What I hate about the 4-hour work week ...

82 Comments & Trackbacks

• Inspiring!
  Thanks a lot. I am in that mode now in my life trying to decide what to do with it.

  Submitted on Friday, June 06, 2008

• Michael:

  Great post, very thought-provoking and insightful.

  I always find an intelligent discussion on the under-pinnings of one’s work ethic fascinating (it’s kinda funny because David Bullock argued the contrary view in his blog just a couple days ago which may just mean that the seminar business is way more fun than the Taguchi business).

  Me personally, I tend to oscillate between both poles.  I guess that it all comes down to how the individual views and deals with adversity: does it get ya down or do you see it as a challenge…

  My $0.02 ($0.0197 Canadian)

  -leo

  Submitted on Friday, June 06, 2008

• @Xavier, I’m glad you liked it. For me, the key was figuring out not only what I loved ... but who it was that I most want to serve. That is the first step that takes “do what you love” out of the dream world and into the results-world.

  @Leo, thanks!

  I have never met David, but from what I have heard he is a brilliant guy. He and I share a good friend in common, Perry Marshall ... and even shared the stage at an event a couple of years back, but never really talked.

  I used to very strongly believe as David believes. It is what all of my mentors in business and marketing taught as the “right way” to be.

  Aside from my personal reasons for shifting (which I’ll write about sometime) ... I have evidence piling up to the rafters of the built-in limitation of companies built from a premise of work/life separation ... and the amazing possibilities for growth that emerge once a business in congruent with regard to its “purpose” in the world. I’ll write about it at some point ...

  I guess the question ultimately was posed to me by a great mentor/teacher/friend of mine, Joseph Riggio. http://www.josephriggio.com/ The gist of it was:

  Do I want a business so I can have a life?

  Or do I want a life ... where a business is the natural expression of who I am and want to be in the world?

  The answer was hard for me to swallow. I had to give up a lot to shift to the latter. And every moment has been worth it.

  Michael

  Michael Cage on Friday, June 06, 2008

• FYI, I tracked down the post Leo was referring to—-> http://www.davidbullock.com/137/where-do-i-start/

  Michael Cage on Friday, June 06, 2008

• I agree 100% with yoru thoughts. I have started to read that book to realize that in the middle of it I would still be selling crap to other people to get myself thigns that make me feel comfortable.

  The world cannot afford this kind of behavior anymore I think…. We need more peopel taht are willing to give back.

  Meanwhile…. Timothy is just a little more rich.

  Leo

  Submitted on Friday, June 06, 2008

• Michael I love you

  I mean…. brotherly…. because you expressed some elegant and complex ideas in a very understandable way.

  I will write on this on my blog too!

  Submitted on Saturday, June 07, 2008

• I never quite bought into the idea of a 4 hour work week. That’s 4 more hours than I work now and just seems like too much effort.

  What I do now is, generally speaking, play. But I am finding ways to play that other people will pay me for. My blogs. My woodworking. Landscaping design & implementation.

  It’s all good ... and allows me time to be a family man, travel some, worship frequently and surf my face off. :-0

  Submitted on Saturday, June 07, 2008

• An excellent piece!

  My colleague and I started our company *because* we had a passion for good code and intelligent IT.  Not because we wanted to work as little as possible.  In fact, because we both have a passion for what we now do we work incredibly long hours - I’ve never worked so hard in my life!

  I used to be a very highly paid consultant to large corporates on their business systems.  It was quite dry work, and I deliberately took about three months a year off wherever possible.  I’d potter about, tidying up the house, going on day trips and so on, but after a while the novelty of doing nothing wears off.

  As you say, working four hours a week is only appealling if you have a dull job that fails to ignite your passion.  Of course, many people have just those kinds of jobs.  They’ll be the ones who buy this book in large numbers.

  Submitted on Saturday, June 07, 2008

• 4-hour? You mean 4-day ???

  Submitted on Saturday, June 07, 2008

• I think the author of is just trying to sell books, and this idea grabs people’s attention.  Let’s face it, people start businesses and work to make money. Bottom line. So if you find an opportunity to make the most money in the shortest amount of time, this frees up your time to do other things, not that you’ll be sitting around eating bon bons, but you can then spend time “working” in other important areas of your life. Like spending time with family, friends, exercising, etc.

