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What I hate about the 4-hour work week …
Posted by Michael Cage on Thursday, June 05, 2008Let's start at the beginning.
I don't hate Timothy Ferriss, nor do I hate his book, “The Four Hour Work Week.”
In fact, I think the book is excellent in many ways on a tactical level.
What I do hate is the underlying philosophy that makes an idea like The 4- Hour Work Week so appealing.
I will go so far as to say that the reason I am in business ... doing what I love doing, sharing what I discover with other entrepreneurs ... is to get as many people as possible away from this mentality.
Let me explain...
For years, we have been taught that work is something you have to do ... so that you can do what you really want while you are not working.
Most of us, as kids, were indoctrinated in that industrial-age philosophy.
The skeleton of the myth is that you ...
... go to school so you can get good grades
... so you can get into a good college where you get good grades
... so you can get a good job where you can work your way up the ladder
... so you can “suck it up and do your time” at work while you enjoy your life on the evening, weekends and eventually when you retire.
People who believe in this kind of work/life separation are also those most likely to say:
“It’s just business, nothing personal.”
It manifests in entrepreneurs who believe they can be bastards in business, but “as long as they show up at church on Sunday” ... they are still “good people.”
And, most common of all, it manifests in entrepreneurs who mistakenly believe they have escaped the old “job myth” because they have their own business. Yet when they substitute “successful business” for “good job” in the above myth, the realization that they are still living by those old industrial age roles sinks in.
By the way, I’m not saying there is something “wrong” with that. Only that you should think accurately about what you are doing and why you are doing it.
...and ask yourself if that is really what you want your life to be about.
The whole traditional myth is summed up nicely in a country song:
I don’t have to be me till Monday
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
I ain’t gonna face reality
Three days without punching a time clock
Three nights of goin’ non stop
No work and all play
I don’t have to be me, till Monday
I find this myth repulsive.
It deadens the soul.
It “teaches” us to ignore our gifts and our passions in favor of what others tell us is possible.
It was “useful” for the industrial age.
But it's bullshit.
And along comes the 4-Hour Work Week and some people think they have found sweet escape.
But it is really just the same old myth taken to a hedonistic extreme.
Work still sucks.
So do as little of it as you can.
And live your life on your own terms the rest of the time.
It is the same philosophy which permeates the “Internet marketing” world.
It is the core promise of the stereotypical “get rich quick” pitch.
Does anyone doubt the “1 Hour Work Week” isn’t far behind?
The “17 Minute Work Week” after that?
And they’ll sell a ton.
They’ll sell precisely because they are piggybacking on that tired, old myth that just about everyone is living through.
Here’s what I believe ...
The world doesn't need any more people selling crap so they can live a playboy's life.
It needs people who are committed and passionate about who they are and what impact they want to be having. People for whom each day is an opportunity to do what they love, experience the ripples flowing from their efforts, and be well rewarded for it.
What is that thing that, if you were to choose to do it ... fully and without compromise ... would stir your soul?
Truth is ... at this point, making one million or ten million or fifty million in a business is commonplace.
I’m not saying it is always easy. Only that the path is known and clear, and can be duplicated when you are willing to make the required sacrifices.
But building a business that is an expression of who is it you most want to be in this world ... a business that actually makes a difference ... that, to me, is truly something to celebrate. And I believe that is becoming more and more true as we shift away from a commodity-driven era and into one where, increasingly, our choices are made as much by ours values as our wallets.
Think Steve Jobs to John Scully ...
"Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"
Which brings me to an interesting point.
While I think the philosophy Timothy Ferris offers in the 4-Hour Work Week is a freshly-polished version of the same old industrial-age myth, my experience of how he does what he does is quite the opposite.
To be clear, I don’t know him and have never spoken with him.
I do think I’d like him a lot ... he strikes me as the kind of guy who’d be willing to engage passionately in a conversation like this. And I respect smart people with big ideas who have the guts to put them out in the world, no matter whether I agree or disagree.
My sense is that Timothy loves what he does ... feels strongly about his message and the impact it can and has had ... and I believe he happily works a lot more than 4 hours per week at it as a result. I absolutely believe he does what I envision the highest form of entrepreneurship to be about ... I just wish he were teaching it, too.
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Inspiring!
