The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated) [Hardcover]

Timothy Ferriss (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 15, 2009

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, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, 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

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador. This will be huge."
—Jack Canfield, Co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, 100+ million copies sold

"This is a whole new ball game.  Highly recommended."
—Dr. Stewart D. Friedman, Director of the Work/Life Integration Project, The Wharton School

"Stunning and amazing. From mini-retirements to outsourcing your life,
it's all here. Whether you're a wage slave or a Fortune 500 CEO, this
book will change your life!"
—Phil Town, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rule #1

"The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work?  A world of infinite options awaits those who would read this book and be inspired by it!"  
—Michael E. Gerber, Founder & Chairman of E-Myth Worldwide and the World's #1 Small Business Guru

“Timothy has packed more lives into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his 51.”
—Tom Foremski, Journalist and Publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher.com

“Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with family and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful
work.”
—A.J. Jacobs, Editor-at-Large, Esquire Magazine, Author of The Know-It-All

"If you want to live life on your own terms, this is your blueprint."
—Mike Maples, Co-founder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260M market cap), Founding Executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750M)

"Tim is Indiana Jones for the digital age. I've already used his advice to go spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina. Simply put, do what he says and you can live like a millionaire."
—Albert Pope, Derivatives Trading, UBS World Headquarters

“This engaging book makes you ask the most important question that you will ever face: What exactly is it that you want out of work and life, and why? Tim Ferriss is a master of getting more for less, often with the help of people he doesn't even know, and here he gives away his secrets for fulfilling your dreams.”
—Bo Burlingham, Editor-at-Large, Inc. magazine and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big

"Reading this book is like putting a few zeros on your income.  Tim brings lifestyle to a new level–listen to him!"
—Michael D. Kerlin, McKinsey & Company Consultant to Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and J. William Fulbright Scholar

"Part scientist and part adventure hunter, Tim Ferriss has created a road map for an entirely new world.  I devoured this book in one sitting–I have seen nothing like it."
—Charles L. Brock, Chairman and CEO, Brock Capital Group; Former CFO, COO, and General Counsel, Scholastic, Inc.; Former President, Harvard Law School Association

"Outsourcing is no longer just for Fortune 500 companies.  Small and mid-sized firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their productivity and free time for more important commitments. It's time for the world to take advantage of this revolution.”
—Vivek Kulkarni, CEO Brickwork India and former IT Secretary, Bangalore;Credited as the “techno-bureaucrat” who helped make Bangalore an IT destination in India

"Tim is the master! I should know. I followed his rags to riches path and watched him transform himself from competitive fighter to entrepreneur. He tears apart conventional assumptions until he finds a better way."
—Dan Partland, Emmy Award-Winning Producer; American High, Welcome to the Dollhouse

"The 4-Hour Workweek is an absolute necessity for those adventurous souls who want to live life to its fullest.  Buy it and read it before you sacrifice any more!"
—John Lusk, Group Product Manager, Microsoft World Headquarters

"If you want to live your dreams now, and not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!"
—Laura Roden, Chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of Start-up Entrepreneurs;Lecturer in Corporate Finance, San Jose State University

“With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal work week.”
—Tim Draper, Founder, Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Financiers to innovators including Hotmail, Skype, and Overture.com

"Tim Ferriss’s book is about gaining the courage to streamline your life… But even more than that, it challenges the reader to seriously consider an essential–yet rarely asked–question:  What do you really want from life?"
—Rolf Potts, Author of Vagabonding and Travel Columnist for Yahoo! News

"Tim has done what most people only dream of doing. I can't believe he is going to let his secrets out of the bag. This book is a must read!"
—Stephen Key, Top Inventor and Team Designer of Teddy Ruxpin, Lazer Tag; Consultant to “American Inventor”

About the Author

TIMOTHY FERRISS, serial entrepreneur and ultravagabond, has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Maxim, and other media. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a world-record holder in tango, a national champion in Chinese kickboxing, and an actor on a hit television series in Hong Kong. He is twenty-nine years old.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; Exp Upd edition (December 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307465357
• ISBN-13: 978-0307465351
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.5 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,584 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Business & Investing > Job Hunting & Careers > Guides
  • #6 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Motivational
  • #20 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Personal Transformation

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4,791 of 5,082 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars There's a Sucker Born Everyday ( MUST READ BEFORE PURCHASING!) January 11, 2011

By Hwan K. Lee

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The title and cover draws people in. 4 Hour Work Week, it's too good to be true. Then we read the first couple of pages, maybe the first couple of chapters. The first chapters are the typical motivational, "you can do it" montage. I'm not going to lie, I felt motivated to give this book a try after reading the first part of the book without even knowing what this book is all about. But as I began to get out of the fluff, and actually found myself reading the core subject of the book, I was utterly disappointed.

