Timothy Ferris's book "How to work 4 hours a week and not be stuck in the office from bell to bell, live anywhere and get rich." Originally by Tim Ferris, The 4-Hour Workweek.
It seems to me that every aspiring information businessman should read this book. Everything is here:
- How to create an information product and grow from it.
- How to make a landing page, test the form, estimate demand and launch a successful campaign in Adwords.
- Show off so that you will be respected more. Show yourself as an expert: write a couple of articles for newspapers/magazines/blogs, and then trump that you are a cool author who is published everywhere.
- How to start a business, set up processes and go away to enjoy life.
What is not the American (read: info-business) dream?
A book for those who dream of breaking out of office slavery and rising up.
One business case from the book: “The markup was far from ideal (the price was only raised 4 times, not 8-10).” Just when I was reading the book, I received a letter in the mail with an offer to build an “Adult Business”.
The book makes a strange impression. It would seem that common sense thoughts about building processes, increasing work efficiency and “weeding the garden” of clients (just like in the book “The Pumpkin Method”) are interspersed with advice on how to show off, such as: “Ask your boss to send you to advanced training courses. This way you will become more valuable and you will have more leverage to dictate your terms and break out of office slavery.
A third of the book is about how to pack your bags and go on vacation for a year and a half and check your work email once a week, or even a month.
A comparison with the Jaguar comes to mind: a killer mixture of caffeine, alcohol and soda that cannot fail to impress. Some will feel sick, others will like it, but it will not leave anyone indifferent. Although individually and in small quantities, caffeine, alcohol and gas bubbles do not seem to be bad. The book is the same - individual thoughts (and even more so, quotes from great people, with which the entire book is full!) are not bad, and even healthy. But everything together resembles “yaga”.
About a new job and new rich people
The story about yourself is skillfully replaced by a story about your work.
Tim notes that now the question “who are you, what do you do?” many talk not about themselves as an individual with interests, hobbies and achievements, but as an employee. So he advocates a new approach.
The “new rich” are people who have stopped postponing life until later and have developed for themselves new style, using the currency of the new rich - time and mobility. We will further call this style life design.
He says that many people believe (or convince themselves) that there is no easy life.
“You have to earn money later. Sweat - got it! Didn't sweat - didn't get it! I unloaded a car with coal in the cold - I didn’t sweat, I didn’t get it!” KVN
Therefore, we resign ourselves to the usual office routine, with a rare vacation planned. Vacation based on the principle “if you want to rest longer, quit.” Tim talks about the need to “live here and now.” A million dollars in a bank account is not the goal. The goal is the freedom that this money gives. And he asks, is it possible to live like a millionaire, but not be one? Don’t build a transnational company for the extraction and processing of fish, but just catch as much as you need and don’t strain yourself, don’t waste your best years for the sake of distant happiness: “I’ll just do my job until I save X dollars, and then I’ll do what I like.” " Tim proposes to change the approach that is characteristic of Americans, but not close to us - not saving the happy years of retirement for last, but distributing them throughout life.
Is hard labor really necessary to live like a millionaire?
The goal of the new rich is an exciting life and a stable high income. Since there is not enough work that brings constant pleasure for everyone, the task will be to free up time and automate income generation. To do this you need to use the PLAN method:
P—statement of the problem.
L - liquidation. (New time management - how to work more efficiently.)
A - automation.
N - the beginning of a new life.
Almost the entire book, Timothy tells how to put into practice each of the steps of the methodology. In the second part of the book there are blocks with just a million links to different tools, services, freelance exchanges, etc., which will help automate income generation, increase efficiency and minimize your participation in work processes. It seemed like it listed all the sites that he had ever had in his browser bookmarks.
Who is the new rich?
- An employee who re-scheduled and negotiated remote work to achieve 90% of the results while spending ten times less time. Thanks to this, he has the opportunity to ski and travel with his family for two weeks every month.
- The owner of the company, who refused the least profitable clients and projects, took care of outsourcing all stages of the process and now travels the world, collecting rare manuscripts and at the same time posting her drawings on the website.
- The student who risked everything (in fact, he had nothing to risk) to organize online movie rentals. A small group of HD TV fans brings him an income of $5,000 a month, spending no more than two hours a week, and he devotes the rest of his time to fighting for animal rights.
National Bank Rules
- Ebbs of interest and energy alternate with ebbs. The goal is to evenly distribute mini-retirements throughout life, and not save all the delicious things for the time of the coveted retirement.
- “Less” does not mean “lazier.” Refusal of unnecessary meaningless work in order to be able to devote time to what matters to you higher value, is not laziness. Many people find this difficult to come to terms with because our society rewards personal sacrifice rather than performance. Few people are willing (or able) to evaluate the results of their actions and thus determine whether time was well spent.
- There's never a right time. Conditions are never ideal.
- Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
- Click on yours strengths and don't focus on the weak.
- Relative income is much more important than absolute income.
Ferris talks about how an unrealistic task is often easier to cope with than a real one. He even organized competitions between his students, giving them "unrealistic" tasks.
The more “real” the task, the fiercer the competition will be among those who take on it, and, paradoxically, solving the problem will require more time and effort. It is easier to collect 10 million dollars than 1 million. To score ten points once is easier than to score eight times five times.
Here you can see what they were impressed with at “Business Youth” for the “Million in a Hundred” training.
