The 4 Hour Work Week

[Dwane J.]

Interesting speech from the recent South By Southwest Conference:

http://audio.sxsw.com/podcast/intera...urWorkweek.mp3

Learn how to work 4 hours a week and experiment in lifestyle design by outsourcing your work to Indian MBA's for 4 dollars an hour!

The site: The 4-Hour Workweek and Timothy Ferriss

[Mayo]

Cool!!!

Thanks for link!

This is something similar to Lazy way to Success:
Lazy Way To Success : Fred Gratzon : Soma Press

[Gerald]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[justin]

Hey, it's been a while since I've been back on the forums, but I just interviewed Tim Ferriss about his new book, Four Hour Workweek, and I thought you guys might find it interesting. Have a look:

Talking Travel with Tim Ferriss - Gadling

We've also got two copies of the book to giveaway, so check it out!

Thanks,
Justin

[Mayo]

Thanks Justin!

[justin]

No problem, hope you enjoy it!

[BelleEnchanted]

Darren's also got a two part interview with Tim Ferris up at Problogger:

Part 1

Part 2

Belle

[techgal]

I have just recently finished reading The Four Hour Workweek and it is hands down one of the best books I've ever read. This book is an incredible resource for learning how to outsource your life as well as your business. He shows how almost anyone can afford to travel the world in style....without having to be a millionaire.

This is one book that I couldn't put down. I'd love to hear what other people thought of the book.

[Steve Pavlina]

I read it a couple weeks ago... received a pre-release review copy. It had some interesting ideas, but overall the approach wasn't my style. It's certainly an escape from the rat race, but it seemed to stop there and didn't really delve into making a more meaningful contribution with all that spare time.

As a practical matter, I can definitely see that kind of lifestyle working though. I could probably get my own work down to a few hours a week and maintain a $40K/month income (at least for the gross) by outsourcing everything, including all additional content creation.

[ken nubo]

Man, funny how you should post that link, I saw the book on the shelve last week but didin't want to get it, but now I'm uber convince, so I'm pumped to get the book this saturday

[Samantha]

Well, i found this book great and interesting. What makes this interesting was the content and the title itself. You can get a copy of this at Barnes&Nobles.com.

Cheers!

[Angela]

The first part of the book had helpful suggestions, but the second part, about setting yourself up as a recipient of passive income and working remotely, is old news, not very interesting or inspiring.

I distrust the author. His claims just don't smell right to me, and his aims in life seem very narcisistic to me; his actions seemed far more geared towards taking than giving. I gleaned no sense of inspiring purpose in his book that goes any further than satisfying his desires.

[JonathanBrowne]

Thats probably your jealousy more than Tims narcissism. He actually lists charitys you can give to. He also recommends local volunteering during a "mini-retirement". Theres whole chapters dedicated to filling the void. Most of the second half of the book talks about that topic. Although he doesn't recommend too much reading (something I agree with, it can be addicting and lead to a lack of action), he lists books to read if your having trouble with the concepts in the book or knowing what to do with your time.

I think a lot of people just don't like being told "You have to figure it out for yourself." Do you expect this guy to tell you exactly what to do with your life? The main message of the book is you have to STOP NOW, reconsider and reset yourself and start doing something that interests you and leads you to more and more fulfilling projects.

I absolutely love his approach of not asking about the meaning of life because that question in itself really means nothing. Ask more specific questions. Ask better questions. Don't obsess about finding the answers to life because there are none, only more and more questions.

He's telling people to enjoy their lives, be creative, stop worrying about whats going on in every corner of the globe, in other peoples lives, and in the oval office, and start living... and of course people would rather hear good news about their bad habits then listen to such effective advice.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by JonathanBrowne

Thats probably your jealousy more than Tims narcissism....
He's telling people to enjoy their lives, be creative, stop worrying about whats going on in every corner of the globe, in other peoples lives, and in the oval office, and start living... and of course people would rather hear good news about their bad habits then listen to such effective advice.

Well, JonathanBrowne, I can see you love this guy and find his book valuable. Others seem to like him as well. As I said, some of the information was useful. But most of it struck me more along the lines of, "if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more!" All the things you've listed are great advice, but to me, not new or inspiring.

It's interesting that you made such a bold and unpleasant assumption about me, knowing absolutely nothing about my life. Is it possible you are projecting?

