Once again, Darren Rowse had me chained to his feed, when he wrote about Tim Ferris’s new book “The Four-Hour work Week“. First he posts about how the two met and what got him inspired to set up an interview via IM with Tim. A couple of minutes later he posts part 1 of the interview.

The interview
No, I’m not going to copy the whole interview here. Some very important aspects are:

• Most of us work 40 hours (Tim did 80) weekly doing boring stuff. This made Tim realize that income has no value without time.
• Tim has some tips for bloggers who want to write their own book. If you want to publish a book, don’t sell it yourself. Get an agent, who helps you look for the right editors, publishers and deals. Also, publishers are not interested purchasing something already self-published.
• For writing, let no one decide for you when it’s best to write. “Identifying your peak periods in your circadian rhythm is key.” If your creativeness drops after 4 hours, make sure you don’t force yourself to go on writing (this is true for every creative art).
• For promotion, try to become a “quoted expert” first. Also spend $500-$1500 on media training to learn how to present yourself in both online and offline Q&A sessions. Thirdly, it’s also important to promote yourself at your publisher as much as you promote yourself at your readers , because they, and the people around them, will be a major factor at launch time.
• Be genuine. People tend to see through you when you’re just trying to sell something. Have genuine chats and discussions with people. Give advice, comment on their products/blogs, introduce them to others, just treat them as when you’re trying to make new friends.
• “NOTE TO ASPIRING AUTHORS: writing books is not a good way to make money. The benefits are huge, but not often financial.”
• When planning to spend less time on doing more quality work, make sure you also plan what to do with the remaining time. Relaxing on a tropical beach can be fun for about 3 hours. After that it can get boring. Fill the void with stuff that is exciting. “It’s exciting, and that’s what I think people should chase in life: excitement. Not happiness — the term is so overused as to have no meaning. Chase excitement and you’ll find happiness, but not the other way around.”

What’s this to me?
My wife and I have been discussing our life a lot lately. Seems that we both agree that we’re working our butts off to pay the bills, in pursuit of happiness. But I miss the excitement in life. I want to see new things, meet new people, discover new ideas, explore other possibilities. Reading about this book has confirmed that I’m not a dreamer. It is what people look for in life.

I am definitely going to buy this book.

Final note
This is part one of the interview and I’m looking forward to part 2. Even though it’s someone else’s interview, it has made a really great impression and I think it’s worth talking about. There will probably be more on this subject once the other parts are posted.

Get your copy NOW: The Four-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich