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The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Hardcover – April 24, 2007
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controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:
“I race motorcycles in Europe.”
“I ski in the Andes.”
“I scuba dive in Panama.”
“I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”
He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.
Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:
• 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 freuent "mini-retirements"
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office
You can have it all—really.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarmony
- Publication dateApril 24, 2007
- Dimensions5.79 x 1.09 x 8.54 inches
- ISBN-100307353133
- ISBN-13978-0307353139
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
TIMOTHY FERRISS is a serial entrepreneur, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and angel investor/advisor (Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Uber, and 20+ more). Best known for his rapid-learning techniques, Tim's books -- The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef -- have been published in 30+ languages. The 4-Hour Workweek has spent seven years on The New York Times bestseller list. Tim has been featured by more than 100 media outlets including The New York Times, The Economist, TIME, Forbes, Fortune, Outside, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and CNN. He has guest lectured in entrepreneurship at Princeton University since 2003. His popular blog www.fourhourblog.com has 1M+ monthly readers, and his Twitter account @tferriss was selected by Mashable as one of only five “Must-Follow” accounts for entrepreneurs. Tim’s primetime TV show, The Tim Ferriss Experiment (www.upwave.com/tfx), teaches rapid-learning techniques for helping viewers to produce seemingly superhuman results in minimum time.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
How to Burn $1,000,000 a night
These individuals have riches just as we say that we “have a fever,” when really the fever has us.
—seneca (4 b.c.–a.d. 65)
I also have in mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.
—henry david thoreau (1817–1862)
1:00 a.m. cst, 30,000 feet over las vegas
His friends, drunk to the point of speaking in tongues, were asleep. It was just the two of us now in first-class. He extended his hand to introduce himself, and an enormous—Looney Tunes enormous—diamond ring appeared from the ether as his fingers crossed under my reading light.
Mark was a legitimate magnate. He had, at different times, run practically all the gas stations, convenience stores, and gambling in South Carolina. He confessed with a half smile that, in an average trip to Sin City, he and his fellow weekend warriors might lose an average of $500,000 to $1,000,000—each. Nice.
He sat up in his seat as the conversation drifted to my travels, but I was more interested in his astounding record of printing money.
“So, of all your businesses, which did you like the most?”
The answer took less than a second of thought.
“None of them.”
He explained that he had spent more than 30 years with people he didn’t like to buy things he didn’t need. Life had become a succession of trophy wives—he was on lucky number three—expensive cars, and other empty bragging rights. Mark was one of the living dead.
This is exactly where we don’t want to end up.
Apples and Oranges: A Comparison
So, what makes the difference? What separates the New Rich, characterized by options, from the Deferrers (D), those who save it all for the end only to find that life has passed them by?
It begins at the beginning. The New Rich can be separated from the crowd based on their goals, which reflect very distinct priorities and life philosophies.
Note how subtle differences in wording completely change the necessary actions for fulfilling what at a glance appear to be similar goals. These are not limited to business owners. Even the first, as I will show later, applies to employees.
D:To work for yourself.
NR:To have others work for you.
D:To work when you want to.
NR:To prevent work for work’s sake, and to do the minimum necessary for maximum effect (“minimum effective load”).
D:To retire early or young.
NR:To distribute recovery periods and adventures (mini-retirements) throughout life on a regular basis and recognize that inactivity is not the goal. Doing that which excites you is.
D:To buy all the things you want to have.
NR:To do all the things you want to do, and be all the things you want to be. If this includes some tools and gadgets, so be it, but they are either means to an end or bonuses, not the focus.
D:To be the boss instead of the employee; to be in charge.
NR:To be neither the boss nor the employee, but the owner. To own the trains and have someone else ensure they run on time.
D:To make a ton of money.
NR:To make a ton of money with specific reasons and defined dreams to chase, timelines and steps included. What are you working for?
D:To have more.
NR:To have more quality and less clutter. To have huge financial reserves but recognize that most material wants are justifications for spending time on the things that don’t really matter, including buying things and preparing to buy things. You spent two weeks negotiating your new Infiniti with the dealership and got $10,000 off? That’s great. Does your life have a purpose? Are you contributing anything useful to this world, or just shuffling papers, banging on a keyboard, and coming home to a drunken existence on the weekends?
