Man, I struggled with this review for The 4-Hour Workweek because the concept is so foreign to so many people. I really like the book, but you have to stick with it.
The author (Timothy Ferriss) introduces some interesting and complicated concepts for making enough money that you can let your business run itself and travel around the world, if you want to.
The point is not to get rich, but to be able to do what you want, when you want. And his ultimate goal is not working yourself to death until the age of 65 and then retiring to do NOTHING. It’s more like how-to act like you’re retired ALL THE TIME, only working enough so you can eat, travel, learn to tango, whatever.
Something the author wants us to ponder is why we do so many things or spend time with people that/who are time-consuming, negative or irrelevant to our goals.
Could The 4-Hour Workweek apply to me, the Domestic Goddess? It wasn’t until I had my third kid that people actually started acknowledging that I could even BE busy during the day. Besides, my husband would argue that I really only put 4 hours total per week into the cooking and cleaning anyway, and he could be right. Care for the kids for 4 hours a week? No. Homeschool for 4 hours a week? Not gonna fly with The State, my friends.
My husband doesn’t want to be an engineer in 4 hours a week and doesn’t want to work at home because of … distractions (five of us, to be exact). But he would LOVE to sell his woodworking pieces, alternating working at that a few months and then maybe traveling a few months. Still, his woodworking would take FAR more than 4 hours a week and couldn’t run itself (I’m picturing a workshop of tools moving by themselves and it freaks me out).
I guess I could write a book in 4 hours a week, but that would take forever. I racked my brain trying to come up with something I could do in only 4 hours a week and the only thing I could think of was to write some downloadable e-book for $5 a pop called, “How to Write With Kids Nipping at Your Heels.”
Oh, oh, oh! I know! I could eat chocolate for 4 hours a week!
Bottom line: I give it 8 Dove chocolate hearts out of 10 and please check out the author’s web site: fourhourworkweek.com for more information, photos, etc.
FYI for Mr. Ferriss, since everyone and their freaking brother has some automatic Googling system installed these days: Your book rocks, but it brings up SO many questions for people like stay-at-home parents (especially those who homeschool) and, say, sanitation workers, parks and rec people, letter carriers, fashion designers and others who may not WANT to outsource their creative process. Let’s dialogue!