  Submitted on Saturday, June 07, 2008

• Hey Michael…long time no speak…interesting post.  This makes me think of a friend of mine who spent many years studying a very esoteric form of acupuncture…it took him to Europe, China, and all around the US.  He settled in Portland, OR and had a practice for a number of years.  He didn’t make a great deal of money, but he was really learning how to help people.

  At some point, his commitment to Tibetan Buddhism substantially increased beyond mere interest and he realized that if he really wanted to help people maximally he would have to learn to teach them to fundamentally change their thinking (in the Tibetan mythology this is a massive ontological shift) which would first require him to change his own thinking. 

  This became his priority in life and consequently he became a real estate broker.  He already had a license from buying and selling his own home, and people would just show up and get him to buy/sell their homes.  They recognized he operated with a core level of integrity and hired him without reservation.  He never solicited a bit of business, set himself up so he didn’t have to work much (so he could practice with his teacher, go on retreats, etc) and made more than enough money to subsidize the lifestyle he wanted.  In some ways a true ‘4 hour work week’. 

  I read the 4HWW and agree that it descends into a certain hedonism…kind of like an applied version of The Secret.  And yet, depending on what one wants (I think this is really the crux of the matter: What Do You Want?...sound familiar?), this could be a brilliant use of technology.  A way to subsidize altruism and philanthropy…a way to bankroll one’s spiritual or service pursuits. 

  Maybe the difficulty here is that people don’t know what they really want and so they get sold a bill of goods that allows them to continue believing that more toys or trips are the things most worth aspiring to.

  Submitted on Monday, June 09, 2008

• Great post. I think the 4hr work week was targeted to a different segment of the market though. From your post it seems like that you have an option to not work and do whatever you want. However, I believe he meant to write his book for the ones that do work because that they have to do it. It his advice to free up your time from doing something you have to do to something you want to do.

  Submitted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008

• Tim Ferris is a snake oil salesman.  there is no substance to his ideas.  even on his blog he tries to con people.  check out the post of adding 30pounds of muscle in 30days.  a bunch of people read that and did exactly what he said to do and ended up pretty much the same.  then some fitness experts weighed in and explained the con. 

  plus, look at the vid of him breaking the tango spin record…it is super lame.  he just found a record that either didnt exist or was easy to break and now he can put that on his resume.  he’s a con.

  Submitted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008

• Wow - great post! I think the 4 hour work week book is just a response to how bitter we are towards work and how much empty our lives are both in our jobs and outside of our jobs.

  Submitted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008

• I have a job I enjoy, working for a company run by people I would not leave alone or as a group in a room with my wallet or anything else I valued.Unless I were there to guard it myself and even then I believe I might need to be armed a 4 hour work week sounds pretty good to anyone who does need to work.

  Submitted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

• I hate the whole concept of the 4-hour workweek. It’s not sustainable and I agree with you - if you don’t want to work at your business, get a job and slack off on someone else’s dime.

  Submitted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

• Excellent! I am in the process of starting my own business, a bakery, because it is my passion and I love doing it. Living life day to day and being unhappy doing so isn’t what life is about. Have fun everyday, every hour, every minute. Thats what it is about. Fantastic read, thank you!

  Submitted on Thursday, June 12, 2008

• I think it’s interesting to here others views on this matter. I’ve found that a better book for discovering what one wants was “The Purpose Driven Life” which has been a best seller for years.

  If I wanted to know why something was made, I’d refer to the manual, Right? Well we as human beings were created for a purpose but many times look everywhere except to Emanual. The Bible.

  http://www.RZIM.com - is a great resource for an honest sceptic.

  
  Have a Wonderful day everyone,
  and God bless,
  in Jesus Christ my Lord.

  http://www.ControlHollywood.com

  Submitted on Thursday, June 12, 2008

• Great post!

  And the secret that many people don’t realize is that it’s possible to be very well rewarded for doing what you love.

  Submitted on Thursday, June 12, 2008

• Wow.  I don’t think I want a four hour work week; I have too much fun doing what I do.  I recently sold my event business and now I write and perform ceremonies (mostly weddings) full time.  My clients are incredible, my work is flexible and creative, and I make reasonably good money.  Most of all, my time is my own and I feel rewarded in freedom.