D:To reach the big pay-off, whether IPO, acquisition, retirement, or other pot of gold.
NR:To think big but ensure payday comes every day: cash flow first, big payday second.
D:To have freedom from doing that which you dislike.
NR:To have freedom from doing that which you dislike, but also the freedom and resolve to pursue your dreams without reverting to work for work’s sake (W4W). After years of repetitive work, you will often need to dig hard to find your passions, redefine your dreams, and revive hobbies that you let atrophy to near extinction. The goal is not to simply eliminate the bad, which does nothing more than leave you with a vacuum, but to pursue and experience the best in the world.
Getting Off the Wrong Train
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
—richard p. feynman, Nobel Prize–winning physicist
Enough is enough. Lemmings no more. The blind quest for cash is a fool’s errand.
I’ve chartered private planes over the Andes, enjoyed many of the best wines in the world in between world-class ski runs, and lived like a king, lounging by the infinity pool of a private villa. Here’s the little secret I rarely tell: It all cost less than rent in the United States. If you can free your time and location, your money is automatically worth 3–10 times as much.
This has nothing to do with currency rates. Being financially rich and having the ability to live like a millionaire are fundamentally two very different things.
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the “freedom multiplier.”
Using this as our criterion, the 80-hour-per-week, $500,000-per-year investment banker is less “powerful” than the employed NR who works 1?4 the hours for $40,000, but has complete freedom of when, where, and how to live. The former’s $500,000 may be worth less than $40,000 and the latter’s $40,000 worth more than $500,000 when we run the numbers and look at the lifestyle output of their money.
Options—the ability to choose—is real power. This book is all about how to see and create those options with the least ef- fort and cost. It just so happens, paradoxically, that you can make more money—a lot more money—by doing half of what you are doing now.
So, Who Are the NR?
qThe employee who rearranges his schedule and negotiates a remote work agreement to achieve 90% of the results in one-tenth of the time, which frees him to practice cross-country skiing and take road trips with his family two weeks per month.
qThe business owner who eliminates the least profitable customers and projects, outsources all operations entirely, and travels the world collecting rare documents, all while working remotely on a website to showcase her own illustration work.
qThe student who elects to risk it all—which is nothing—to establish an online video rental service that delivers $5,000 per month in income from a small niche of HDTV aficionados, a two-hour-per-week side project that allows him to work full-time as an animal rights lobbyist.
The options are limitless, but each path begins with the same first step: replacing assumptions.
To join the movement, you will need to learn a new lexicon and recalibrate direction using a compass for an unusual world. From inverting responsibility to jettisoning the entire concept of “success,” we need to change the rules.
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New Players for a New Game: Global and Unrestricted
'Turin,'Italy'
Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them.—Bill Cosby
As he rotated 360 degrees through the air, the deafening noise turned to silence. Dale Begg-Smith executed the backflip perfectly—skis crossed in an X over his head—and landed in the record books as he slid across the finish.
It was February 16, 2006, and he was now a mogul-skiing gold medalist at the Turin Winter Olympics. Unlike other full-time athletes, he will never have to return to a dead-end job after his moment of glory, nor will he look back at this day as the climax of his only passion. After all, he was only 21 years old and drove a black Lamborghini.
Born a Canadian and something of a late bloomer, Dale found his calling, an Internet-based IT company, at the age of 13. Fortunately, he had a more-experienced mentor and partner to guide him: his 15-year-old brother, Jason. Created to fund their dreams of standing atop the Olympic podium, it would, only two years later, become the third-largest company of its kind in the world.
While Dale’s teammates were hitting the slopes for extra sessions, he was often buying sake for clients in Tokyo. In a world of “work harder, not smarter,” it came to pass that his coaches felt he was spending too much time on his business and not enough time in training, despite his results.
Rather than choose between his business or his dream, Dale chose to move laterally with both, from either/or to both/and. He wasn’t spending too much time on his business; he and his brother were spending too much time with Canucks.
In 2002, they moved to the ski capital of the world, Australia, where the team was smaller, more flexible, and coached by a legend. Three short years later, he received citizenship, went head-to-head against former teammates, and became the third “Aussie” in history to win winter gold.
In the land of wallabies and big surf, Dale has since gone postal. Literally. Right next to the Elvis Presley commemorative edition, you can bu...
