A few weeks ago I attended a conference in San Francisco called Mixergy with Melody Biringer. At this conference I had the privledge of hearing Tim Ferris speak.

I read his book The 4 Hour workweek about two years ago, after resisting its allure for about as long. I don’t know why I was afraid of it, but I was. I was afraid to read something that had helped so many people… because what if it didn’t do the same for me.

What I love about Tim is that he’s unconventional. He expects a lot of himself, and he approaches his business in a ‘let’s break the rules’ sort of way. As a Type A personality, I love that. I’ve grown incredibly tired of following the rules, and if I look back and examine my life… my most amazing breakthroughs have happened when I threw caution to the wind and did something ‘crazy.’ Something that should never have worked, but did.

Tim approaches his life in a BIG way, and I think we can all learn a lot from that – I know I can.

“Don’t talk yourself out of wanting something just because you haven’t figured out how to get it” said Esther Hicks in one her seminars. Right now I’m finding the courage to think bigger when it comes to my life, and it’s scary. I’ve been spending a lot of time in breakdown, but at the same time I can actually see my self talk and consciousness starting to shift. And what’s more, I have grown an incredible network of friends that I know will catch me if I fall. Support, bravery, imagination… all of those things are so important to success.

I don’t normally do list posts on this blog, but in this case it’s the easiest way to share some of Tim’s most significant takeaways from this conference.

1. Money is worth what you can exchange it for.

In the Creative Life interview series, I’ve started asking artists to talk to me about their relationship to money. In my interview with composer and director Daniel Deorksen, he said that he bought “the space and time to be creative.” That’s such an empowering way of looking at it. Instead of calling those jobs you do as your working towards your dream a ‘survival job’, what if you started thinking about that time as money earned towards the time you need to be creative.

2. When you identify some of the things that you want, ask yourself “which of these four options will make the others easy or unnecessary if I do it.”

I have A LOT of projects on the go. My focus is usually split between several different things: this blog, Creative Life, CRAVE, creative writing, acting. All of these things are linked, but what if I stepped back and examined my effort? If I compounded my efforts into just one of these categories, how quickly could I move forward?

Does that resonate with you and the multiple projects going on in your life? I personally feel as though I have to meditate and journal about this question further.

3. It’s okay to back away from something in favour of pursing something that is more meaningful.

I’ve let go of a lot of plan B’s.

There was a time when I thought I’d become a personal trainer – I even borrowed the textbook from the library and scheduled study time into my day – but every time I sat down to study, I felt overwhelmed by a sort of sadness. I was avoiding my true passions. Eventually I had to acknowledge that feeling and walk away. It was so liberating.

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Life is scary. Momentum is terrifying. I don’t know how to deal with success. I’m afraid of being depended on too heavily. But here’s what I’ve learned: your life is your story, and you have permission to break the rules and live your life in a way that feels good to you (provided your not causing sinister harm to others, of course). There’s no right way to do things. There’s only risk, moments of elation, moments of despair, and growth. Life is fun. Life is an experiment.

Thank you Tim Ferris. In ways – both (perhaps) intentional and not – you taught me some of these lessons. Wish I lived in the states so I could participate in one of your experiments (he has a new television show out now called The Tim Ferris Experiment. Check it out).