How Does A 4 Hour Work Week Sound? Part 6

January 21, 2011

Retiring to solitude is the best way of returning to ourselves.  This retiring is a forgetting of everything else beyond ourselves, allowing us to focus on who we are and what we want to do, be and think in every way we see fit in how we go forward.  In solitary times we see more clearly the negative aspects of our lives and therefore hopefully understand the necessity for getting rid of that negativity and how to do it.  In solitude we better understand who we are, what we’re doing with our lives, and how we should move forward.  So obviously we should take this sort of mini-retirement regularly for ourselves.  Solitude is like going to the spa for a complete makeover.  We emerge refreshed and renewed, ready for new adventures and challenges.

“The New Rich aim to distribute “mini-retirements” throughout their life instead of hoarding the recovery and enjoyment for the fool’s gold of retirement.  By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable… Personally, I now aim for one month of overseas relocation or high-intensity learning (tango, fighting, whatever) for every two months of work projects.” – from The Four Hour Work Week

Another definition of retiring:

-    to withdraw from office, business, or active life, usually because of age: to retire at the age of sixty.

This is a completely different notion than the above definition.  It means resignation, quitting, giving up.  Retiring because of age is a completely artificial reason for retiring.  What does age really have to do with retiring?  Nothing at all.  It’s an arbitrary milestone set by others.  If someone retires due to age then they’re retiring due to external pressures, not for their own reasons.  How is someone really different mentally from a “retirement” age of 60 and a “working” age of 45?  They aren’t any different!

Filed under: Inspiration

Tags: 4 Hour Work Week, 80-20 Rule, 90-10 Rule, Ferriss, Four Hour Body, Four Hour Work Week, New Rich, Nouveau Riche, Pareto Principle, real estate, real estate agent, realtor, Tim Timothy, virtual assistant