copies, several to be left with family members and several to be taken with you in separate bags. Email the scanned file to yourself so that you can access it while abroad if you lose the paper copies. If you are an entrepreneur, downgrade your cellphone to the cheapest plan and set up a voicemail greeting that states, "I am currently overseas on business. Please do not leave a voicemail as I will not be checking it while gone. Please send me an email at [blank] at [blank] dot com if the matter is important. Thank you for your understanding."

• 55:12Speaker 02

  Then, set up email autoresponders that indicate responses could take up to seven days, or whatever you decide for frequency, due to international business travel. Find an apartment for your ultimate mini-retirement destination, or reserve a hostel or hotel at your starting point for three to four days. Reserving an apartment before you arrive is riskier and will be much more expensive than using the latter three to four days to find an apartment. I recommend hostels for the starting point if possible, not for cost considerations, but because the staff and fellow travelers are more knowledgeable and helpful with relocations.

• 55:55Speaker 02

  Get foreign medical evacuation insurance if needed for peace of mind. This tends to be redundant if you are in a developed country and can buy local insurance to augment your own, which I do, and it is useless if you are a 10-hour flight from civilization. I had evacuation insurance in Panama as it's a two-hour flight from Miami, but I didn't bother elsewhere. Don't freak out about this. It's just as true if you're in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the US.

• 56:28Speaker 02

  One week out. Decide on a schedule for routine batched tasks such as email, online banking, etc. to eliminate excuses for senseless pseudo-work procrastinating. I suggest Monday mornings for checking email and online banking. The first and third Mondays of the month can be used for checking credit cards and making other online payments such as affiliates. These promises to yourself will be the hardest to keep, so make a commitment now and expect serious withdrawal cravings. Save important documents, including the scan of your identification, insurance, and credit debit cards,

• 57:09Speaker 02

  to a small handheld storage device that plugs into a computer USB port. Move all things out of your home or apartment into storage. Pack a single small backpack and carry-on bag for the adventure and move in briefly with a family member or friend. Two days out. Put remaining automobiles into storage or a friend's garage. Put fuel stabilizer like Stabil in the gas tanks. Disconnect the negative leads from batteries to prevent drain and put the vehicles on jack stands to prevent tire and shock damage. Cancel all auto insurance except for theft coverage.

• 57:51Speaker 02

  Upon arrival. Assuming you have not booked an apartment in advance. First morning and afternoon after check-in. Take a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city, followed by a bike tour of potential apartment neighborhoods.

• 58:07Speaker 02

  First, late afternoon or evening. Purchase an unlocked cellphone with a SIM card that can be recharged with simple prepaid cards. Unlocked means that it is recharged with prepaid cards instead of being on a monthly payment plan with a single carrier such as O2 or Vodafone. This also means that the same phone can be used with carriers in other countries, assuming the frequency is the same, with a simple switch of the SIM memory card for $10 to $30 US in most cases. Some US-compatible quad-band phones can use SIM cards. Email apartment owners or brokers on craigslist.com

• 58:49Speaker 02

  and online versions of local newspapers for viewings over the next two days.

• 58:55Speaker 02

  Second and third days. Find and book an apartment for one month. Don't commit to more than one month until you've slept there. I once prepaid two months only to find that the busiest bus stop downtown was on the other side of my bedroom wall. Move-in day. Get settled and purchase local health insurance. Ask hostile owners and other locals what insurance they use. Resolve not to buy souvenirs or other take-home items until two weeks prior to departure. One week later. Eliminate all the extra crap you brought but won't use often. Either give it to someone who needs it more, mail it back to the US, or throw it out.

• 59:42Speaker 02

  Fifteen. Filling the void. Adding life after subtracting work.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  "To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind, the mind that so frequently has its head up its own ass." Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird. "There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do." Bill Watterson, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.

