In these moments of my life, while I’m writing this, I’m in a constant up and down process. I’ve been thinking about the Project that I will discuss in a few moments – I’ve been feeling with a lack of motivation and, at times, frustrated.

A few days ago, while I was reading a blog on personal finances called getrichslowly.org, I think I’ve found a solution. During the months I’ve been reconstructing my productivity system it’s been on a constant evolution process but it hit a wall, which I find frustrating. This project is the best to-do list, task reminder, motivational exercise that I’ve seen. I think that it’ll function as motivation in the short and long term process.

Let’s call the project “101 Things in 1001 days”. The author of the post in which I’ve seen this got his idea from Triplux.com, but I continued investigating and found various pages in which its authors have established themselves the goal of fulfilling this project. One of them, dayzeroproject.com, a page dedicated to motivating people to propose themselves to this project, offers a easy and concrete guide of what it is and how to begin your own.

Guide from dayzeroproject.com that I used as reference to begin my project:

The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple challenges such as New Year’s resolutions or a ‘Bucket List’. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.

Common Goal setting tips:

1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

Here’s the link to my proyect.

Website, post & stuff that can help you if you take the challenge

Dayzeroproject.com
Wearewhatwedo.org
Dienu.com
Foldedspace.org
Mission101
Top 1000 Wonders of the World
Why You’re Not Doing The Things You Said You Wanted To
30 fun things to do for cheap or free

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I like Japanese animation. These past few days, I began watching one called Ergo Proxy. In the first episode I saw a digital pad (photo presented at the top) and I think that would be useful for me these days – I’m trying to be a little more productive, thinking green and considerate with the planet. It quickly came to my mind the rumors of the Apple Tablet, the concepts presented so far doesn’t look anything like Ergo Proxy’s digital notebook but I’m kind of an Apple freak and I probably buy it, even that don’t look nothing like the anime tablet – I know Apple will do good with this tablet.

But BOOM! – Microsoft also haves a tablet concept too and this one looks like the one in Ergo Proxy. There are only a few things that I approve from Microsoft, but if this concept looks like the one in the anime and has similar things I would consider buying it were if not running Windows. My Apple instinct tells me that the Apple Tablet will be nice if it hits the market.

I think that a gadget like this could be useful for many things. I would have one not only because I’m obsessed with high technology, but also because it would make me more productive and I would have major bragging rights if I have one of these in a classroom or in the office.

Link from Gizmodo.com, related to the subject:

Apple Table tags in Gizmodo

Apple’s 1987 Knowledge Navigator Makes New Tablets Look Bad

Courier: First Details of Microsoft’s Secret Tablet

Leaked Courier Video Shows How We’ll Actually Use It

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Let it be noted that this is not a book for you to stop working and start procrastinating – it’s a book that teaches you to gain more time and suggest what to do with the time acquired. It also helps and advises you how take control of your life and get out of the 9-5 and even the “Rat Race”. It is for all types of readers from fathers or mothers, single people to young entrepreneurs like me.

Another thing I want you to think about this book is that it tells how the author does his things, Tim explains his techniques and some of them seem so crazy that it could be believed to be impossible. When you read it, you realize that you can’t follow everything exactly as he says – it’s more for reference, so you can extract what is necessary for you and you can create your own system. For that last thing I say, I’d like to apply one of my favorite quotes:

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” – Bruce Lee

The 80-20 Rule and the DEAL

In the beginning of the book, Tim tells his story about what happened before taking decisions to get out of the 9-5, persuading us to understand why we need this book and what we can do with what he proposed. The book is based or centralizing most of the time in the “Pareto Principle”, also known as the 80/20 rule. It states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. However, the book proposes the 80/20 rule in a different way – 80% of your productivity comes from 20% of your time, and the other 20% of your productivity eats up 80% of your time. The author uses this as a starting point and surrounded most of the ideas in the book by this principle because, after Ferris learn about this rule, he began his life of NR and lifestyle design.

The fundamental complement of the 80/20 and the proposed variant has of the Ferriss Lifestyle Design system, where most of the Pareto Principle is implemented, is the DEAL. It’s covered across the four chapters of the book, each of which explores one of the components to this lifestyle design.

Definition from getrichslowly.org review:

• Define your objectives. Decide what’s important. Set goals. Ask yourself, “What do I really want?”
• Eliminate distractions to free up time. Learn to be effective, not efficient. Focus on the 20% of stuff that’s important and ignore the 80% that isn’t. Put yourself on a low-information diet. Learn to shun aside interruptions, and learn to say “no”.
• Automate your cash flow to increase income. Outsource your life — hire a virtual assistant to handle menial tasks. Develop a business that can run on autopilot.
• Liberate yourself from traditional expectations. Design your job to increase mobility. This could mean working from home, or it could mean using geographic arbitrage to take mini-retirements in countries with favorable exchange rates.

Extract and Use

Like already mentioned, this book time tells how Tim organizes his life to get out of the 9-5 and create all the system he used now. We cannot use everything exactly as Ferriss proposes it. However, a lot of his ideas can be used, such as:

• How to be more efficient with e-mail.
• How to reduce clutter from your life
• If you can’t define it or act upon it, forget it.
• Life exists to be enjoyed — the most important thing is to feel good about you.
• Why we need to look out side the 9-5 and the Rat Race
• Better and cheaper travel

Final Words from me

The 4-Hour Work Week is a good book. I found it useful and even implemented several things that Tim proposed in my productivity system. And Even I am planning to create a company that runs in autopilot, like Ferriss proposes. I reiterate that this is a book to extract useful things – not to follow everything exactly as Tim says here. My recommendation is to read it carefully, take your time and take what most applies to you.

Here I give the link of some more extensive reviews of the book and my source apart from the book to make this review:

www.getrichslowly.org – Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek
www.thesimpledollar.com – Review: The 4-Hour Workweek
www.davidseah.com – A Review of Tim Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Work Week”

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