  Part of being able to do what you love is not having huge expenses; Mcmansions, the latest car, lots of new clothes, even (for some of us) cable tv.  It’s not a move towards deprivation, just a conscious choice to decide what is more valuable; 450 channels and a pair of Jimmy Choos or the freedom to do what you love. Seems like a pretty obvious choice, doesn’t it…

  Celia Milton   http://www.celiamilton.com

  Submitted on Thursday, June 12, 2008

• Who will pick up the garbage?

  Submitted on Friday, June 13, 2008

• Great post - and I am in complete agreement.  I believe that work is so beneficial to giving each of us a sense of accomplishment and achievement outside of our family life.  It challenges us and makes us contribute something to this world.  It should be one or the other, work and life can actually be good partners and the more people learn to try and like their jobs, the better the quality of their life will be.
  Jeff Archer
  http://the-tonic.blogspot.com

  Submitted on Friday, June 13, 2008

• I think Tim Ferris is consciously playing with a paradox. The real target audience of the 4-Hour Work Week is not people who don’t want to work; it’s people who love to work but find themselves twiddling their thumbs, doing busy work, and putting in face time for the majority of the day. I used to lament that I would be ecstatic if given the opportunity do 3 jobs like the slow-paced one I had in 40 hours, even for just twice the money.

  Submitted on Monday, June 23, 2008

• Barbara, I am in total agreement with your post. I noticed the cause of this problem at my very first job, working for Wendy’s. Even when there was NOTHING to do, our manager had us “wiping the counter.”  This meant we had to wipe a rag across the imaginary dirt on the counter for however long it took for the next customer to come in.  The problem is that employers want to feel like they are getting their money’s worth.  You’re on THEIR clock.  What they don’t realize is that they would get fewer hours, but overall more productive employees by letting them be efficient and enjoy more breaks…or as you say above: more work/responsibilities.

  Submitted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008

• Great great post Michael. I wonder how long it’s going to take to break that stigma that work is work? If you are pursuing your passion in life and pouring yourself into something you believe in, you don’t really work a day in your life.

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• I love it when people like you take on the opposite point of view! Thank you.

  Then I like to come in and support aspects of both sides. Tim had his own business, and loved it too much you could say - many of us entrepreneurs struggle with stopping each day precisely because we do love it, because we get immersed in it. So point one is that even with or perhaps especially with, a company/job you have poured your heart and soul into, there is a place for artificially imposed boundaries to help make room for *other* things we love. These actually can and do enhance the experience of the beloved work/company.

  Secondly, as Rita said, some of this is marketing spin to get our attention. Clearly, Tim “works” more than 4 hours a week, and a key part of his strategy is being successful enough to pay VA’s and others to do a lot of his “work” for him. Nonetheless, because he has a dramatic story and a catchy title, and lots of specific actionables, he has opened up a new territory to enable each of to be more conscious about how we approach the day to day experience of our lives.

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• Thanks for starting this conversation Michael.

  You make some great points. I think the title was what sold this book. I have it, read about halfway through- and let’s face it Tim works more than a 4 hour week- but as you say he does what he loves.

  Are you writing the 17 minute work wee- yes i garre it would sell like hotcakes

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• On target, or as on target as a person who has never read the book can say.. My husband owns a small business to which I contribute heavily. I also work for an entrepreneur. I have always accomplished my “tasks” in less time than I was paid for, but only now do I find myself in a position where nearly everything I do has an underlying current of, “How will this apply to the business,” my passion.

  What I remember from growing up was the adage of “doing what you love,” seems like that is the answer, whether the end goal is money, weight loss or notoriety.

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• This is one of your best blogs yet.  It can be enormously frustrating to encounter ‘entrepreneurs’ who care more about the ‘flip’ than what they are doing in the 1st place.  I don’t know why any VC would fund a company where the founders aren’t passionate about what they are doing.

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• Word!

  Submitted on Tuesday, July 01, 2008

• Michael, I have just come across your blog and wanted to say how engaging it is. I love the writing style. Great work.
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  Submitted on Wednesday, July 02, 2008

• The 4HWW presumes that no work is enjoyable, and most of the commenters here are happy to disprove this, as I would myself.

