When my son told me to read Timothy Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Work Week, I thought the title was very clever. It was an immediate hook. Who doesn’t want to work only four hours a week? If someone has a solution for helping me be ultra productive, then I’m prepared to invest some time in reading the book.
My son raved about the useful tips he was learning from Tim Ferriss. As an entrepreneur, he thought he could apply a number of suggestions shown in the book. He is now trying to avoid meetings unless they are absolutely necessary (he says). He already pays bloggers to manage and post to his company’s website, so he is not averse to the idea of outsourcing…okay, so Tim Ferriss puts a whole new meaning to the concept of outsourcing. As for gunning for mini-retirement, that’s still a pipe dream.
For my part, I found most of the pages “entertaining”, this being the key word. I was especially tickled by some of the stories served up as examples of how to outsource your life. I bookmarked them and shared some laughs with a few of my work colleagues. Alas, Tim Ferriss’ methods will never work for office lifers like me. I bet that if I adopted some of his tactics, I would be standing at the unemployment line in a heartbeat. Now, my boss trusts me…a lot, I think. But to put in face time of, say, three days a week? He’ll pay me accordingly.
For the short period that I spent flipping the pages, I could see myself on board my favourite cruise ships, living out the 4-hour work week. But, Mr. Ferriss, while I chuckled and even laughed out loud reading your book, I cannot heed your advice.Labels: Books