Time management and efficiency
A good idea about time management: you don’t need to try to do more every day, try to fill every second with fussy fuss. It is better to evaluate work not by the time spent, but by the result. In the book, Tim even gives an example of the Best Buy company - there is a book about the company and its ROWE system, “Funky Office” ().
To climb the corporate ladder in most companies in America, provided that no one cares about what you do (let's be honest), you just need to rush around the office with a telephone headset in your ears and a stack of paper in your hands. And here is an example of an employee who is all about business!
- Even a trivial task done conscientiously will not cease to be trivial.
- If a lot of time is spent on a task, it does not make it important.
What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency also matters, but it is useless if it is aimed at useless things.
First the result, and then the process of achieving the result. It is dangerous when the “Work for the sake of work” syndrome develops. We try to fill our entire working day with tasks or imitation of tasks, so that no one thinks that you are lazy or do a bad job because you spent few hours on work.
Ostentatious busyness is a type of laziness: we resort to it when we don’t care what to do, just not to think.
To be productive, you need to be selective and not take on everything. Focus on a few important matters and ignore the rest. Know how to say no to unimportant things.
Tim says there are two related approaches to improving productivity:
- cut off unimportant tasks in order to reduce working time (Pareto's law);
- limit working hours in order to cut off unimportant tasks (Parkinson's law).
The best solution is to do both: choose what’s important and try to complete it in as little time as possible.
Ferris promotes selective ignorance: the ability to ignore information and details that are not actionable or important. What distracts and takes you away from really important matters: time wasters (mail, meetings, etc.) and, most importantly, lack of authority, when the performer cannot make a decision himself and the task hangs. These ideas intersect with the thoughts of 37signals from the book Rework ().
If you are an entrepreneur meticulous to the smallest detail, understand one thing: even if you know how to do something better than anyone in the world, this does not mean that you must take on all such tasks yourself. Give your subordinates the authority and opportunity to work without interrupting you.
Timothy talks about how important it is to build processes. This can increase productivity, while bringing in new people to do the job can only make things worse. IN latest digest I gave a link to an interview with Fedor Ovchinnikov, where he talked about the “Minus one” rule.
Entrepreneurs experience maximum problems with automation because they are afraid to relinquish responsibility, and hired workers experience freedom because they are afraid to take on this very responsibility.
Clients, demand, supply
Creating demand is difficult. It's much easier to satisfy him.
It is worth coming to ready-made markets, rather than producing goods and then looking for buyers. Choose a niche and outline a portrait of your buyer: “if your army of customers includes everyone, then there is no one in it.” There is less competition in a narrow niche.
You can have an excellent understanding of any subject, for example, medicine, but if there are no letters “d” after your last name. m.n.”, they are unlikely to listen to you. I call these letters an indicator of trust." A specialist with a maximum of trust indicators will cope with selling a product much better than a specialist with a maximum amount of knowledge on the topic.
Here Tim gives various advice, including some dubious ones, about quickly obtaining badges. I remember a recent chat conversation: you can take a course on some Code Acedemy thread on creating mobile application, which will change the screen color when you click on the screen (but who cares), after which everywhere, for example, in the CPU column, sign “iOS developer, mentor, coach.”
The author also gives useful recommendation Don't unnecessarily complicate your product. The more opportunities and choices, the more indecision the client has. The more complex the product or service is, the more difficult it is to support. Profitability is declining, perhaps as is customer satisfaction.
I recommend treating the buyer as an equal trading partner, and not manna from heaven and a celestial being who must be appeased at any cost. If you offer a great product at a reasonable price, it's an equal deal, not a seller dancing to the buyer's tune. Behave like a professional, but never fawn over those who don't deserve it.
Quotes
The most important actions are not pleasant.
First you need to find a market and then produce the product.
Doing more with less is not only possible, but necessary.
Lack of time is actually a failure to prioritize.
Does everyone in the world really need exactly 8 hours to complete their daily portion of work? No way. The time slot from nine to five was chosen arbitrarily.
[…]We have to fill 8 hours with work, so we fill them. If we needed to find activities for a 15-hour workday, we would find them.
Efficiency is the ability to perform work in such a way as to bring the goal as close as possible. Rationality - performing a given task, no matter how unimportant it may be, in the most economical way. The whole world has been brought up on the ability to act rationally, regardless of efficiency.
Three times a day, ask yourself the question: “Are you creating small activities for yourself just to avoid important things?”
Almost all information takes time, has negative impact, has nothing to do with our goals and is outside our sphere of influence.
Information is useless if it doesn't have an important application or if you risk forgetting it before you use it.
Meetings should only be held for the purpose of making decisions in advance known situation, not to identify the problem.
It's amazing how quickly people's IQ increases when you give them responsibility and tell them you trust them.
I recommend giving tasks one at a time whenever possible. There should not be more than two tasks at once. If you want your computer to freeze or crash, open 20 windows and applications at once. If you want the same thing to happen to your assistant, load him with a dozen tasks, but don’t set priorities.
The conflicting advice we find in business books usually relates to employee management, the notorious human factor. Kelleher advises grooming and nurturing subordinates, Revson advises kicking them more often, and I recommend eliminating the problem completely: abandoning the human factor.
Learning not to crave or carve out free time, but to appreciate the abundance of it, is like switching from triple espresso to decaf.
Becoming the new rich isn't just about streamlining your work. It is much more important to build a system that replaces you.
First - elimination of unnecessary things, and then - delegation. Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or simplified.