  However, there’s also a danger that we presume that it’s a simple thing for everybody to find out what they love to do and work out how to get paid for it.

  I have a number of good friends who would never say that they enjoy their job. But they do it for the same reason that we all took on paper rounds or odd-jobs in our youth, in order to finance the things that we do enjoy doing.

  While trying to find the activity that will enable a person to enjoy work and still get paid for it, doesn’t it make sense to work as productively as possible, even though it’s unpleasant for some, in order to pay the bills and pursue that which does give pleasure?

  The book was not written for people like us. If a person never finds something they enjoy which they can earn from at the same time, then suddenly ‘early retirement’ sounds quite appealing.

  Submitted on Thursday, July 03, 2008

• Wow! After reading the post and the first 10 or so responses I realized 90% of you missed the point (either you read the book too fast or you need to read it again).

  1. Nowhere in the book did Timothy advise anyone to sell trash or do something they hated for a living.

  All the examples… the French t-shirt guy, the yoga for rock climbing girl, his friend in Brooklyn NY music files/CD online business, even his own energy product business that used to consume more than 60 hours of his time each week he showed how he turned it around to 4 hours each week.

  2. At no point did he tell anyone to go and live a wasteful life.

  He only showed you an example of what he did with his life… Trained to become a pro-ballroom dancer, become a Karate champion, speak several languages, etc, all with the freedom of being able to go to the best (or ideal) places in the world to learn to do each effectively.

  3. And last but least he even came up with a new term “Muse” to call it…(NOT Buisness) and stressed more than once in the book that it was not the “end all, be all” for anyone. He eluded to starting a business to “save the world” when you have the emotional, financial and time freedom to pursue it.

  As exampled by his friend in Brooklyn New York who was working on a huge upcoming project and was/is involved with may other lucrative projects including “LimeWire.com” with a partner.

  He also mentioned having more than one muse. His book to me may be his third or so muse as he did/do have a TV show in China or Japan (it’s unclear if it’s still running).

  I am following his lead and am at my beginning/testing stages of my first official muse that I speak about briefly in my blog. I also have a few legitimate businesses I’ll be starting soon too but a muse will give me the opportunity to quit my current part time job PLUS the start up funding for my upcoming businesses.

  Let me end by saying Timothy is a genius. His book is brilliant. I am happy he shed light on this for me because growing up I knew there had to be a better way than the 9 - 5 or working long hours in my own business I used to love.

  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say my piece.

  Future RPM millionaire

  Submitted on Thursday, July 03, 2008

• REFRESHING! Thank you!!

  Submitted on Thursday, July 03, 2008

• For sure!  TF never even said he disliked his job.  He just wanted to see if the whole situation could be improved by focusing on the profitable parts and outsourcing the rest. Kind of like a “real” company is structured. His results were positive, his productivity increased.

  As to everybody wanting a 4 hour work week…nah.  They’d sure like to lop 20 hours off the 60 hour week though.

  Maybe the original book title was “The 85 hour work week” ...but never found an audience.

  Submitted on Sunday, July 06, 2008

• Great post!
  Still, I think 4 hours a week is a dream for many entrepreneurs. I expect some could achieve that work time.

  I really liked your blog this is the first time I visited it. I going to subscribe for further information.

  If you like you can visit my blog.
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  Best Regards.

  Submitted on Thursday, July 17, 2008

• Work is not work if you are enjoying it, that’s the secret to the 4 hour work week! It’s work if you hate it, passion if you love it. So the 4 hour work week is where you fill in your account book or call/answer the phone.

  Submitted on Saturday, July 19, 2008

• I must say I liked the 4HWW and found there is some solid takeaway in it. For many non IT folks, it sheds a lot of light on the power of outsourcing.

  I also agree with you Michael as I have to be doing something business wise that is an extension of who I am. Ferris’ book speaks to many people that are unhappy with their occupation on a simplistic level - borderline infommercial. It’s easy to sell ideas to people in disdain of their current life. However, reading it from a different perspective, I found it to be useful more than inspiring.

  Submitted on Thursday, July 24, 2008

• He’s got an opinion just like your opinion and everyone else in the world.  That doesn’t make his B.S.  The fact is everyone has to find there own nitch and get a good break in life.  If you love what your doing you’ll be willing to put as much time as needed in it, but if you hate what your doing you won’t spend 5 min. in a work week on it.