Xavier on Friday, June 06, 2008Thanks a lot. I am in that mode now in my life trying to decide what to do with it.
Michael:
Great post, very thought-provoking and insightful.
I always find an intelligent discussion on the under-pinnings of one’s work ethic fascinating (it’s kinda funny because David Bullock argued the contrary view in his blog just a couple days ago which may just mean that the seminar business is way more fun than the Taguchi business).
Me personally, I tend to oscillate between both poles. I guess that it all comes down to how the individual views and deals with adversity: does it get ya down or do you see it as a challenge…
My $0.02 ($0.0197 Canadian)
-leo
Leo on Friday, June 06, 2008@Xavier, I’m glad you liked it. For me, the key was figuring out not only what I loved ... but who it was that I most want to serve. That is the first step that takes “do what you love” out of the dream world and into the results-world.
@Leo, thanks!
I have never met David, but from what I have heard he is a brilliant guy. He and I share a good friend in common, Perry Marshall ... and even shared the stage at an event a couple of years back, but never really talked.
I used to very strongly believe as David believes. It is what all of my mentors in business and marketing taught as the “right way” to be.
Aside from my personal reasons for shifting (which I’ll write about sometime) ... I have evidence piling up to the rafters of the built-in limitation of companies built from a premise of work/life separation ... and the amazing possibilities for growth that emerge once a business in congruent with regard to its “purpose” in the world. I’ll write about it at some point ...
I guess the question ultimately was posed to me by a great mentor/teacher/friend of mine, Joseph Riggio. http://www.josephriggio.com/ The gist of it was:
Do I want a business so I can have a life?
Or do I want a life ... where a business is the natural expression of who I am and want to be in the world?
The answer was hard for me to swallow. I had to give up a lot to shift to the latter. And every moment has been worth it.
Michael
Michael Cage on Friday, June 06, 2008FYI, I tracked down the post Leo was referring to ---> http://www.davidbullock.com/137/where-do-i-start/
Michael Cage on Friday, June 06, 2008I agree 100% with yoru thoughts. I have started to read that book to realize that in the middle of it I would still be selling crap to other people to get myself thigns that make me feel comfortable.
The world cannot afford this kind of behavior anymore I think.... We need more peopel taht are willing to give back.
Meanwhile.... Timothy is just a little more rich.
Leo
Leonardo Silveira on Friday, June 06, 2008Michael I love you
I mean.... brotherly.... because you expressed some elegant and complex ideas in a very understandable way.
I will write on this on my blog too!
Piernicola on Saturday, June 07, 2008I never quite bought into the idea of a 4 hour work week. That’s 4 more hours than I work now and just seems like too much effort.
What I do now is, generally speaking, play. But I am finding ways to play that other people will pay me for. My blogs. My woodworking. Landscaping design & implementation.
It’s all good ... and allows me time to be a family man, travel some, worship frequently and surf my face off. :-0
BillinDetroit on Saturday, June 07, 2008An excellent piece!
My colleague and I started our company *because* we had a passion for good code and intelligent IT. Not because we wanted to work as little as possible. In fact, because we both have a passion for what we now do we work incredibly long hours - I’ve never worked so hard in my life!
I used to be a very highly paid consultant to large corporates on their business systems. It was quite dry work, and I deliberately took about three months a year off wherever possible. I’d potter about, tidying up the house, going on day trips and so on, but after a while the novelty of doing nothing wears off.
As you say, working four hours a week is only appealling if you have a dull job that fails to ignite your passion. Of course, many people have just those kinds of jobs. They’ll be the ones who buy this book in large numbers.
David Coveney on Saturday, June 07, 20084-hour? You mean 4-day ???
John Smith on Saturday, June 07, 2008I think the author of is just trying to sell books, and this idea grabs people’s attention. Let’s face it, people start businesses and work to make money. Bottom line. So if you find an opportunity to make the most money in the shortest amount of time, this frees up your time to do other things, not that you’ll be sitting around eating bon bons, but you can then spend time “working” in other important areas of your life. Like spending time with family, friends, exercising, etc.
Rita on Saturday, June 07, 2008Hey Michael...long time no speak...interesting post. This makes me think of a friend of mine who spent many years studying a very esoteric form of acupuncture...it took him to Europe, China, and all around the US. He settled in Portland, OR and had a practice for a number of years. He didn’t make a great deal of money, but he was really learning how to help people.
