Networking Insight: Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

October 22, 2007

Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris is a business book that has recently received a lot of attention. So, I needed to read it to find out what Tim had to say. Tim’s book is very interesting and easy to read. I finished it fairly quickly (at least for me). Below is my official review of this book.

Amazon.com Book Description

What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: “I race motorcycles in Europe”, “I ski in the Andes“, I scuba dive in Panama“, or “I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”

He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.

Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world.

Content

Tim Ferris crafts an interesting read about how to entirely outsource your business and personal life. His style is very conversational that draws upon real life experience. After a near burnout from overworking, Tim found a way to take back his time and put his life in front of work.

His entire book is devoted to helping you become part of the New Rich. In order to explain the New Rich concept, Tim organizes the book chapters around a process that he calls "DEAL". Each letter is defined below:

D for Definition turns misguided common sense upside down and introduces the rules and objectives of the new game.

E for Elimination kills the obsolete notion of time management once and for all.

A for Automation puts cash flow on autopilot using geographic arbitrage, outsourcing, and rules of nondecision.

L for Liberation is the mobile manifesto for the globally inclined.

By using many examples, Tim shares with his readers how to live life to the fullest while figuring out a way to automate your life. Here are a few ideas that Tim teaches:

• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
• 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"

Some of what Tim writes is not believable especially for entrepreneurs who want to build a big business. I work with entrepreneurs every day and there is no way that they can outsource everything, especially management. Tim created a business that is just one person full-time (him) and everything else is outsourced. This will not work for everyone. Also, Tim talks about how someone who is employed can eventually find a way to virtually work 100% of the time. Again, this is a nice thought but not entirely possible with every situation and organization. While I do believe that you can find a way to virtually work some of the time, I don’t believe that every work environment will allow this especially if you are part of management.

My take-away from Tim’s book is that we can all find a way to better manage our time by prioritizing, outsourcing, and automating. Tim does show us that this is possible but only in an extreme way. At the same time, there is no way that a busy professional can only work four hours per week. Can you imagine only checking emails once a week for one hour as Tim does? I agree that email clutter can be cut down but not to this extent.

Recommendation

While some of what Tim advocates is not entirely believable, you can definitely come away with a new appreciation for time management and outsourcing. Also, you will come away with an understanding that we should try to control our lives a little more by not overworking ourselves and enjoying what the world has to offer.

Tim does a great job of explaining, from his prospective, how he was able to reinvent himself and live life to the fullest. I do believe that many people can live and work partially this way, however, I am not convinced that most people can set up their lives and work to the extent that Tim suggests.

One of the gems in this book is that Tim does provide some great resources to help you find what you need to live this lifestyle, including outsourcers, airfare, housing, meals, transportation, and part-time work.

The The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich is worth a read if you want to learn some new techniques about taking more control of your life. If you are expecting that you can actually cut back your work to only 4 hours per week, then you will be disappointed.

Did you read this book? Do you believe that you can achieve a 4-hour work week? Let me know your thoughts.

Posted by Jason Jacobsohn | Permalink

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