  Submitted on Friday, July 25, 2008

• Michael,

  I discovered you on my friend Chris Haddad’s website—and am looking forward to reading more of your work.

  I have to admit I’ve not read the 4-Hour Work Week, although many people have recommended it. When I first saw Tim Ferriss’ website, I was appalled by, as you said, the underlying philosophy. 

  There’s something fundamental to work, something that allows us to be fulfilled as human beings. Work that has no meaning kills the soul. But meaningful work is enlivening, fulfilling. It makes us happy. It gives us purpose.

  The language of work and play gets us all mixed up. A couple of years ago I said that I would no longer work. I play. And, there’s a relationship between some of the things I play at and the money in the bank account. It was a profound shift for me, and allowed me the freedom to design my life in a way that works for me, makes me happy, and allows me to make the kind of contributions that are most important to me.

  And once that shift happened, I started spending a lot more time at things traditionally called “work.”

  It seems to me that Tim Ferriss works or plays (however you want to describe it) very hard. The guy’s tangoing and dunking himself in ice water to test sleep patterns and writing books and skiing . . . that’s his work. Those are the things he does day to day, and some of them are related to that bank account. I suspect that all of them are related—they are all part of creating the brand and image of Tim Ferriss.

  And that’s what he seems to be all about. Tim Ferriss.

  Based on your recommendation on the tactics in the book, I’ll be picking it up this weekend. Thank you for your article, and I’m looking forward to reading more.

  Submitted on Friday, August 01, 2008

• This isn’t going to be the most eloquent post every, but i think there will be some validity to it.

  Let’s look at the facts.

  (1) Tim ferris is a PRINCETON grad….and yes I know we’ve all heard the myth that “brains don’t matter”...it runs rampant in the entreprenuerial world…but brains do help things along - think google - they are no slouches. Perhaps Tim can do things that other people simply can not do. Much in the same way that Shaq can write a “how to” on basketball.

  (2) Tim GAMES THE SYSTEM. That’s his personality. He’s all about shortcuts. At the end of the day, do you want to look at your life and say - wow, I shortcut my way through life. Don’t believe me? He brags about winning a very well-respected martial arts tournament by manipulating his body weight and taking advantage of a loophole in the system that allows him to toss guys out of the ring. So you’ve got guys who dedicated their lives to this sport - and tim comes in - analyzes a weakness. A business lesson? Yes. A good way to live your life? Questionable.

  (3) Tim values adventure. He’s an adventure seeker. And that’s cool. But not everyone is, some people like comfort, safety and security. Not because they are oppressed by the man, but because they like to sit by the fireplace with their wife and know that money will be coming in twice a month. Is this tim’s personal philosophy? no. But is it right for him to group everyone who thinks this way as a victim? no. Does he? Well, yea, sorta…

  (4) Tim’s big message is this. LIFE IS A RACE. Screw the process - just get results following my “life hacks”. Work sucks. Don’t grow up. Don’t get a job. Don’t save - spend - because you might die. If you want a sports car get one - don’t worry about that because (insert smartly crafted, hard to refute arguement #94).  Think you really want to work? Think again. Look at me. I dance tango, lift weights, and travel using an american express. I don’t answer emails because im too busy figuring out how to beat martial arts masters, don’t bother me - i’m too busy figuring out how to launch my book.

  (5) Oh an finally, i hate to say it but his fortune is in a bunch of pills that don’t work.  I used to wrestle back in high school, i watched kids as they popped his pills and then wondered where their money (and results) went. Seriously.

  At the end of the day I think you need to, as michael suggests, figure out what you are really all about.

  At the end of the day tim ferris is an advocate of SURFACE LEVEL THINKING - he’s just personally a very good salesman, and sharp as a knife.

  The choice is yours…

  Apologies for the vitriolic nature of this rant.

  Didn’t intend for it to get like this.

  Ciao
  David Z

  Submitted on Friday, August 01, 2008

• Hi, I run a SIA Training company in London, it’s a new start up, and I am doing pretty well. I read 4HWW and my thoughts are same, I spend alot of time doing what I do, start up businesses. I tried working 4 hours a week, but all I had on my mind was my training company.

