{"id":21754,"date":"2020-12-27T09:24:33","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T13:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=21754"},"modified":"2021-01-03T19:14:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T23:14:31","slug":"define-your-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/define-your-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Define Your Dreams: Your Path and Your Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does it mean to define your dreams? Why is defining your dreams important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to achieve the things you want, you first have to define your dreams. Defining your dreams can help you figure out what you actually want, and how to break out of the traditional confines of life to get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to find out what it means to define your dreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Define Your Dreams and Choose Your Lifestyle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most people think they want to be millionaires so they can stop doing a job they don\u2019t like, travel, buy nice cars, spend time with the people they care about, or practice a passion or vocation. However, there isn\u2019t a direct relationship between money and lifestyle.<\/strong> If you have a lot of money but don\u2019t have any control over your time or who you spend it with, you probably won\u2019t be happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, an investment banker might work 80-hour weeks and make a lot of money but never have any time to use it. A freelancer might work 20 hours a week for a fifth of the banker\u2019s salary, but while she might have less money, the money she does have has more practical value<\/a>. She\u2019ll be able to use it to do w<\/strong>hatever she wants, with w<\/strong>homever she wants, and w<\/strong>henever and w<\/strong>herever she wants (4Ws). You don\u2019t need to be a millionaire to live your dreams\u2014you only need the amount of money they require.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradoxically, you can increase <\/em>your income by decreasing <\/em>whatever it is you\u2019re doing now. Day jobs and conventional businesses are set up to funnel everyone through the traditional lifestyle\u2014work for three or four decades straight, and then retire for the rest of the years you have left. This is an uncomfortable, inefficient system, and Tim Ferriss challenges it in The 4-Hour Workweek<\/a><\/em>. The book lays out a four-step process for starting a \u201cmuse\u201d business that makes you enough money to escape the 40-hour workweek of the rat race. <\/strong>Throughout this summary, this end goal will be referred to as the 4HWW lifestyle. (Shortform note: The 4-Hour Workweek <\/em>offers suggestions on how to significantly reduce your working hours. The goal doesn\u2019t appear to be to work exactly four hours every week. Ferriss himself works more than this.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four steps to achieving the 4HWW lifestyle are define, eliminate, automate, liberate (DEAL).<\/strong> Part 1 will address step D: Define Your Dreams. The other parts will be addressed in subsequent chapters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The original edition of this book was written in 2007. This expanded and updated edition was published in 2009 and includes new content such as excerpts from the author\u2019s blog, resource recommendations, and many case studies.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Break the Rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that you’ve learned to define your dreams, you have to achieve them. In order to do that, you have to break the rules. Why does everyone follow the conventions and \u201crules\u201d of life when they push us towards an inefficient system (the rat race) and something (deferred retirement) that isn\u2019t actually going to make us happy? If the \u201cway it\u2019s done\u201d isn\u2019t working for you, do it differently.<\/strong> For example, for a long time, high-jumpers jumped over the bar using a straddle technique. Dick Fosbury came up with a new technique of going backwards over the bar. Using this technique, he won the event in the 1968 Olympics. The technique was effective, and eventually, all high-jumpers started doing it. The 4HWW lifestyle may currently be uncommon, but that\u2019s no reflection on its value or effectiveness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note, however, that you can take this concept too far. Being different just for the sake of being different isn\u2019t useful. For example, only wearing clothes that are different shades of red isn\u2019t going to achieve anything. You want to look for a new solution only when the current practice isn\u2019t working.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten Rules for Breaking the Rules<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are ten rules for breaking the rules once you define your dreams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Treat traditional retirement as a back-up plan.<\/strong> Instead of working towards retirement as an end goal, work towards it only as a Plan B, in case something goes terribly wrong in your life and you become incapable of working. Prioritizing retirement is a bad idea because: