Tim Ferriss is rated as one of the most innovative entrepreneurs in the world of fast-growing companies. He is also considered one of the people with the most powerful personalities. He is an angel investor, a business adviser and the author of the famous book The 4-Hour Workweek, a book packed with business ideas and simple ways to make money for this new era we are immersed in.
In fact, he inspired a 25-year-old who didn’t know what to do with his life to make 125,000 dollars in just a few months.
For Ferriss, the most important advice he could give us is a phrase worth breaking down:
“You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with”… And on the other hand, for Ferriss the most important thing in this era is accelerated learning.
People always talk about adapting, but the truth is that in order to adapt we need to know how to learn, and ideally learn effectively and quickly. Nobody can predict the future, but we can predict that people who are able to adapt will have a brighter future than those who don’t. And for that, we need what Ferriss calls “the tools for meta-learning”.
Do you think it would take you years, or a whole lifetime, to learn a language? Ferriss is clear about it: “That’s not true. Anyone can speak any language fluently in about 8 to 12 weeks, including the hardest languages such as Japanese or Arabic.”
The same goes for learning to code, graphic design, finance, financial education…
If you want to learn a language, don’t study the language. Speak the language. First learn the language, and then study the grammar. Clearly, if you want to learn to speak English, 4 weeks talking only with English people will teach you far more of the language than years at language schools.
If you want to learn to run a business, as Warren Buffett used to say, a single day in charge of a company will give you more business knowledge than an entire degree in business administration and management.
Ferriss says that in this new era the big no longer eat the small; rather, the fast eat the slow, and the adaptable have for breakfast those who don’t acquire the skills and knowledge needed for the new era.
The more you surround yourself with people who are already the way you want to be, the faster you will become like them, whatever field we are talking about.
So don’t study; learn. And you learn by doing and practising. And learning speeds up with the quality of the people we are learning from.
When we talked about several entrepreneurs who gave us advice that goes against popular beliefs, we mentioned Tim Ferriss, who said something striking.
Ferriss didn’t agree that a person should throw themselves into a business with 100% commitment. Instead, he advised not giving up a source of income until your business idea is producing tangible profits.
“If you have a salary, keep it and start your business part-time. You should be both until you can decide on one of them.” That said, if you are unemployed and you have an idea, go all out for it, because you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
This versatile entrepreneur and writer certainly gives wise and sensible advice.
Further reading
- Today it’s easier than ever to fight for your dreams
- 10 hard truths that will improve your life instantly once you accept them
Featured image: briansolis (flickr), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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