The 4 Hour Workweek By Timothy Ferris - Adult Mandatory Reading!

If you haven't had a chance to read Timothy Ferris' book - 4 Hour Workweek, Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, do it as fast as you can. This book is a game changer for the working man/women. You will not be able to stop yourself from dreaming up a plan for immediate laptop vagabonding in faraway dreamy destinations.

But...don't quit your day job just yet. Clearly this book is a powerful motivator for those of us daily 9-5 grinders to get out from under the "man." Ferris' finesse at dangling a newer, shinier carrot in front of our upturned, hopeful faces is nothing less than genius, but practicality is a bitter pill to swallow on our road to virtual freedom.

I read the first edition of this book back in 2008 and I seriously couldn't sleep that night, I was so excited. I studied some of the techniques in the book and began to really get fired up. But over time, my pasts ingrained reality crept back into my life, and except for the occasional trip down virtual success dreamy river, I went on with my job. A couple years later and after being laid off from a 20 year successful career, I ran across the new version of this book and went ahead and laid out the money to get any new gems out of the expanded and updated version. The original adrenaline high I got from reading the first edition pumped me up all over again to get this virtual dream lifestyle going.

Well, I'm not there yet friends, but I'm not giving up. I've tried a couple different ideas to get some juices flowing for flexibility in work environment and/or to get enough capital raised to wing it for awhile anywhere, to no avail, YET! But in my pursuit of lavish, flexible and joyful work, I have learned a lot about myself in the process and I have to credit The 4 Hour Workweek for being a part of this self discovery.

While I promise to keep you posted the minute I go seriously viral or achieve the "aha" of all moments in the business development community, for now just let me give you the high points of this book and in all fairness, point out the downside to it as well. But keep in mind that from my perspective this book is about attitude changes, not job changes and the one key lesson of the book for me was this: If he can do it, so can you - Never give up on yourself or your dreams.

Now for the key pluses about this book:

This book is not really about just working 4 hours a week (catchy title though, isn't it?), as it is about living first and then matching your work to support your living. When I say living, I mean living it up, doing what you want to do, when you want to do it. That could mean something different for everyone, but this concept of finding a few tiny hours each week to do something you want to do (travel, family, be creative) needs to stop if you don't' want to have to look back over your life and realize you gave it up for 9-5 dreary monotony. The book opens your mind to encourage you to question your intentions with your current job? Who are you striving for? Your boss? Please - how's that going for you? The main intent of the book is to look at your work situation differently and decide what you really want to do with your life. Ferris asks the readers to really question - What do you REALLY want? What are you doing now to get it? What are you waiting for?

Ferris offers some great tips to manage time and effort towards whatever you want to achieve that are a major paradigm shift away from what other business talking heads recommend. I found them refreshing and effective. Note that these tips are not new in the sense that Ferris invented them, but just that they are outside the mainstream. For instance, one great tip I totally embrace that goes against all my 20 years of corporate work skills is: Do not multitask. Seriously effective advice, in my opinion. Focus only on the one thing you are currently doing, get it done, wrap it up, pat yourself on the back, then move on.

The 4 Hour Workweek offers creative ideas on branching out and growing your business, like virtual assistance and outsourcing. Heck, the big companies do it all the time, why are we taking advantage of this? And for crying out loud, keep your email shut down during your work time. Check in morning and/or evening, then shut it down.

Finally, the entire book if filled with great ideas, concepts, tips and resources to get just about anybody revved up to get their own 4 Hour Workweek plan going. This book exceeds every other book I have read to date for this.

Now the dark side:

Many folks may be so enamored with 4 Hour Workweek ideas that they move too quickly and damage their work history or their finances by jumping off the cliff of 4 Hour Workweek bliss. While the book is inspiring, it needs to be reviewed with a practical eye to insure that as you develop your plan for independent living, you include a transition that appropriately protects you and your family from financial ruin.

Tim Ferris's story of rising to the epitome of combined financial and personal freedom is motivating but it is not the same path others will probably take to get there, in both the sense of time to achieve or method to achieve. This could be a little discouraging to some and perhaps even get others just downright mad. The point is to get going. But, we should not measure our plans or methods against someone else's, ever. That truly is like comparing apples to avocados.

