Reading The 4-Hour Work Week to see what all the fuss is about... Author Timothy Ferriss tells an interesting story about challenging some Princeton students to a competition:
The first person to contact a seemingly impossible person to reach (Bill Clinton, JLo, JD Salinger, etc.) and ask them three questions would win a trip to anywhere in the world...
Out of a whole class of students, NONE of them accepted his challenge. Many thought the challenge was impossible, but the most common excuse was comparison. They thought the other students would certainly get there first. They didn't think there was any point in trying.
Such a great lesson on the barrier of comparison. How many times have we been stopped in our tracks because we thought someone else could write a better book than we can... or plant a better church... or do a better job than we can?
YES, this is a huge interesting point! It's a super shame that we are stopped by this, but if we remember that we're all gifted in different ways, we might realize that we can do things other people can't do.
Posted by: Jesse Phillips | June 25, 2008 at 08:50 AM
I love the 4-Hour Work Week. I don't get to live it (yet), but I love the concepts behind it.
As a result of reading it, I am much less a slave to my PDA/email with 24/7 availability and super quick response times.
Posted by: Mike Hurt | June 25, 2008 at 09:09 AM
we carry much less of the world on our shoulders than we think we do.
excessive work is more about our self-esteem than it is about effectiveness
Posted by: Ben Arment | June 25, 2008 at 09:25 AM
Good point - I'm trying to contact Mark Cole right now...
Posted by: Mack | June 25, 2008 at 11:59 AM
as always, a great post. lots to think about.
Posted by: gail | June 25, 2008 at 02:58 PM