The number of clients is not an end in itself; its increase often means an increase in employment by 90%, and income by only 1-3%.
A huge number of people in the modern world live in completely stereotyped ways: early rise, the road to work, then a standard eight-hour day, the road home, dinner in front of the TV. And sleep ends this boring day. The sad wheel of samsara spins on weekdays from year to year.
This is what it looks like happy life? Weekdays filled with boredom from one weekend to the next? If you want not to exist, but to live, then you need to change something. Time is the most valuable thing we have. It's stupid to spend it on things we don't like to do. This is exactly what Timothy Ferris is trying to convey to us from the pages of his “How to Work 4 Hours a Week.”
What is the book about?
For those who want to take everything from life, this book will become a real guide. Timothy Ferris talks about the secrets the “new rich” are hiding. By this phrase he means people who have learned to live “here and now,” take only the best from life, earn a lot and at the same time constantly travel.
Time is a resource that, unfortunately, is used up very quickly. Unlike money, it cannot be borrowed, won, or accumulated. Minutes, hours, days are constantly passing and in a hurry. How to Work 4 Hours a Week provides solutions that can help you save time and money. The author not only gives examples and discusses, but gives good advice, which can be easily applied in practice.
Save time
In order to save time, you should not put off all the work until later. If you have a must-do task, do it now! Large quantity Putting things off for later will eventually drown a person in routine.
Timothy describes in detail all the actions that slowly but consciously lead the reader to four hours of work a week. By working a minimum number of hours you can earn a lot of money without annoying anyone with your insolent behavior. Of course, nothing ever comes easily and you need to move towards any goal gradually. The author does not call for giving up your life in one minute. workplace and wait for happiness and wealth to fall on your head. Timothy assigns a special role to creative affairs in his book. He says that doing them not only saves time, but also makes you feel happy.
In fact, Ferris gives advice that can be useful not only at work, but also at home. They are simple, but they require a little patience and willpower to follow.
Saving money
Before you do or say anything, you need to think carefully about it. It's the same with money. Timothy Ferris encourages his reader to spend money wisely. No, he does not preach the lifestyle of an ascetic who has renounced pleasure and entertainment. You should spend as much money on yourself as your true desires require. You just have to stop spending on “garbage”, which is a second’s whim. Instead of buying a newly released iPhone, a bunch of unnecessary clothes, souvenir trinkets, you can spend your savings on something more interesting and memorable.
Overall, Timothy Ferriss' book "Work 4 Hours a Week" is an excellent guide with step by step instructions for those who want to take everything from life and time. It will help you change your usual routine existence according to a schedule and start a new life, where there will be time for travel, creativity, and making money.
Timothy Ferris
HOW TO WORK 4 HOURS A WEEK
and at the same time do not hang around in the office “from bell to bell”, live anywhere and get rich
Dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferris, who taught the little tomboy that dancing to his own tune was great. I love you both, I owe everything to you.
Half scientist, half traveler, Tim Ferriss has created a new road map a completely new world. I read this book in one sitting, I have never read anything like it before.
Charles L. Brock, chairman and board member of Brock Capital Group; Former CFO and Chief Operating Officer and General Consultant for Scholastic, Inc. And former president Harvard Law School Association
Outsourcing is no longer the preserve of Fortune 500 companies. Small and midsize companies, as well as full-time employees, can work remotely to increase their productivity and free up time for more important things.
Vivek Kulkarni, Member of the Board of Directors of Brickwork India, former head Ministry of IT in Bangalore, holder of the title of “techno-bureaucrat”, thanks to which Bangalore and IT found its niche in India
Tim is a master! I know that for sure. I saw him on his path to wealth and how he became a successful entrepreneur. He is always looking for a better way.
Dan Partland, Emmy Award-winning producer of the reality series American High and Welcome to the Dollhouse
How to Work Four Hours a Week is a must-read book for anyone who wants to live life to the fullest. Buy this book and read it before you sacrifice more!
John Lusk, Group Product Manager at Microsoft World Headquarters
If you want to achieve your dreams now, not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!
Laura Rhoden, chair of the Silicon Valley Emerging Entrepreneurs Association and professor of corporate finance at San Jose State University
With this type of time management that allows you to focus on important things, you can get 15 times more done than with a normal work week.
Tim Draper, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a finance and innovation firm that has funded Hotmail, Skype and Overture.com among others.
Tim managed to do what most people only dream of. I can't believe he revealed all his secrets. Everyone should read this book!
Stephen Key famous inventor and designer of the development team for the Ruxpin Bear toy and devices for the Laser Tag game, consultant for the American Inventor TV show.
The most important
Questions and answers for doubters
Are you ready to be the masters of your life? Most likely yes. The following are the most typical doubts and fears that overcome people who are planning to join the “new rich”.
Will I have to quit my job? Should I take the risk?
No and no again. There is an option for every taste: for some it is more convenient to disappear from the office using the esoteric skills of the Jedi, for others to create companies in such a way that they finance a comfortable lifestyle. How does a Fortune 500 company executive go to China for a month to look for treasure and cover his tracks with modern technology? How to create a company that operates without the participation of an investor and brings in $80 thousand a month? Read about all this below.
Is it necessary to be a purposeful and ambitious youth?