At some point, his commitment to Tibetan Buddhism substantially increased beyond mere interest and he realized that if he really wanted to help people maximally he would have to learn to teach them to fundamentally change their thinking (in the Tibetan mythology this is a massive ontological shift) which would first require him to change his own thinking.
This became his priority in life and consequently he became a real estate broker. He already had a license from buying and selling his own home, and people would just show up and get him to buy/sell their homes. They recognized he operated with a core level of integrity and hired him without reservation. He never solicited a bit of business, set himself up so he didn’t have to work much (so he could practice with his teacher, go on retreats, etc) and made more than enough money to subsidize the lifestyle he wanted. In some ways a true ‘4 hour work week’.
I read the 4HWW and agree that it descends into a certain hedonism...kind of like an applied version of The Secret. And yet, depending on what one wants (I think this is really the crux of the matter: What Do You Want?...sound familiar?), this could be a brilliant use of technology. A way to subsidize altruism and philanthropy...a way to bankroll one’s spiritual or service pursuits.
Maybe the difficulty here is that people don’t know what they really want and so they get sold a bill of goods that allows them to continue believing that more toys or trips are the things most worth aspiring to.
Joshua Wayne on Monday, June 09, 2008Great post. I think the 4hr work week was targeted to a different segment of the market though. From your post it seems like that you have an option to not work and do whatever you want. However, I believe he meant to write his book for the ones that do work because that they have to do it. It his advice to free up your time from doing something you have to do to something you want to do.
James on Tuesday, June 10, 2008Tim Ferris is a snake oil salesman. there is no substance to his ideas. even on his blog he tries to con people. check out the post of adding 30pounds of muscle in 30days. a bunch of people read that and did exactly what he said to do and ended up pretty much the same. then some fitness experts weighed in and explained the con.
plus, look at the vid of him breaking the tango spin record...it is super lame. he just found a record that either didnt exist or was easy to break and now he can put that on his resume. he’s a con.
tommy on Tuesday, June 10, 2008Wow - great post! I think the 4 hour work week book is just a response to how bitter we are towards work and how much empty our lives are both in our jobs and outside of our jobs.
Jakob on Tuesday, June 10, 2008I have a job I enjoy, working for a company run by people I would not leave alone or as a group in a room with my wallet or anything else I valued.Unless I were there to guard it myself and even then I believe I might need to be armed a 4 hour work week sounds pretty good to anyone who does need to work.
Dean on Wednesday, June 11, 2008I hate the whole concept of the 4-hour workweek. It’s not sustainable and I agree with you - if you don’t want to work at your business, get a job and slack off on someone else’s dime.
Crooky on Wednesday, June 11, 2008Excellent! I am in the process of starting my own business, a bakery, because it is my passion and I love doing it. Living life day to day and being unhappy doing so isn’t what life is about. Have fun everyday, every hour, every minute. Thats what it is about. Fantastic read, thank you!
Zane on Thursday, June 12, 2008I think it’s interesting to here others views on this matter. I’ve found that a better book for discovering what one wants was “The Purpose Driven Life” which has been a best seller for years.
If I wanted to know why something was made, I’d refer to the manual, Right? Well we as human beings were created for a purpose but many times look everywhere except to Emanual. The Bible.
http://www.RZIM.com - is a great resource for an honest sceptic.
Have a Wonderful day everyone,
and God bless,
in Jesus Christ my Lord.
http://www.ControlHollywood.com
Josh Darville on Thursday, June 12, 2008Great post!
And the secret that many people don’t realize is that it’s possible to be very well rewarded for doing what you love.
Charlie Cook on Thursday, June 12, 2008Wow. I don’t think I want a four hour work week; I have too much fun doing what I do. I recently sold my event business and now I write and perform ceremonies (mostly weddings) full time. My clients are incredible, my work is flexible and creative, and I make reasonably good money. Most of all, my time is my own and I feel rewarded in freedom.
Part of being able to do what you love is not having huge expenses; Mcmansions, the latest car, lots of new clothes, even (for some of us) cable tv. It’s not a move towards deprivation, just a conscious choice to decide what is more valuable; 450 channels and a pair of Jimmy Choos or the freedom to do what you love. Seems like a pretty obvious choice, doesn’t it…
Celia Milton http://www.celiamilton.com
celia milton on Thursday, June 12, 2008Who will pick up the garbage?