• 1:00:11Speaker 02

  King's Cross, London. I stumbled into the deli across the cobblestone street and ordered a prosciutto sandwich. It was 10:30 a.m. now. The fifth time I'd checked the time, and the twentieth time I'd asked myself, "What the bleep am I going to do today?" The best answer I'd come up with so far was... Get a sandwich. Thirty minutes earlier, I had woken up without an alarm clock for the first time in four years, fresh off arriving from JFK the night before. I had so been looking forward to it. Awakening to musical bird song outside, sitting up in bed with a smile, smelling the aroma

• 1:00:54Speaker 02

  of freshly brewed coffee, and stretching out overhead like a cat in the shade of a Spanish villa. Magnificent.

• 1:01:04Speaker 02

  It turned out more like this. Bolt upright as if blasted with a foghorn, grab clock, curse, jump out of bed in underwear to check email, remember that I was forbidden to do so, curse again, look for my host and former classmate, realize that he was off to work like the rest of the world, and proceed to have a panic attack. I spent the rest of the day in a haze, wandering from museum to botanical garden to museum, as if on rinse and repeat, avoiding internet cafes with some vague sense of guilt. I needed a to-do list to feel productive, and so put down things like, eat dinner.

• 1:01:46Speaker 02

  This was going to be a lot harder than I had thought. Postpartum depression. It's normal. Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another. Anatole France, author of The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard. I've got more money and time than I ever dreamed possible. Why am I depressed? It's a good question, with a good answer. Just be glad you're figuring this out now and not at the end of life. The retired and ultra-rich are often unfulfilled and neurotic for the same reason: too much idle time.

• 1:02:30Speaker 02

  But wait a second. Isn't more time what we're after? Isn't that what this book is all about? No, not at all. Too much free time is no more than fertilizer for self-doubt and assorted mental tail-chasing. Subtracting the bad does not create the good. It leaves a vacuum. Decreasing income-driven work isn't the end goal. Living more and becoming more is.

• 1:02:59Speaker 02

  In the beginning, the external fantasies will be enough, and there is nothing wrong with this. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this period. Go nuts and live your dreams. This is not superficial or selfish. It is critical to stop repressing yourself and get out of the postponement habit. Let's suppose you decide to dip your toe in dreams like relocating to the Caribbean for island hopping, or taking a safari in the Serengeti. It will be wonderful and unforgettable, and you should do it. There will come a time, however, be it three weeks or three years later,

• 1:03:38Speaker 02

  when you won't be able to drink another pina colada or photograph another damn red-assed baboon. Self-criticism and existential panic attacks start around this time.

• 1:03:52Speaker 02

  "But this is what I always wanted. How can I be bored?" Don't freak out and fuel the fire. This is normal among all high performers who downshift after working hard for a long time. The smarter and more goal-oriented you are, the tougher these growing pains will be. Learning to replace the perception of time famine with appreciation of time abundance is like going from triple espressos to decaf. But there's more. Retirees get depressed for a second reason, and you will too: social isolation. Offices are good for some things: free bad coffee and complaining thereof, gossip and commiserating,

• 1:04:37Speaker 02

  stupid video clips via email with even stupider comments, and meetings that accomplish nothing but kill a few hours with a few laughs. The job itself might be a dead end, but it's the web of human interactions, the social environment, that keeps us there. Once liberated, this automatic tribal unit disappears, which makes the voices in your head louder. Don't be afraid of the existential or social challenges. Freedom is like a new sport. In the beginning, the sheer newness of it is exciting enough to keep things interesting at all times. Once you have learned the basics, though, it becomes clear that to be even a half-decent

• 1:05:20Speaker 02

  player requires some serious practice. Don't fret. The greatest rewards are to come, and you're ten feet from the finish line. Frustrations and doubts. You're not alone. People say that what we are seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think this is what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive. Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth. Once you eliminate the nine to five and the rubber hits the road, it's not all roses and white sand bliss, though much of it can be. Without the distraction of deadlines and coworkers, the big questions, such as "What

• 1:06:05Speaker 02

  does it all mean?", become harder to fend off for a later time. In a sea of infinite options, decisions also become harder. "What the hell should I do with my life?". It's like senior year in college all over again. Like all innovators ahead of the curve, you will have frightening moments of doubt. Once past the kid in a candy store phase, the comparative impulse will creep in. The rest of the world will continue with its nine-to-five grind, and you will begin to question your decision to step off the treadmill. Common doubts and self-flagellation include the following. One.

