The 4-Hour Work Week

Product Description

The New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Body shows readers how to live more and work less, now with more than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, or earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:
• How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week
• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
• How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”

The new expanded edition of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek includes:
• More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point
• Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating e-mail, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than $8 a meal
• How Lifestyle Design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times
• The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either

Features

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Top Reviews

terrible for starting your own business and living your life
by Sam (1 out of 5 stars)
August 1, 2018

The author attempts to promote his working lifestyle for the reader broken down in four steps. I have to start by sayings this book is written at a very low reading level and a lot of needless filler.

The author breaks it down in four steps D E A and L

D is for definition and is probably the only part of the book of any substance. If you're under 23, naive, and never stand up for self you might get something out of it. It's mostly work mindset a lot of people have developed over a year or so in the work world.

E is elimination which is his time management section. Honestly there is some good advice , however,there are way better books on the topic. He advocates the low information diet which basically being willfully ignorant.

A is for automation. In this section he advocates for first automating/ outsourcing as much in your life as you can to save time and money.

But the main focus is setting up a business online that sells things of little value very overpriced and attempting to automate that. Having worked in online marketing, I can tell you the information here is outdated, vague, and not very thorough. If you want to set up a business online I would recommend reading a different book. He also advocates calling yourself an expert and teaching courses on topics you have no authority in. Ultimately, this is where the book falls apart as this is his central way to live the four hour work week, which if you take a look at his own life he isn't living that way.

For L is for liberation and I took his low information diet and stopped reading.

Conclusion: this book is for naive, weak, dummies who hate their jobs and will take any terrible advice to give them hope. Ultimately this book is like his own online business which sold a product of little value he wasn't an expert in. Which is what this book is.
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Read the negative comments...
by N. Gramlich (1 out of 5 stars)
January 31, 2019

They will tell you all you need to know.

Even starting the first chapter, I could feel my BS-ometer beginning to wiggle upward on the scale. About the time I got to the outsourcing - where he proudly admitted paying someone $4 an hour to do his work for him - then read the "result" from one of his readers where he (a chef) was able to hire some brown person to cook for him at $5 a meal... (leaving me to wonder if that chef would happily work for $5/hr to cook for someone else) that's when I realized that this covertly racist and utterly lazy method of making/saving money went against my every moral fiber.

When I read parts of it to my husband, he shook his head and said it sounded toxic. Of all the other books you can read that will set your soul in the right place to earn money ("The Soul of Money" by Lynne Twist, "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown) - this one screams selfish, greedy, lying, and morally-bankrupt. Half of the stuff in here I can't even fathom working - outside of getting you fired. The concept of "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" irks me in so many ways - namely, that it takes a dire lack of respect to pull off. This book reeks of disrespect.

I'll end by saying - read those negative reviews if you want a really solid look into what this book is about. Into the recycling bin it goes.
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I Took The Author's Advice, In One Respect
by Jeffrey W. Fredericks (1 out of 5 stars)
September 18, 2017

An excerpt from the book:
"Practice the art of nonfinishing. This is another one that took me a long time to learn. Starting something doesn't automatically justify finishing it. If you are reading an article that sucks, put it down and don't pick it back up. If you go to a movie and it's worse than Matrix III, get the hell out of there before more neurons die. If you're full after half a plate of ribs, put the damn fork down and don't order dessert. More is not better, and stopping something is often 10 times better than finishing it. Develop the habit of nonfinishing that which is boring or unproductive if a boss isn't demanding it."

This book has no redeeming qualities. So, I've decided to put it down, and I won't be picking it back up. For this one bit of advice, I thank the author.

Maybe some people get something out of it. For me, it was a huge waste of my precious time. I like the concept of lifestyle design. I think it is a valid concept. However, his egocentric advice is useless to someone in a different stage of life. This book is NOT one size fits all.

I only hope I can get my money back.
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Flipped my thinking on its head
by All the things! (5 out of 5 stars)
August 29, 2018

I am honestly not entirely sure what to say about this book. The message is stop working harder, start working smarter. As a USA Today bestselling author with multiple number 1's under my belt, I wasn't completely sure how the advice in this book would apply to me, but actually, I came up with several ways to implement this without quitting writing (to move into sales) or hiring a ghostwriter. I was uncertain how to take my personal development to the next level before I bought this book. I'm now working more efficiently. I spent the last 2 months on a mini-retirement traveling the world with my husband, and my book sales are up on new titles. I am spending FAR less time on the little things and overall I feel like I have a positive plan going forward, which is exactly what I needed. If I ever meet Tim Ferriss in person I'd like to thank him.
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He claims his methods can be applied universally, but I'm not so sure.
by bookwormthemillionth (4 out of 5 stars)
August 15, 2014

I had heard a lot of people rave about this book before I finally picked it up and decided to read it for myself. I'm glad that I read it, but I don't think it was quite as life-changing for me as it was for some of my friends. Don't get me wrong, Ferriss makes some excellent points and he's got some really great tips and tricks in here, I'm just not sure how universal they really are.

First of all, when I picked up the book, I didn't expect that he was literally working only four hours a week. I thought he was just talking about ways to spend less time working, but that "The 4-Hour" just sounded good (since he now has a whole line of books with titles that start that way). Nope. Turns out he really only worked four hours every week for a few years. I hate him. Now, with his series of books and everything, that's not true so much, so I hate him less. Now his job is much more similar to what I actually want to do.

