The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [8]
RULE #4. DON’T USE SKEPTICISM AS AN EXCUSE FOR INACTION.
As the good Dr. Noakes also said to me about one Olympic training regimen: “This [approach] could be totally wrong, but it’s a hypothesis worth disproving.”
It’s important to look for hypotheses worth disproving.
Science starts with educated (read: wild-ass) guesses. Then it’s all trial and error. Sometimes you predict correctly from the outset. More often, you make mistakes and stumble across unexpected findings, which lead to new questions. If you want to sit on the sidelines and play full-time skeptic, suspending action until a scientific consensus is reached, that’s your choice. Just realize that science is, alas, often as political as a dinner party with die- hard Democrats and Republicans. Consensus comes late at best.
Don’t use skepticism as a thinly veiled excuse for inaction or remaining in your comfort zone. Be skeptical, but for the right reason: because you’re looking for the most promising option to test in real life.
Be proactively skeptical, not defensively skeptical.
Let me know if you make a cool discovery or prove me wrong. This book will evolve through your feedback and help.
RULE #5. ENJOY IT.
I’ve included a lot of odd experiences and screwups just for simple entertainment value. All fact and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Much of the content is intended to be read as the diary of a madman. Enjoy it. More than anything, I’d like to impart the joy of exploration and discovery. Remember: this isn’t a homework assignment. Take it at your own pace.
The Billionaire Productivity Secret and the Experimental Lifestyle
“How do you become more productive?”
Richard Branson leaned back and thought for a second. The tropical sounds of his private oasis, Necker Island, murmured in the background. Twenty people sat around him at rapt attention, wondering what a billionaire’s answer would be to one of the big questions—perhaps the biggest question—of business. The group had been assembled by marketing impresario Joe Polish to brainstorm growth options for Richard’s philanthropic Virgin Unite. It was one of his many new ambitious projects. Virgin Group already had more than 300 companies, more than 50,000 employees, and $25 billion per year in revenue. In other words, Branson had personally built an empire larger than the GDP of some developing countries. Then he broke the silence:
“Work out.”
He was serious and elaborated: working out gave him at least four additional hours of productive time every day.
The cool breeze punctuated his answer like an exclamation point.
4HB is intended to be much more than a book.
I view 4HB as a manifesto, a call to arms for a new mental model of living: the experimental lifestyle. It’s up to you—not your doctor, not the newspaper—to learn what you best respond to. The benefits go far beyond the physical.
If you understand politics well enough to vote for a president, or if you have ever filed taxes, you can learn the few most important scientific rules for redesigning your body. These rules will become your friends, 100% reliable and trusted.
This changes everything.
It is my sincere hope, if you’ve suffered from dissatisfaction with your body, or confusion regarding diet and exercise, that your life will be divided into before-4HB and after-4HB. It can help you do what most people would consider superhuman, whether losing 100 pounds of fat or holding your breath for five minutes. It all works.
There is no high priesthood—there is cause and effect.
Welcome to the director’s chair.
Alles mit Maß und Ziel,
Timothy Ferriss
San Francisco, California
June 10, 2010
Getting Tested
There are dozens of tests mentioned throughout this book. If you ever ask yourself “How do I get that tested?” or wonder where