• 1:06:45Speaker 02

  Am I really doing this to be more free and lead a better life, or am I just lazy? Two. Did I quit the rat race because it's bad, or just because I couldn't hack it? Did I just cop out? Three. Is this as good as it gets? Perhaps I was better off when I was following orders and ignorant of the possibilities. It was easier at least. Four. Am I really successful, or just kidding myself? Five. Have I lowered my standards to make myself a winner? Are my friends, who are now making twice as much as three years ago, really on the right track?

• 1:07:27Speaker 02

  Six. Why am I not happy? I can do anything and I'm still not happy. Do I even deserve it?

• 1:07:35Speaker 02

  Most of this can be overcome as soon as we recognize it for what it is: outdated comparisons using the "more is better" and "money as success" mindsets that got us into trouble to begin with. Even so, there is a more profound observation to be made. These doubts invade the mind when nothing else fills it. Think of a time when you felt 100% alive and undistracted, in the zone. Chances are that it was when you were completely focused in the moment on something external, someone or something else. Sports and sex are two great examples.

• 1:08:16Speaker 02

  Lacking an external focus, the mind turns inward on itself and creates problems to solve, even if the problems are undefined or unimportant. If you find a focus, an ambitious goal that seems impossible and forces you to grow, these doubts disappear. Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist famous for proposing Maslow's hierarchy of needs, would term this goal a "peak experience."

• 1:08:46Speaker 02

  In the process of searching for a new focus, it is almost inevitable that the "big" questions will creep in. There is pressure from pseudo-philosophers everywhere to cast aside the impertinent and answer the eternal. Two popular examples are: "What is the meaning of life?" and "What is the point of it all?" There are many more, ranging from the introspective to the ontological, but I have one answer for almost all of them. I don't answer them at all.

• 1:09:16Speaker 02

  I'm no nihilist. In fact, I've spent more than a decade investigating the mind and concept of meaning, a quest that has taken me from the neuroscience laboratories of top universities to the halls of religious institutions worldwide. The conclusion after it all is surprising. I am 100% convinced that most big questions we feel compelled to face, handed down through centuries of overthinking and mistranslation, use terms so undefined as to make attempting to answer them a complete waste of time.

• 1:09:56Speaker 02

  There is a place for cones and rhetorical meditative questions, but these tools are optional and outside the scope of this audiobook. Most questions without answers are just poorly worded. This isn't depressing. It's liberating. Consider the question of questions. What is the meaning of life? If pressed, I have but one response. It is the characteristic state or condition of a living organism. "But that's just a definition," the questioner will retort. "That's not what I mean at all." "What do you mean then?" Until the question is clear, each term in it defined, there is no point in answering it.

• 1:10:39Speaker 02

  The "meaning of life" question is unanswerable without further elaboration. Before spending time on a stress-inducing question, big or otherwise, 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 the answer to this question be acted upon to improve things?

• 1:11:10Speaker 02

  What is the meaning of life, fails the first and thus the second? Questions about things beyond your sphere of influence like, "What if the train is late tomorrow?", fail the second and should thus be ignored. These are not worthwhile questions. If you can't define it or act upon it, forget it. If you take just this point from this audiobook, it will put you in the top 1% of performers in the world and keep most philosophical distress out of your life. Sharpening your logical and practical mental toolbox is not being an atheist or unspiritual. It's not being crass and it's not being superficial.

• 1:11:53Speaker 02

  It's being smart and putting your effort where it can make the biggest difference for yourself and others.

• 1:12:01Speaker 02

  The Point of It All Drumroll please.

• 1:12:06Speaker 02

  "What man actually needs is not a tensionless state, but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task." Viktor E. Frankl, Holocaust survivor, author of "Man's Search for Meaning."

• 1:12:24Speaker 02

  "I believe that life exists to be enjoyed and that the most important thing is to feel good about yourself. Each person will have his or her own vehicles for both, and those vehicles will change over time. For some, the answer will be working with orphans, and for others, it will be composing music. I have a personal answer to both: to love, be loved, and never stop learning. But I don't expect that to be universal."

