Introduced by Tim Ferriss in his The 4-Hour Workweek, DEAL stands for:
- Define - Figure out what you want and your vision for your life. If you don’t know what you want, how can you accomplish anything meaningful? (At least that’s how I read the book).
- Eliminate - Be ruthless with your time, energy, and attention. Cut anything that isn’t moving you toward your vision.
- Automate - Automate what you can’t eliminate. For the important tasks that remain, find creative ways to achieve the same outcomes with fewer demands on your time and energy.
- Liberate - As you go through (E) and (A), the things left on your plate will feel less like work and more like life and freedom. Ferriss clarifies that working four hours doesn’t mean you stop working entirely. The goal is to cap the boring/tedious/silly crap at four hours a week. Spend the rest of your time on things you enjoy and find meaning in, which could still be your day job.