Four 4- Hour Workweek Principles - The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss: Quick Book Summary

The title alone, along with the cover photo of a person lounging in a hammock among palm trees swaying in the wind, almost guaranteed best-seller status for this book. Who wouldn’t want to work for only four hours a week and still earn a very good living?  This book will deliver the implied promise for some people after they put in a lot more than four hours a week in planning, marketing, and preparation to set up an online business and after they find others to help them run it, but a 4-hour work week is probably not on the horizon for most people.  

Producing a product of value or a service of value will likely take up more than 4 hours a week of the creator’s time. Ferris acknowledges this. But once all the hard work is done and others can be put into place to manage the marketing and production of the product or service on a day-to-day basis, I think a shorter work week is a possibility for many.  Look at Richard Branson and all of his businesses. Certainly, he does not spend much more than four hours on any one of his many enterprises.  

In The 4-Hour Workweek, Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, Expanded, and Updated, (2009), Crown Publishers, Timothy Ferriss outlines how he was able to generate money from his business after he had largely outsourced day-to-day operations to others. Ferriss used this income to finance an exciting life of travel and adventures. But to his credit, Ferris acknowledges,”life is a cruel, hard, b*tch” [sometimes.]  This book has four parts. 

"D" is for Definition 

In part I, “D” is for definition, Ferriss defines his ideas on who the new rich are and how they differ from the old rich. For example, rather than having as a goal to retire early, a new rich principle is to have mini extended retirements throughout life instead of waiting until the end. 

"E" is for Elimination 

In part II, “E” is for elimination, Ferriss shares some tips that can be useful for everyone. For example, respond to voice mail by email, thereby training everyone to be precise. Also, there are some tips about how to avoid meetings that may or may not work. There are also some automation tools listed here that look interesting and useful. 

"A" is for Automation 

In part III, “A” is for automation, Ferriss discusses outsourcing and provides an important tip to a 4-hour work week: find a product you can get from manufacturers [preferably one that sells between $50 to $200] that can be drop shipped directly to customers and develop a good marketing plan to sell that product. As Ferriss observes, with cash flow and time, all things are possible and without them, nothing is possible. Also, Ferriss observes that filling an existing demand is easy but creating demand is far more difficult. Ferriss also shares some websites that offer help to people setting up a business [but this book was published in 2009 and at least one of these websites has changed names].   

"F" is for Freedom

In part IV, “F” is for freedom, Ferriss discusses ways to escape the office and find personal freedom. For some people, this will mean working at home, for others it may mean working in a remote location out of the country. After reading this book some people will want to quit their jobs and become self-employed. Ferriss offers strategies here that will help many different types of office workers obtain location freedom.  But my favorite tip was on packing lighter and what items should be brought for extended trips.  

In my opinion, this book is good because it can open your eyes to new ideas about time management and how to be more productive, even if you never achieve a four-hour work week. 

Rating $$$$ out of five.   Some will be able to put together a business and benefit from the ideas presented here but for most a 4-hour workweek will remain a fantasy.  But everyone can benefit from the time management ideas. Tim Ferris offers a summary of his book on YouTube if you are interested in learning more. 

Copyright @ 2016

This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the first link below. The second link is for the audio book  Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this review. Comments are welcome.  We have not received anything from the author or publisher in exchange for this review. This book was purchased, not a gift.