Review: The 4-Hour Workweek (Part 2)

Let’s continue our review of The 4-Hour Workweek. I’m doing this review in parts so I get everything right, so bear with me on this one…

D Is For Definition

The first few chapters of the book concern themselves with the “D” part of the “New Rich” DEAL (Definition, Elimination, Automation, Liberation). Here’s my two-sentence summary of what he’s saying:

The point of life shouldn’t be to work hard so you can eventually retire. In fact, what you should do is minimize the work you do today so you can enjoy your life now.

When I started reading the book I immediately thought of my father-in-law, now deceased over a year. He worked most of his adult life as a baker in someone else’s employ, until a change in ownership at the bakery and the incompetent new owners caused the business to fail and put him unexpectedly out of a job at 62. He didn’t have a pension, just his own savings and the government pension plan.

Now Bob was a very frugal guy who knew how to manage money. But he didn’t have a lot of money, certainly not enough to do much more than pay the bills. And that’s the way it stayed, until he died last year of lung cancer. He should have been enjoying his retirement, but he couldn’t, because he was worried about money and then he got sick.

The point of the book is to not end up in this kind of situation. Which means you need money, right?

Money Does Not Equal Power

But it’s not a book about money. As Tim says:

“Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it. I call this the ‘freedom multipler.’”

In Tim’s view of the world, someone who is working just a few hours a week but has the freedom to kick back and really enjoy life is more “powerful” than someone who makes 20 times as much money but has no time to do anything with that money. Remember how everyone on Northern Exposure seemed to have so much fun? Same basic principle.

Changing the Rules

Tim then goes on to discuss how he managed to win a gold medal in Chinese kickboxing, by closely analyzing the rules of the championship and figuring out how we could win using technical knock-outs instead of hard work. From a purist’s point of view, he cheated. But he stayed within the rules and got his gold medal.

Many readers will object to this story, and it won’t be the last story of his they’ll object to. In fact, Tim has a very impersonal take on things throughout the book. If you think about it, though, it makes sense. Tim treats his life as a business.

Let’s fact it, there are things that businesses do that individuals wouldn’t necessarily do. The ends often justify the means. Or “all’s fair in business”. Most people keep their home and work personas separate. But I don’t think Tim does. Which is why he’s able to do the kinds of things that he discusses. And which is why a lot of people are going to have trouble following along because they can’t do a Vulcan mindmeld on themselves.

Gotta run, so let’s continue this later…

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Eric Giguere is the author of the AdSense book “Uncommon AdSense” and the award-nominated AdSense blog “Make Easy Money with Google and AdSense”. Subscribe to the blog and get free stuff!

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