Timothy Ferris has written a book which is as inflammatory as it is fascinating. The 4-Hour Workweek makes some bold claims, but definitely tries to deliver on them. This book was a wild ride to say the least.
The 4-Hour Workweek is a book in the same vein as Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It does things a lot differently though. Rich Dad, Poor Dad concerns itself with staying somewhat vague so as to not poison the well of ideas, while The 4-Hour Workweek just keeps dumping ideas in. One is theory, the other is a brainstorming session.
There is also about a decade or so between the first printing of each book, so they end up substantially different. The 4-Hour Workweek is newer, though about a decade from its first print at this point. Like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it holds up, but for different reasons.
The DEAL Method
The entire book is structured off a method referred to as the DEAL method. This stands for Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation. There are a couple ways to use these methods depending on your goals and situation as well.
Definition gets you to define what you want to do. The whole section starts by basically contradicting the status quo and explaining why. Timothy is setting you up to listen, and listen you should because the advice gets better and better.
Elimination gets you to start getting rid of junk in your life. Eliminate the mundane tasks which are busy work. Many people work for the sake of working rather than to be productive. This section drives that point home and provides techniques to build off of.
Automation details how to turn your life around and start buying back time and to turn your skills into money. It covers the concept of a Muse (covered in a bit) and how to build and manage one. This is why most people buy the book, but the other pieces lead up to this.
Liberation details how to detach yourself from the status quo of working 40+ hours a week. What should you do with your time and what can you accomplish? How do you talk a company into letting you out the door? This is the final set of skills to really apply everything in the book.
Digging Deeper
This book isn’t just motivational fluff and it isn’t just idle skills without how to implement. Timothy Ferris gives you a full system and the keys to the kingdom to unlock it. You do have to have the right scaffolding and the right type of job to pull it off however. There is also a capital requirement which isn’t really explicitly defined as well. Obviously, a bit of it is hyperbole in most situations as well. We’ll get into both the good and the bad soon enough.
What The 4-Hour Workweek Says Well
This book sounds like a get rich quick scheme, but in reality it is great advice hyped up and works out to a “get rich quick ideal” after a massive amount of planning, work, and luck. The idea behind the book is great and the advise is largely practical. All of the individual skills have their uses. There’s more than the author lets on required to grasp success, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. A lot of “missing information” is left out so that you won’t be overwhelmed it feels.
Much of the advice in this book fits in with what I have heard from wealthy friends. It fits how they bought their freedom from the rat race, just the focus is a bit different. Even if you don’t try to get the same aim, this book includes some great techniques to make you better able to safely take gambles you wouldn’t normally.
The general business ideals Timothy Ferris uses are instrumental to making a modern business, either primary or a side hustle, become successful. Know where you’re going, where you’re willing to go, and why. Figure out when it’s worth keeping a customer and when it’s not. Try to create a product which gets you a great profit margin, is easily repeatable, is hard to copy (the product can be easy to copy, but what about the service and information?), and which is automatable. There really isn’t anything in this book which is wrong in the right context.
What This Book Could Do Better
The first edition was printed in 2007. This book has definitely aged a bit in that respect. Unlike Rich Dad, Poor Dad, it gets more into practical details so many of the ideas and suggestions have aged. Some have aged like a fine wine and gotten more expensive, other services don’t exist anymore. With a little creativity, this issue is a minor oversight.
The entire premise behind the book can be viewed as a case study with some great information alongside it. The author has extrapolated a formula to success off of a single successful product. Despite the fact the basic formula is right, it misses a lot of details which define success. I took this as an exercise for the reader rather than a flaw though.
A new edition with a complete overhaul would be great. This book was written right before the economic meltdown of 2008 and definitely shows that in its optimism about certain gambles and strategies. The landscape has changed, but this book hasn’t.
A lot of it feels like hyperbole as well. It isn’t idle hyperbole, but the difficulty of certain actions are grossly underestimated, either through the lenses of time or the purpose of good motivation at the expense of accuracy. I really can’t tell which, but I try to take it as a motivational push. Basically everything listed is way harder than it seems.
How To Apply This Book
This book spits on the general status quo. To borrow a technique from the book itself, you could summarize the whole product as: “Sell on value and not on time.” This is amazing advice and more and more applicable in the modern era.
Work into a better position by showing what you’re good at. The book will give you techniques to get there, but you have to bring the value. It shows you how to automate a business, but you have to have the sense to actually implement it and have something worth selling.
This book also introduces the concept of a muse. In the context of this work, a muse is a passive income stream which helps to fund more ideal creative endeavors. Sell yourself on value, and create a product which sells itself so you can do what you want. Don’t work for the sake of working, work to live.
Get a copy here.