Do you want to become successful? Here is my Personal Development contribution to the Success Factors blog series.
Photo Courtesy of Usaji
Tim Ferris, the author of the 4-hour workweek, struck the perfect chord with people because he offered to help you:
- Escape the 9-5
- Live Anywhere
- Join the New Rich
With promises like that, who could resist?
Now let me show you the great Mark Twain quote that Tim Ferris used to start his book:
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
Newsflash: the majority wants to escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich. So let us pause and reflect.
Why Do You Want the Four-Hour Work Week?
Many people say they want it for three simple reasons:
- More family time
- More personal time
- They hate working
Well, they’re lying. They want to watch Lost and do absolutely nothing, and I know first hand because that’s what I did. I knew how to make my reasons sound good, but when the time came, I did nothing. Instead of growing my business, I grew my Netflix queue.
To avoid my same mistakes, consider these two things:
Busy isn’t Productive
Busy people spend their time, whereas productive people invest their time. Busy people keep themselves doing things and never have anything to show for it. Productive people can recount all of their hours and show you what they accomplished.
Results and Accomplishments
Now that you’re in the productive mind set, you need to decide how to spend those extra 36 hours. “More family time” isn’t going to cut it. You need to set goals like, “I will help my son go from a B in English to an A.” It’s tangible and you can measure your success.
The Real Four-Hour Work Week
When most people buy “The Four-Hour Work Week,” they want to learn how to work less, but that is their main misconception. Lifestyle design isn’t about working less, it’s about working more. The only difference is that you work more on the things you want to work on.
For example, by common definition, I work around 15 hours per day. Most people tell me there is more to life than work, but they don’t understand because I love what I do. I love writing and business — the money is just a bonus.
As an entrepreneur or a blogger, you need to understand the idea behind the real four-hour work week. You will be working 80 hour weeks, but it won’t matter because you’ll love it.
So, consider these two things when thinking about your real four hours:
Do You Love Your Job?
Do you consider your job work? If so, what are you doing other than complaining about it? Are you trying to build a web business? Are you starting a home-based business? With the internet, everyone is a potential entrepreneur, so you need to make sure you’re taking advantage of it now in 2009 while the competition is still weak.
Make Success Your Only Option
There are too many people who try something and give up within a few days. Part of this happens because it’s easy to go from “newbie” to “mediocre,” but becoming an expert takes time. 10,000 to be exact. When you’re not doing what you love, those 10,000 hours can be an eternity, but when you are doing what you love, you’ll be surprised at how fast the time passes.
Tying It All Together
By definition, “work” is negative. So don’t work, but play instead. You don’t have to quit your day job or drop out of college. All you need to do is use some of your time on things that you love. Additionally, make sure you focus on “producing” something. If you can’t account for your time, you might as well have done nothing.
Share Your Story
Have you been pursuing the four-hour work week? What have you been doing to use your time effectively? Do you consider working on what you love work? Share your thoughts in the comments.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I just bought the book from Tim Ferris and finished reading the first part. Actually, I learned no pragmatic thing by now, the author just depicted a very beautiful picture out there. Yeah, everybody want to work less and get more. But how?
I will keep reading anyway. But I agree with you that to get more and work less is not possible. What we can do is to work for what we love, and do what we like to do. It is not about hours, it is all about productivity and creativity.
Thanks Derek, I will keep an eye on this post
wonderful thoughts. People jsut don’t get it. If you do not love what you do, life ends there, you will never be happy. People say “well I’d love what I do if it made me rich, or I made more money,” but what you do doesn’t make you money, it’s how you do it.
My best friend from law school is a prosecutor. He has been a prosecutor for 14 years and will never leave. He will also never be “rich,” but he loves his job. I have friends like we all do, that make much more than him, or I and they hate their lives. I am sitting on my couch right now writing this on a Saturday afternoon after a nice brunch with my family while they are “at the office.”
It’s not about working “less,” it’s about working “smart. I am a practicing lawyer with a small firm. Here’s what I do:
I eat breakfast with my family every morning unless it’s impossible (which occurs about twice a week)
I never travel out of town for more than a day unless absolutely necessary.
I never work on friday nights and normally dont do any work on weekends unless it is after noon on saturday.
I plan vacations well in advance and create my schedule accordingly. In september of every year I start looking at my caseload in order to go into court and seek new dates for cases set around the holidays.
I do not answer my home phone, ever. I never give out that number. If you’re calling my home phone, your name is “mom” “dad” or “not interested.”
If I don’t like you, you will not be my client
I do not go out of my way for people who are always “busy” or never available.
In sum, I control my work life so I can have a full life.
If you can’t do that, you’re in the wrong place
@Brian You are a perfect example of someone who gets it. You work a ton of hours but you make sure you do what’s important now. Great response.