Not at all. This book is intended for everyone who is tired of making plans for the future and who wants to live and not wait. Examples range from a twenty-year-old Lamborghini owner to a single mother who spent five months traveling around the world with her two children. If a set lunch sits in your liver and you are ready to choose from infinite number dishes, this book is for you.
Is it possible to do without traveling? I just wish I had more time.
Please. This is just one of the options. The main thing is to have at your disposal as much time and space as you want and use them as you please.
Should I be born rich?
No. My parents' combined income never exceeded $50,000 a year, and my working career began at age 14. I'm not a Rockefeller, and you don't need to be.
Do I have to be an Ivy League graduate?
No way. The characters presented in the pages of this book never studied at Harvard, and some of them were even expelled from educational institutions. Education received in prestigious universities, is wonderful, but in itself does not guarantee success. Graduates of the best educational institutions work 80 hours a week and believe that it is impossible to do without 15-30 years of such hard labor. How do I know? I went through this and saw the devastating consequences with my own eyes. My book refutes this approach.
© Tim Ferriss, 2007
© Edition in Russian, translation into Russian. LLC Publishing House "Good Book", 2008, 2010
* * *
This book is about the art of time management. It represents a long-awaited manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is its ideal apologist. The book will make a splash.
Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series
Amazing and great! Here you can find everything - from mini-retirements to outsourcing own life. Whoever you are - an office cog on a salary or general director Fortune 500 companies - this book will change your life!
Phil Towne, author of Rule #1, the newspaper's #1 best-seller New York Times
The book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” is a new way to solve the age-old problem: live to work, or work to live? A world of endless possibilities will open up for those who read this book and get inspired by it!
Michael E. Gerber, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of E-Myth Worldwide and the world's #1 expert on small business issues
Dr. Stuart D. Friedman, advisor to Jack Welch and former Vice President Al Gore for Professional and family issues, Director of the Work-Life Integration Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
At the age of 29, Timothy managed much more than Steve Jobs at 51.
If you want to live by your own rules, this book is for you.
Mike Maples, co-founder of Motive Communications (IPO, $260 million market cap), founder and CEO of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750 million)
Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time to spend with my family and write book reviews. This is a brilliant and very useful book.
E. J. Jacobs, magazine editor Esquire and author of The Know-It-All
Tim is the Indiana Jones of the 21st century. I took his advice to spear fish the islands and ski the best slopes in Argentina. Simply put, do what he suggests and you can live like a millionaire.
Albert Pope, Derivatives Specialist, UBS Worldwide Office
Reading this book will help you add a few zeros to your account. Tim takes life to the next level - listen to him!
Michael D. Kerlin, consultant from McKinsey & Co. to the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Katrina Foundation and the J. William Fulbright Foundation
Part scientist, part traveler, Tim Ferriss has created a new roadmap for a whole new world. I read this book in one sitting, I have never read anything like it before.
Charles L. Brock, Chairman and Board Member of Brock Capital Group, is the former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Scholastic, Inc. and former President of the Harvard Law School Association
Outsourcing is no longer the preserve of Fortune 500 companies. Small and midsize companies, as well as full-time employees, can work remotely to increase their productivity and free up time for more important things.
Vivek Kulkarni, Member of the Board of Directors of Brickwork India, former head of the Ministry of IT in Bangalore, holder of the title of “techno-bureaucrat”, thanks to which Bangalore and IT found its niche in India
Tim is a master! I know that for sure. I saw him on his path to wealth and how he became a successful entrepreneur. He is always looking for a better way.
Dan Partland, Emmy Award-winning producer of the reality series American High and Welcome to the Dollhouse
How to Work Four Hours a Week is a must-read book for anyone who wants to live life to the fullest. Buy this book and read it before you sacrifice more!
John Lusk, Group Product Manager at Microsoft World Headquarters
If you want to achieve your dreams now, not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!
Laura Rhoden, chair of the Silicon Valley Emerging Entrepreneurs Association and professor of corporate finance at San Jose State University
With this type of time management, which allows you to focus on important things, you can get 15 times more done than with a normal work week.
Tim Draper, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a finance and innovation firm that has funded Hotmail, Skype and Overture.com among others.
Tim managed to do what most people only dream of. I can't believe he revealed all his secrets. Everyone should read this book!
Stephen Key, renowned inventor and designer of the team behind the Ruxpin Bear toy and Laser Tag devices, consultant for the TV show American Inventor.
Dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferris, who taught the little tomboy that dancing to his own tune was great.
I love you both, I owe everything to you.
Support a local teacher - the author donates 10% of his fee to a non-profit educational organizations, including Donorschoose.org.
Preface to the expanded and updated edition
The book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” was rejected by 26 out of 27 publishers.
After the rights to its publication were finally purchased, the president of a large bookselling company, one of the potential marketing partners, sent me email historical statistics on bestsellers, making it clear that the book will not be successful among the general public.
And I did everything I could. I wrote with my two closest friends in mind, speaking directly to them and their problems—problems I used to have—and tried to focus on creative solutions that have worked for me anywhere in the world.
Of course, I tried to prepare the way for an unexpected triumph, but I knew it was unlikely. I hoped for the best and made plans for the eventuality worst case outcome of the possible.
- Tim, you're on the list.
It was already six o'clock in the evening in New York, I was exhausted. The book came out five days ago, and I had just finished doing more than twenty consecutive radio interviews that started at six o'clock that morning. I didn’t plan a promotional tour, preferring instead to group things together - to give interviews over 48 hours in “batches” via satellite radio.
