Timothy Farris - How To Work 4 Hours A Week

Publisher: Kind Book, Moscow, 2007.
321 pp., Translation by Ulyana Saptsina.
The printed version will cost you $ 12-19.
Original: Crown Publishing Group, 308 pages, published in April 2007.

This book interested me in the title. The original name “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich” literally sounds like “How to work 4 hours a week, not to be in the office from call to call and still live anywhere and get rich . " Do not rush to close the review - an unsuccessful title does not mean an unsuccessful book.

What's inside?

Having bought it by chance, I walked around for a long time, each time putting it back to a distant dusty shelf. Scrolling through 20 pages, he put it off even further, forgetting about it for several days. I began to suspect that this was yet another fiction written in the bad tone of “Make a million on a book on how to make a million . ” As it turned out, I was not far from the truth: unknown and not rich before the book, after its release in 2007, Ferris found himself the author of one of the best sellers according to the NYC Times, and at the same time a rich and successful 30-year-old writer who began selling books through acquaintances bloggers.

Unlike the more famous Robert Kiyosaki with his “Rich Dad”, Farris prefers specifics. And if Kiyosaki, a clerk tired of routine, sitting with a book in the subway or minibus on his way home, reads “drop everything and be rich,” then the situation is just the opposite. A book on 4-hour workweek with examples tells how to optimize the time spent and really spend it on work much less.

From now on, remember: what you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency also matters, but it is useless if it is aimed at worthless affairs.

After a third of the book, I found that the distant dusty shelf became even more dusty, and the book unexpectedly turned out to be much more interesting than it seemed. If so, you need to read it.

And there’s something to draw from it: playing with the feelings of the reader, Farris writes beautifully and naturally about the white sands of Rio, the beer festival in Munich, gatherings in London or motorcycle trips around China. Already on these pages, many of the readers will say to themselves: “I can, too!”, But they will, alas, be wrong.

If you are an employee, it is not only your fault that you are mired in small things. People, as a rule, have no incentive to rationally use time, except for those who work for commissions. Adult uncles set a rule: from 9 am to 5 pm it is supposed to sort out pieces of paper.

The author calls the hero of the book "the new rich." This person is usually young, ambitious, loving travels, new experiences and new languages, smart and devoting a lot of time not only to intellect, but also to sports. The book, thus, is obtained, moreover, autobiographical.

Who if not we?

How to change your life and give up your usual working day from 9:00 to 17:00? The sweet word "freelance" did not sound in this book, but in vain - partly it is about him that we are talking here. How to travel the world without quitting work and continuing to earn money? Farris offers a simple option - delegate maximum tasks to remote assistants. Receiving calls and processing mail, packing and sending goods, writing blogs, news and releases - all this must be delegated to those whose working hours are cheaper than yours. After that, pack your suitcase and go to Prague to drink beer and get acquainted with the ladies.



It should be noted that the author is American, therefore, many concepts from the book should be used with an eye to the realities of the country in which you live. Look around - if there are a lot of Chinese around you, prices in dollars and striped flags with fifty stars, you can safely skip this paragraph. If not, pay attention to the fact that Indian workers, whom Farris recommends turning over your work, can earn more than you do. If your car numbers have a tricolor, and on TV they talk about some other country with the same name as yours, but in which everything is fine, then to delegate a huge part of the work, it's time to doubt.

The need to chase after success will cease to weigh you as soon as you understand that there are no other rules and restrictions other than those that we have set for ourselves.

The main functions of an office worker, which are time-consuming, but which someone still needs to perform, we will be advised to entrust remote workers from India or, strangely, to Canadians. Do not rush to immediately put everything into practice, think - assigning 90% of all the work to someone else is not as simple as it seems. Reassignment of duties is a complex and sometimes ungrateful undertaking, requiring extensive experience and competent control. Think about the implications before applying any of this book. Anyway, try to think more often, this is useful.

There is nothing wrong with working full time if you like the job. This is what distinguishes calling from work in the usual sense of the word.

Put on shelves

At the risk of being biased, I note that the book is conditionally divided into three parts: in the first, the reader is invited to dream about what life can be like without an office routine, how to wake up well in a bungalow overlooking the ocean or in a house in the middle of the mountains, and not in a noisy metropolis, like it’s good to use only what is necessary, and not to build up fat and buy unnecessary phones, expensive laptops and credit Lancers on credit.

The second part is practical and most useful. Here we can get down to business and find out how, guided by the 80/20 rule, you can reduce your time in the office to 1 day a week, and eventually not appear there at all. Timothy advises to free up time in his own business, which would not require much time and constant presence at the computer.

In part three, the laurel wreath of the winner of the routine is already resting at the reader’s feet and now you can choose a place on the map, where to go to relax and gain some impressions. The third part of the book is no less important, because these are explanations of what to do with that huge amount of time that will be free if we forget about office life, a five-day work week and other joys of our time.

What is the result

Sitting six days out of seven idle, you can either go crazy or sleep. Aesthetes can do the first first, and then the second. So, to prevent this from happening, ask yourself the question: do you need to free up your working time for entertainment. Do you really need so much work time? Many for some reason want eternal life, not knowing what to do on Friday night.

The book will be useful to everyone: office workers, business owners, and freelancers. Many examples from life and practical tips, as well as links to sites with details, allow you to keep your theory from practice.

The list of recommended literature in the final of the book is another reason to open it up and get acquainted - here are more than a dozen interesting books that are worth paying attention to.

Author

The author, Timothy Farris, for friends of Timothy Ferriss, was born in 1977 in the USA. Having written in 2007 a book about the 4-hour work week, which was a huge success, in 2010 he wrote the book “The 4-Hour Body” on how to keep fit, have stunning sex and be a superman.

In November 2012, his third book, The 4-Hour Chef, was published, in which Timothy tells how to quickly learn how to cook as a professional. All three books became bestsellers.

Today, Farris is a successful businessman. His company, BrainQUICKEN, has been selling bio-supplements since 2001, almost 400 thousand people follow his Twitter account, and millions of people flip through books all over the world. Now, maybe you are :).

Otsel