56. The 4 Hour Work Week
Rating: ☆☆1/2
Recommended by:
Author: Timothy Ferriss
Genre: Non Fiction, Self Improvement
308 pages, published April 24, 2007
Reading Format: Book
Summary
In The 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss focuses on “lifestyle design” and repudiation of the traditional “deferred” life plan in which people work long hours and take few vacations for decades and save money in order to relax after retirement. He developed the ideas presented in The 4-Hour Workweek while working 14-hour days at his sports nutrition supplement company, BrainQUICKEN. Issues addressed in the book include: How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour; How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs; 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 frequent “mini-retirements”; What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income; How to train your boss to value performance over presence; 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; and How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office.
Quotes
“By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable. It’s the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too.”
“People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.”
“The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”
“If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
“To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.”
“The opposite of love is indifference, and the opposite of happiness is boredom.”
“Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitate to get in the way if you’re moving.”
“Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner.”
“Focus on being productive instead of busy.”
“Life is too short to be small.”
“I’ll repeat something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”
“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way.”
“Slow Dance:
Have you ever watched kids, On a merry-go-round? Or listened to the rain, Slapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight? Or gazed at the sun into the fading night? You better slow down. Don’t dance too fast. Time is short. The music won’t last. Do you run through each day, On the fly? When you ask: How are you? Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed, With the next hundred chores, Running through your head? You’d better slow down, Don’t dance too fast. Time is short, The music won’t last. Ever told your child we’ll do it tomorrow? And in your haste, Not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die, Cause you never had time, To call and say Hi? You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast. Time is short. The music won’t last. When you run so fast to get somewhere, You miss half the fun of getting there. When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away. Life is not a race. Do take it slower. Hear the music, Before the song is over.”
“But you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.”
My Take
The 4 Hour Work Week spent more than four years on The New York Times Best Seller List and has sold more than 1,350,000 copies worldwide. I, however, did not love it. While Ferris has some good advice about productivity and not being complacent (see above quotes), there was too much in the book that was simply inapplicable to my life. Although some people might benefit from the principles in The 4 Hour Work Week, unfortunately I am not likely to be one of them.