“Heather, I love you, just please don’t lie.”
- No, you’re really on the list. Congratulations, Mr. New York Times bestselling author!
I leaned against the wall and slid down it to the floor. He closed his eyes, smiled and took a deep breath. Change was brewing.
Everything had to change.
Life design from Dubai to Berlin
To date, the rights to translate the book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” into 35 languages have been sold. It remained on the bestseller list for more than two years, and every month brought new stories and new discoveries.
From the Economist magazine to the New York Times Style column, from the streets of Dubai to the cafés of Berlin, my ideas for new life design have crossed paths. cultural boundaries and turned into a worldwide movement. The original ideas in this book were taken apart, refined, and tested in entirely new settings in ways I could not have imagined.
So why was a new edition needed if everything was going so well without it? I just realized that it could be better, only one ingredient is missing - you.
This expanded and updated edition contains over 100 pages of new text, including the latest and greatest techniques, proven resources, and, most importantly, true stories success, selected from more than 400 pages of examples submitted by readers.
Family people or students? Top managers or professional travelers? Choose for yourself. Among these people there will probably be at least someone whose results you can repeat. Need approximate diagram negotiations on remote work or a paid one-year stay in Argentina? This time you will find it here.
The blog “Experiments in Life Design” (www.fourhourblog.com) was created simultaneously with the release of this book and within six months became one of the thousand most popular blogs in the world out of more than 120 million existing ones. Thousands of readers have shared their amazing tools and techniques to achieve phenomenal and unexpected results. The blog has become the laboratory I've always dreamed of, and I invite you to join us in our work there.
The new Blog Favorites section includes some of the most popular posts from the Life Design Experiments blog. On the blog itself you'll also find recommendations from everyone from Warren Buffett (honestly, I caught him and showed him how I did it) to chess genius Josh Waitzkin. This blog is a testing ground for everyone who wants to achieve best results with less time.
No "fixes"
This is not at all a “corrected” edition, released because the original one has lost its relevance. Typos and minor errors it was eliminated as it went through more than 40 printings in the United States. This edition is the first to differ significantly from the original, but not for the reasons that one might suspect.
Since April 2007, many dramatic changes have occurred. Banks were failing, pension funds of all kinds were going under, and jobs were being lost in record time.
Readers and skeptics alike have asked: Are the principles and techniques outlined in this book still effective during an economic downturn or depression?
Yes and yes again.
In fact, the questions I asked before the recession began, including “How would your priorities and decisions change if you knew there would never be a pension?” are no longer hypothetical. Millions of people saw the value of their savings fall by 40% or more and scrambled to find a way out. Is it possible to redistribute retirement holidays throughout life so that they become more affordable? Or spend a few months a year somewhere in Costa Rica or Thailand to increase the efficiency of dwindling savings? Or sell your services British companies and receive wages in hard currency? The answer to all these and many other questions is “yes”.
The concept of a new life design is a logical replacement for multi-stage career planning: this concept is more flexible and allows you to try out different style life without committing yourself to a 10- or 20-year retirement plan that could fail due to market fluctuations beyond your control. People are willing to consider alternatives (and be more tolerant of those who do the same) because other, once “safe” solutions no longer work.
When everything and everyone collapses, what might be the costs of small experiments outside the usual framework? Most often - zero. Fast forward to 2011: the interviewer asks:
– Why didn’t you work for a whole year?
“There was a clear light in all my affairs, and I finally had the opportunity to travel around the world - such a chance comes once in a lifetime. It was incredible!
If your interlocutor continues to question, it will only be to ask for advice and follow your example. The scripts in this book are still effective.
Social Facebook networks and LinkedIn were created in the context of the collapse of the dot-coms (companies engaged in Internet commerce) after 2000. Other “children of the crisis” are “Monopoly”, Apple, manufacturers of natural food products Cliff Bar, Scrabble, fast food chains KFC and Domino's Pizza, FedEx and Microsoft. And it's not random coincidence: An economic downturn creates depreciated infrastructure, talented freelancers with competitive rates, and rock-bottom prices for advertising services—unattainable when everyone is optimistic.
Whatever you have in mind - a year-long vacation, a new business idea, modernization and reorganization of your own life within the framework of the corporate machine, or the realization of a dream postponed indefinitely - there is no more suitable time to realize the non-trivial.
After all, what's the worst thing that can happen?
I advise you not to neglect this issue as soon as you begin to recognize the endless possibilities outside your current comfort zone. This period of general panic is your chance to make valuable adjustments in your life.
It has been an honor to spend the last two years with wonderful readers from around the world, and I hope you enjoy reading the new edition of this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I study diligently from all of you and will forever remain your humble student.
I hug you tightly,San Francisco,California,April 21, 2009
First and most important
Questions and answers for doubters
Are you ready to be the masters of your life? Most likely yes. The following are the most typical doubts and fears that overcome people who are planning to join the “new rich”.
Will I have to quit my job? Should I take the risk?
No and no again. There is an option for every taste: for some it is more convenient to disappear from the office using the esoteric skills of the Jedi, for others it is more convenient to create companies in such a way that they finance a comfortable lifestyle. How does a Fortune 500 company executive go to China for a month to look for treasure and cover his tracks with modern technology? How to create a company that operates without the participation of an investor and brings in $80 thousand a month? Read about all this below.
Is it necessary to be a purposeful and ambitious youth?