• 1:12:53Speaker 02

  Some criticize a focus on self-love and enjoyment as selfish or hedonistic, but it's neither. Enjoying life and helping others, or feeling good about yourself and increasing the greater good, are no more mutually exclusive than being agnostic and leading a moral life. One does not preclude the other. Let's assume we agree on this. It still leaves the question, "What can I do with my time to enjoy life and feel good about myself?" I can't offer a single answer that will fit all people, but, based on the dozens of fulfilled NR I've interviewed, there are two components that are fundamental: continual learning and service.

• 1:13:37Speaker 02

  "Learning unlimited: Sharpening the Saw." Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages. Dave Barry. To live is to learn. I see no other option. This is why I felt compelled to quit or be fired from jobs within the first six months or so. The learning curve flattens out and I get bored. Though you can upgrade your brain domestically, traveling and relocating provides unique conditions that make progress much faster.

• 1:14:19Speaker 02

  The different surroundings act as a counterpoint and mirror for your own prejudices, making weaknesses that much easier to fix. I rarely travel somewhere without deciding first how I'll obsess on a specific skill. Here are a few examples. Connemara, Ireland. Gaelic Irish, Irish flute and hurling, the fastest field sport in the world. Imagine a mix of lacrosse and rugby, played with ax handles. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian Portuguese and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Berlin, Germany. German and locking, a form of upright breakdancing.

• 1:15:02Speaker 02

  I tend to focus on language acquisition and one kinesthetic skill, sometimes finding the latter after landing overseas. The most successful serial vagabonds tend to blend the mental and the physical. Notice that I often transport a skill I practice domestically, martial arts, to other countries where they are also practiced. Instant, social life and camaraderie. It need not be a competitive sport. It could be hiking, chess, or almost anything that keeps your nose out of a textbook and you out of your apartment. Sports just happen to be excellent for avoiding foreign language stage fright and developing lasting friendships while still sounding like Tarzan.

• 1:15:46Speaker 02

  Language learning deserves special mention. It is, bar none, the best thing you can do to hone clear thinking.

• 1:15:56Speaker 02

  Quite aside from the fact that it is impossible to understand a culture without understanding its language, acquiring a new language makes you aware of your own language, your own thoughts. The benefits of becoming fluent in a foreign tongue are as underestimated as the difficulty is overestimated. Thousands of theoretical linguists will disagree, but I know from research and personal experimentation with more than a dozen languages that, one, adults can learn languages much faster than children when constant nine-to-five work is removed, and that, two, it is possible to become conversationally fluent in any

• 1:16:39Speaker 02

  language in six months or less. At four hours per day, six months can be whittled down to less than three months. It is beyond the scope of this audiobook to explain applied linguistics and the eighty-twenty of language learning, but resources and complete how-to guides can be found under [email protected]. I learned six languages after failing Spanish in high school, and you can do the same with the right tools. Gain a language and you gain a second lens through which to question and understand the world. Cursing at people when you go home is fun, too. Don't miss the chance to double your life experience.

• 1:17:24Speaker 02

  "Service for the right reasons: to save the whales or kill them and feed the children."

• 1:17:32Speaker 02

  "Morality is simply the attitude we adopt toward people we personally dislike." Oscar Wilde.

• 1:17:39Speaker 02

  One would expect me to mention "service" in this chapter, and here it is. Like all before it, the twist is a bit different. "Service, to me, is simple: doing something that improves life besides your own. This is not the same as philanthropy. Philanthropy is the altruistic concern for the well-being of mankind, human life. Human life has long been focused on the exclusion of the environment and the rest of the food chain. Hence, our current race to imminent extinction. Serves us right. The world does not exist solely for the betterment and multiplication of mankind."

• 1:18:22Speaker 02

  Before I start chaining myself to trees and saving the dart frogs, though, I should take my own advice: Do not become a cause snob. How can you help starving children in Africa when there are starving children in Los Angeles? How can you save the whales when homeless people are freezing to death? How does doing volunteer research on coral destruction help those people who need help now? Children, please. Everything out there needs help, so don't get baited into "my cause can beat up your cause" arguments with no right answer. There are no qualitative or quantitative comparisons that make sense.

