four hour workweekI specifically chose to read The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris because it is such a large part of our collective knowledge at this point, or so I thought.  I’ve heard the book referenced countless times in financial and personal and career development blogs.  I thought I knew what it was about – creating efficiencies at work and eliminating distraction.  What this book actually promotes is completely leaving a normal job and quite literally spending only 4 hours a week (or less) managing a business.

Especially when the weather is nicer, I go on little lunch walks in the area around my office.  I’m bounded by maybe a two-mile radius – since I must get there and get back during my lunch hour.  The Randall School in Southeast Washington DC is inside my two-mile radius.  I’ve photographed it a couple times.  Through Flickr, an editor at Preservation magazine saw my photo and asked if she could include it in an upcoming issue.  I was already listing it under a Creative Commons license, so yes, of course she can use it.  And I have to say, it’s really cool to see an image of mine in a magazine – that hasn’t happened before (bottom right).

Traveling for work for the first time in a while (by plane, anyway), I find myself at a beautiful almost-seaside resort in Naples, Florida.  Unlike the many, many other beach resorts I’ve visited (I jest), this one isn’t right on the beach.  Instead, there is a .6 mile walk on an immaculately-maintained boardwalk through a mangrove… grove.  This is not a problem.  What could be a problem is this: