Ferriss at the TNNI Conference
November 7th, 2007 by John Stauffer“You can really outsource almost anything”, said Tim Ferriss, at last week’s The New New Internet Conference. Pulling from his new book, the Four Hour Work Week, Ferris listed the ways workers can reduce clutter and focus on reclaiming time in their lives.
Ferriss cautioned again taking the title of the book too literally. “The four hour work week is not about only working four hours per week, per se. It’s not about idleness, it’s not about inactivity. It’s about shifting from an effort-based work model to a results-based work model.”
Ferriss described a variety of ways in which we can “outsource” our lives. He cited a friend who shipped a ripped pair of jeans to India to have them repaired and sent back for less than what is would cost in the States.
He also described outsourcing his dating life while living in what he described as “Man Jose, California” Ferris used the same approach he takes with email; “batching” all of the communication into short bursts. Using online assistant services, Ferris was able to line up a series of 20 dates in one weekend. “It’s a lot of time, this whole courtship thing,” he said, adding that the effort resulted in a long term girlfriend
What does this all have to do with the conference? Well, as all of the speakers agreed, there’s more content and information coming at us now more than ever before. Ferriss’ theory, while it may not play well with the boss, preaches taking ownership for your time, focusing on the results and not how much time you’ve devoted.
For more on Tim Ferris’ keynote presentation, head over to The New New Internet’s conference website, or check out Brian’s full recap of the event here.