Derek, I’ve been reading your blog since the beginning of the year. This is my favorite article so far. You hit the spot with this one. Thanks! Over the last few months I have been trying to figure out how to stop working on what I don’t like and start working on what I love. I don’t exactly have it figured out yet but I’m trying. I’ll never stop working if working equals producing. People who do that are the ones who die (yes at 48 I do think about that). I’ve destroyed my health and mind by being a workaholic, at the wrong work, for 25+ years. I’ve ignored most of the things that are truly important to me. My wake-up call was serious health issues. I hope others don’t make the same mistake.
Great insights. I think the title “4 hour workweek” is extremely misleading, but Tim even says that the main reason he chose the title was because it tested well as being a very popular concept.
Unfortunately, people focus on the title and don’t realize that his book is more about questioning the status-quo, experimenting with productivity, and making the most of your time. This echos exactly what you’re saying here, and I think Mr. Ferriss would agree with you 100%.
I have never been in your shoes or Tim’s for that matter. I will probably never work 4 hours per week because I like to be busy. However, I do want to be financially independent because I want to option of working and choosing my work. I’m all about choosing my own path and becoming the best “me”.
I’m very interested in seeing how I would react to only working 4 hours a week. I know I would fill my time up with something though. I was never idle during college and I had a lot of free time then.
You always find the perfect picture to go along with your posts.
I’ve been unemployed for the last couple months now after getting laid off from a job that I was at for over 4 years… I think so many of us get caught up talking about what we want and what we want to do and never make anything of it. I could write a book about my 3 hr work week. You know the drill – spend 3 hours one week writing about a 3 hour work week and spend three hours the following week trying to sale it to a publisher… ??? Profit.
Seriously though, as long as you really believe in what you do or at least have passion about doing it you’ll at least be successful in enjoying how you spend your time rather than wasting the time away wondering and then in frustration when you see someone else succeed because of your idea. IMHO of course.
This is so refreshing amidst the constant barrage of thought online. Folks like Steve Pavlina calling people who are paid by the hour, “dummies”.
It’s sad.
Sure, I want to have an online business which makes me money 24/7. But as a dietitian, would I be a dummy for wanting to help people one-to-one in the healthcare sector?
People applaud this idea of ‘not working’ online, and make everyone else look dumb. The reality is, those who think others are ‘dumb’ just because they don’t see things the way they do, are dumb!
@Melanie Steve Pavlina makes a good point… paid by the hour is work for dummies, but if you love what you do, that’s a different story.
Agreed, the concept of “life outsourcing” that Tim encourages is a stretch. But I will stick up for him that he doesn’t mock you for doing the 16 hour passion play. He points out strategies and methods to achieve this goal IF you desire. Just look around and ask Tim if he spent 4 hours a day on his new show only? I’m guessing between meetings, planning, and shooting…he put in some long days…because he’s hitting the point now where his passions and desires are unfolding before him. Those tend to be more than 4 hours a day.
I’ve read the book and loved the concepts and still happily work a ton but I never forget the overriding point of the book. To me it’s simple:
Extract yourself as much as possible from things that others can do if you give them the power. That way, you can reach YOUR potential for capitalizing on what YOU are good at. If that means writing 16 hours a day because you love it…then every day is a vacation!
Indeed this is very true.
People need to stop doing shit they hate. They only due it because of the crap they bought that they can’t afford, don’t need and that someone else told them to get.
And yes when you do something you like, it ain’t work.
Heres a quote i heard
all entrepreneurs are con artists, because they get paid to get better.
Derek, you surprised me with the twist on Mark Twain’s quote.
Very good – you surprised me. Good stuff, good stuff!
I have read Tim’s book and it surely moved me. 4 hour workweek seemed too ambitious to me so i set more realistic limit – 40 hours workweek and escape 9-5. I got it all. I am field consultant at a company. I manage my time the way it never exceeds 40 hours and I visit my cubicle once per two weeks. I love it.
I agree with Alik, way to go using the Mark Twain quote in an unexpected way.
I haven’t gotten into this Tim Ferris trend yet, mostly for the reason that you cited. People seem to want to get into this stuff because they want to lounge about for the majority of their time. I spend very little of my time “playing” but “working” instead. However, I love my “work”. My work consists of building my business, and all of the contents of it. This is my life purporse.
@ Melanie, like Derek said, Steve Pavlina didn’t call people who work normal jobs “dummies” per say. He is criticizing the people who think that trading your time for a paycheck is the most reliable way to make a living. We are all capable of taking control of our lives, and becoming more valuable to ourselves, our employers, our customers, and our families.
If you want to succeed, learn from those who succeed. The hustlers will tell you what you want to hear, but success does not result directly from reading books, blogs or tweets. Serve someone who is successful with the passion, loyalty, intelligence, imagination and courage. Put yourself in the action with as many hours as you can give. Things won’t begin to truly come together until you’ve put in 20,000 hours. In the front line under the command of someone who makes it happen, that’s where you will learn how to succeed.
Hi Derek,
you are indeed one of those people get the message of 4HWW and translates it into realistic terms. But I have to say that the myth serves one good purpose, to give people some hope.
With all the shitty things that’s happening in the world, such works provide ideas for certain people to change their lifestyle and live their dreams.
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