Love,
Angela.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I read it a couple weeks ago... received a pre-release review copy. It had some interesting ideas, but overall the approach wasn't my style. It's certainly an escape from the rat race, but it seemed to stop there and didn't really delve into making a more meaningful contribution with all that spare time.

As a practical matter, I can definitely see that kind of lifestyle working though. I could probably get my own work down to a few hours a week and maintain a $40K/month income (at least for the gross) by outsourcing everything, including all additional content creation.

Wouldnt outsourcing busywork be a huge value, then you could focus even more on content creation?

Is there good leverage and bad leverage? I dunno.

I just got my copy today, and I have to say a lot of the stuff I picked up on the preview (I'm photoreading it) is the kind of lifestyle I want to live, at least, runnin a business from an unstatic locale.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Angela

I distrust the author. His claims just don't smell right to me, and his aims in life seem very narcisistic to me; his actions seemed far more geared towards taking than giving. I gleaned no sense of inspiring purpose in his book that goes any further than satisfying his desires.

Isn't that what life is all about? While maybe Tim is a little self-centered, it doesn't mean that the principles he offers have to be used for self gratifying purposes. The whole point of the book is minimizing the amount of things you are involved (and by that he means things that could be automated) in at work or in your business, to free up time to do what you want to do on a daily basis. If you are still completely involved in your job, and you love it, cool, but I am sure even the most highly purpose driven individuals have an amount of busywork that might be better off outsourced.

As for the desires, just because the Authors desires don't match yours, doesn't mean they are any less valid.

You were talking about projection to Johnathan, but its really hard to hear you up on that horse of yours.


THe book can be applied to anything. Say you want to go to Africa to help with AIDS awareness, and it only costs you 1000 a month, and you are making 2000 a month, well you have 1000 a month to philanthropize. Adapt it towards your goals. Even a thief could have an idea that you could adapt to your purpose.

[Angela]

Well, Lucas, I can see you love this guy and find his book valuable. Others seem to like him as well. As I said, some of the information was useful. But most of it struck me more along the lines of, "if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more!" All the things you've listed are great advice, but to me, not new or inspiring.

[Eggzachery]

Originally Posted by Angela

Well, Lucas, I can see you love this guy and find his book valuable. Others seem to like him as well. As I said, some of the information was useful. But most of it struck me more along the lines of, "if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more!" All the things you've listed are great advice, but to me, not new or inspiring.

I see that you're a moderator. What I don't see is why you felt it necessary to copy and paste your reply to JonathanBrowne and address it to Lucas. Is it a forum policy to use canned responses? Because if you had nothing new to contribute other than continuing awareness of your presence in this thread, this reply was unnecessary and just a little rude.

Feel free to continue posting if you have something new and noteworthy to contribute, but I like this forum a little too much to see its value watered down by this sort of tripe.

To get back on topic, I have previewed the book at my local bookstore. There really aren't any more new ideas in this book. And the author comes across as one of those self-described gurus who find their success in the telling, not the doing, of their "mighty" ideas. Think Kiyosaki the richdad/poordad guy.

Plus, it's easy to set oneself free and start talking loftily of automating one's work life when one's jumping off point was as the CEO of one's own company. He seems to attempt to include the "everyman" but fails to show how joe sixpack in the mailroom can automate their life and live his dream.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Angela

Well, Lucas, I can see you love this guy and find his book valuable. Others seem to like him as well. As I said, some of the information was useful. But most of it struck me more along the lines of, "if you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more!" All the things you've listed are great advice, but to me, not new or inspiring.

And the concept of serving others before yourself goes as far back as the Bhagavad Gita and futher. I think I found it very inspiring, mainly because the vagabondish lifestyle is one I have always been searching for, and the book is a perfect blueprint. A lot of it is smashed up bits of other sources, but thats what everything is. Wayne Dyer is the leader of the New Thought movement, and I would say a good portion of his talks are from sources 100 years old or more. Context makes newness, and Ferriss' book is very contextual to our time...actually, its based entirely in our time. Maybe if he had thrown in some ancient wisdom it would have been more palatable for you...I dunno.

[Brutha]

Small Business Marketing Podcast - Duct Tape Marketing has an interview with the guy who has writen the book.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Eggzachery

Feel free to continue posting if you have something new and noteworthy to contribute, but I like this forum a little too much to see its value watered down by this sort of tripe.

