Join the new rich!November 22, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hey, I won a martial arts trophy not with skill but through trickery and manipulation of the rules. Am I ashamed of what I did? Not a bit -- in my book, I brag about how clever I was. I figured out how to beat the system and did it without breaking a sweat. All those Wall Street millionaires figured out how to do it too. You can join them and set yourself free! I'll show you how. It's real easy and won't take you more than 4 hours a week.
Since its publication in April 2007 at the height of the financial bubble, more than 80% of the almost 800 reviews have given this book at least 4 stars. It's Nov. 2008 and amazingly this meretricious claptrap is still getting the same ratings. And people wonder how we got into the mess we are in today.
A Must Read for any Business OwnerNovember 20, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book has changed my working life. Even though I love running my own business it was taking up a lot of time away from my family. This book helped me to review my work processes and vastly reduce my number of work hours and at the same time increasing my the output I got from those hours.
This has also become a great reference book, when I feel my work hours are creeping up I read certain sections to regain my focus.
It's worth the money :)November 19, 2008 I had so much fun reading the book and i thoroughly enjoyed it.It's worth the money.
Okey,November 18, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I like the book and it is worth the money. But there is a but...
The 4-hour workweek. Would not we all like to have it like that!
I can not read it without getting a feeling that the authors way to his own 4-hour week is making money by living on others dream of a no work and earning money. The book does not come up with any not earlier written subjects but still it is quite entertaining and some real tips to your lifestyle design can be found.
Buy it but it is in no way a bible to the subject but rather a small ignition to your own new lifestyle. It surely more helps the person who may caught up in the squirrel wheel of the business world rather than the CEO which it is flirting with.
It does not reach 4 out of 5 because to me it has a tone of that "serious work" is not cool, which I do not like. 3/5 for this kind of "self development" kind of book is not bad though.
Best Regards Chris
It's All About MindsetNovember 17, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A lot of people criticize this book based on the title and the author's seemingly over the top claims of free money and a life of leisure interrupted by short bursts of activity that just can't be avoided. Some people ask "Who will be working if everyone only worked for four hours week?". It all depends on how you define 'WORK'.
In Ferris's world, 'WORK' is whatever you don't want to do. Maybe what you do for fun is work to someone else and what you think of as work is fun to someone else. Here's a practical example. Last summer, I hired someone to mow my lawn. The guy pulls up with a trailer full of equipment and half an hour later, he's gone and my grass looks great. It cost me $35.00. If I had done that work myself it would have cost me 4 hours of my life that I can never get back. Instead, it cost me $35.00 and I went to lunch and a movie with my wife. I hate yard work, but the guy who mows my lawn, LIKES it and he likes getting paid for it. Conversely, I've spent upwards of 20 hours working on some particularly tricky computer problem and I didn't charge the client a dime, because it was fun and I learned some things that now save me time nearly every day. It was fun for me, but some people would consider it work. In Tim Ferris's world, neither of us is really working.
He says in the book "Eliminate before you delegate". It's about eliminating as much unnecessary BS as you can then delegating the rest, so you only have to address the things that truly cannot be avoided. Why is that bad?
I like the book a lot. I had already done some of the stuff he describes. I almost never answer the phone and I use e-mail for all business related communication, because it's faster and I can use the e-mail as a record of the week's events. I've also raised my rates to get rid of some whiny cheapskates who were sucking up all of my time and making me miserable. Now, I do less work, but make the same amount of money. Why is that bad?
Ferris carries it to an extreme that I wouldn't have considered until I had read the book. I'm not saying everything here is practical or even desirable, but it does have some good tips on how to manage your time and eliminate unnecessary activity so you have time to do more of what you like.
Depending on how you define work, this book is great otherwise it's just hype. It's all about mind set.
