Review: The 4-Hour Workweek...Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and join the “New Rich”

I don’t often review books. But I was sent an advance copy of The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, and finished it within 24 hours.

In other words, I loved it.

For me, it is a very inspiring book. And that may be because I’m already part way along the path Tim Ferriss describes.

Reading this book validated a lot of my existing values and ambitions...and gave me some terrific tips on how to keep moving forward.

So what is this book about?

It’s about cracking open and discarding a lot of our assumptions about what it means to work...and then retire.

It’s about confronting our fear to accept and change what we know to be the madness in our lives.

That is to say, we know it really makes no sense to work for thirty years, endure decades of stress, and then “retire” at the end of it all - only to find we don’t have either the money or the health and energy to really enjoy ourselves.

This story isn’t new, but Ferriss puts some interesting new twists on it, and suggests some clear and attainable ways forward.

Living the life of a millionaire (without the million dollars, or the stress)

This book isn’t super-structured, in the way you would expects from a “7 Ways to...” guide.

And I think that’s probably because it’s also something of an autobiography. It’s the story of how Timothy Ferriss broke free from being a high-flying, super-stressed, no-life wage slave.

He found ways to eliminate many of the addictions that were holding him down...the addiction to possessions, the addiction to information, and more.

He found a way create a business that earned him an excellent income...but without employees, or having to “go to the office”. He simply created an income model that enabled him to outsource almost every aspect of running the business.

He found that he could enjoy live much more if he remained mobile, taking extended trips, or “mini-retirements” to various parts of the world.

Footloose and free...

It sounds like an unattainable dream to most of us.

But in this book he shows us how it can be done.

The biggest obstacle we face? Our own fear - the emotional fear of change, of being different, of allowing ourselves to seek and take what we truly want in our lives.

While this book is partly the story of one person and his own journey, Ferriss does all he can to help us achieve the same goals.

The book is packed with advice, resources, tools and links to the various services he used to create and run his own business.

He also taps into the experiences and successes of other members of the “New Rich”...that vanguard of people who demand to enjoy life every day...and not defer the pleasures of life until they reach retirement age.

Get your copy of the 4-Hour Workweek here...