Internet Business Success, Entrepreneurship, & Lifestyle Design
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This is a true story. I read the book over two years ago and worked like a dog to put his ideas into action. Now, I reveal exactly how it went down in my Five Part Series on the legendary Four Hour Work Week…
Although most of my writings here at JasonClegg.com tend to cover entrepreneurship and Internet Business topics, I consider these “lifestyle design” issues (a term coined by Ferriss) extremely important. How we approach our work is almost as important as the very work we do since it defines how we live in this very strange post-office world. So, enough s’plaining — on with the story!
Tim Ferriss recently released his new updated and expanded version of his immensely popular Four Hour Work Week, which got me thinking about my own experience with this compelling piece of business nonfiction. Tim released the first version of 4HWW back in April of 2007, nearly 3 years ago. I picked up a hardcopy and then an audio copy sometime during the summer of 2007 when the book was really starting to take off. And I’ll tell you what, folks — no single book or “business idea” has shaped my thinking as much before or since.
That said, I think Ferriss’ ideas have been perverted, twisted, and misunderstood by tons of people — this includes some of his biggest fans as well as some of his greatest critics.
The whole “Four Hour Work Week” phenomenon reminds me a lot of “The Secret” — that magical video that got millions of people doing creative visualization à la Shakti Gawain and “pretend driving” Ferraris and Lamborghinis in their bedrooms just before dozing off to sleep at night.
Don’t get me wrong: I think “The Secret” was great. But let’s face it, success and prosperity does not happen by day-dreaming in your bubble-bath.
Likewise, achieving a Four Hour Work Week is not for the faint of heart (or the lazy, for that matter). Here’s the deal: I want to come clean on my own experience with the 4HWW concept and explore some of the details of this idea. My intention is not to suggest that you should do what I did nor is it to make Ferriss look like a superhero or a demon. I simply want to take an honest look at the ideas behind what I consider to be one of the most influential books of early 21st century business culture…
One of the most misunderstood ideas behind Ferriss’ 4HWW concept is the most obvious: How the #$!@ can anyone work just 4 hours per week? Look people, just because the book is called Four Hour Work Week does not mean that you’re supposed to (or that we’re all supposed to) work only 4 hours per week. This is just a catchy title and, perhaps more importantly, a play on what we’re used to seeing… “the forty hour work week.”
Now, I do understand that if a book title insists on itself then the contents of the book should deliver. Agreed. In fact, Tim Ferriss’s book does an excellent job of showing exactly how to achieve a 4HWW. Is everybody going to do it? Definitely not. It takes tremendous discipline and dedication to do it, a few ingredients most of us lack.
But IMHO, the most important thing to understand about this book is that work time is often frivolously wasted on pointless activities instead of groundbreaking, critical work. A 4HWW is a work week with clear priorities and plans of action, not dilly-dallying and screwing off on the web. (After all, isn’t this what most of us are up to on the web throughout a typical work day?)
And, of course, a 4HWW is not intended to necessarily be just that. What if you’re an attorney working 80+ hours per week? It would be absolutely amazing to read Tim’s book and go from 80 hrs to just 60 or 40 or even 20! Whatever your situation, the 4HWW prescription is completely relative.
Achieving the goal that works best for you takes work. This is the other misleading part of Tim’s writing. I don’t think he misleads, but I think mass popularity of the book and its ideas misleads. You have to put in effort to make something happen. You can’t just expect your transformation to happen overnight or without a little pain and a little extra time.
The hardest part for most (definitely for me) is replacing work with something else. As you’ll see in my persona 4HWW story to come, a lot of people who get started with Tim’s ideas are actually going to enter a period of more work and time exerted than before. This is necessary to get through the initial period and make your desired change a reality.
In the next installment of this series, I’ll reveal all of the details from my very exciting experience with the Four Hour Work Week including exactly how I implemented Tim’s ideas into my own business and went from a 60 hour+ work week as a business owner and college instructor to an on-my-own-time successful entrepreneur. Stay tuned…
In the meantime, please share any of your thoughts on the Four Hour Work Week and your personal experiences below.
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Much more to come, everybody:
Part 2: My Four Hour Work Week Story
Part 3: Problems with The Four Hour Work Week
Part 4: How to Make a Four Hour Work Week Work
Part 5: Beyond a Four Hour Work Week
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on all of it… Leave a thoughtful comment and I promise to write back!
-Jason Clegg
I LOVED this book. Only problem for me is that I love my work so I cannot incentivise myself to stop and do anything else! I also ended up with lots more work as I followed the recommendation to outsource to elance but ended up bidding and winning projects
Not exactly what Tim had in mind I suspect.
My problem is definitely delegation, and being able to find a really really good VA team.
Hi Claire,
Yes, delegation really is critical to get AWAY from the work and free up your time. Then again, if you love what you’re doing then I guess that’s incentive enough to keep doing it!
Thanks for the comment.
-Jason
When I discovered the 4HWW it transformed the way I was living. Oooohhh so dramatic – I know. But it’s true! I really responded to his communication style and felt empowered to actually do what he was saying. Did I do it all? No. Did I do it long-term? Uh … whoops. But I did do it for a period of time that allowed me to finally write the first draft of a book I’ve been wanting to write for years and then live in Spain for four months. And since then I’ve been dying to get back into it. So good to know he’s got an updated version out. I’m going to get it now!
Awesome! It’s always great to get back to the fundamentals. It’s so inspiring to hear people talk about it working for them in their own way. That’s the whole idea!