Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweek

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

Written by Timothy Ferriss in 2007

Synopsis: Expanded from the eponymous blog, The 4-Hour Workweek proposes a lifestyle of multiple mini-retirements, exercising the freedom that most people think they must accumulate millions to buy, and explains how to reach it through working from anywhere, hiring cheap personal assistants, and regaining lost time by saying no and reading less.

Review: The content of this book can be summarized by the fact that Tim Ferriss was dubbed Wired magazine’s “greatest self-promoter in the world” the year after its release, an accolade which Ferriss mentions in newer editions. The 4-Hour Workweek reads as an advertisement for itself. Its chapters are literally interrupted by testimonials from blog readers describing energetically but very vaguely the success they accrued from applying that chapter’s ideas. Additionally, Ferriss uses every opportunity to describe his international adventures, way past the usefulness of his implicit pitch that you can travel like him too if you follow the book’s advice.

I could look over the attention-seeking tone if I trusted the author’s roadmap to success. Unfortunately, Ferriss’ path to joining the “new rich” is only open to the currently rich. Although the author claims that applying his methods as an employee rather than an entrepreneur is possible—just more difficult—the reality is that few companies allow a WFA policy for many reasons, including unchangeable sensitivity of the work itself or incompatible timezones, and that hiring Indian personal assistants for responsibilities that you are being paid to do will get you fired once you are found out. Ferriss’ toolkit seems genuinely helpful for a leader of an already successful business and/or large passive income stream. If you are not part of this demographic, however, you gain nothing from reading this.

Strengths:

• There is one vital idea to take from this book, and it is to reframe our desires from “I need a profitable, long-term career to do X” to “I want to do X. What do I need to make that possible, and what first step can I take today?” Especially given the lower cost of living in other countries, not all of our wild dreams are as unattainable as we may assume.

• There is merit to Ferriss’ advice for a low-information diet. I believe it works better in the short-term, more along the lines of Kyle Eschenroeder’s “Input Deprivation Week.”

Weaknesses:

• It would have been unreasonable to provide a comprehensive guide to starting a successful business in one chapter. Ferriss should have acknowledged that instead of leaving the chapter as a “try this one secret!” theory.

Rating: 8/20 minutes spent on email per week

Ideal Setting: Pick up this book when you tire of fanning yourself with your extra cash.