When summer arrives, many like to create a new look via a haircut or new threads. I prefer to change the look of my blog with a new design.
This here design took all of four hours to complete.
Well that’s not exactly true.
It took all of four hours of my time to complete (give or take a few).
You can probably see where I’m going with this if you’re one of the many to have read The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich recently. Wondering what all the buzz was about I decided to go ahead and purchase the book to see for myself.
What I expected was yet another time management book dispensing tired advice on how to get more done in less time. Instead, the focus of this book, written by Tim Ferriss is all about being more effective with your time by cutting out the cruft. Don’t do more in less time, do less (more effectively) in less time.
In many respects, Tim is savage about cutting out time wasters in your life such as email and reading the newspaper. He’s also a big fan of mini-retirements and outsourcing your personal life. This book is not about time management, it’s really about lifestyle management.
The outsourcing theme is one that particularly resonates with me. When I first graduated from college, I used to always take my clothes to a fluff and fold. Some friends told me I should do it myself since it would “build character”. So would milking cows to gather my own milk, but nobody faults me for picking up milk from Trader Joes. I figured I’d rather spend that time playing soccer, so I would drop off the dirty clothes before soccer and pick up the clean, dry, and folded clothes right after. It felt like a perfect trade.
Fast forward and upon reading this book it occurred to me that I spend a lot of time doing things I either don’t like to do, or things I like to do but suck at. For example, I spent a lot of time trying to redesign my blog to create a unique and polished look, only to come up short. I realized I should look around for a designer interested in getting his own name out there that might give me a discount for a design in exchange for the promotion. This would allow me to spend that time building a strength of mine rather than banging my head against a weakness.
So after browsing various blog design sites I happened to stumble upon Scott Carnett over in Abilene, TX. After pitching him the idea, he was on board and excited to work on the design. I only found out after we started that he’s a Java developer by day and design is a little side thing he’s into. I had it in my head that he was full-time freelancer.
Not that any of that matters. I am very pleased with the design he has created and recommend him highly if you’re looking for a bit of design work. He was extremely pleasant to work with and provided a quick turnaround. I have a few other ideas for the future that I may collaborate with him on.