Meet Tim Ferriss, the 4-Hour Guy

— -- Meet Tim Ferriss, who's known as the "four-hour guy"

It all started in 2007 with his first book, "The 4-Hour Workweek," which landed the No. 1 spot on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best-seller lists. It stayed consecutively on the New York Times best-seller list for more than four years and has been translated into 35 languages, with nearly 2 million copies sold worldwide. His other books, "The 4-Hour Body," "The 4-Hour Chef" and "Tools of Titans" have also sold millions of copies.

He’s been described as “this generation’s self-help guru” by The New Yorker and the “Oprah of Audio” for his podcast, which has more than 80 million downloads. There is even a publicly recognized “Tim Ferriss effect,” first cited in a 2012 Forbes profile, that notes how a mention on his blog or podcast will incur tens of thousands more sales for a product than any typical media promotion.

He’s also an angel investor whose portfolio boasts companies like Uber, Facebook, Twitter and many more.

So how does someone famous for giving advice to others make his own decisions?

During an interview on "Real Biz With Rebecca Jarvis," Ferriss told ABC’s Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis how he methodically breaks down large decisions using a simple, three-column system.

“I just take a piece of paper and I put what I’m considering doing,” Ferriss said. “And you write down all of the worst things that could happen in the left-hand side, just bullets. In the middle for each of those bullets, what you can do to mitigate or minimize the likelihood of them happening. And then the very last column for each, what you can do to get back to where you are now.”

The first two columns are a straightforward breakdown of theoretical "worst-case-scenarios" and their possible preventions or solutions. But the third column is noteworthy because it can provide comfort by showing that even if you fail, you can still land right back where you started.

“We very often look at the risks of action or the potential downside of action, and that’s the only analysis we do,” said Ferriss. “But it’s really important to look at the costs of inaction. So OK, let’s say you don’t do this thing, let’s telescope out six months, a year, three years. What does your life look like? Is it better or worse?”

Ferriss used this exact method in 2004 when he decided to book a one-way ticket to Europe after having what he called a “complete meltdown.” Fast-forward more than a decade later, and it appears to still be working for him.

“I still do [it] very often,” he said.

And the best part? These three columns will probably take you less than four hours to do!

For more insights from Tim Ferriss, watch his episode on "Real Biz With Rebecca Jarvis," and follow @RebeccaJarvis for more live interviews like this one.