Not at all. This book is intended for everyone who is tired of making plans for the future and who wants to live and not wait. Examples range from a twenty-year-old Lamborghini owner to a single mother who spent five months traveling around the world with her two children. If a set meal is on your mind and you are ready to choose from an endless variety of dishes, this book is for you.
Is it possible to do without traveling? I just wish I had more time.
Please. This is just one of the options. The main thing is to have at your disposal as much time and space as you want and use them as you please.
Should I be born rich?
No. My parents' combined income never exceeded $50,000 a year, and my working career began at age 14.
I'm not a Rockefeller, and you don't need to be.
Do I have to be an Ivy League graduate?
No way. The characters presented in the pages of this book never studied at Harvard, and some of them were even expelled from educational institutions. An education received at prestigious universities is great, but in itself it does not guarantee success. Graduates of the best educational institutions work 80 hours a week and believe that it is impossible to do without 15–30 years of such hard labor. How do I know? I went through this and saw the devastating consequences with my own eyes. My book refutes this approach.
About me and why you need this book
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, think about it.
Mark Twain (1835–1910), American writer
Everyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), English writer
My palms were wet.
Staring at the floor to avoid being blinded by the overhead spotlights, I stood in a row with the rest of the participants and was probably already recognized as the best in the world, only I didn’t know it yet. My gorgeous partner Alicia shifted from foot to foot. Together with nine other couples, we were selected from thousands of contestants representing 29 countries and 4 continents. The last day of the semi-finals of the World Tango Championship was ending, we last time appeared before the jury, television cameras and applauding spectators. Other couples danced together for an average of 15 years. And for us, this championship was the result of five months of preparation - rehearsals six hours a day non-stop: we finally showed what we are capable of.
- How are you? – experienced dancer Alicia asked me in the characteristic Argentine dialect of Spanish.
- Super! Let's just enjoy the music. Forget about the audience - they simply aren’t here.
If! It was hard to even imagine the 50,000-strong army of spectators and organizers gathered in La Rural, the largest exhibition hall in Buenos Aires. Through the thick tobacco smoke it was barely possible to see the gigantic swaying crowd in the stands: people from all sides surrounded the cleared area of 9x12 meters in the center of the hall. I straightened my suit (with barely noticeable stripes), and then spent so much time adjusting my blue neckerchief that it became clear that I was not at ease.
– Are you nervous?
- No, I’m burning with impatience. I’ll just dance for my own pleasure, and whatever happens.
– Couple number 152, get ready.
Our guide did her job, now it was our turn. Walking onto the wooden platform, I whispered into Alicia’s ear a joke that only the two of us could understand: “Tranquilo!” (“Calm down!”) She laughed, and I suddenly thought: “I wonder what I would be doing now if I had not quit my job a year ago and left the States?”
This thought disappeared as quickly as it appeared. As soon as the presenter approached the microphone and said “Pareja numero 152, Timothy Ferriss y Alicia Monti, Ciudad de Buenos Aires!” (“Couple number 152, Timothy Ferris and Alicia Monti, Buenos Aires!”) as the crowd erupted in cheers.
We won and I beamed.
Fortunately, it is now difficult for me to answer the favorite question of Americans. Otherwise you would not be holding this book in your hands.
- So what do you do?
If you did find me (which in itself is not easy) and even asked this question (it would be better if you didn’t), depending on the time, the answer may be different: I participate in European motorcycle races, I scuba dive off the coast of a private island in Bay of Panama, lying under a palm tree in Thailand after kickboxing training or dancing tango in Buenos Aires. The beauty of my position is that I am not at all a multimillionaire and I am not striving to become one.
I've always hated answering this typical cocktail party question, a symptom of an epidemic that once afflicted me. The story about yourself is skillfully replaced by a story about your work. Now, when people pester me with such formal questions, I explain my lifestyle and my mysterious source of funds very simply:
- I sell wheels.
And my interlocutor instantly loses interest in this conversation.
Don't go into details for me! It will take more than one hour to tell the whole truth. Judge for yourself: how can I explain in a nutshell that my time and the business with which I earn my living have nothing in common? And that I work less than four hours a week, and my monthly income is more than the previous year?
This is my first attempt to reveal my cards. We will talk about representatives of an invisible subculture - a group of people called the “new rich”.
Why does an Eskimo igloo resident become a millionaire, but a computer-chained office worker does not? Because the first one follows rules that few people know.
How does an employee of a highly profitable company travel around the world for an entire month without his boss knowing about it? The employee is covered by modern technology.
Money becomes obsolete. The “New Rich” (NR) are people who have stopped procrastinating and have developed a new style for themselves, using the currency of the NR - time and mobility. We will further call this style life design (LD).
I have spent the last three years traveling with the inhabitants of a world that is still beyond the bounds of your imagination. I'll show you how to bend the world to yourself instead of bending yourself and hating it. It's easier than it seems. My path from an office clerk, exhausted by work and not spoiled by money, to a representative of the National Bank is more bizarre than any fiction, but now that the code has been deciphered, repeating it is as easy as shelling pears. Here is the prescription.
Life shouldn't be hard labor. Honestly, this is optional. Most people, including me up to a certain point, have convinced themselves for too long that life is not easy, have resigned themselves to the tedious work of nine to five in exchange for Sunday idleness (at best) and rare vacations on the principle of “if you want to rest longer - quit."