  In short, 4HWW will not be liked or disliked by all. Tim Ferris has embedded NLP and Time Management combined with his oursourcing knowledge.

  Submitted on Monday, August 04, 2008

• Totally in agreement with you, most gurus just tell you a bunch of fluff to sell books.  There’s no way in hell they’ll tell you the real stuff that would jeopardize their fortune, it’s that simple.

  Submitted on Monday, August 11, 2008

• A wise man once told me that the key to entrepreneurship is finding what you love and doing that.  The reasoning is that if you love what you are doing, you will be good at it.  If you are good at it, you will make money.  The key is to love what you are doing then it won’t even seem like work.  In fact, once you find that passion, you will gladly spend more hours doing that then you ever did “working”.

  My business revolves around helping people save money.  I get great personal satisfaction from that and it doesn’t even seem like work when I can help somebody out.

  Submitted on Sunday, August 17, 2008

• Work ethic my ass, sure find what you love.  I would love to be a ski guide, but not 150 days a year.  Ferris is talking about escaping a mind numbing job situation so that you can choose what to do with your time.  You may even like your job, but when you become a slave to your job doesn’t the end result become the same, wouldn’t the freedom to choose be a nice option.  Some of us have intrinsic joy without the constant drive to produce.  It is OK to love, laugh, travel, experience, and give back to the world without always creating capitalistic circumstances.

  Submitted on Monday, August 18, 2008

• I agree with Kirk. Tim attacks the fundamental paradigm that “what I do for money” and “how I spend all of my time” must be the same. For some people, making work from a passion or cluster of passions works well. (For most people, that is a step way up from making do with full-time work in a life shaped by others.)

  I have found that the “right livelihood” paradigm still neglects other, perfectly reasonable configurations for life. In addition to Kirk’s example, there is: “Music is my passion, and I don’t want to be in the music business at all. I want to shape a life with writing music as front and center. My goal in work is simply to finance that, and ‘waiter’ won’t accomplish that.”

  Whereas the mainstream view says that non-job can’t be front and center if you expect to be respected, the entrepreneurial/RL view tends to dismiss that position as “low self-esteem” or something, which I do not agree that it is necessarily.

  Submitted on Monday, August 18, 2008

• I think Kirk was being a bit harsh. You do what you love, and if you really love it you do actually work a lot more than you expect. Plain and simple.

  Submitted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008

• A 4 hour work week sounds great, but if you don’t find something to fill your time you will just get bored with your life.  I think that was the point.

  Submitted on Sunday, August 24, 2008

• I wanted to own a consultancy service in a village and MoneyLIFE, India’s topmost Personal finance magazine supported me, gave me confidence.
  Thanks to MoneyLIFE.

  http://www.moneylife.in

  Submitted on Monday, August 25, 2008

• Micheal,
  Really inspiring well written post where complex ideas are in a very understandable way.
  Regards
  GIS Outsourcing in India
  http://www.sblgis.com/about_us.aspx

  Submitted on Monday, September 08, 2008

• Four hours a week of working. I just want to get down to four hours a day. I am not much of a worker and never have been. I guess you could say I am lazy. That’s my goal four hours a day, then three and I am going to stop with 2 hours. Hey, even I can do 2 hours a day and then go play golf. I think!

  Submitted on Saturday, September 13, 2008

• Something is better then nothing, this is what i observed from this, This is good, i like michael approach of this presentation. Great stuff!!

  Submitted on Sunday, September 21, 2008

• “For years, we have been taught that work is something you have to do ... so that you can do what you really want while you are not working.”

  I strongly agree with you Michael.

  Submitted on Monday, September 29, 2008

• When you do what you love there is no such thing as work!! The ultimate time during a person day is doing what you love to do.

  Great post!!  Great Blog!!

  Submitted on Saturday, October 18, 2008

• The best thing to come out of the book for me was the question “Are you being productive, or just busy ?” The 4 hour Week gets peoples curiosity by the title along, which is smart marketing by Timothy Ferriss even if you don’t agree with the book.