• 1:19:03Speaker 02

  The truth is this: Those thousands of lives you save could contribute to a famine that kills millions, or that one bush in Bolivia that you protect could hold the cure for cancer. The downstream effects are unknown. Do your best and hope for the best. If you're improving the world, however you define that, consider your job well done. Service isn't limited to saving lives or the environment either. It can also improve life. If you are a musician and put a smile on the faces of thousands or millions, I view that as service. If you are a mentor and change the life of one child for the better, the world has been

• 1:19:47Speaker 02

  improved. Improving the quality of life in the world is in no fashion inferior to adding more lives. Service is an attitude. Find the cause or vehicle that interests you most and make no apologies. Q&A Questions and Actions Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas. Paula Poundstone "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive." Thich Nhat Hanh

• 1:20:31Speaker 02

  But I can't just travel, learn languages, or fight for one cause for the rest of my life? Of course you can't. That's not my suggestion at all. These are just good life hubs, starting points that lead to opportunities and experiences that otherwise wouldn't be found. There is no right answer to the question, "What should I do with my life?" Forget "should" altogether. The next step, and that's all it is, is pursuing something. It matters little what, that seems fun or rewarding. Don't be in a rush to jump into a full-time, long-term commitment.

• 1:21:11Speaker 02

  Take time to find something that calls to you, not just the first acceptable form of surrogate work. That calling will, in turn, lead you to something else. Here is a good sequence for getting started that dozens of NR have used with success. One. Revisit Ground Zero. Do Nothing. Before we can escape the goblins of the mind, we need to face them. Principle among them is speed addiction. It is hard to recalibrate your internal clock without taking a break from constant overstimulation. Travel and the impulse to see a million things can exacerbate this.

• 1:21:55Speaker 02

  Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less. It means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the "perception" of being rushed. Consider attending a short silence retreat of three to seven days, during which all media and speaking is prohibited. Learn to turn down the static of the mind so you can appreciate more before doing more. The Art of Living Foundation, Course 2, International, artofliving.org. Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, spiritrock.org. Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts, kripalu.org.

• 1:22:40Speaker 02

  Sky Lake Lodge in New York, sky-lake.org.

• 1:22:46Speaker 02

  Two. Make an anonymous donation to the service organization of your choice. This helps to get the juices flowing and disassociate feeling good about service with getting credit for it. It feels even better when it's pure. Here are some good sites to get started. Charity Navigator. CharityNavigator.org. This independent service ranks more than 5,000 charities using criteria you select. Create a personalized page of favorites and compare them side by side, all free of charge. FirstGiving. FirstGiving.com. FirstGiving.com allows you to create an online fundraising page.

• 1:23:32Speaker 02

  Donations can be made through your personal URL. I have used FirstGiving in coordination with a nonprofit called Room to Read to build schools in both Nepal and Vietnam, with more countries pending. If you specifically want to help animals, for example, you can click on a related link and access websites for hundreds of different animal charities, and then decide which one you want to donate to. The UK version of the website is JustGiving.com. Three. Take a learning mini-retirement in combination with local volunteering. Take a mini-retirement, six months or more if possible, to focus on learning and serving.

• 1:24:16Speaker 02

  The longer duration will permit a language focus which in turn enables more meaningful interaction and contribution through volunteering. For the duration of this trip, note self-criticisms and negative self-talk in a journal. Whenever upset or anxious, ask "why" at least three times, and put the answers down on paper. Describing these doubts in writing reduces their impact twofold. First, it's often the ambiguous nature of self-doubt that hurts most. Defining and exploring it in writing, just as with forcing colleagues to email, demands clarity of thought, after which most concerns are found to be baseless.

• 1:25:02Speaker 02

  Second, recording these concerns seems to somehow remove them from your head.

