In the comment section of my previous post about life-changing quotes from The 4-Hour Work Week (TFHWW), Rob asks:
What do you think of the book overall - is a 4 hour work week something you are now working towards? Do you think this “lifestyle design” is achievable for the majority of folks?
Since I think it could make an interesting discussion, I decide to respond in a new post.
Personally I think TFHWW is a great book. There are a lot of cool ideas in it which I think are very useful. The quotes I extract in my previous post for example, are great ideas I got from the book.
However, I don’t entirely agree with the book.
Tim Ferriss (the author of the book) wrote that we should ask ourselves “What would excite me?” It’s the answer to this question that would be our dream lifestyle. In my understanding, Tim suggested us to reduce our work hours (to ultimately only 4 hours a week) to free time to do the things that excite us.
But I have different thought here:
What if the thing that excite us and our work are actually the same thing?
Isn’t it possible that we do something that really excite us as our job? Isn’t that what “do what you love” is all about?
I came to this question when I realized - while reading TFHWW - that if I have all the time in the world, I will keep doing what I’m doing now. So the idea of reducing my work hour so that I can do something that excite me doesn’t really make sense to me.
In that case, lifestyle design might not be something as drastic as what is described in TFHWW. If you are doing what you really love as your job, you already live your dream lifestyle. In that case, lifestyle design is no more than arranging your life in such a way that you can keep doing what you love.
There is a quote from Confusius which reflects my opinion well:
Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Of course, this is just my opinion and I may miss something. Also, it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of useful ideas in the book.
So what do you say? Do you agree with TFHWW or not? Let me (and other readers) know in the comments.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
7 11. July 2007, 9:46 pm o'clock |
Thanks for sharing your experience, HP. It’s great to hear the experience of someone who has escaped the 9-5 lifestyle. Also thanks for the book recommendation, I’ll check it out.
Comment by HP van Duuren
6 11. July 2007, 2:05 am o'clock |
Well I haven’t actually read the book, nevertheless it does seem to make sense to focus on finding way’s to do things that your passionate about.
Personally I escaped the 9-5 LifeStyle, at first working less took some courage because of working lesser hours, did seem to be a risk of earning less money.
Fortunately It was just the other way arround. Because of working less, I begun earning more! Because the time that I did work it was better quality earning
me more bonuses. (a Sales Job.)
Now I use some of my extra time to study some ‘case studies’ of people that made a lot of money on the Internet, infact a ‘Ridiculous amount’ (BTW, you can read about it on my blog.)
An other book that you might wanna read is “The Lazy Way to Success”, (you can get a few free chapters of the book to get an idea about the book) it shows some principles about how you can achieve more with less effort.
All the Best,
HPvD.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
5 9. July 2007, 11:39 am o'clock |
I totally agree, David. Finding what matters most to us should be our starting point in all cases. Everything else, including lifestyle design, follows from that.
Comment by David B. Bohl at ReflectionsCoachingLLC.com
4 7. July 2007, 11:38 pm o'clock |
I liked Tim’s book a great deal. There’s practical advice in it, even if your goal isn’t to become one of the “New Rich.”
I do agree with you, however. As a Lifestyle Designer and lover of life, it is my belief that finding happiness and fulfillment is entirely about determining what matters most to you, what excites you, what you’re passionate about, and what you cherish - in whatever form or endeavor that takes - and designing a life and lifestyle in support of those things.
Comment by Donald Latumahina
3 7. July 2007, 10:17 pm o'clock |
I agree Rob, there are a lot of useful tips in the book. Just we need to tailor them to our own needs and situation
Comment by rob
2 6. July 2007, 6:36 pm o'clock |
Thanks for the article. I agree with you regarding time spent working - I enjoy my work and the boundries between what would be considered work and the rest of my life are very blurred and usually non-existent. It seems the book does have lots of useful time saving tips which will allow be more time to do what I want to do, but a 4 hour “work week” - no thanks.
Comment by Juggling Frogs
1 6. July 2007, 6:34 pm o'clock |
Hear hear