  Submitted on Saturday, November 01, 2008

• I used to be a very highly paid consultant to large corporates on their business systems.  It was quite dry work, and I deliberately took about three months a year off wherever possible.  I’d potter about, tidying up the house, going on day trips and so on, but after a while the novelty of doing nothing wears off.
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  Submitted on Sunday, November 02, 2008

• Very helpful in my SIA license training company

  Submitted on Tuesday, November 04, 2008

• I’m have been working 20 hours a week for the last 2 years and are currently working 10 hours a week, I have been developing myself and are now on an esoteric path.
  My goal is to start several online sites that I can manage from anywhere in the world while I travel and educate myself further in the esoteric path.

  Submitted on Thursday, November 13, 2008

• If I could work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I would I love what I do , my wife and family do come first thou.. and apparently if i don’t get a least 5 hours sleep a night I’m a nightmare to work with.

  DaveN

  Submitted on Thursday, November 13, 2008

• Great stuff!I think this blogs contain interesting points. Thank you Micheal.
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  Submitted on Friday, November 14, 2008

• YES!

  This is exactly what we decided to do with our own business.  Kyeli (my life partner and business partner) and I read The Four Hour Work Week and we got really excited!  We wanted to create a muse for ourselves so that we could only work four hours a week and use the rest of the time to follow our passion, which is helping people improve their communication skills.

  But that was all based on this myth.  The myth that work sucks and you want to do as little of it as possible.

  Once we got rid of the myth, we decided to do what we love for a living, and we’re doing it!  It’s working beautifully, and I love every minute of it!  (Well, maybe not every minute, but at least 80% of the minutes.)

  Thanks for writing this post.  This is REALLY IMPORTANT.  In fact, I want to tell my readers about this too.  I’ll turn this comment into a full-fledge post, so expect a trackback. (:  Thanks again, Michael!

  Submitted on Thursday, December 04, 2008

• I really agree with you about this whole traditional myth. You are also right when you said that you should think accurately about what you are doing and why you are doing it. I believe that we can be successful if we love what we are doing….just like the saying that says, “don’t aim for success if you want it, just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.”

  Submitted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

• Michael,
  Good post. I’ve passed by the “4 hour work week” on bookshelves for several years. On one hand it appealed to me but on the other my intellect quickly shut it down. A 4 hour work is just stupid. Why? Because I enjoy work. I enjoy the challenge of entrepreneurship. I enjoy being hungry for a better business. Work isn’t my life but it is one of my hobbies.

  Jared
  http://www.fireandmotionblog.com

  Submitted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008

• Grat info, thanks

  Tamagotchi Town on Monday, December 29, 2008

• I hate that mentality as well..I have the 100 hour work week because I love what I do

  mmo on Saturday, January 03, 2009

• To all of those who said, “I love what I do” - doesn’t your contentment with a 100-hour week depend ABSOLUTELY on having control of your own time?

  I, too, spend significantly more than 4 hours or 40 hours on my work. But, when “work” means accountability to someone else on their terms - another story.

  Barbara Saunders on Saturday, January 03, 2009

• Simple and True. There are many different reasons why someone wants to be their own boss. Not having to work is probably the number one.

  Troy Bingham Dialer on Sunday, January 04, 2009

• Interesting thoughts. Thanks a lot.

  Trevor Shipp on Monday, January 05, 2009

• I have started to read that book to realize that in the middle of it I would still be selling crap to other people to get myself thigns that make me feel comfortable. My goal is to start several online sites that I can manage from anywhere in the world while I travel and educate myself further in the esoteric path.

  Trade Show Educator on Tuesday, March 03, 2009

• Great post and Great comments. I love hearing from like minded individuals.
  I love my business - the ups and the downs. Life is a journey.

  ryan conlon on Wednesday, March 25, 2009

• Hi every ones I would like to say The best free advertising is a good reputation and word of mouth, starting with your own. Always carry a lots of business cards, making it a point to give x amount (lots of them) away every week, do this while you tell exactly what can be expect from your service and of you, offer some kind of guarantee or follow-up service, Then when you are called upon, work to build a great reputation by being super professional: show up early, have a great attitude and show your gratitude for the opportunity to do business.
  Give referral ‘rewards’ to satisfied customers…Do Community service: Offer a donation’ to a local community non-profit organisation with media clout and good local network with businesses such as a community radio station, library, schools, churches, etc.

  www.swissrecruitme">automotive jobs lover on Friday, March 27, 2009

• Very nice post, been thinking about this a lot recently.  I’ve been wondering what life will be like when I finish uni and get into a proper job, probably in the office most of the time. 

