Bipolar Planning: Is the Goal Happiness - or Adventure?
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I can't decide, so you'll just have to do some thinking on your own.
Ferriss has some original thoughts about how to succeed. His topic is the four hour work week, or how to design a business that sheds a lot of cash flow without requiring much oversight.
One of his interesting concepts is focusing not on the happiness your lifestyle produces, but rather on the adventure you have enough time to persue. Two basicallly similar, but opposite, ideas, if you think about it. Ferriss says that it's not the amount of happiness you feel, but the amount of excitement you feel that measures real success (Ferriss, 51).
Heffernan isn't accepting any of it. She points out that Ferriss achieves some of his gains by cheating and skipping important steps (Heffernan). I agree.
And I'll also say I understand both sides in the discussion.
My read on the right way to go? This is tricky. I've mentioned in the past (Mixner) that innovating and succeeding in new areas requires a bit of stretch, or perhaps, even, a little bit of stress. Clearly Heffernan is stressed by Ferriss' ideas on ways to create enough cash flow to live indepently.
Somehow, I feel good about what Ferris has to say and might try a little bit of stress myself, especially if it allows me time for more adventure.
References
Ferriss, Timothy. The 4-Hour Workweek. Escapte 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Crown Publishers. 2007.
Heffernan, Virginia. Advice Squad. The New York Times. 20 July 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/books/review/Heffernan-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Mixner, Jack. First Step to Innovation: Build New Habits. http://mixnerstrategy.com/blog/2008/05/first_step_to_innovation_build.html