Above the desk in his home office my dad had a large sign – handwritten all in capital letters – that read ‘Work Smarter, NOT Harder‘.

Those words were etched in my mind as I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life, and early in the game I placed special emphasis on the ‘NOT harder' portion of the equation.

Not harder meant less work and more time for fun.

That attitude, combined with a serious misinterpretation of my mother's Clavinistic admonishment ‘you always do exactly as you please' proved a great recipe for success…

Work less, do what you really want to do.

That's what I've always done, and am still doing.

As a matter of fact, I write this on return from a 2-week vacation during which I spent less than one hour working on my business.

I wish more people would adopt that attitude and have more time to come out and play.

Can you come out and play?

If you can't remember your last vacation, are pining for your next vacation, or are chugging through the daily grind of a 9-5 job only to return home to put in another several hours at your computer building your Internet business, PLEASE do yourself a favor and keep reading…

If you've been following my work for even a short time, you know that I take many vacations each year during which I work very little.

Some of my Internet marketing friends refer to me as ‘Ms. Vacation‘. hose who've interviewed me alternately react to my perspective on life and work as ‘refreshing and delighful' or ‘very different'.Others wonder why I ‘waste' so much time vacationing when I have the ability to work so much more and thus make so much more money.

Hmmm… and in return I wonder why the heck they work so hard to put more millions in the bank, when they could work less and have more time for the fun stuff in life.

If you're not making millions, that may seem like an absurd notion.

Well, it may be time to dispell the commonly held beliefs about how to achieve the ideal lifestyle (i.e. work like a dog until you retire and drop dead shortly thereafter) and get a little absurd.

Sadly, most people get things completely backwards, thinking if they work hard enough and make enough money, then they'll get to really enjoy life.

However, if you're not doing what you want (within your means) right from the outset, life is going to pass you by and it won't matter how much money you make.

Knowing and doing what you want at every stage of life makes you appreciate life's sweet pleasures and stirs up desire for more – which fuels the fire to learn how to get more.

Someone who really ‘gets it' and explains how to make it work for everyone, is 29 year old Tim Ferris, author of the ‘The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich‘ which I read while on my latest vacation.

Tim spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture that has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies of time and mobility to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.

Whether you're an overworked employee, an entrepreneur trapped in your own business… or BOTH, the ‘The 4-Hour Workweek' will help you help you find direction and inspiration to create a better life for you and your family.

Described as the compass for a new and revolutionary world, Tim Ferriss will teach you:

• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent “mini-retirements”
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it's beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance–and create time–with a low-information diet
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50-80% off
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office

I consider Tim's book a ‘must-read' for anyone who really wants to work smarter – not harder and live their life to the fullest.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich is currently available on Amazon for $11.97 – a mere pittance of an investment to improve the rest of your life.