Game Changing Rules (Ch. 2)

Now, I will go over several of the rules that Ferriss wants you to keep in mind to help you keep your mind clear. I'll try and add my own insights here and there so I'm not just regurgitating the book here, but there's some good things in this chapter.

Retirement Is For Worst-Case Scenario
Retirement planning should be seen as a worst-case scenario and this idea is fundamentally flawed for a number of reasons. It assumes that you dislike right now, when you're in the prime of your life and that some day you will live the "good life". The branches off into the other reason which is that most people won't be able to retire on a completely sustainable standard of living. Over a 30 year period, even a million dollars would be a meager existence. You essentially revert back into a middle-class living like you were while you were saving up for the "good times". Also, if you're spending a ton of time saving money up for your retirement, you're going to be super bored with all of your free time after retirement. Many people go and find another job just because they have nothing to do in their later years.

Give Yourself Time To Rest
It's also in your best interest to give yourself times to rest. This is where the "mini-retirements" come in and more on this later.

The Difference Between Being Lazy and Working Less
Have you ever noticed that our culture seems to reward us based on how busy we are versus the progress we make? We're encouraged to work these 9-5 shifts, despite the fact that many of these jobs are highly inefficient uses of our time. More meaningful results should be considered far more valuable than amount of time that's spent. There's a huge difference between being productive and busy.

"The Timing Just Isn't Right..."
Something else that hinders us timing. Let's face it, the timing is never going to be perfect and I'm guilty of using this as an excuse more times than I can remember. This doesn't mean to go crazy and not evaluate the state of your life at a given time, but don't let that be what stops you from doing what you've always wanted to.

Ask For Forgiveness, Not Permission
This is an interesting point that I've yet to try because there isn't a place to use this, but it's an interesting insight. If you want to do something and it won't hurt those around you or cause significant damage, do it and then ask for forgiveness if you screw up. Don't go crazy, but people are much more likely to accept something in hindsight than they are before it's happened. If it's a success, then awesome. If it isn't then lesson learned.

Work On Your Strengths
Let's face it, we all have flaws, but trying to fix those flaws is easier said than done. It's much more in our interest to work to our strengths than to fix every little flaw we come across. This is one of the more obvious of the rules, but still sound advise.

Too Much Of A Good Thing
Anything in excess becomes its opposite. This is true of money, possessions, and even time. Your should spend your time doing what you want to do, not what you feel obligated to.

Money Isn't The Answer
We've all heard this one before. It's a typical cliche, but that doesn't mean it's not true. You should live for your ambitions, not for money or a "comfortable existence" much later in life.

Relative Vs. Absolute Income
Everybody it seems classifies their job by how much they make per year, but that is such a large time-span to judge things by. A lot can happen in a year and some years can be far more financially troubling than others. Absolute income is defined this way and makes it seem like two people making $100,000 per year have similar jobs. But what if you see that one person works 80 hours per week and another works 10 hours week. Suddenly, the amount per hour is drastically different. The first person makes roughly $25 per hour while the second person makes $100 per hour. Of course, we all want to work less, but the point Ferriss is trying to make is that we should value our income based on the amount of money and time it takes to get it.

Distress Vs. Eustress
Okay guys, this is the last one. This blog entry has gotten a lot longer than I meant it to, but oh well. The point shouldn't be to eliminate stress from your life. Distress is bad and refers to harmful stimuli in our lives. A less-used term is eustress which means healthy stress that refers to healthiness or a sense of fulfillment. It's used as a synonym for "euphoria" often and the more we apply to our daily lives, the sooner we can actualize our dreams.