STOP READING THIS REVIEW GO BUY THE BOOK, SERIOUSLY! Okay, maybe I am a bit over inspired by this book, but WOW. After starting my Geek Guru Book Club, I have been reading about a book a week, some good, some bad, and some you have to blog about. The 4 hour work week is a book that I am not only blogging about, but have already reached out and got people who “may not read books” to order it and start reading. This books is very interesting and makes you rethink your life as well as all the possibilities.
Tim Ferriss is a very interesting person who graduated from Princeton, Gold medal at the Chinese kickboxing national chamption, and enjoys life. After picking up this book to read, I could hardly stop reading. He starts out with some interesting stories as well as introduces some of his lingo like New Rich. The New Rich are the new blood of money or (our?) generation, the x generation. Most 20somethings or even early 30somethings understand that working in a 7 by 7 cube from 9 to 5 (or later) is just dumb. There is always work and the idea of a worry free retirement is foolish. Do you really want to work hard for 40 years and then take retirement until you die, (if you don’t die sooner) or do you want to reward yourself along the way and enjoy the small riches in life. Yea, I am with answer b) enjoy myself along the way and live life to its fullest!
The 4 hour work week discusses how you do NOT need a Swiss bank account to take a 4 month vacation around the world. You can even do it cheaper then the cost of living right now! (YES RIGH NOW!) Buying a sail boat and sailing to Europe could be cheaper then continuing your life and living in your apartment.
One of the most interesting inspiring stories (p. 231) was about a Mexican fisherman. Here is a quick summary of the story. The Mexican fisherman, who is a great fisherman, he is able to get enough fish for his family and friends in just a couple of hours of work. A MBA (oh how I HATE MBAs!) sees this fisherman and how he can maximize profits and get a couple more boats into the water and bring in a large income by maximizing his fishing. The fisherman says to the MBA, and then what? The MBA says you could then sell the company as an IPO and make millions and buy anything you want, and the fisherman says an and then what? The MBA says you could retire and just fish for a couple of hours and enjoy life, the fisherman says I am already doing that.
Think about this, you could be enjoying the “retirement” life and be living your dream rather then trying to live a “foolish rich life”. This was a total eye opener for myself and makes me start to think about all the things I want to do in life and how I CAN be doing them. Money is always something you will be making and/or need to make, why not start living your dreams and taking risks.
One of the other tales I have learned is about risk. How you need to give up the fact that you might go broke or you could be in debt, but think about your dreams. If you never try you can never live them. Think about what is the worst thing that could happen and live your fear rather then fear it. I know I have started to do that and rethink how I should start to take risks and how I can make my life better.
One of the most inspiration quotes I read in this book was Steve Jobs during Stanford University Commencement 2005. The summary version (“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”) Understand that you need to do what you ENJOY and NOT something to MAKE MONEY! Money can always be made, it is just will you take a risk and live your dreams, or work and hate your life. So liberate your life and pickup this book. Please stop by again and check out the Geek Guru Book Club
Promotional Lanyards
Don’t be knockin’ MBA’s, broham. We gots the investment capital you’re gon’ be needin’.
[...] more, read interviews with Tim Ferris from Darren Rowse or LifeHacker, . Or reviews by Dave Seah or John Murch. I’m going to go buy the [...]
[...] I started my day out pretty good got my goal accomplished and did my 20% of work ( 80/20 rule read it!) and then traveled into [...]
[...] I have been DOING what my man Tim Ferriss has suggested in his book The 4-Hour Workweek. I have been spreading the word or dare I say love, I have for this book. I have already gotten a [...]
John- i’ve just been reading through your blog and came to this post. Very cool you’re having these realizations so early in life. Here’s a post I did before Kimbro and I started JumpBox-> http://www.scrollinondubs.com/2005/10/13/lifechanging-realizations-from-working-the-past-week-in-cabo/
and then ironically a guy who commented on that post (who I’ve become friends with since) let me guest author a post on his blog which recaps the day I left my corporate 7′x7′ cubicle-> http://okdork.com/2006/09/04/can-money-pay-for-all-the-days-ive-lived-awake-but-half-asleep/
You’ll hear from us Friday.
sean
WOW This is a post that really set me thinking… thank you, will definitely check out this book!
what if…
… the Mexican fisherman really did follow the MBA’s suggestions and manage to do all that…
… he’d be providing so many more people the opportunity to earn a living…
…so many more who were earlier struggling to make ends meet now have a chance to live a better quality of life, thanks to acquiring the Mexican fisherman’s skills working with him… “Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life”
(just another speculative perspective)
[...] life has changed a bit, but I still spend time (like now) thinking about passive income or for you Tim Ferriss readers, automate wealth. Anyway, Robert T. Kiyosaki created a very interesting board game called [...]
honestly, i have read the book and it has changed the way I think about EVERYTHING, but really where do you meet people that have such passion and purpose in life…… can’t talk to the herd about your new ideas and new found wisdom?????????????????
Gladys: I know what you mean about the … worker bees. Well, I go to a lot of networking events on meetup and surround myself with these types of people. It’s funny because I HAVE disconnected from others BECAUSE they DO NOT want to hear this. If your ever in the Phoenix area I would love to meetup, but finding those types of people is hard. I also have found that recent networking events have A LOT of those people. Yes it does cost money, but if your a business owner (or soon will be) YOU WILL MAKE MORE MONEY FROM THESE EVENTS!
[...] I meet Tim Ferriss and got my book the Four Hour Work Week signed. I will be seeing him speak today and am very excited. I will be recapping his talk as well [...]
[...] for the people who have NOT read his book, check out his book and my review of Tim Ferriss’s book the 4 hour work week. I also have ANOTHER GREAT OFFER for those who have NOT read his book. I will be giving away a [...]
[...] and link back to my blog below. If you do not know who Tim Ferriss is maybe the New York Times, my review of his book, or a recent review of meeting Tim will encourage you to participate. His book is amazing and a [...]
In considering the best use of your time, is it better to just read a few summaries of the 4HWW book to get the gist (actually “outsourcing” the reading) or is it better to read the whole book denying yourself the time that you could be spending with your family?
From what I’ve read of the summaries: Work smart to work less to enjoy more.
About right?
[...] get things started, as many of you know I am a Tim Ferris fan and have written a review of the 4 Hour Work Week for my book club. I am a big fan of automation and increasing your passive income, which is what is [...]
[...] was a page copied directly from the Four Hour Work Week. I guess I just can’t let go of the Four Hour Work Week (or my bible as some of my friends call it. I think I will be reading it again this weekend trying [...]
[...] auto responders and scalable. If you want to automate your business and take the teachings of the 4 Hour Work Week, sign up for as low as [...]
[...] of lifestyle do you want? All of these questions really hit me like a ton of bricks when I read the four hour work week. I highly suggest reading it and taking a step back now and focusing on what you want than wasting [...]