Danny on Friday, June 13, 2008Great post - and I am in complete agreement. I believe that work is so beneficial to giving each of us a sense of accomplishment and achievement outside of our family life. It challenges us and makes us contribute something to this world. It should be one or the other, work and life can actually be good partners and the more people learn to try and like their jobs, the better the quality of their life will be.
Jeff Archer on Friday, June 13, 2008Jeff Archer
http://the-tonic.blogspot.com
I think Tim Ferris is consciously playing with a paradox. The real target audience of the 4-Hour Work Week is not people who don’t want to work; it’s people who love to work but find themselves twiddling their thumbs, doing busy work, and putting in face time for the majority of the day. I used to lament that I would be ecstatic if given the opportunity do 3 jobs like the slow-paced one I had in 40 hours, even for just twice the money.
Barbara Saunders on Monday, June 23, 2008Barbara, I am in total agreement with your post. I noticed the cause of this problem at my very first job, working for Wendy’s. Even when there was NOTHING to do, our manager had us “wiping the counter.” This meant we had to wipe a rag across the imaginary dirt on the counter for however long it took for the next customer to come in. The problem is that employers want to feel like they are getting their money’s worth. You’re on THEIR clock. What they don’t realize is that they would get fewer hours, but overall more productive employees by letting them be efficient and enjoy more breaks...or as you say above: more work/responsibilities.
Danny on Wednesday, June 25, 2008Great great post Michael. I wonder how long it’s going to take to break that stigma that work is work? If you are pursuing your passion in life and pouring yourself into something you believe in, you don’t really work a day in your life.
Ryan on Tuesday, July 01, 2008I love it when people like you take on the opposite point of view! Thank you.
Then I like to come in and support aspects of both sides. Tim had his own business, and loved it too much you could say - many of us entrepreneurs struggle with stopping each day precisely because we do love it, because we get immersed in it. So point one is that even with or perhaps especially with, a company/job you have poured your heart and soul into, there is a place for artificially imposed boundaries to help make room for *other* things we love. These actually can and do enhance the experience of the beloved work/company.
Secondly, as Rita said, some of this is marketing spin to get our attention. Clearly, Tim “works” more than 4 hours a week, and a key part of his strategy is being successful enough to pay VA’s and others to do a lot of his “work” for him. Nonetheless, because he has a dramatic story and a catchy title, and lots of specific actionables, he has opened up a new territory to enable each of to be more conscious about how we approach the day to day experience of our lives.
Roxanne Darling on Tuesday, July 01, 2008Thanks for starting this conversation Michael.
You make some great points. I think the title was what sold this book. I have it, read about halfway through- and let’s face it Tim works more than a 4 hour week- but as you say he does what he loves.
Are you writing the 17 minute work wee- yes i garre it would sell like hotcakes
Suzie Cheel on Tuesday, July 01, 2008On target, or as on target as a person who has never read the book can say.. My husband owns a small business to which I contribute heavily. I also work for an entrepreneur. I have always accomplished my “tasks” in less time than I was paid for, but only now do I find myself in a position where nearly everything I do has an underlying current of, “How will this apply to the business,” my passion.
What I remember from growing up was the adage of “doing what you love,” seems like that is the answer, whether the end goal is money, weight loss or notoriety.
Amanda on Tuesday, July 01, 2008This is one of your best blogs yet. It can be enormously frustrating to encounter ‘entrepreneurs’ who care more about the ‘flip’ than what they are doing in the 1st place. I don’t know why any VC would fund a company where the founders aren’t passionate about what they are doing.
William D. Volk on Tuesday, July 01, 2008Word!
michael daehn on Tuesday, July 01, 2008Michael, I have just come across your blog and wanted to say how engaging it is. I love the writing style. Great work.
ed green on Wednesday, July 02, 2008Internet Marketing for Local Business - Local Advertising - Small Business Marketing
The 4HWW presumes that no work is enjoyable, and most of the commenters here are happy to disprove this, as I would myself.
However, there’s also a danger that we presume that it’s a simple thing for everybody to find out what they love to do and work out how to get paid for it.
I have a number of good friends who would never say that they enjoy their job. But they do it for the same reason that we all took on paper rounds or odd-jobs in our youth, in order to finance the things that we do enjoy doing.
