The 4 Hour Work Week Vs. Millionaire Fastlane

[Robert Francis]

Preface: As part of this post, I was dying to include the video of Donny Deutsch (MSNBC, "The Big Idea") interviewing Tim Ferriss. I'm not sure if I saw it live on television or on the web, but if anyone can find it and post it, I'd really appreciate it; it's kind of hilarious how Deutsch, basically, tells Ferriss that he's full of shit.

One of the things that I most appreciated in MJ's book was that it seemed to be the first business/motivation book I've read in the past few years that had the balls to be 100% completely honest.

It was willing to put out there that "get rich quick" is possible, yet, at the same time, was willing to say it's not going to "just happen" because you are "thinking about it" or "manifesting it" (The Secret) and it's probably not going to happen if you are attempting to accomplish it in 4 hours a week.

It's the first book I can remember reading and thinking, "this guy is more concerned about helping/telling the truth than he is worried about spinning this in a way that will attract cult like followers." It really seemed like the sort of advice an ACTUAL successful business person would give to his/her children.

Now, I have never had the the luxury (yet) of pulling off a "4 hour work week," but, after reading it, I do think it saddled me with some additional guilt baggage that I didn't have before reading it.

Now...not only was I not exactly where I wanted to be yet, financially, but I was also working my a$$ off.

IMHO, this is one of the horrible negative side effects of the whole 4 hour work week thing."

Whereas MJ is saying, "Sure, you can achieve your goals and (eventually) freedom," Tim Ferriss seems to be saying, "You're a dummy if you have to apply the same sort of blood, sweat, tears and time that virtually every successful businessperson in history has had to invest."

On the other hand, there seem to be some areas where the books/concepts intersect, I'd be curious what others think.

And, as a side note...

What if you really like your work as much/more than most anything else?

What if working seems more attractive than dancing the tango in Prague?

Isn't one of the "indicators" of many successful businessmen that they "love their work?"

 

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[Runum]

It's all about choices my friend. If you are in debt to your eyeballs and working 40+ hours for the man, you have no choice. If you have your debt under control and have excess income from your business then you have more choices.

 

[Neon]

"4 Hour Work Week" is another masterful example of "Sell the Results, Not the Process".

Everyone wants to work 4 hours per week but it takes a lot of work to get to the point where you can do that.

I read the first edition of the book and it basically glossed over exactly WHAT you could do to make the kind of money that would allow you to live the lifestyle he proposes.

It was completely patronizing how he kept referring to having a business that let you work 4 hours per week as a "muse".

As if the idea of actually providing value to create an income was almost an afterthought to traveling around the world.

His points on time management had value but I think the average 40hr-per-weeker is just going to end up frustrated imaging it's much easier than it really is. Those who are already in a position to work that little are probably just smirking a little at how easy it ISN'T to create that kind of lifestyle.