Book review: 4-Hour Work Week
It took me a year of traveling and living abroad to buy this fantastic book. When I first read Vagabonding, it gave me the push I needed to quit my job. Now I’ve read 4-Hour Work Week, just at the time when I’m debating next steps: stay on the road or get a “real” job, and it couldn’t have come to me at a better time. It’s given me the encouragment to continue living the life I want to (by not having to worry about $) and by giving me a completely valid and achieveble way to make that happen.
For those not familiar with the book: it inspires you to be part of the “new rich” who work 4-hours a week, are independent of location, and earn enough money to do whatever they want to, e.g. travel the world, speak Chinese, etc.
It shatters the notion of the conventional rich, who slog their whole life to earn mountains of money, only to retire old and unfit to do anything they wanted to. A BMW is bought with their hard-earned money, the rest of which stays in the bank as the owner wiles away his retirement vegetating and getting fat on some beach, on the road to ultimate boredom.
The book taps into the fact that life is about doing what excites you. Not when you are 60, but now, when you are young and able. It’s a step-by-step guide to help you make it happen, validated by the author (Timothy Ferriss) who has done it at 30.
The topics covered include: how to take mini-retirements, outsourcing your life, finding your muse, putting your business on autopilot, and time management suggestions. It’s also a treasure of online resources, inspirational quotes from famous people, and personal challenges to help you work towards achieving your goals.
For updates and regular advice, check out Ferriss’s website/bloghttps://www.fourhourworkweek.com/.
July 7th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
You write:
I despise the notion that life should this notion that life is not livable come 60. It’s a way of devaluing life at 60 – or at 40 or 20 – and undermines the fact of responsibility, which is just as important a part of life as doing “what excites you”. You can do what excites you because most people on this planet do what is responsible.
Give me rather a book that shows me how to live responsibly having fun while doing it, and if it’s travelling, lucky me!
July 7th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
this book works. i was able to convince my boss to allow me to move to a flexible schedule and work from home. implementing some of the tips in this book, i now work about 15 hours a week, get paid the same amount of money, and pick up my laptop and leave whenever the urge strikes me. i haven’t implemented much of the outsourcing yet, but the tips are solid, and achievable.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I agree with Geir’s views. Western societies, especially America, is all about the individual. ME ME ME ME….. Do what excites me, do what you want etc. etc.
Living life to the fullest and being a responsible member of society is more than just about ME. It entails giving back to your family via love and taking care of them when they grow old. It entails making certain sacrifice, e.g. your own time, to give back to society.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
The book isn’t about making time for yourself at the expense of your kids and society.
It simply says the idea of working 9-5 is from era of Henry Ford-old and antiquated. It proves you can easily free up more time and use it to learn chinese or hang out with your kids or give back to society or whatever you please.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Jeff, if you spend more time with your friends and family instead of working 60-80 hours a week and barely seeing them, isn’t that better all around? That’s the real point of the book: connections and fulfillment, not working all the time to have more stuff.
Here’s a living abroad and travel-related interview I did with Timothy Ferriss when the book first came out:
https://www.worldscheapestdestinations.com/ferris_interview.html
September 18th, 2008 at 1:59 am
[…] the same genre as Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek (which Vagablogging has written about on more than one occasion), Work the System offers advice and anecdotes on how to manage one’s life […]