Thanks so much, Eggzachery! I will indeed feel free to continue posting, and sometimes I will repeat myself! I'm glad you enjoy the forum. If you feel what I write is tripe, please do not bother yourself with consuming it; I certainly don't want you to wretch up any entrails. (Please note, though, that I was not addressing you in either of my 'dupes.' Even so, you're welcome to be offended by them if you wish.)

Lucas, I've read so many books about similar subjects in the last 20 years or so that maybe I've just seen the methods espoused by Mr. Ferris enough that his context alone just doesn't do it for me. What I meant by my diet remark is not that he's repeating old news so much as that it's instruction that doesn't make any difference in my life -- I would have liked to read a new approach that would actually be inspiring. At the risk of irritating Eggzachery, I'll say it again: the book did not inspire me, but it looks like it inspired you and others, so there you go. (breathe deeply, E.) I did like the outsourcing stuff, though.

But I can certainly see where someone who is new to Ferris's ideas would find them exciting and inspiring. He's young, he's got a snappy patter, and there's a certain...I don't know...marketing savoir faire about him that's appealing.

FYI, my lifestyle for the last 21 years has been a little like Ferris' mini-retirements: I alternate working and traveling/living in foreign lands for months at a time; sometimes the working and the traveling overlap.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Eggzachery

To get back on topic, I have previewed the book at my local bookstore. There really aren't any more new ideas in this book. And the author comes across as one of those self-described gurus who find their success in the telling, not the doing, of their "mighty" ideas. Think Kiyosaki the richdad/poordad guy.

Plus, it's easy to set oneself free and start talking loftily of automating one's work life when one's jumping off point was as the CEO of one's own company. He seems to attempt to include the "everyman" but fails to show how joe sixpack in the mailroom can automate their life and live his dream.

You know, it upsets me when people talk down about people that don't give them specific steps and orders about how to go about this stuff. Thats because you are still in employee mode. And no matter how much you complain that they are talking about these "ideas", and not showing you exactly what to do, the more it sounds like employee speak.

For instance, I got a load of inspiration out of Steves "10 Reasons Not to Have a Job" article, and you seem to like this place, so you obviously value Steves ideas...I showed it to a friend of mine, a hardcore employee who is afraid of asking for a well deserved raise, and he said the same thing you are saying. "It doesn't tell me what to do." Well, if you want to be told every single step on how to do something, then get a job, they will tell you what to do on every single step of the way. Or meet in the middle and buy a franchise, they have all the systems plotted out, and you can follow the instructions to the letter. Your own business, but still in employee mode.

The comment you made about him coming from the CEO of his own company sounds to me like an excuse..."oh he can do it because [insert any reason at all], but I couldn't do that cause I am a mail room clerk." Who do you get your advice from, if not from people getting the results you want?

[Ron Stoppable]

Originally Posted by Angela

I distrust the author. His claims just don't smell right to me, and his aims in life seem very narcisistic to me; his actions seemed far more geared towards taking than giving. I gleaned no sense of inspiring purpose in his book that goes any further than satisfying his desires.

Seconded!

Before making a decision on whether to request this into my local library, I read the book's lesser-starred reviews on Amazon. I wonder if anyone else finds him to be an archetypal darkworker.

[Brutha]

Before making a decision on whether to request this into my local library, I read the book's lesser-starred reviews on Amazon. I wonder if anyone else finds him to be an archetypal darkworker.

I don't think that he is anymore a darkworker than the average person.

You always have people who don't like a book. When I read lesser starred reviews on amazon I look for arguments against the book. Sure the book won't let everyone live a 4 hour workweek. Books don't have that power. To change your life you have to take action.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Ron Stoppable

Seconded!

Before making a decision on whether to request this into my local library, I read the book's lesser-starred reviews on Amazon. I wonder if anyone else finds him to be an archetypal darkworker.

So you already decided what to think about it before you read it, and then went to the place where you could reaffirm your predictated decision?

[hotwired]

Hi All
Merry Christmas!! I have actually bought the book some months ago and loved it. It is true that everything everything everything is pretty common sense other than the "muse" section which, if you haven't delved into this kind of thing before, can be rather complex.

