{"id":2854,"date":"2011-01-15T09:45:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T13:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=2854"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:41:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:41:10","slug":"newvine-growing-book-club-four-hour-workweek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/newvine-growing-book-club-four-hour-workweek\/","title":{"rendered":"Newvine Growing book club: Four-Hour Workweek"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s easy to see why <\/a>Four-Hour Workweek<\/a> is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller \u2013 working four hours a week and having a comfortable lifestyle is just short of winning the lottery in terms of fantasy freedom.
\nAfter I heard author Tim Ferriss speak at MediaBistro Circus<\/a>, where he shared many of the ways he\u2019d marketed himself and his book to success, I decided to read Four-Hour Workweek to see what all the fuss was about.
\nWhile the book really got me thinking, I have to apply a big caveat. Ferriss suggests some techniques to cut back on hours worked at a traditional job that I think at least in my culture might get me fired. For example, he suggests using an e-mail autoresponder to tell people you\u2019re checking e-mail just once or twice a day and asking them to call you if it\u2019s an emergency, then using two phone numbers, one for routine matters and one for urgent issues, always letting the routine one go to voice mail to check twice a day.
\nBut while I think my colleagues expect a greater level of responsiveness, the philosophy behind his approach rings true for me: \u201cbeing busy is a form of laziness \u2013 lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.\u201d
\nInstead of filling your day with low-level busy work, Ferriss advocates choosing effectiveness and efficiency. Focus in on the activities that you and only you can do, using the classic 80\/20 principle<\/a> which says 80 percent of results typically come from 20 percent of actions or customers or products.
\nDelegate or automate as much of the rest as you can. It forces you to get clear and consistent about your\u00a0 processes instead of manually doing work that isn’t contributing value.
\nIt\u2019s what \u201cSeven Habits of Highly Effective Peopl<\/a>e\u201d describes as the difference between urgent and important. A ringing phone feels urgent but if you let it distract you from your most important task just because it\u2019s ringing, is that a good choice?
\nIf you had a health issue that required you to cut back to working two hours a day, what would you do in that time? And maybe more importantly, how would you manage the rest? Would you delegate? Would you do a better job of documenting solutions so customers or employees could solve their own problems without you? Would you realize it\u2019s possible to complete some tasks in a lot less time than you currently spend?
\nFerriss asserts many of us are addicted to the information overload of constant e-mails, phone calls, IMs and the like. It makes us feel important to convince ourselves that we\u2019re so invaluable that we have to be involved in everything we can. To counter that, he suggests a one-week information fast, cutting out as much input as possible just to see that the world continues spinning on its axis.
\nCould you do it?
\n[youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wX3eJRwJqlc]
\nFerriss also rails against the stereotypical American approach to work and leisure \u2013 work like crazy until you\u2019re 65 so that you can finally enjoy the fruits of your labor. Dream all year of your one or two weeks away on vacation.
\nInstead, he prescribes detailing exactly the things that you aspire to. Is it a month in Italy? A custom-made guitar? A personal chef? Then do the homework to find out how much those things would cost. Ferriss asserts that often our aspirational purchases aren\u2019t that far out of reach.
\nThen he goes into detail on how to enjoy those dreams now, especially by funding them with a \u201cmuse.\u201d Ferriss\u2019s concept of a muse is a low-overhead business that can be automated to take almost no time, to help generate the cash you need to pay for the dreams you might otherwise delay.
\nFor example, he tells the story of a woman who makes an exercise video targeting the rock climber niche. She launches a simple, inexpensive website to sell the videos, buys some search term advertising and works with a supplier to do fulfillment of the videos.
\nThe key to a muse is not investing too much up front and not demanding much of you for maintenance. So a consulting business or selling homemade cupcakes or hand-crafted furniture wouldn\u2019t work because your time is a key input. The way you make more money is to invest more of your time, so it doesn\u2019t produce income that allows you the leisure to enjoy it.
\nHere\u2019s Ferriss showing examples of several muses in a YouTube video. He doesn\u2019t give a lot of details on the businesses because this video kicks off a series on case studies, so if you want to learn more, check out his follow-ups.<\/a>
\n[youtube=http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xge_w4bZTgc]
\nWhether it\u2019s for a muse or a more traditional job, Ferriss pushes the reader to reconsider traditional norms.<\/p>\n