While trying to find the activity that will enable a person to enjoy work and still get paid for it, doesn’t it make sense to work as productively as possible, even though it’s unpleasant for some, in order to pay the bills and pursue that which does give pleasure?
The book was not written for people like us. If a person never finds something they enjoy which they can earn from at the same time, then suddenly ‘early retirement’ sounds quite appealing.
George Young on Thursday, July 03, 2008Wow! After reading the post and the first 10 or so responses I realized 90% of you missed the point (either you read the book too fast or you need to read it again).
1. Nowhere in the book did Timothy advise anyone to sell trash or do something they hated for a living.
All the examples… the French t-shirt guy, the yoga for rock climbing girl, his friend in Brooklyn NY music files/CD online business, even his own energy product business that used to consume more than 60 hours of his time each week he showed how he turned it around to 4 hours each week.
2. At no point did he tell anyone to go and live a wasteful life.
He only showed you an example of what he did with his life… Trained to become a pro-ballroom dancer, become a Karate champion, speak several languages, etc, all with the freedom of being able to go to the best (or ideal) places in the world to learn to do each effectively.
3. And last but least he even came up with a new term “Muse” to call it...(NOT Buisness) and stressed more than once in the book that it was not the “end all, be all” for anyone. He eluded to starting a business to “save the world” when you have the emotional, financial and time freedom to pursue it.
As exampled by his friend in Brooklyn New York who was working on a huge upcoming project and was/is involved with may other lucrative projects including “LimeWire.com” with a partner.
He also mentioned having more than one muse. His book to me may be his third or so muse as he did/do have a TV show in China or Japan (it’s unclear if it’s still running).
I am following his lead and am at my beginning/testing stages of my first official muse that I speak about briefly in my blog. I also have a few legitimate businesses I’ll be starting soon too but a muse will give me the opportunity to quit my current part time job PLUS the start up funding for my upcoming businesses.
Let me end by saying Timothy is a genius. His book is brilliant. I am happy he shed light on this for me because growing up I knew there had to be a better way than the 9 - 5 or working long hours in my own business I used to love.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say my piece.
Future RPM millionaire
S. A. Williams on Thursday, July 03, 2008REFRESHING! Thank you!!
Shane on Thursday, July 03, 2008For sure! TF never even said he disliked his job. He just wanted to see if the whole situation could be improved by focusing on the profitable parts and outsourcing the rest. Kind of like a “real” company is structured. His results were positive, his productivity increased.
As to everybody wanting a 4 hour work week...nah. They’d sure like to lop 20 hours off the 60 hour week though.
Maybe the original book title was “The 85 hour work week” ...but never found an audience.
Chas on Sunday, July 06, 2008Great post!
Still, I think 4 hours a week is a dream for many entrepreneurs. I expect some could achieve that work time.
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Daniel on Thursday, July 17, 2008Work is not work if you are enjoying it, that’s the secret to the 4 hour work week! It’s work if you hate it, passion if you love it. So the 4 hour work week is where you fill in your account book or call/answer the phone.
MarketingDeviant on Saturday, July 19, 2008I must say I liked the 4HWW and found there is some solid takeaway in it. For many non IT folks, it sheds a lot of light on the power of outsourcing.
I also agree with you Michael as I have to be doing something business wise that is an extension of who I am. Ferris’ book speaks to many people that are unhappy with their occupation on a simplistic level - borderline infommercial. It’s easy to sell ideas to people in disdain of their current life. However, reading it from a different perspective, I found it to be useful more than inspiring.
jon on Thursday, July 24, 2008He’s got an opinion just like your opinion and everyone else in the world. That doesn’t make his B.S. The fact is everyone has to find there own nitch and get a good break in life. If you love what your doing you’ll be willing to put as much time as needed in it, but if you hate what your doing you won’t spend 5 min. in a work week on it.
Brandon on Friday, July 25, 2008Michael,
I discovered you on my friend Chris Haddad’s website--and am looking forward to reading more of your work.
I have to admit I’ve not read the 4-Hour Work Week, although many people have recommended it. When I first saw Tim Ferriss’ website, I was appalled by, as you said, the underlying philosophy.