D is for Definition

In this section Ferriss tells us to do an important task: define what you want. And I agree that most of us live through life not knowing what we want; just following the crowd like a herd of sheep. This section was the motivational, make you feel good section. This wasn't the how, it was the why, and it downright made me pumped.

E is for Elimination
Okay, so he basically says to eliminate all the junk in your life. For example: watch less TV, don't check your e-mail 50 times a day, don't look at your phone 100 times a day, don't surf the web 3 hours a day, etc. It's all good advice, nothing too fancy, or new, just plain old, "don't waste your time" advice. So far so good.

A is for automation
This is where I ran in to problems with Tim's method of creating a "4 hour workweek". First he tells us to outsource a big chunk of our lives using a VA (virtual assistant) from India or Shanghai or wherever. Basically a virtual assistant is a person who assist you in everyday task (checking emails, making reservations, doing research for your job that you got hired to do,set up appointments, etc) so basically an online-personal assistant you hire for dirt cheap.... So if you are okay with some guy in India knowing your personal information (SSN, bank account number, phobias, any illnesses you might have, problems in life, and many more as Ferriss states) go ahead and outsource the things you can already do yourself to a guy in India you never met. But Ferris says that misuses of sensitive information are rare; well there could be bias behind that statement, but I'm not willing to find out if it's true or not. The irony of oustourcing your life is that you become dependent on your VA. You no longer have the urge to take control of your own life when it comes to paying bills, making reservations, or doing research for your job because your VA does it for you. So that's the paradox: out source your life, but become more dependent on a foreigner. And Ferriss quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson throughout his book as a motivational spice. But it's apparent that he never read "Self Reliance", the cornerstone of Emerson's philosophy. (Tim if you're going to use Emerson's words, how about not making a book that totally contradicts the philosophy of Emerson? Thanks).

A is for automation Pt. 2
Ferriss then goes on to tell us how we can make up to 40,000 dollars a month of automated income (little work). Basically you create a product and sell it. Plain and simple. He tells you to find a market, find the demographics of your product, make a product and sell it. Yup, your average entrepreneurship. It's nothing new, and Ferris is not an expert entrepreneur. He did have a company BrainQuicken which sells "Neural Accelerator" supplements. The site is 99% advertising and 1% scientific: It sells because it's precisely that. And the product that Ferriss started is not something revolutionary, I'll take my 200mg of caffeine before a workout any day than pay 50.00 dollars plus shipping for BrainQuicken. So if you want to make your own product, market it, sell it and make millions of dollars go ahead. Tim tells you exactly how, but what Tim doesn't tell you is that it takes a lot of work in the beginning, a lot more than 4 hours a week.

L is for Liberation
More like L is for not showing up to work, and being cynical. Now I'm against the 9-5 hours of work. I think that human beings are more efficient enough to get things done in a short period of time, and I believe that society is slowly catching on. But here's Tim's idea of "liberation". Escaping the office: not doing your job or worse, not showing up. Killing your job: quit your job. Mini retirement: take a month vacation every 2 months of work (or pattern that works best for you). Filling the Void: filling in the emptiness and the boredom you feel with fun stuff like becoming a horse archer, learning tango, and winning a fight championship by cheating.
So okay, let's say everything goes well: you are making 40,000 dollars a month, you are working no more than 4 hours a week... now what. Even Ferriss says that you will feel a void... well that sucks doesn't it? Why don't you go and talk to your VA about your problems?

Now obviously I'm against Tim's advertising methods, it's misleading. The book only sells because of the hope it gives 9-5 workers that it's possible. Oh, it's possible but unlikely. Tim is no Bil Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, or Clint Eastwood he is nowhere close to them. You see great testimonials from people from Yahoo!, Wired, Silicon Valley, and hell, from Jack Canfield about Tim's book, but not from people like Gates, Jobs, Buffett, Eastwood, or any other highly successful people, why? Because those four know that true success comes from years of hard work, and building lasting relationships with people. Those four know that decreasing your work hours, outsourcing your life, and making a tons of money is not the road to true happiness. Those four people, even if they read this book, will probably throw it in the fire. But for the cynical, "how do I work little and make tons of money" people out there (which is most of the population) this book will initially look like the next Bible. The fact that this book sold well says a lot about our society.