Meanwhile, the truth, at least the one that I adhere to and am going to present in this book, is completely different. I'll show you how, through currency trading, outsourcing of life, and occasional disappearances, a small group of people pull off financial tricks and achieve the impossible.
Now that you've bought this book, you probably don't want to be stuck in an office until you're 60. Whatever you dream of - quitting the rat race, taking the trip of your dreams, traveling the world for a long time, setting world records, or just taking up and changing a job that is sitting in your liver - in this book you will find everything you need to achieve your goals here and now, and not while away your life waiting for a pension. There is a way to speed up the rewards for hard work.
But which one? It all starts with recognizing a simple difference that most people don't notice. It took me exactly 25 years to catch it.
People don't want to be millionaires for sport's sake: they dream of vivid impressions, which they think are only available to millionaires. This set often includes impressions of visiting ski resorts, staying in luxury hotels, and exotic travel. Most people want to lounge carefree in a hammock, listen to the waves crash against the stilts of a thatched bungalow, and rub coconut oil on their bellies. Bliss.
The dream is not a million dollars in the bank, but all the freedom that such money gives. Therefore, this begs the question: is it possible to live the millionaire lifestyle, enjoy complete freedom, and not have a million dollars?
Over the past five years, I have formulated my own answer to this question, which you will find in this book. I will explain to you how I learned to work so that the amount of income did not depend on the amount of time spent on work, and switched to the ideal lifestyle for me. I have traveled the world and taken advantage of all the benefits the planet has to offer. So how did I go from working 14 hour days and earning $40,000 a year to working 4 hours a week and earning $40,000 a month?
It's helpful to start at the beginning. Strange but true: the beginning of this story took place among future investment bankers.
In 2002, the dean of the Faculty of Entrepreneurship in the field high technology Princeton University and my former teacher Ed Shaw asked me to give a course of lectures to students about my business adventures. At first I was confused. I have performed in this type of environment thousands of times, and although I managed to create a highly profitable company specializing in the supply of sporting goods, I had long since danced to someone else’s tune.
But I soon realized that everyone expected a conversation about how to organize large and successful companies, establish sales and live well. Logical. However, for some reason no one asked another question and certainly did not look for an answer to it: why is all this necessary? What kind of gold mine must be found to justify the loss? best years life for the sake of distant happiness?
I ended up putting together a series of lectures called Trading Wheels for Fun and Profit with a simple premise: What if we questioned the basic components of life's equation?
How would your decisions change if retirement was out of the question?
What if you could go into “mini-retirement” now so you can try out your device plan? better life before you have worked the required 40 years?
Is hard labor really necessary to live like a millionaire?
Little did I know how far these questions would take me. I came to an unexpected conclusion. Practical considerations adopted in “ real world”, is a transitory collection of illusions protected by public opinion. This book will teach you to see opportunities that others don't see and take advantage of them.
What is unique about this book?
First of all, I won't take up much of your time. I assume you already suffer from a lack of time, are overcome by fears, and in the worst case, have become accustomed to hated job. The latter is the most common and most insidious circumstance.
Secondly, I will not encourage you to save money and give up your daily glass of red wine in order to own a million dollars in 50 years. I would prefer wine. You don't have to choose between joys today and future capital. I believe that you can have both, and now. Our goal is an exciting life and a stable high income.
Third, this book will not teach you how to find your “dream job.” Let us take it as a given that for the 6–7 billion people inhabiting the Earth, work that takes a minimum of time seems ideal. The vast majority of people will never find a job that would serve as a source of lasting satisfaction, so we will not set such a goal for ourselves. Our task is to free up time and ensure automatic receipt of income.
I began each class with students by explaining the importance of being a “dealer”—a deal maker. The businessman's slogan is simple: the subject of a transaction can be anything that constitutes reality. Any rules, with the exception of legal and scientific laws, can be modified or broken without becoming a moral violator.
Joining the League of the “New Rich” is possible only after you take several specific, pre-considered steps, so I have designated the path to my cherished goal with the acronym PLAN.
The steps and strategies listed below will allow you to achieve incredible results for both the employee and the entrepreneur. Can you get along with your boss just like I did? Hardly. Can you use the same principles to double your income, halve your work hours, and at least double your vacation time? Definitely yes.
Here is a detailed description of the process that will resuscitate you.
P – problem statement: turns conventional wisdom on its head and introduces rules and goals new game. At the same time, obviously failed preconditions are replaced by more effective ones, concepts such as relative wealth and eustress are introduced. Who are NBs and how do they work? This section provides an overview of life design, the basics so to speak, before we add three more ingredients.
L – liquidation: Safely buries the outdated concept of time management. This component explains how I, using the advice of an Italian economist, reduced a 12-hour workday to two hours in two days. Increase hourly productivity by ten times or more using counterintuitive NB techniques that cultivate selective ignorance, a low information diet, and generally repress the unimportant. Here you will learn how to obtain the first of the three ingredients of comfort - time.
A – automation: Creates a constant flow of cash through geographic arbitrage, outsourcing, non-decision rules. In this section you will find everything from defining the framework to the regime and practice of the most successful NBs. This way you will have a second ingredient comfortable life– income.
N – the beginning of a new life: represents a mobility manifesto for those who are used to thinking globally. This section also introduces the concept of mini-retirements as a fail-safe remedy. remote control and getting out of control of the boss. Liberation is not cheap travel, but the complete and final removal of the restrictions that keep you stuck in one place all the time. You will have the third and final ingredient of a comfortable life - mobility.
