Review: The Four-Hour Work Week

I'd been hearing about Timothy Ferriss' The Four-Hour Work Week from a lot of people but hadn't picked up a copy yet. Though I'm probably the last person in America to read it, I was still surprised by quite a bit of what I found. No one had spoiled it for me yet!!

The basics of the book are this: for many people (which he calls the "New Rich") success isn't measured by how much money they make, but instead, by how well they use their time and live their lives, but they don't know how to break the 40 (or more)-hour workweek paradigm. He discusses how lots of folks talk about working hard for years so they can have a lot of money to do the things they want to do now...and Ferriss shows that you don't have to spend years and years getting to that point but instead should consider getting to enjoy life now. Part of the solution comes in how you live, and he discusses how technology, good information, and the occasional reality check, can give you the ability to do the things you want. Perhaps more importantly (and definitely the more difficult of the two) he shows how you can work smarter to do what you need to do to live that life, not only making enough money to do the things you want, but also having the time to do them.

He refers to his model as DEAL, and while I won't go into what each part of the acronym means (you really should read the book to get a full understanding) I'll tell you that it has to do with figuring out what's really important, getting rid of those tasks and requirements that aren't, automating the things you can to free up time, and ultimately, liberating yourself from the standard way of doing business. It helps you go from "living to work" to "working to live."

While this might sound like a Pollyanna version of the world, what surprised me most about this book was how I realized I'm already doing some of the things he mentioned, in terms of taking advantage of opportunities at work to do the things I want outside of work. For example, I'm interested in a particular region of the world, so I arranged to work on a study for another government organization that deals with that region. As a result, when I travel there for work I always add on a few vacation days to see friends or visit new places. Through a series of proposals I managed to create a strategic planning unit for us, in which I work, and as part of that I can justify presenting papers at academic conferences, which allows me to stay current in my academic profession as well as my day-to-day job. I've managed to arrange a couple sabbaticals, including last year's to Afghanistan (not exactly fun, but definitely rewarding) and my upcoming trip to Singapore as a Fulbright Scholar. In all cases I've shown how my regular work will still get done, and my outside work will contribute to my job by enhancing my knowledge and my experience. And let's not forget morale: if I'd been turned down for these I'd be pretty miserable but as it is I do my best work because I know there are people watching to see how I do, plus I figure they've given to me so I need to give to them. I'm not quite at the 4-hour workweek point, but I can see how people can get there.

The book is well-written and fun to read, even the one chapter that gets pretty technical. It's filed with examples that help you envision yourself in the same situation and make it easier to break the paradigm of the traditional working style. Yeah, I sometimes wonder if all those "real life" examples are real or if they're just created to make a point, but in the end, does it really matter? The point is made.

The book won't be for everyone because it's based on the assumption that we don't want to spend our whole lives working. There are, of course, plenty of people who are content to do just that. They like the thrill of a tight deadline, they love closing a deal, they'd rather do that than be on vacation. Some jobs also don't lend themselves to breaking the paradigm, such as being a police office or a doctor (though many of the techniques he discusses will still add time to your day). If you really want to have that career, then much of this really isn't for you.

But how about Creatives, and those who lead them? This will apply to you, big time! Whether you're working in a large firm or an entrepreneur, there is plenty in here to make your life better. Don't try to do it all in one big step; work through it slowly and let your comfort level adjust. In the end, you need to ask yourself why, exactly, you work the way you do. Once you start asking that question, you're on your way. The bottom line is, we have a finite amount of time in this world...why not make the most of it?