How To Read the Four-Hour Workweek
Note: If this post seems out-of-date, it's because it was actually written on November 30th, 2009, but I forgot about it until the 4-Hour Body was released.
Tim Ferriss has received a hailstorm of praise and criticism alike since his release of the Four-Hour Workweek and subsequent rise to fame. There are people that believe Tim Ferriss is full of shit. I find the man fascinating.
Clearly a man who can work four hour workweeks inspires both envy and jealousy. I recently finished the 4HWW and it's clear that this isn't the case at all. He has simply re-defined his career so that "work" involves fun activities. He's also been able to maximize productivity by aggressively delegating time-consuming tasks. It's pretty clear that he used the techniques he advocates, like hiring a personal assistant, to write the book itself.Reading between the lines, I found three main takeaways:
1. Ignore cultural norms and be realistic about your productivity.
Corporate America has become so wealthy that it has become bloated with fluff. An employee's role in an organization is to increase company's value by a greater amount than he or she is being paid. Often, this isn't the case. I don't have hard stats to make this case, but I know from first-hand experience that it's quite easy to fly under the radar at a large company. It's also true that companies assign work that isn't truly productive, often for bureaucratic reasons.
Questions to ask yourself are:
- How much time do I spend truly creating value?
- How much money is that time worth?
By positioning yourself such that you can create a direct path from work to revenue, you can double, triple or quadruple your earnings. Or you can simply work less.
2. Know how good is "good enough" and know that you can outsource routine work.Once you're in control of your time and productivity, it's important that you find ways to maximize that productivity. While many people might have the propensity to deliver "perfect" work, perfection is rarely necessary. Additionally, many tasks, especially menial, time-consuming tasks, like e-mail, can be outsourced. Ferriss encourages readers to take a leap of faith and put somebody else in charge, thereby freeing your time to do what's important.
3. Maximize your mobility.
Ferriss lays out a complete guide for how to develop a high-margin, outsource-able business to give you the freedom of unlimited travel. The first two steps are sufficient but not necessary for this to be possible. I have friends who travel very frequently in spite of having 9-5 jobs. The desire to travel or live abroad may vary on a personal basis. A wide variety of professions allow frequent travel, such as consulting. You may also have career-oriented goals, or otherwise, that discourage from being abroad all the time. The point being that you can design your life around mobility if you choose to take control of your situation.
My Conclusion
The 4HWW is a myth. My advice is to find the overlap between what you love and what pays you.
I love building software, and would inevitably spend a lot of time programming if I didn't have a job. I might as well do it with smart people and get paid at the same time.
This applies to nearly anything you might enjoy. Find the right community of people and form strong relationships based on what you love. There may or may not be overlap between what you love and a job market but that's up to you figure out.