I did indeed find it helpful. I think we get caught up sometimes in the "hey, tell me something I DIDNT know" mode. Everything I used from the book that helped me, I already knew. So the question is .... "is something valuable if it tells you something you already know .... but aren't doing .... if it inspires you to do it?" My vote is yes. Sometimes we don't trust ourselves enough or the "tip" goes under the radar, etc.

I am spending less time in front of the computer now and getting more done as a result of following some of the practices Tim lays out. These are all things I already knew but just hadn't 'put together' yet.

The "outource your life" part was a little misleading in that I simply couldn't find someone for $5-$8 per hour. I actually signed up and experimented with all of the mentioned sources and $12 per hour was the cheapest, and only if I committed to a certain number of hours per month. I personally own a web design company and use scriptlance.com which is a "per project" bid and I HAVE had success with that one.

So all in all, this is one of those books, in my humble opinion, which can save you the cost of the book right away if you use even one or two "lifestyle design" changes. At the very least, it got me totally psyched and in a good place the whole time I was reading it. Helped me dream!!

[Blue Wolf]

Originally Posted by hotwired

Hi All
I am spending less time in front of the computer now and getting more done as a result of following some of the practices Tim lays out. These are all things I already knew but just hadn't 'put together' yet.

The "outource your life" part was a little misleading in that I simply couldn't find someone for $5-$8 per hour. I actually signed up and experimented with all of the mentioned sources and $12 per hour was the cheapest, and only if I committed to a certain number of hours per month. I personally own a web design company and use scriptlance.com which is a "per project" bid and I HAVE had success with that one.

So all in all, this is one of those books, in my humble opinion, which can save you the cost of the book right away if you use even one or two "lifestyle design" changes. At the very least, it got me totally psyched and in a good place the whole time I was reading it. Helped me dream!!

Thanks for the review hotrod. Your review gives a bit more insight into the content plus you didn't just passively read it, but applied the info (gave it a fair try vs casting stones at the premise). Based on that review, I will probably check out the book in a few months (although as a cheapskate, I'll wait for the paperback or library version).

If anyone else has a similar info (specific example of unique content that you then applied), I'd find that fascinating.

I skimmed the book in the bookstore and found some of the exercises very interesting (e..g, imagine worst case scenario if your plan fails; List 5 things you want to be, have, etc.).

Also, I can tell that some posters here disliked the book. In that case, can you suggest what you would specifically add? For example, if you already live that lifestyle, any unique insights as to how you arrived at that point? Or would there be additional information you would provide if you wrote a book with a similar premise?

Thanks.

[Ron Stoppable]

Originally Posted by Lucas

So you already decided what to think about it before you read it, and then went to the place where you could reaffirm your predictated decision?

Haha! Guess again, kiddo

My bad for not telling the whole truth. I read the first pages of reviews for each star - 1 through 5. The 5s and 4s read just like PG-newbies raving at The Secret last year; even the book-summarising reviews were uninspiring. 3s toed the some-great-concepts-but-needed-more-detailed-directives line. 2s and 1s criticised the author's morals/values, cast snake-oil salesman accusations.

I did not ask for an investigation into my purchasing protocol, simply whether the author seemed to embrace the opposite of lightworking.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by Ron Stoppable

Haha! Guess again, kiddo

My bad for not telling the whole truth. I read the first pages of reviews for each star - 1 through 5. The 5s and 4s read just like PG-newbies raving at The Secret last year; even the book-summarising reviews were uninspiring. 3s toed the some-great-concepts-but-needed-more-detailed-directives line. 2s and 1s criticised the author's morals/values, cast snake-oil salesman accusations.

I did not ask for an investigation into my purchasing protocol, simply whether the author seemed to embrace the opposite of lightworking.

I fall somewhere in the 3 range myself, it just sounded to me like you were skeptical and went and read where you could find what you wanted to hear. I apologize if that wasn't the case.

[RFSCOACH]

Hello All- new here

I read the book a couple months ago. It really got me excited. I already work from home, so much really didnt apply to me. But the outsourcing part really was great. It funny, I outsourced my first job today.

went to getafreelancer.com - I think you might be surprised at the pricing there. Very reasonable. I placed my job and had the it picked up with several bid and the project will be done tomorrow. Which is great, costing me $40 for the retyping of a couple lrge documents.

I look forward to using them for some other stuff I need to do.

Anyways, back to the book. Overall I really liked it. Using all of it is not really realistic for most people, but I took what works for me and I am trying to implement them into my life.

Thanks