fbpx

Book of the Week: The 4 – Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss4 min read

Tim Ferriss is an extraordinary man on a mission. He is an outside the box thinker that consistently challenges the status quo way of thinking. You could consider him a serial vagabond and/or a successful entrepreneur. He has chosen to create a life that delivers to him on his terms and best of all – it works for him!

The 4 Hour Workweek will give you a how-to and why-to guide to throwing out the old methods for success (balancing life and work, retiring well, having a great nest egg) and replacing them with an entirely new way of living.

This book explains what a lifestyle entrepreneur is and why you should want to become one. It teaches you how to “kill” your job and design a life, the 80/20 rule and how it increases productivity, how to replace your dreams with goals, and more. Listeners can lead a rich life by working only four hours a week, freeing up the rest of their time to spend it living the lives they want.

Weather your dream is escaping the rate race, experiencing high – end world travel, earning a monthly five figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is your blueprint.

In The 4 Hour Workweek Tim has done extensive research to find and share all the tools, tips, sites, and high – tech shortcuts to managing and delegating many areas of your business and life to be more effective and get more of what you truly want. You will find that once you have read this book will become a necessary go-to guide that you will refer to time and again.

This is a book that will definitely get you thinking differently and in a bold new way. You will begin to see life as it can be opposed to the way it is. You will see lots more adventure and freedom in your life by designing your business opposed to your business designing you.

My favorite quote in the book was “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

Enjoy this book as I and my other readers did. Take from it what you believe you can use and apply to create the business and lifestyle that you wish to design.

Below are some shared comments from some clients of mine who have also read the book.

“The biggest things I took from the book is the idea of batching tasks, working remote, and outsourcing ideas.

I currently batch a lot of my tasks now which has increased my productivity.  I was doing daily bank reconciliations now I reconcile on every Monday.  I also open and check mail on Monday.  In regards to checking email I have two windows (10-11) and (2-3) that I can look at emails.  Outside of those windows I do not touch my email.  It helps avoid distractions and my mind is set up now to check email and handle those in those two time windows.”

“I work remote now two days a week instead of one.  The days that I work remote are very productive because I can avoid distractions from rep, clients, and team members.  I believe it also strengthens my team to be more independent.  They are now solving problems on their own more instead of taking the easier route of asking me for help while I am at the office.”

“I have also outsourced a few easy task to fiver.com.  They can do simple tasks like address set up/input as well as graphic design projects for as little as $5 a task.”

Matthew Jorgensen

Foundation Flooring


“Am I being productive or just active? I do like this question and how it challenges you.  It’s easy to get distracted by checking pointless emails, reading unimportant articles, or just surfing the internet to avoid work. I now stop and ask myself is what I am doing leading to being productive.”

“Working only 4 hours a week is extreme.  I do not want that.  But I do strive to create a more balanced schedule.  I added the following sign to the door “Closing time 4pm”.  I have also started eating lunch at home. I spend 30 minutes and eat with my wife and baby.  Before I would just rush and eat in my office.  It’s funny, I didn’t lose any productivity and I still am getting my work done at the same time.”

“My favorite phrase as quoted in the book:  Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect (Mark Twain).  Nice words to live by – BE DIFFERENT and think outside the box.”

Daniel Lindeman

Empire Appraisals

The main thing that sticks out for me is the 80/20 rule and applying that to numerous places in my life whether it be advertising, numerous, clients, what brings my joy, pain, sadness and/or sorrow.

I also like time batching.  It is much more effective. It feels counter intuitive but is way more effective.

I also like his win/lose guarantee – Guarantee your service or product with a 100% money back guarantee plus something additional.  It works on the psychology of people increasing sales.

Katie Lemieux, LMFT                                 

Owner of Lemieux Solutions Unlimited & BrainBoxe