My Thoughts on “The 4 Hour Work Week”
Last month, I ordered a lot of finance related books from Amazon so that I can boost my financial education and pass this onto you all. My latest read has been “The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Timothy Ferriss.
Timothy Ferriss is an American entrepreneur who didn’t like the traditional way of working and felt that the 9-5 job was unnecessary.
He has written several books following a similar premise, but I thought that I would start with his bestseller “The 4 Hour Work Week.”
I currently work a 9-5 as an accountant, although I have flexible hours so it’s more of an 8-4! I was extremely curious as to how you could possibly reduce a full working week down to just a few hours, and after reading “The 4 Hour Work Week” it is clear that I cannot.
Outsourcing
The main ways that Tim suggests you can reduce your workload are by outsourcing meaningless, repetitive tasks such as emails and phone calls. This is a great idea and looks at using cheap freelancers on sites such as Fiverr, but unfortunately I can’t do this due to the sensitive nature of my job.
If you worked in other office jobs, this may well be possible for you to do. However, if not then there are loads of other great tips that Tim brought up.
Email batching
This is something that I have tried to do since reading the book, and it works wonders. Effectively, stop checking your emails every five minutes and interrupting your workflow to reply to them. Instead you should set a few times a day that you will check emails and only in this timeframe do you reply.
If something is more urgent, you can screen them through a notification on your computer or the sender will call you.
Working abroad
Now that the majority of the UK (myself included) have been working from home for nearly 1 year, it is clear to see the huge benefits - from a lie in to always being in for a parcel delivery.
Tim discusses how easy it is in a modern world to work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection.
With it looking like we will never fully go back to office working, I think that this is definitely a possibility and I don’t know about you, but if I was able to do my work in a Mediterranean villa with an outdoor pool that sounds like a dream come true.
Thoughts
Whilst the tips that Tim gives in the book may not be applicable to everyone, there sure are some incredible ideas which will really make you step back and think for a minute.
For me, the idea of working and living abroad for a month is something that I really want to explore in the future and hope that I will, one day, be able to jump into a pool on my lunch break.
Whether you want to start a business, or just want a fresh perspective on life, I would recommend this book to you.
This is the first book review of many to come, and if I don’t think a book is worth reading I will tell you.
Favourite Quote
“Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas.”
-Paula Poundstone
Useful links
“The 4 Hour Work Week” on Amazon
Listen to the audiobook for free with a 30-day free trial of Audible
Next on the list - Rich Dad Poor Dad
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