Product details
- Publisher : Harmony; First Edition (April 24, 2007)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0307353133
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307353139
- Item Weight : 14.9 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.79 x 1.09 x 8.54 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #145,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #208 in Time Management (Books)
- #17,850 in Self-Help (Books)
- #18,201 in Health, Fitness & Dieting (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Company‘s ‘Most Innovative Business People’ and one of Fortune‘s ‘40 under 40’. He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of four #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef and Tools of Titans. The Observer and other media have called Tim ‘the Oprah of audio’ due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 200 million downloads. Tim received his BA from Princeton University in 2000, where he focused on language acquisition and East Asian Studies. He developed his non-fiction writing with Pulitzer Prize winner John McPhee and formed his life philosophies under Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe. He is far dumber than both. Tim enjoys bear claws, chocolate croissants, writing ‘About’ pages in third person and neglecting italics.
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As an active business person and somebody who relies on distilled experience from people in the trenches (often in their books or courses) I wasn't resistant to this book. However, based on my already full schedule, I wasn't sure when I'd fit a thick book into my reading program.
After ten day, the title kept nagging at me. I wanted to just get into this book if for nothing else to grab some ideas from the TOC. I told myself if I just got one idea I could put the book down and move on. What I found was more than one great idea.
First, the book is a VERY good read. It flows well with a mix of Tim's personal experience and resources. It took me two extended reading sessions over a weekend to finish it.. and that led to some interesting results.
I was able to immediately apply some of the ideas for outsourcing and virtual assistance to get ideas started that had been put on permanent hold. Tim's ideas gave me great content to share with others and I ended up giving my copy to a friend in my Toastmasters group - just requesting a book report in return.
She read the book in about a day and a half and gave me a three-page email report. It was solid. She wasn't a total believer of 100% of the content or Tim's approach but really liked the possibilities the concepts made her think of. We discussed it over the weekend and it made for great conversation about outsourcing.. what "work" really means and why the career track is wrong in so many ways given the internet, a global economy, and a 24/7 way to get your products and services into people's lives.
I realized after talking to another friend that I had indeed already met Tim. Of course, it was prior to his book's release and we only had a few conversations while at another conference, but Tim is the real deal. He's not as intimidating as the choke-holds on his web site pictures might intimate. He's clearly confident, fit, and well spoken. And now having read his book full of experiences, I can see why.
How to read this book: Okay, if you've read this far, let me share a couple of ideas. 1. You don't need to make $40,000 per month and work only a few minutes each day to be successfuly and happy. (But, when you start doing what I like to call "Internet Math" you'll see why these numbers aren't really impossible.
Tim's ideas work for him and many WILL work for you - making you more productive while increasing your income and your enjoyment. Even just thinking about what's possible puts me in an enjoyable frame of mind.
2. Get through the book and share it with a couple of friends who want more than their current job offers. You'll know these people because they can't seem to feel content building somebody else's dreams. The ideas lead to very stimulating conversations that will expand what you believe is possible.
Don't dismiss the book because of the title. A four-hour work week is a very real possibility given an internet-based business. If you're not already part of this culture, you will need to invest (to speed up the process) and learn. But that's true if you want anything.
3. Realize that the 4-Hour work week does not mean don't work as much as it means work SMARTER. I'm sure Tim has lots of things he's working on that he absolutely loves.. and thus spends more than 4 hours each week in action. But it's likely not considered "work" in the labor definition.
"If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." Believe that.. let this book give you some ideas for that.
Finally, I think the book is in the wrong place in the bookstores. I found it on the Self-Help shelves in Borders. It should definitely be in the Entrepreneur or Business section - the publisher might need to re-classify.
At first, I wanted to keep this book a secret.. because some of the ideas seem so ... well.. valuable. Then I realized that if I shared the ideas with my friends, maybe we could all implement them and start some business projects that lead to us having more time to play. So far, I can say that it is happening. Thanks Tim for a brave title.
Being at one-time an adjunct college professor of Economics I was naturally intrigued by the notion of a four-hour workweek, as the title suggests. So I purchased this book and I read it. In the essence of this theme on abbreviation my short review is, "Don't buy it!" "Save your money."
