“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin

This post is dedicated to Tim Ferriss, lifestyle design entrepreneur and author of the 4-Hour Workweek. I was lucky enough to meet him in San Francisco, June of 2007 before anyone had heard of his new book (and before he became a New York Times bestselling author). He struck me as a very genuine person and also proved to me that he could speak fluent Mandarin before signing my free copy of his book with the words “always be unreasonable”. At the time I hadn’t even read his book and it stayed in my suitcase for another 6 weeks before I got home and finally found the time to read it.

One of the key philosophies of Tim’s book is that we can achieve the things we want to do by working smarter, not harder, and we don’t need to be millionaires to make it happen. To drive this point home, it’s about practical ways of living a rich and fulfilling life in the present, not about saving or amassing wealth for later. To quote the introductory chapter of his book:

Gold is getting old. The New Rich are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design.

Well time flies when you’re having fun and since watching the wonderful Real-World Lifestyle Design Case Studies (Maneesh Sethi is my favourite) on his blog, I wanted to also share five of the life-changing lessons I learnt since embarking on my own journey of lifestyle design and what they mean to me.

1. Choose to spend your time well.
There are many ways to manage your time, and even more ways to waste it, but learning to do it well can greatly improve every aspect of your life. I believe effectiveness trumps efficiency because it’s pointless to do anything you dislike no matter how quickly you can get it done. If you’re new to the concept of time management, I highly recommend starting with Randy Pausch’s lecture. I hope you too will discover that time is one of the most wonderful things we can control in our lives. Making smart choices will allow you to spend so much more of it on the people and things you love to do.

2. Learn to value things, not their cost.
The monetary price of something may reflect its economic scarcity, but it certainly is not a measure of the happiness buying that thing will give you. The more I travel, the more I have realised that the things which make me happiest are my experiences, not my possessions. Value friends and family above all else, and making new friends is one of the best ways of improving the quality of our own lives.

3. Stop when you’re not having fun.
In a harm minimisation training course I attended, we were taught how to recognise when somebody has overdosed. It’s really simple: they stop having fun. I think it’s a golden rule that applies to alcohol and drugs as well as to life. If you ever find yourself feeling miserable and stuck in a rut, it’s a good sign to stop what you’re doing, get some fresh air and sober up.

4. A healthy mind needs a healthy heart.
I strongly feel that taking up a regular cardiovascular (aerobic) activity no less than once per week is an essential requirement to staying mentally healthy. Take up a social or team sport that suits your interests and physique. Cardiovascular exercise has been proven to improve mental health, reduce stress and lowers the incidence of depression.

5. Experience is the sum of our failures.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because there is no one to criticise you who hasn’t. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to stop because you’re wrong. Figuring that out for yourself is harder but the experience will help you for the rest of your life.

To me, the 4-Hour Workweek is not about working only 4 hours a week and nothing more, nor is it about outsourcing my whole life or even buying a one way ticket to Buenos Aires (or Paris in my case). It’s about re-thinking what I really want to get out of this one amazing life of mine and taking the steps to realise it. To always be unreasonable is to believe that we really can do whatever we want.