I must note that few bosses will be happy if their subordinate spends only an hour a day in the office. Therefore, the abbreviation denoting the sequence of stages on the path to life NB must be read as PLAN, and implemented as PLNA. If you decide to stay at your current job, you need to ensure freedom of movement to reduce your working hours by 80%. Even if you have never thought about entrepreneurship in modern understanding, PLAN will turn you into an entrepreneur in the strict sense of the term (first coined by the French economist J.-B. Say in 1800): you will become a person who translates economic resources from a low-income sphere to a high-income one.
Last but not least important note: all my recommendations usually seem impossible and contradictory common sense, as I foresaw. Use my concepts to simply broaden your horizons. The very first attempts will show you where the dog is buried, and you are unlikely to back down.
How to work four hours a week Timothy Ferris
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Title: How to work four hours a week
About the book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” by Timothy Ferriss
Second edition, expanded and revised.
Many people today want to work a minimum amount of time, but at the same time they want to receive a high salary. And this is possible, but only if you manage to open your own business. Then people will work for you, and you only need to keep order, documentation and communicate with clients. But even in this case, you first need to invest a lot of effort, time and money, and then keep your business afloat. In any case, you will have to work a lot and try very hard to achieve at least some positive result.
Timothy Ferris is unusual person, which sees a little more than many people. When he wrote his book How to Work a Four-Hour Week, he naturally thought about what title to give it. In fact, the book won't tell you how to work just four hours a week. This is practically impossible. Although there is one way - when your competitors work for two hours. The name is a clever marketing ploy. That is, it was chosen in such a way as to be in great demand among readers. But don’t think that the whole book is just a pure marketing ploy.
In the book How to Work Four Hours a Week, Timothy Ferris tells some very interesting things about time management. Every leader knows how sometimes there is not enough time to do all the important things. And even personal time is often taken over by customers and subordinates who always need something. Some simply give up and devote all their time to work, some resist, but at the same time begin to sacrifice something important and in the end you can be left with nothing.
Timothy Ferris's book is a very dynamic and sometimes tough story about how you need to plan your time, use it only for really necessary things, relax and be a truly happy person. The book combines the incongruous - the desire of every person to gain freedom, not to depend on circumstances, to do everything and make time work for yourself, and strict time management, the structure of which will help you put things in order in your life.
The book How to Work Four Hours a Week gives practical advice about how you can improve your whole life. Perhaps some of them will not be understood and accepted by the readers of our country. For example, outsourcing is hardly possible in our country. At the same time, the author sets such a rhythm, so inspires and inspires, that even after reading his book it is difficult to stop and not start acting right now.
The book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” should be read by anyone who wants to manage their time wisely, manage to do important things, relax, and have time for their family. The work of Timothy Ferris is especially necessary for those who have a great desire to become free and happy.
On our website about books, you can download the site for free without registration or read online the book “How to Work Four Hours a Week” by Timothy Ferris in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot pleasant moments and a real pleasure to read. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find latest news from literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors. For beginning writers there is a separate section with useful tips and recommendations, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.
Quotes from the book How to Work Four Hours a Week by Timothy Ferriss
Make it a rule to value fruitful work rather than workload.
The final product with a close deadline will almost always be of higher quality or at least equivalent to what was born long and painfully.
Inspiration is a more accurate synonym for the word “happiness”; this is what you should strive for. This is a true panacea.
Senior Editor, Inc. Magazine Bo Burlingham presents a powerful collage of analyzes of companies that have emphasized efficiency rather than growth. Companies being considered include Clif Bar Inc., Anchor Stream Microbrewery, Righteous Babe Records, rock stars Ani DiFranco and a dozen more in different industries. More is not better, and the book convincingly proves this.
This book on negotiation opened my eyes and gave me tools that I used immediately. I used the audiobook. If one book isn't enough for you, check out William Ury's How to Overcome No and Richard Shell's Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Smart People (Ury W., Getting Past No; Shell G. Richard, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People). You won't need any other negotiation books.
This wonderful book was given to me by... graduation party Professor Shaw. From it I borrowed the expression “life deferred.” Randy, a virtual director and partner at the legendary Kleiner Perkins, is “a professional mentor, a minister without portfolio, an assertive investor, a crisis fighter and a discoverer of new opportunities.” A genius from Silicon Valley will tell you how he built his perfect life with the help of a razor-sharp mind and Buddhist philosophy. I know him personally: he is an amazing person.
There is no difference between a pessimist who insists: “Everything is in vain, there is no hope, so I will not do anything,” and an optimist who takes the position: “I will not change anything - everything will work out perfectly on its own.” In both cases, nothing happens.
Michael Gerber is a great storyteller, and his classic example of automation provides insight into how to use franchising to create a growing business based on rules rather than great employees. This book is like a detailed road atlas. In the form of a parable, it teaches how to be a master and not get drowned in trifles. If you are obsessed with your own business, this book will instantly “de-cycle” you.
One of the secrets to the success of Harvard Business School is the method of studying and discussing real cases. You'll learn about the marketing principles and strategies of 24-Hour Fitness, Southwest Airlines, Timberland and hundreds of other companies. Few people know that analysis of these cases can be purchased for less than $10, instead of spending $100,000 on Harvard education (but it's worth it). Situational examples are provided for different cases, problems and business models.
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