“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.

Could our comedians also be philosophers of the 21st century? Watch comedian Louis CK in this hilarious talk, “we live in an amazing world and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled idiots that just don’t care.” It’s funny and wise because it’s so true!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

Here’s what your teachers probably never taught you in school.

In ancient Greece, the name Sophist was given to teachers who specialised in the teaching of philosophy and rhetoric. Since Athenian democracy gave every citizen the opportunity to speak on national affairs, advancement in politics was largely dependent upon an individual’s rhetorical skills and their ability to speak persuasively. Many Sophists were well-paid for their services by students who wished to learn the practical art of persuasion and consequently improve their status in Athenian society. The Sophists were also the world’s first lawyers as a result of their highly developed argumentation skills.

The School of Athens by Raphael

Many Sophists were non-Athenian travelers who saw the gods as man-made creations and believed in the principles of nature rather than the divine. Their questioning of established authority and beliefs, as well as their wealth, eventually stirred resentment from the public against their practices and ideas. Philosophy and rhetoric eventually parted ways, so that Sophists became known as teachers of persuasion and popular public speakers by the time of the Roman empire.

Thus, the modern definition (from Wikipedia) of sophism is rather derogatory and often associated with deception:

“A sophism is taken as a specious argument used for deceiving someone. It might be crafted to seem logical while actually being wrong, or it might use difficult words and complicated sentences to intimidate the audience into agreeing, or it might appeal to the audience’s prejudices and emotions rather than logic. The goal of a sophism is often to make the audience believe the writer or speaker to be smarter than he or she actually is.”

Does this sound familiar? It’s because the art of sophism and rhetoric lives on in our politicians and advertising agencies, not that anyone ever calls it that or admits to practicing it (because persuasion doesn’t work if someone knows you’re doing it to them). It’s also because our schools no longer teach anything of the sort, preferring instead to train our young minds in the infallible laws of science and logic. Yet we are bombarded by sophism in every aspect of our lives and its effects can be devastating especially if we don’t even know that we were hit in the first place, let alone what we were hit with.

Firstly, it is necessary to understand that our behaviour can often be predicted (and consequently influenced) by the following factors:

• Coercion – involuntary change in behaviour that requires the presence of a threat
• Persuasion – induces temporary behaviour change through communication
• Education – behaviour change is persistent and sometimes influenced by values and attitudes
• Faith – indoctrinated beliefs by religion and propaganda that is highly resistant to change

By now you are either wondering what these techniques are or wanting to learn and use them in tomorrow night’s plan to conquer the world. The following theories and techniques are persuasive and therefore won’t make somebody your slave for life, but they can be useful in many situations when you need that extra little nudge. Or to catch out the weasel who’s trying to rip you off.

*** I’ve decided to postpone the rest of this post until I receive enough interest from readers of my blog. So get in touch with me if you’d like to read the rest of this post.

In the meantime, I recommend Rory Sutherland’s entertaining TED talk to help digest what you’ve just read. Yes he’s an Ogilvy ad man, but that’s also why you should listen and learn.

With so much talk and debate about health reform in the news lately, it may help to broaden your views of medicine by watching this eye-opening documentary by Bill Moyers. My mum has been showing this video to her first year Chinese medicine students for decades and it’s sure to make you re-think what you know about Chinese medicine and our western values and attitudes towards health care.

“Health is not just the absence of illness, it’s a philosophy of life.”

Chinese medicine is an independent system of health care that has developed from a continuous process of observation, critical thinking and practice for over two thousand years. It originates from the philosophy of Taoism, and is influenced by the belief that the life and activity of individual human beings have an intimate relationship with their environment on all levels.

The principal ideas of Chinese medicine are part of the fabric of Chinese culture and civilisation. They are not complex and reflect a world-view of health and disease that is understood by many ordinary members of Chinese society as part of their upbringing. Health care is viewed as one of several means to a good life, and is seen as an individual’s harmonious interaction with the community and with the physical and spiritual environment.

You may also be interested in reading Harvard Magazine’s The New Ancient Trend in Medicine to learn more about the story of Dr David Eisenberg who features in this documentary.

I think philosophy is hard to digest at the best of times, but this clever book by Benjamin Hoff really makes the Chinese philosophy of Taoism easy to understand, practical to apply and above all, fun to read.

Amongst the many teachings and ideas harboured by Taoism is the principle of being happy by living harmoniously. Hoff has successfully used Winnie the Pooh to explains Taoism and vice-versa. Who knew that this simple, lovable bear was so wise?

For example, Pooh bear’s simple, childlike and happy-go-lucky attitude to life embodies the principle of Pu. That when we discard the things that get in the way and allow things to be what they are, life becomes fun.

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s the same thing,” he said.

Owl on the other hand resembles a scholar who pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but sometimes knowledge learnt from experience, that we willingly share with others is more important than what we keep to ourselves for the sake of appearing wise.

Eeyore’s pessimistic attitude is one that gets in the way of accomplishing anything in life. Complaining about everything prevents happiness.

Rabbit’s cleverness and wit too has its limitations because he fails to look deeply into the heart of things.

“Those who have no compassion have no wisdom. Knowledge, yes; cleverness, maybe; wisdom, no. A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care. Wisdom does.”

Tigger gets himself into trouble all the time because he believes that “Tigger’s can do everything”. The wise know their limitations, the foolish do not.

Piglet is a very small animal who knows his strengths and weaknesses which helps him to be braver than one would expect.

Taoism teaches us that we each have our own unique strengths and weaknesses, and understanding ourselves and others is the first step to a happy and harmonious life. This is a truly lovable book well worth reading, giving and keeping.

If you are interested in further reading, I recommend the Taoist Philosophy article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Rules are imposed to stop people from taking responsibility and obeyed when people are too lazy to think for themselves. It’s okay to question and break the rules because you are an intelligent, thinking and responsible human being.