There’s something fundamental to work, something that allows us to be fulfilled as human beings. Work that has no meaning kills the soul. But meaningful work is enlivening, fulfilling. It makes us happy. It gives us purpose.
The language of work and play gets us all mixed up. A couple of years ago I said that I would no longer work. I play. And, there’s a relationship between some of the things I play at and the money in the bank account. It was a profound shift for me, and allowed me the freedom to design my life in a way that works for me, makes me happy, and allows me to make the kind of contributions that are most important to me.
And once that shift happened, I started spending a lot more time at things traditionally called “work.”
It seems to me that Tim Ferriss works or plays (however you want to describe it) very hard. The guy’s tangoing and dunking himself in ice water to test sleep patterns and writing books and skiing . . . that’s his work. Those are the things he does day to day, and some of them are related to that bank account. I suspect that all of them are related--they are all part of creating the brand and image of Tim Ferriss.
And that’s what he seems to be all about. Tim Ferriss.
Based on your recommendation on the tactics in the book, I’ll be picking it up this weekend. Thank you for your article, and I’m looking forward to reading more.
Barak Rosenbloom on Friday, August 01, 2008This isn’t going to be the most eloquent post every, but i think there will be some validity to it.
Let’s look at the facts.
(1) Tim ferris is a PRINCETON grad....and yes I know we’ve all heard the myth that “brains don’t matter”...it runs rampant in the entreprenuerial world...but brains do help things along - think google - they are no slouches. Perhaps Tim can do things that other people simply can not do. Much in the same way that Shaq can write a “how to” on basketball.
(2) Tim GAMES THE SYSTEM. That’s his personality. He’s all about shortcuts. At the end of the day, do you want to look at your life and say - wow, I shortcut my way through life. Don’t believe me? He brags about winning a very well-respected martial arts tournament by manipulating his body weight and taking advantage of a loophole in the system that allows him to toss guys out of the ring. So you’ve got guys who dedicated their lives to this sport - and tim comes in - analyzes a weakness. A business lesson? Yes. A good way to live your life? Questionable.
(3) Tim values adventure. He’s an adventure seeker. And that’s cool. But not everyone is, some people like comfort, safety and security. Not because they are oppressed by the man, but because they like to sit by the fireplace with their wife and know that money will be coming in twice a month. Is this tim’s personal philosophy? no. But is it right for him to group everyone who thinks this way as a victim? no. Does he? Well, yea, sorta…
(4) Tim’s big message is this. LIFE IS A RACE. Screw the process - just get results following my “life hacks”. Work sucks. Don’t grow up. Don’t get a job. Don’t save - spend - because you might die. If you want a sports car get one - don’t worry about that because (insert smartly crafted, hard to refute arguement #94). Think you really want to work? Think again. Look at me. I dance tango, lift weights, and travel using an american express. I don’t answer emails because im too busy figuring out how to beat martial arts masters, don’t bother me - i’m too busy figuring out how to launch my book.
(5) Oh an finally, i hate to say it but his fortune is in a bunch of pills that don’t work. I used to wrestle back in high school, i watched kids as they popped his pills and then wondered where their money (and results) went. Seriously.
At the end of the day I think you need to, as michael suggests, figure out what you are really all about.
At the end of the day tim ferris is an advocate of SURFACE LEVEL THINKING - he’s just personally a very good salesman, and sharp as a knife.
The choice is yours…
Apologies for the vitriolic nature of this rant.
Didn’t intend for it to get like this.
Ciao
David on Friday, August 01, 2008David Z
Hi, I run a SIA Training company in London, it’s a new start up, and I am doing pretty well. I read 4HWW and my thoughts are same, I spend alot of time doing what I do, start up businesses. I tried working 4 hours a week, but all I had on my mind was my training company.
In short, 4HWW will not be liked or disliked by all. Tim Ferris has embedded NLP and Time Management combined with his oursourcing knowledge.
Shahzad Ali on Monday, August 04, 2008Totally in agreement with you, most gurus just tell you a bunch of fluff to sell books. There’s no way in hell they’ll tell you the real stuff that would jeopardize their fortune, it’s that simple.
Naruto on Monday, August 11, 2008A wise man once told me that the key to entrepreneurship is finding what you love and doing that. The reasoning is that if you love what you are doing, you will be good at it. If you are good at it, you will make money. The key is to love what you are doing then it won’t even seem like work. In fact, once you find that passion, you will gladly spend more hours doing that then you ever did “working”.