This is a misleading book, there are tons of other great books you can read for true success: Talent is Overrated (no BS way how people become great at what they do), 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (classic), and How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People... to name a few. Very few will read this review before buying, and more copies of this book will sell due to the cynical and lazy nature of people. Don't be one of those people, don't buy this book. Read more ›

472 of 532 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Long on fluff and short on substance December 21, 2010

By Read2Much

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like so many others, I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. The author actually follows a very predictable pattern used frequently by charmers that claim they can change your life or make you rich. The first half of the book builds you up by citing examples of success, then the second half provides vacuous information about how to outsource your life after you've made it, while never really providing you any usable information on how to "make it".

I can't imagine why this book is getting so many 5 star reviews. As others have stated, I also suspect that the author is somehow gaming the Amazon rating system. Forget the money, I wish I could get back the hours I invested in reading this book!

244 of 280 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars snake oil March 2, 2011

By ACE Innovations, LLC

Format:Hardcover

My review is based on the audiobook and I stopped listening at the conclusion of part 1 (of 2).

I had a bad feeling during the first part of this book - its blatant marketing to the reader (think infomercial) and it had me rolling my eyes. I stuck with it and then he got on to what was seeming like more practical information (80/20 rule, keep your focus on the important things, selective ignorance/information overload, etc).

Eventually the book took a big turn in to information products, affiliate marketing, making websites, passive income and how EASY that all is. This is when I knew the jig was up because I'm familiar with this subject. There is a small percentage of people doing this that are making very large sums of money, but its NOT easy and requires huge amounts of time, money, knowledge, and more. Contrary to the way the author characterizes these things, none of them are easy: SEO (search engine optimization), profitable affiliate marketing, profitable pay-per-click advertising, profitable website creation, profitable information product creation. I'd wager that the vast majority of newcomers to this business invest large amounts of time, lose money, and quit. In the end its just like any other business - if you want to succeed doing this kind of stuff, the "secret" is hard work and perseverance. My general advice though - find a better business.

The one piece of advice I can point to in this book is on page 92 under the heading, "Practice the art of nonfinishing" the author says, "Starting something doesn't automatically justify finishing it. If you are reading an article that stinks, put it down and don't pick it back up."

Don't feel obligated to finish this book should you start it.

632 of 734 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Outsourced content - practice what he preaches but at price. December 16, 2009

By javajunki TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

First of all, the book just arrived today and as per my verified purchase, you can see I've actually taken the time to read THIS version rather than only the first version like a couple of the early reviewers. Also, be sure to check out the number of reviews from some of the other reviewers...one review history...of this book only? I suspect that is a friend of the author. To that effect, it was a disappointment for those of us who actually purchased/read the first book and were expecting a lot of new information given the tough economy.

Long time four hour workweek fans are likely to be disappointed...looks like Ferris outsourced this entire book to someone who collected some interesting blog posts/testimonials and then corrected a few spelling errors in the last book. Readers deserve so much more! Seriously, although he is practicing what he preaches, isn't everyone sick and tired of being suckered by greedy people? I know I am...from bankers to dream peddlers, how about giving us our money's worth rather than simply adding the testimonials from readers plus a few added bits of inspiration.

This does indeed have over 100 pages of new content that makes the book much more substantial. The core of the book remains nearly the same as the first book...the additional 100 pages primarily consist of examples from others and testimonials taken from the blog. While these are certainly great additions - they don't change or update the core content. Former readers have little/nothing new to go on at a time when there is a need for even more (not less) REAL information. Not feel-good fluff....

New readers will absolutely want to purchase this version rather than the first version since it is packed with great examples, testimonials and other tidbits but prior readers will find very little additional value from reading this version. Bottom line - buy this book if you are new to his work. Former fans of the four hour work week should save their money as they will find little/nothing new. A major let-down to long time fans and blatant laziness that is an insulting cash grab.

For former readers that insist on ignoring this review and buying the new version anyway...you were warned. Like another reviewer said, "life is short"....why waste your time and money re-reading the same material twice. Want a life changing book? Go for one that has stood the test of time...Your Money or Your Life. Great stuff and no...I have no affiliation with those authors. Read more ›