“The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss is a book that has gained significant popularity for its ideas and strategies on optimizing life and work to achieve time and financial freedom. If you’re someone who often delves into productivity or business-related books, you’ve likely come across this book. It has garnered immense attention and has even been recommended by well-known productivity enthusiasts like Ali Abdaal and Mat D’Avella, who consider it a life-changing read.
However, my experience with this book left me thoroughly disappointed. Right from the beginning, even after reading just the first four chapters (referred to as “step 1”), I couldn’t shake off the sense of arrogance in Tim Ferriss’s writing style. By the time I finished “step 2,” I realized that this book simply wasn’t for me. I found myself skimming through the remaining pages, fearing that there might be some hidden gem (which, unfortunately, there wasn’t).
Tim’s wealth-building methods often come across as cunning, deceitful, and at times, even laughable. Tim guides readers on how to persuade his bosses to let him work remotely while traveling, or how to hire cheap labor from third-world countries like India.
There’s even a section where Tim advises on how to seek information by exploiting personal relationships, essentially asking friends and colleagues to do the work for you, only to advocate later avoiding or ignoring their requests for assistance (or, according to Tim, delegating these tasks to an assistant).
I agree with the concept that time is money, and that one doesn’t necessarily have to work a traditional 8-hour day. However, not everyone is the same, and Tim’s one-sided, dogmatic approach can make those who dedicate their time to pursuing passions and striving to become experts in their fields feel inadequate and foolish. Some individuals genuinely enjoy their work and aspire to achieve specific goals, and not everyone desires “mini-retirements” as Tim suggests.
Tim’s guidance on making money also seems somewhat naïve and simplistic, resembling the myriad get-rich-quick gurus on the internet: set up an e-commerce website and run ads, and you’ll become wealthy. As someone in the field of digital marketing within the retail industry, I can attest that online selling isn’t as straightforward as Tim makes it out to be. It demands a lot of hard work and a significantly broader knowledge base than what can be gained from reading a few chapters of a book.
The book’s most valuable part arguably lies in applying the 80/20 principle combined with Parkinson’s Law to increase work productivity. Unfortunately, this isn’t a groundbreaking concept unique to Tim’s book, and you can find more detailed and engaging discussions of it in other books.
Would I recommend this book?
In summary, I cannot recommend this book. While 90% of the mindset and methods presented in “The 4-Hour Workweek” may be helpful if you’re willing to compromise your morals and ethics to become a lazy, self-absorbed individual (which, in my case, is not applicable), the remaining 10% of potentially useful information can be found in other books, written more thoroughly and effectively. If you’re still curious about this book, I’d suggest watching a YouTube summary video of “The 4-Hour Workweek” rather than dedicating a week to reading it.
Favorite quote
People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.
Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek
Rate
⭐⭐
2 out of 5