My business revolves around helping people save money. I get great personal satisfaction from that and it doesn’t even seem like work when I can help somebody out.
Cheaper Texas Electricity on Sunday, August 17, 2008Work ethic my ass, sure find what you love. I would love to be a ski guide, but not 150 days a year. Ferris is talking about escaping a mind numbing job situation so that you can choose what to do with your time. You may even like your job, but when you become a slave to your job doesn’t the end result become the same, wouldn’t the freedom to choose be a nice option. Some of us have intrinsic joy without the constant drive to produce. It is OK to love, laugh, travel, experience, and give back to the world without always creating capitalistic circumstances.
Kirk on Monday, August 18, 2008I agree with Kirk. Tim attacks the fundamental paradigm that “what I do for money” and “how I spend all of my time” must be the same. For some people, making work from a passion or cluster of passions works well. (For most people, that is a step way up from making do with full-time work in a life shaped by others.)
I have found that the “right livelihood” paradigm still neglects other, perfectly reasonable configurations for life. In addition to Kirk’s example, there is: “Music is my passion, and I don’t want to be in the music business at all. I want to shape a life with writing music as front and center. My goal in work is simply to finance that, and ‘waiter’ won’t accomplish that.”
Whereas the mainstream view says that non-job can’t be front and center if you expect to be respected, the entrepreneurial/RL view tends to dismiss that position as “low self-esteem” or something, which I do not agree that it is necessarily.
Barbara Saunders on Monday, August 18, 2008I think Kirk was being a bit harsh. You do what you love, and if you really love it you do actually work a lot more than you expect. Plain and simple.
Sarah Meisner on Wednesday, August 20, 2008A 4 hour work week sounds great, but if you don’t find something to fill your time you will just get bored with your life. I think that was the point.
Lowest Electricity on Sunday, August 24, 2008I wanted to own a consultancy service in a village and MoneyLIFE, India’s topmost Personal finance magazine supported me, gave me confidence.
Thanks to MoneyLIFE.
http://www.moneylife.in
Madhavi on Monday, August 25, 2008Micheal,
GIS Outsourcing on Monday, September 08, 2008Really inspiring well written post where complex ideas are in a very understandable way.
Regards
GIS Outsourcing in India
http://www.sblgis.com/about_us.aspx
Four hours a week of working. I just want to get down to four hours a day. I am not much of a worker and never have been. I guess you could say I am lazy. That’s my goal four hours a day, then three and I am going to stop with 2 hours. Hey, even I can do 2 hours a day and then go play golf. I think!
Bill on Saturday, September 13, 2008Something is better then nothing, this is what i observed from this, This is good, i like michael approach of this presentation. Great stuff!!
1z0-042 on Sunday, September 21, 2008“For years, we have been taught that work is something you have to do ... so that you can do what you really want while you are not working.”
I strongly agree with you Michael.
How to become a millionaire on Monday, September 29, 2008When you do what you love there is no such thing as work!! The ultimate time during a person day is doing what you love to do.
Great post!! Great Blog!!
Zurvita on Saturday, October 18, 2008The best thing to come out of the book for me was the question “Are you being productive, or just busy ?” The 4 hour Week gets peoples curiosity by the title along, which is smart marketing by Timothy Ferriss even if you don’t agree with the book.
Khaled on Saturday, November 01, 2008I used to be a very highly paid consultant to large corporates on their business systems. It was quite dry work, and I deliberately took about three months a year off wherever possible. I’d potter about, tidying up the house, going on day trips and so on, but after a while the novelty of doing nothing wears off.
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Very helpful in my SIA license training company
SIA License Training on Tuesday, November 04, 2008I’m have been working 20 hours a week for the last 2 years and are currently working 10 hours a week, I have been developing myself and are now on an esoteric path.
SK on Thursday, November 13, 2008My goal is to start several online sites that I can manage from anywhere in the world while I travel and educate myself further in the esoteric path.
If I could work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I would I love what I do , my wife and family do come first thou.. and apparently if i don’t get a least 5 hours sleep a night I’m a nightmare to work with.
DaveN
Dave on Thursday, November 13, 2008Great stuff!I think this blogs contain interesting points. Thank you Micheal.
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