If you want to know the reasons for my review read below:
In the spirit of the classic, and for our younger hipper readers `old school,' hustlers akin to snake oil salesmen Mr. Ferriss does a right fine job of adapting the techniques of yore to a new and fairly impressionable generation. The cure all? "Why step right up my friends and let me tell you about this new amazing concept of Breezing through life without ever really lifting a finger." In this case the sales pitch reads like a romp through an extreme sport, slacker dream come true, pseudo philosophical `seize the day' cursorily mention of details fairytale that it reminds me of a scene from the movie "Gladiator." Maximus is addressing the cavalry in the beginning of the movie just before a risky charge on the flank of the enemy, in this case the `Germanias.' He sits up in the saddle and says something like `Imagine where you will be a months' time and it will be so.' Or something about like that. Well Mr. Ferriss does no different. Except both fail to mention the huge casualty rates, in Maximus's gamble, or the utter impossibility of widespread success in Mr. Ferriss's.
The book is full of contradictions. `Cut back on Internet use.' But then he says to use the Internet. He spends a period of time telling "stories" of people who quit their jobs then gives rules on how to use your time in your cubicle wisely. Granted he may be saying not all can quit or want to quit their jobs and offering ideas on how to be more productive. But come on!! He uses quotes from a lot of famous hardworking successful people to justify his points. Most by my count could never have achieved the things they did in life if they followed his examples.
The most glaring thing he pointed out was he hired an assistant. (Now where did he get the money for that?) And tasked that person with buying stuff for him online. Now I can understand that if you're a busy executive sure, or the assistant to a busy executive hiring a personal valet, concierge or butler to run those `eat up your day' mind numbing errands sure makes sense. Mr. Ferriss boasts the wondrous achievement he made hiring an overseas assistant to order a toy for his child. Now the toy was a `tickle me Elmo' and it was apparently a much in demand product. The assistant could only find a `Chicken Dance Elmo' and ordered it. Mr. Ferriss commends the assistant on a wise move. Now let me break this down for you. He hired an assistant to look for a toy online that was in much demand the assistant got paid $20.00 USD per hour to do this and the toy cost about $20.00 USD and he didn't get the one he wanted. If the assistant spent three hours looking for this toy the total cost $80.00 USD. WOW!!! I need to set up an assistant business. Now lets address the fact that the toy purchased was not the one requested. Mr. Ferriss's simply answer is if you keep your expectations really low any type of success no matter how marginal is great.
I went shopping with my wife's brother's daughter (or another way of saying it our niece) and it was around springtime and the fall fashions were making way for the spring lines. We were in a fairly upscale mall and I was there for a specific purpose and she came along for the ride. She had just turned thirteen and was becoming acutely aware of fashion and the marketers were acutely aware of her becoming acutely aware. She asks to go look at some clothes and I said it would be fine. After some time she returns all excited and wants to show me something. When we get there it's a very cute (her words not mine) ensemble of bright colors and some design work. I look at the price and tell her I do not have enough money with me to purchase it. She looks at me un-phased and says, "Use your credit card." After a long discussion I learned she has little concept of where the money comes from and how it gets here. Her parents use credit constantly and maintain a huge revolving home equity line of credit. To her money is nothing more than paper or authorization to take things out of the store. And that is how Mr. Ferriss looks at this world. Say a lot cool sounding, buzz word-using phrases and play on people's greed and you'll get what you want. He sights a time he gave a lecture at a prominent university and after the lecture the students clamored him for more so he gave them a challenge the best one who fulfilled it world get a round the world ticket. To his shock after some time no one took him up on the offer. Mr. Ferriss took this as a sign of fear and defeatist attitudes in these gifted students. I argue far from the case. After coming down on the yarn spun by Mr. Ferriss the students sat down and really thought about his concepts and realized he was full of it. As do I. But Mr. Ferriss admonishes them for not taking him up on it. I applaud them for seeing through the curtain at the man pulling the levers. Smoke and mirrors folks nothing more.
Oh sure there are some good strategies for improving some things but not to the level this book promises. Retirement, yes it is unfortunately an idea that is going the way of the Do-do bird. But it's an idea that only existed for a very small time for all workers. People of the twentieth century of all ranks could retire with a pension or Social Security but this is coming to an end. Mr. Ferriss manifesto on carpe diem is extremely superficial. It lacks specifics and how to's. Buy it and give this guy another buck so he can say see I told you it would work.







