Is it REALLY Possible to Work 4 Hours A Week and Live the Life of Your Dreams?
July 29, 2007
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I’m sure you’re well aware of the hype around Tim Ferriss‘ nationally best-selling book, The 4 Hour Work Week; I keep hearing about it from different people so I decided to investigate a bit this weekend. No, I didn’t buy the book yet–but after watching several interviews of Ferriss, I’m certainly intrigued. Aren’t YOU? If anyone needs to figure out how t
o run a 200 person company (like Ferriss does) on 4 hours a week, it’s us Women Entrepreneurs! What amazing lives we all live that suddenly become even MORE productive, MORE rich, MORE adventurous, MORE enjoyable, and LESS stressful!
Before I go any further I have to say that Tim Ferriss (age 29) is truly inspiring because he’s creating the life he wants to live– every inch of it, on every continent, with every Tango step (yes, he’s a Guinness Book of World Record holder in the most Tango spins in a minute (37!), see the video on Regis and Kelly). He’s been a actor on a hit Chinese Soap Opera, competed in multiple sports in different countries, speaks 6 languages, lectures at Princeton, and has a company with 200 employees in San Jose…(and ladies, if you want to know… he’s single too).
I’ve read a few reviews about the book that say it’s fine for businesses “without competition” to outsource (one of his major premises is to hire people who you can pay less than you earn to be “you” essentially–to send your emails, to take your calls, to do your errands, to sell your products, etc. so you only handle the absolutely essential tasks. Tim has around 20 of these people that work in Canada, India, and Hong Kong), however some argue that those of us who have to compete day to day to get business and keep it, then it won’t work. However, I’d bet Ferriss would argue that they just need to find stellar people whom they can trust to keep things moving along. He says even people with a bootstrap budget can afford to outsource.
From what I gather it appears that Ferriss isn’t saying that it is REALLY possible for every single one of us to live like he does (essentially doing business from wherever he pleases and working on a very minimal basis), but he’s challenging us to THINK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN CUT OUT AND WHO WE CAN HIRE TO FREE US UP so we can enjoy life more and only do what is absolutely essential.
Want to know more of his philosophies? Ferriss also is dead set against “information overload” and checking email in the morning. He suggests creating auto-responders to your email (but not for ecommerce/sales; you need to hire a rep for that) that says something like “thank you for your email, I check my email twice a day at 11am and 4pm” or if you can, just once a day or even once a week! He also is anti-Blackberry’s (and iPhones, I’m afraid) where you can check email 24/7 and believes that the car should be time away from clients and work…it used to be that sacred space where people could transition from home to work and work back to home without the two interfering–personal time. Sounds good to me. What about the commute time from bedroom to livingroom? (hahaha!)
He’s also supports “Single Tasking” where you are focusing on one project at a time. One study he referred to in his interview was from Kings College where they did a test and someone who was multi-tasking stored 6 points LOWER than someone who was stoned!! Yikes. I’m a die-hard, addicted multi-tasker…but I will be the first to say that I’m at my best when my kids are asleep and I’m alone focusing on one task. Perhaps it would be smart to just give “the 4 hours a week” a whirl and cut out all of the extra stuff I try to do while they are running around me in the playroom.
Ferriss advocates creating “dreamlines“…figuring out what life would be like for you at your IDEAL and making steps each day, week, month towards those goals. You can download a free dreamline template here.
Today’s Magic Wand: Tim Ferriss’ would love our tagline at Start Up Princess, Make a Wish, Make it Happen, he writes:
Consider the question: What would you do, day-to-day, if you had $100 million in the bank? If still blocked, fill in the five “doing†spots with the following:
1 place to visit
1 thing to do before you die (a memory of a lifetime)
1 thing to do daily
1 thing to do weekly
1 thing you’ve always wanted to learn
Ferriss says it really IS possible to live the life of your dreams and work minimally and STILL get great results! I’m up for trying…anyone out there want to try with me? Let’s read the book and figure out how to do it!
After hearing about the 4-hour workweek from a few trusted friends and clients, I too decided it was time to see what it was all about.
What I found was a great read that can shift your paradigm about work. I immediately challenged all of my mastermind program clients to read the book and they loved it.
Here is the “rub” though. In my world my clients actually love what they do. It’s not just about the $$ so getting them to actually create time to enjoy their life is a different kind of challenge — they LOVE what they do too much!
So I loved the book and it reinforced much of what I already teach in my Virtual Team Building Secrets programs. I really enjoyed that he found innovative ways to tackle outsourcing (which I found to be spot-on but hard to actually get into now that the book is so popular.)
Here is what I teach the entrepreneur’s in my programs:
Decide what you want your lifestyle to be like and build a business to support it.
Most people do the oppposite — create a business first then try to fit their lifestyle into it. Doesn’t work that way!
Enjoy the book!
