The 4-Hour Workweek

I won my copy of "The 4-Hour Workweek" from a contest on the Tech Rest blog. Author Timothy Ferriss has pretty much outsourced or automated all aspects of his life leaving him the money and freedom to spend his time traveling around the world doing pretty much anything he wants. He wrote this book to show other people how to do the same. Ferriss is young (about 30 years old) and single which to some extent colors his view of the world. While he maintains that having children should not impede your desire to travel around the world (and admittedly some people do this), for the majority of people the responsibility of having a spouse and children does keep them in more traditional work environments and tied to a community.

Honestly, I am not looking to travel around the world. Although, for those who do want to do this, it is apparently not as cost-prohibitive as one might think and Ferriss offers much worthwhile advice on the topic.

Why did I read this book? I am always looking for ways to make better use of my time and to make more money. I'm not impoverished by any means but if I had more money, I would use it to help pay off my husband's $130,000 student loan debt (we have been paying on this for 6 years now and owe $17,000 more than where we started because we have never been able to pay the full payment amount. The government is very kind setting up payment plans which we are very appreciative of, but even at our current $700/month payment we are simply treading water paying interest but no principal) and help to pay for my children to go to high school. Yes, high school, not college. Sending the two of them to our local Catholic High School will cost us $80,000. Numbers like that can keep you awake at night. I would also like to be more generous with charitable causes.

The reality is that Ferliss' advice is good for those who work in an office in a non-service industry. Someone working as a teacher, social worker, therapist, etc. would not be able to physically remove themselves from their work environment, disconnect from other people, and still get their work done. There are some industries, though, where this is definitely possible and could be pursued. Thankfully, more and more companies are coming to the realization that letting people work where and when they want to actually leads them to being more productive.

Another point Ferliss makes is definitely true - jobs fill the time they have been given. If you have to do something in a short amount of time, you somehow find a way to get it done. If you have a long period of time you stretch out the process and the end result is not necessarily any better! Therefore give yourself reasonable short-term deadlines and force yourself to focus on the task at hand. When you are working 9-5 in a traditional office the reality is that you often use "time-fillers" just to spend the time. That is not a good use of your time or your company's dollars.

Ferliss encourages people to make changes in their lives rather than face a future of years and years slaving away at a job that they hate. He tries to get people out of their comfort zone and rethink how they might be living their life.

While this book wasn't particularly helpful for me, I did enjoy reading it and I think that others might be able to benefit from it much more than I did. I'm going to donate my copy of the book to my local library where hopefully more people will be able to get some encouragement from reading it.