As I said, Ferriss has some great ways of eliminating clutter and busywork, including things you don't even think of as busywork. I've already started implementing some of these tips at work, and they've come in pretty handy so far. I keep meaning to get rid of a bunch of my physical clutter, but my laziness keeps getting in the way of that. I'll get around to it in the next few weeks.

I also appreciated his philosophy of taking mini-retirements throughout life, rather than one long retirement at the end of life. I never did understand the point of retirement, so Ferriss's plan sounds much more appealing to me. As he put it, retirement should be nothing more than a fail-safe in case something happens and you are physically (or mentally) incapable of working. My thoughts exactly.

My main problem with his philosophy is that it really only works if you have a product that you are not actually making, but that you can sell. For example, even if I were to quit my day job and write all day every day, I would still be working a lot. Granted, that would make my job a whole lot more portable, but I could never get away with only working four hours per week (at least not until after I sell that bestselling novel, which is such a realistic plan!) In order to do it his way, I would need to have something that is already produced, or that someone else is making (clothes, dietary supplement, etc.) where all I have to do is collect the money that comes in from those sales.

Of course, that's a lot harder than it sounds. His ways of eliminating the useless from his life are really quite impressive, and not to be underestimated, but I still wonder if someone in their twenties, who is just starting out in life, can really make his plan work? Some of his success stories include people negotiating working remotely, because they have built up value in their company. Someone who has only been working at their current job for a year or two does not have the kind of leverage necessary to do that.

Additionally, he talks about the trick to getting out of your job so you can go have that great once-in-a-lifetime adventure. He mentions considering the worst-case scenario and the fact that worst-case is not necessarily all that bad. One of his points he brings up is that, if he loses his job, he can get another one fairly easily. Well, great for him, but the original book was written before the job market collapsed, followed by this lovely "jobless recovery". I was recently unemployed for eight months and it was not fun. I, too, thought I could get another job within a few months, but that did not turn out to be the case. So, if I go spend all my money on a mini-retirement now, and then come back only to find that I can't get a job for another year, I'll be screwed. Yes, even that worst-case scenario isn't that bad. I could always move back in with my parents, but I'd really rather not. I love them, but they have enough to deal with right now, and the last thing I want to do is burden the people around me because I decided to go globe-trotting for a few months. Timothy Ferriss told me it would be fine!
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A bit outdated in my opinion but great to spark an ideal
by Rudy (3 out of 5 stars)
October 20, 2018

The book was originally published over ten years ago and I feel like it needs to be revised to our current times. Although the book does give some helpful and original tips on passive income, I feel like it is more of an inspirational book that sparks the mentality of becoming part of the new rich (as the author refers to the people that have four hour workweeks) rather than a book on how to become part of the new rich. I felt like the book was elongated unnecessarily at the beginning telling you stories and things you don't really care about and it is not until midway through the book where actual substance is provided. The book gives challenges to the reader at the end of each chapter that are a bit corny in my opinion but I think it's a good attempt to try to connect with the reader and engage him or her on taking action. Overall I think this book won't give you a four hour workweek lifestyle but I believe it could get you started thinking about it and setting it as a goal and/or making it believable that anybody can achieve this. I think it would be an amazing gift to someone young with an open mind who is mature enough to realize that the only way to success is hard work but who is also wanting to work smarter not harder.
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The main ideas are still really applicable, but most content is super dated and no longer useable
by K. (3 out of 5 stars)
September 26, 2018

I just bought this because I wasn't an adult when it first came out. Now I've read it. The ideas are still appealing, and it is cool that this books and others like it started the huge wave of digital nomads and digital entrepreneurs, so the main big ideas in the book are still super useful. But about half the book is the content after the chapter to help you get solid steps to implement it, and almost all of those steps go with now defunct companies or otherwise stuff that you can no longer do. So the book now has like half the value it once did. It's still a handy resource and I did like it, but I'm bummed even the revised parts are a little too dated to apply too much. So I still like it but it's not as life changing as more recent books on starting a business online and being more efficient in your work tends to be. You'd probably be better off using this as just a companion to Tim's podcasts.
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Practical, but use discernment
by Out Dorsie,Top Contributor: Camping (5 out of 5 stars)
November 28, 2017

This book can be controversial if you don't discern. Yes, some of the tips given in the book sound amazing but not realistic (or legal in some situations), but that's where your gotta use critical thinking skills (or common sense) to determine what works best for you.

I value efficiency, and this book encompasses that. Great, easy read. High re-readability too.
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A Disjointed Mess of Pep Talk, Quotes, and Life Hacks
by Zeppelin (1 out of 5 stars)
August 30, 2015

Several chapters in, Ferriss recommends that you not be hesitant to walk out of a bad movie or to put down a book you are not enjoying - - so I did.
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Bursting at the seams with value, actionable steps and motivation
by Chris (5 out of 5 stars)
July 29, 2018

I have never read a book that has been so action-packed with useful information, great case studies, and general content that makes me change my mindset on multitude facets of life. My copy is marked up extensively with highlighter, notes in the margins, etc, and for good reason.

If you work to understand and apply what it taught/revealed in this book, it will change your life. Even if you don't achieve the 4-hour workweek, there will be many distractions and overall negative aspects of your life (both professional and personal) that will be switched off, and you will (no exaggeration) live a better, more fulfilling life.

I cannot recommend this book enough especially to entrepreneurs (whether just starting out or seasoned vets).

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