• 1:25:09Speaker 02

  But where to go and what to do? There is no one right answer to either. Use the following questions and resources to brainstorm. What makes you most angry about the state of the world? What are you most afraid of for the next generation, whether you have children or not? What makes you happiest in your life? How can you help others have the same? There is no need to limit yourself to one location. Remember Robin, who traveled through South America for a year with her husband and seven-year-old son? The three of them spent one to two months doing volunteer work in each location, including

• 1:25:49Speaker 02

  building wheelchairs in Banos, Ecuador, rehabilitating exotic animals in the Bolivian rainforest, and shepherding leatherback sea turtles in Suriname. How about doing archaeological excavation in Jordan, or tsunami relief on the islands of Thailand? These are just two of the dozens of foreign relocation and volunteering case studies in each issue of Verge magazine. Reader-tested resources include: Hands-on Disaster Response, h o d r dot org. Project Hope, projecthope.org. Relief International, r i dot org.

• 1:26:30Speaker 02

  International Relief Teams, i r teams dot org. Airline Ambassadors International, airline a m b dot org. Ambassadors for Children, ambassadorsforchildren.org. Relief Riders International, reliefridersinternational.com. Habitat for Humanity Global Village Program, habitat.org. Planeta, Global Listings for Practical Ecotourism, planeta.com.

• 1:27:03Speaker 02

  Four. Revisit and reset dream lines. Following the mini-retirement, revisit the dream lines set in definition and reset them as needed. The following questions will help. What are you good at? What could you be the best at? What makes you happy? What excites you? What makes you feel accomplished and good about yourself? What are you most proud of having accomplished in your life? Can you repeat this or further develop it? What do you enjoy sharing or experiencing with other people? Five.

• 1:27:43Speaker 02

  Based on the outcomes of steps one through four, consider testing new part- or full-time vocations. Full-time work isn't bad, if it's what you'd rather be doing. This is where we distinguish "work" from a "vocation". If you have created a muse or cut your hours down to next to nothing, consider testing a part-time or full-time vocation, a true calling, or dream occupation. This is what I did with this audiobook. I can now tell people I'm a writer rather than giving them the two-hour drug dealer explanation. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? Perhaps it's time to sign up for space camp, or in turn as an assistant to a marine biologist.

• 1:28:29Speaker 02

  Recapturing the excitement of childhood isn't impossible, in fact, it's required. There are no more chains or excuses to hold you back.

• 1:28:42Speaker 02

  Sixteen. The top thirteen new-rich mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems, and that's a big mistake. Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics.

• 1:29:00Speaker 02

  Ho imparato cenniente è impossibile, è anche quasi niente e facile. I've learned that nothing is impossible and that almost nothing is easy. Articolo 31. Italian rap group. Un orlo.

• 1:29:20Speaker 02

  Mistakes are the name of the game in lifestyle design. It requires fighting impulse after impulse from the old world of retirement-based life deferral. Here are the slip-ups you will make. Don't get frustrated, it's all part of the process. One. Losing sight of dreams and falling into work for work's sake. W4W. Please re-listen to the introduction and next chapter of this audiobook whenever you feel yourself falling into this trap. Everyone does it, but many get stuck and never get out. Two. Micro-managing and emailing to fill time.

• 1:30:02Speaker 02

  Set the responsibilities, problem scenarios, and rules and limits of autonomous decision-making. Then stop for the sanity of everyone involved. Three. Handling problems your outsourcers or coworkers can handle. Four. Helping outsourcers or coworkers with the same problem more than once, or with non-crisis problems. Give them "if then" rules for solving all but the largest problems. Give them the freedom to act without your input. Set the limits in writing, and then emphasize in writing that you will not respond to help with problems that are covered by these rules.

• 1:30:47Speaker 02

  In my particular case, all outsourcers have at their discretion the ability to fix any problem that will cost less than $400. At the end of each month or quarter, depending on the outsourcer, I review how their decisions have affected profit and adjust the rules accordingly, often adding new rules based on their good decisions and creative solutions. Five. Chasing customers, particularly unqualified or international prospects, when you have sufficient cash flow to finance your non-financial pursuits.

• 1:31:24Speaker 02

  Six. Answering email that will not result in a sale, or that can be answered by a FAC or autoresponder. Seven. Working where you live, sleep, or should relax. Separate your environments. Designate a single space for work and solely work, or you will never be able to escape it. Eight. Not performing a thorough eighty-twenty analysis every two to four weeks for your business and personal life. Nine. Striving for endless perfection rather than great or simply good enough, whether in your personal or professional life.

