Diary of a Self-Help Dropout: Flirting With the 4-Hour Workweek

Can't we all just proclaim in unison that The 4 Hour Work Week is crap and never mention Timothy Ferriss again?

I really enjoyed the lifestyle message of the book, which I think is an interesting goal, but the "specific information" about how to implement it kind of upset me.

There's enough room in this world for a few people to be selling vitamins or "information products" via infomercials, but that's only because there are a lot of people doing other things. Good for him that he found his niche, but it's totally misleading to suggest to everyone else that we can all race cars, dance competitively and live all over the world by following the exact same path.

Also, the suggestion that all favelas are just like "City of God" was pretty offensive.

The misleading aspect you mentioned is exactly what irks me about the book. It is a fantasy being sold to every person working a dull job. The glorification of the no-work, jetsetting lifestyle is misleading as well. To have a profession and be a member of a community should be a source joy and accomplishment, not something to run away from. I think most people would find traveling the world alone, constantly indulging fantasies, would become boring and meaningless after a few months.

Mr. Ferriss is a master at self promotion. That doesn't mean that there's not good stuff to be learned after you sift through the self-promoting crap in the book.

Tidbits I picked up:

* Throw a quick 3 page website up as a sales letter to market a $100 product. Point $200 worth of ad-sense at it over 10 days to see if you get any uptake. If you have more than 2 signups or "buy-ins", you've past the break even point and you're on the road to making money.

* Focus on developing a $50-150 priced product. You don't have to sell a ton of those products to make a decent living for yourself.

* 100 units sold * $100 = replace my monthly income.

* Focus intensely on what's going to make you cash. All the cool technology you're building doesn't matter to your business unless it helps the bottom line. This was apropos to me, because I have an acute case of... oh, look at this shiny new thing. Focusing on what makes money helps cut through some of that.

* People like to buy things. No, really. They like to pay for things. It makes them feel better about their lives. So, if you offer them a compelling reason to give you money, they will probably give you the money.

* Outsource as much as you can that isn't non-core business. e.g. Hire interns to do marketing and PR work for you. Outsource writing your copy. Outsource design work, outsource product development if appropriate. Outsource market research, outsource date finding, outsource travel plans, outsource, outsource, outsource everything away to make your life simpler.

* Filter out distractions as much as possible. i.e. no meetings, minimal email.

* Have balls. No, really, dude hacked a martial arts festival and won. Why? By hacking the weigh-in legally. He has a lot of legal cons that help you hack the publicity system. Put your balls to use by hacking a social structure and rules in a situation to your benefit. If you don't have the balls to try something, you're not going to achieve it.

* Chase the big dreams. Life is too short. If you want a Lotus Elise, test drive it, and find out how much you'd have to make a month to pay for it. Figure out how to make that money. If you want to go to Figi, figure out the cost, make the money to get there and then just go.

That doesn't really have much to do with the article. It's actually about a freelancer trying three different time management techniques, including the ones found in 4HWK. It was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. In fact, the author said, "Ferriss' system basically amounts to finding ways to avoid doing your work." which I imagine you'd appreciate it for its intended humor.

With regards to the social implications of 4HWK, As had been said in many of the comments here about it, the idea is to be able to do what you want to do, whether it is to indulge in what you consider as fantasies, or to throw yourself back into doing another time-consuming, socially-productive startup.

I think you underestimate the difficulty of having nothing to do. In those moments, there is nothing to distract you from taking a good, hard look at yourself. There are many things that come up, assumptions about what is socially acceptable (getting a job) and what is not gets examined. I've done a bit of that in the past before, and I recognize it in Ferris's words at the beginning of his book. If after going on this imposed exile for a year, you come out of it going after a new dream, or a new project, that is often more true to yourself than running around being "productive". It is the equivalent of reaching the self-acualization stage of Maslow's ladder, and being ready to go beyond that. This experience is life-changing enough that I think people should have the opportunity to give it a try. Yes, it requires the cooperation of other people helping you out. What of it?

The other side of it is that American society may value egalitarian hard-work, but much of the middle-class affluence is founded on those living in harsher working conditions. Basic things as simple as running water, toilet paper, nutritionally-balanced meals, junk food, iPhones and news.ycombinator.com are all taken for granted here. They are not universally available. It is one thing to criticize Ferris's method for resembling an unsustainable Ponzi scheme, it is quite another to describe it as indulging in fantasies and gloficiation of no-work when the average, mainstream American middle-class is affluent by world standards.