  In my summer vacations as a student I would be in jobs such as labouring and grass cutting, going around in a van and to be perfectly honest I really enjoyed doing it, its a bit extra manual labour compared to office work but who cares.  I look at older men who are plumbers or joiners and their lives seem to be a lot more enjoyable compared to the office workers - manual labour is the way forward!!

  Naruto on Tuesday, April 07, 2009

• Hi Michael,
  You are so right! I bought the book a while ago and never been able to finish it! As an entrepreneur doing what you like, passionately, it really doesn’t matter if you are working 4 hours or 10 or 24 since you love every minute of it! The work/life separation is a tragic mentality and I keep battling and trying to find ways so my kids will not become its victims! Unfortunately, they are set from school on this direction with homework and bribes like “do your work and than go for your free choice”! Sad!
  Great post,
  Cami

  Cami on Wednesday, April 15, 2009

• I always like to read something like this. That is usually a bit hard to find valuable information on the internet. And I found your post using Yahoo and I can say I the time spent was worth reading.

  ReversePhoneLookup on Friday, May 15, 2009

• Micheal,

  Sage advice indeed…

  Personally, I try to distinguish between “the concept” presented by something like The 4 Hour Workweek…and the “dream” that product sells.

  In this case, the concept is the proven system of shaking the typical “wait till retirement” mindset…plus doing what you love on your terms.

  And the “dream” sold is in the title…working less to do more.  Since what I do isn’t work to me…I don’t subscribe to working less.

  But I enjoy living life on my terms using some of the concepts from the book.

  Joseph Ratliff on Wednesday, May 20, 2009

• I never quite bought into the idea of a 4 hour work week. That’s 4 more hours than I work now and just seems like too much effort.

  What I do now is, generally speaking, play. But I am finding ways to play that other people will pay me for. My blogs. My woodworking. Landscaping design & implementation.

  Get a free imac

  Jovan on Sunday, May 24, 2009

• My friend emailed me your post URL. I thought it will be something not worth my time, but I was wrong. Will tell my friend thanks.

  Kim on Tuesday, June 02, 2009

• 4 day work week, if you love your gig it is not enough time to get a good buzz. If you hate your job then get out.
  Larry Ellison works 8 days a week and he’s one of the richest guys around save the other wealthy shakers who also work to the Max (seems like its above making money).
  Anyway a bunch of global sales & marketing wizards are building a very cool list of industry segments that are doing great in today’s economy and we welcome anyone of you who have an idea to come to the link on my signature

  chuck luffer on Thursday, June 04, 2009

• I don’t read the book, but I get a picture from your explanation. If I were a businessman, (I’m so sure) I would love what I was doing.
  <ahref=“http://www.jihoy.com”>classifieds</a>

  Classifieds on Monday, June 15, 2009

• I don’t read the book, but I get a picture from your explanation. If I were a businessman, (I’m so sure that) I would love what I was doing. It takes time and effort to see a positive result.

  free advertising

  free advertising on Monday, June 15, 2009

• The truth is, if you want to be successful, you can’t just work 4 hours a week, no way.  Work does suck, I agree, but in order to keep the economy going, it is necessary.  Without work, and without competition, everything would be mediocre at best.  With that said, it is possible that employers do not know how to properly assign tasks to employees, thus making work less desirable.  If the employer or business owner had a better grasp of his own business and how to distribute work, this would increase efficiency, and it also would increase employee satisfaction.  So one main reason why people “hate” work, is because of this alone.  Many employers do not know how to use their employees effectively.

  Mike - Music Notation Software on Thursday, June 18, 2009

• Your post reminded me of something Seth Godin said in one of his posts.

  About how he was in the lobby of a hotel in Jamaica checking emails in the early am hours. When a couple walked by and shot him a look of “poor guy can’t” leave his email alone even on vacation.

  His response of course was that he loves what he does and couldn’t imagine anything he’d rather be doing at that moment then connecting with his audience.

  As you suggested in the bottom of your post, I think that sometimes when we read ultra-hyped business books we need to be able to dissect the marketing from the content.

  Just cause its uber-hyped does not mean it doesn’t contain valuable info.

  DC Recruiters on Monday, June 22, 2009