Melanie Benson Strick
The Entrepreneur’s Success Coach
http://www.virtualteambuildingsecrets.com
http://www.successconnections.com
Thanks for the comment and visit, Melanie! Sounds like you have a great company! I like your philosophies. Makes sense.
I skimmed most of the book today…loved it so far. He’s really challenging me to reinvent how I work and how I do business, I love it.
I have to agree with Melanie as well. In fact I recently answered a question about this in a blogathon. For people to want to work only 4 hours a week they need to know what they want to do with the rest of their time - many don’t. And I have to admit I love what I do. My husband’s talking of retirement from his job but I can’t say I want retirement from what I’m doing. I’m already doing what I want to do.
That’s great that you enjoy what you do so much! I love to hear that from Start Up Princesses. You’ve created a life you love…one of Ferriss’ points is encouraging people to have “mini-retirements” each year so that they continue to love what they do and not get burnt out on it.
Personally summer’s been a great renewal time for me. I’m severely limiting work right now and depending on assistants to help me so I can spend more time my kids who are really young. I hope it’s not just going to be a summer thing so I can implement MORE of Ferriss’ concepts into my lifestyle so I develop and manage the aspects of my business that I LOVE and get help with the rest.
Thanks. Hubby and I make sure we have regular 3 day weekends throughout the year so we can get away - he goes mountain bike riding and I read, write and plan, I like the time away to concentrate on other things. We have a holiday coming up shortly to go overseas to visit a daughter and we are looking forward to that.
And just this year I started taking Fridays off from my normal activities so I could spend time on my other love - writing!
This book was just recommended to be a few days ago and I ordered it, can’t wait to read it and see what I think!
Kathie, sounds like a wonderful life!
Heather, let’s chat about this when you’re done!
At the moment I’m creating a “dreamline” (what Ferriss calls planning for dreams) to make some more of my life wishes happen.. New Zealand is calling us. Kathie, aren’t you in Australia? Sounds like we could have a Start Up Princess Networking Tea Party!
Yes, I’m in Australia. Melbourne to be exact.
I am all for seeing how you can work smarter rather than harder and TOTALLY agree with Melanie’s lesson of building a business around the life you want. I did that and was able to be there for my kids while I grew a successful business.
But honestly, if you’re not working because you love what you do, you are doing something wrong. I cased out of my business two years ago and tried that ‘retired’ thing and was BORED. The perfect work week for me turns out to be around 20 hours with extra time reserved for philanthropic projects of interest.
I believe God gave me skills and talents NOT so I could sit on the porch and sip margaritas or go mountain climbing (though I am all for getting away and relaxing!). I prefer to continue to use the gifts I have been given to make the world a better place. To me, that IS the life I want to lead.
Amen! Love that comment, thanks Fairy Godmother Julie!
In favor of Ferriss I do have to say after skimming most of the book this week, he seems to be encouraging people to do exactly what they are passionate about…maybe you can write that book you’ve always wanted because your business is so outsourced you can get to it…or maybe you want to learn another language (he knows 6) so your business is running itself so effectively because of the systems in place that you can take a month to go to Italy and learn Italian firsthand. He’s just telling people don’t slave your life working 60 hr work weeks and then “retire” when your older and don’t have great health, etc. He wants people to break it up along the way…I think it’s healthy. I don’t think Ferriss promotes slacker lifestyles, rather living the life of your dreams at every age…not just “when I’m retired I’ll finally write my book,” etc. No Regrets.
That’s why I am doing what I’m doing Julie. Using the skills God gave me and running a business He directed me into and sharing of my knowledge and experience to mentor and guide others. I love what I do with a passion and know I’m where I’m supposed to be.
I have just started my website and blog although I have been a Nutritional Consultant for 9 years and an Aromatherapist for 14. This actually helps me contribute my gifts to the world and lets me be with my children as well as having time to stop and smell the roses. I love everything I do and life is good. Next year I am hoping to go to Dar es Salaam where my Mum lives (last visited 14 years ago) and to Zanzibar where my brother has a hotel. Definitely on my dreamline.
Fatma
http://www.loverawfood.com
http://www.ahlanpalace.com (my brother’s hotel)
Start Up Princess Fatma!
Thanks for introducing yourself and sharing your dreams…your business sounds wonderful (I love raw food too!) You might like to meet member, Raw Melissa http://www.rawmelissa.com, she’s here in Utah. Also, your brother’s hotel looks amazing, I’d love to visit someday!
I’ll be in touch.
Make a Wish, Make it Happen,
Kelly
Thank you for your wonderful welcome. I am so glad to know you love raw food
I will get in touch with Melissa. My brother has put so much love in every detail of that hotel including the staff. His theme goes so well with your princess theme. He wanted to name the rooms after princesses but now they have names of precious stones and crystals. May your wish come true.
Fatma