• 1:32:06Speaker 02

  Recognize that this is often just another W4W excuse. Most endeavors are like learning to speak a foreign language. To be correct ninety-five percent of the time requires six months of concentrated effort, whereas to be correct ninety-eight percent of the time requires twenty to thirty years. Focus on great for a few things and good enough for the rest. Perfection is a good ideal and direction to have, but recognize it for what it is: an impossible destination.

• 1:32:40Speaker 02

  Ten. Blowing minutia and small problems out of proportion as an excuse to work.

• 1:32:48Speaker 02

  Eleven. Making non-time-sensitive issues urgent in order to justify work. How many times do I have to say it? Focus on life outside of your bank accounts, as scary as that void can be in the initial stages. If you cannot find meaning in your life, it is your responsibility as a human being to create it, whether that is fulfilling dreams or finding work that gives you purpose and self-worth. Ideally, a combination of both. 12. Viewing one product, job, or project as the end-all and be-all of your existence.

• 1:33:30Speaker 02

  Life is too short to waste, but it is also too long to be a pessimist or nihilist. Whatever you're doing now is just a stepping stone to the next project or adventure. Any rut you get into is one you can get yourself out of. Doubts are no more than a signal for action of some type. When in doubt or overwhelmed, take a break and 80/20 both business and personal activities and relationships. 13. Ignoring the social rewards of life. Surround yourself with smiling, positive people who have absolutely nothing to do with work.

• 1:34:12Speaker 02

  Create your muses alone if you must, but do not live your life alone. Happiness shared in the form of friendships and love is happiness multiplied.

• 1:34:24Tim Ferriss?

  Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just one more thing before you take off, and that is Five Bullet Friday. Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend? Between one and a half and two million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Five Bullet Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. It is basically a half-page that I send out every Friday to share the coolest things I've found or discovered or have started exploring over that week. It's kind of like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, albums perhaps, gadgets, gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends, including a lot of podcast guests.

• 1:35:07Tim Ferriss?

  And these strange esoteric things end up in my field, and then I test them, and then I share them with you. So if that sounds fun, again, it's very short, a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend, something to think about. If you'd like to try it out, just go to tim.blog/friday, type that into your browser, tim.blog/friday, drop in your email, and you'll get the very next one. Thanks for listening. I asked millions of you about Gusto on social media and I've never seen such overwhelmingly positive responses. It was kind of bonkers, honestly, because I've done this dozens of times. And it makes sense. More than 400,000 small businesses already trust Gusto and

• 1:35:47Tim Ferriss?

  it's been named the number one payroll software by G2 for fall 2025. If you're a small business owner looking to simplify payroll and HR tasks, because why would you want to spend more time on those things? Gusto could be the game changer that you need. Gusto is the all-in-one payroll, benefits and HR platform designed specifically for small businesses. They automatically file federal, state and local payroll taxes, handle W2s and 1099s, what a pain in the ass all those can be, and offer straightforward health benefits and 401k options for nearly any budget. Now is the perfect time to choose Gusto to take care of your team and stay compliant. So go to gusto.com/tim to see why nine out of 10 Gusto customers recommend Gusto. Listeners get three months

• 1:36:31Tim Ferriss?

  free once they run their first payroll. Again, that's G U S T O dot com slash Tim. Terms and conditions apply. Creatine isn't just for muscle. It's essential daily fuel for your brain, your body, and long-term performance. For me, I have Alzheimer's and dementia risk in my family. The cognitive benefits are the reason I take creatine every single day. And today's episode sponsor, Momentous, is the gold standard in creatine. There's a lot of BS floating around, but I choose them. Why? Because they source Creapure Creatine, the purest, most effective creatine monohydrate available. So if you've been curious about creatine, this is your moment to get back on track or try it for the first time. Momentus is also now

• 1:37:13Tim Ferriss?

  introducing the Momentous Creatine Chews. Each chew delivers one gram of pure Creapure Creatine Monohydrate. I was skeptical of these chews. I was like, I'm never going to use these. It turns out that I use them all the time. They're super convenient and they are NSF certified for sport. So you get the gold standard purity without all the mess. Head to livemomentous.com and use code TIM for up to 35% off of your first order.