Summary:

This book, in my opinion, is one of the most important business motivational books of this decade. It represents a new independent global mindset regarding business entrepreneurship in this time of our lives. I believe that our entire society will begin to slip further and further into virtual living as accessibility, speed, and cost just make it almost impossible not to be a part of it. The ideas and precepts of this book will pave a new path as more individuals become a part of this new global independent community. Certainly, we may all do this differently than this book suggests, but the social mindset this book promotes is relevant, important and exciting. Please don't go another day without making plans to read this book.

Joleen Halloran is an executive for ZoomIT Marketing, an internet, mobile, and social marketing company. Joleen has extensive business experience in project management, leadership, and specializes in motivational techniques and corporate culture.

Beyond Joleen's professional life, she is an avid reader and researcher of books and other materials related to her profession, but also to her special passion, which is metaphysical and spirituality topics. Ms. Halloran has read over 100 books related to metaphysics, spirituality, Western and Eastern religion, and law of attraction. Joleen is currently working on her own book, Finding Home - Breaking Free from Limits, which she hopes to have finished later this summer.

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The 4-Hour Workweek Revised Edition by Timothy Ferriss

Can you have a 4-hour work week and actually survive in today's tough economy? With corporations downsizing and new jobs hard to find is it even feasible to apply the actions suggested in this book? Today, most people who have jobs work long hours and defer holidays and time off for later in life. The big dream is to retire at age 65 with enough cash in the bank to do what you want for the rest of your life.

The premise of the book is that you can work only four hours per week and earn a living. The author, Tim Ferriss, was your typical entrepreneur who did everything himself and thought no one could do anything he did better. He didn't take time off and worked himself to the point of having a breakdown from the 80 plus hour weeks. He decided that he needed to take some time off, but needed to make some changes in his business and himself before he could be away from the office for more than a couple of hours.

The book is about the changes that he and others made to free their time to do more of what they want in life such as, travel and spending time with family. The added bonus that the author found was that his business became more efficient and profitable when he removed himself from most of the daily routine. The author describes in detail what he and others have done to achieve more freedom in their lives. In the revised edition of the book he adds case studies and comments from readers about the changes in their lives after reading the first edition and implementing the author's ideas and suggestions. The author gives the names of companies, plans and services that he used to achieve the time freedom to pursue his dreams. The book is directed at business owners and employees and offers ideas for both to become more efficient and productive with less time spent working.

Timothy Ferriss now travels and enjoys life experiences that the average person would consider reserved for multi-millionaires. The author refers to this lifestyle as the life of the "New Rich". The New Rich do not accept the deferred life plan that most baby boomers view as the norm. The norm is to work for 45 - 50 years and then retire to do what you always wanted, if you still can. The New Rich use mini retirements scattered throughout life instead of leaving everything to the end. Life is supposed to be about the journey not the destination.

The concepts, ideas and plans described in the book apply to entrepreneurs, business owners, employees and people who are searching for what to do next in life. If you are curious about what your life could be read this book, the journey will be amazing.

Mark Johnson is a life coach and consultant, who loves getting the most out of life and enjoys helping others to do the same. He enjoys a full life with his family and horses on his ranch in the Rocky Mountain Foothills. Mark is the founder of Your Wealth and Wisdom. Visit his website http://moneywealthwisdom.com/

It is my mission to help everyone learn to become wealthy. There is more than enough for everyone because we don't all define wealth in the same way or want the same things in life. You can learn more about how to make money, build businesses, protect your wealth, eliminate debt and develop passive income streams at my website http://moneywealthwisdom.com/

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The 4-Hour Workweek - Why The Lights At My Place Might Be On A Little Longer

Timothy Ferriss shares some insights into his business and how he developed a business model to work only four hours a week. While the four hour workweek may not be for everyone, there are some pearls of wisdom that Mr. Ferriss shares with the reader.

1) Are you climbing the wrong ladder? Mr. Ferriss turns the philosophy of get a good education, work real hard (for someone else), climb the corporate ladder to end in retirement upside down. He makes you think of how much do you really need. Wealth is measured not only in money, but also time and freedom.

2) The notion that work = time = results is turned upside down.Results are all that matter. In fact, he shares how he increased his work output and decreased his time input by working on only high value projects. How many time wasters can you identify in your life? At work there's email, meetings, the meetings before and after the meetings, and time spent socializing. At home there's the telephone, computer, television, and those of so fun household tasks. So what is the goal in each one of these areas of our lives? If we gain focus on the true desired result, eliminate the noise, and delegate the rest we can become extremely valuable at work and home. How much more productive can you be? He shares ways to increase productivity ten-fold.

3) Automation is the key to true freedom. This part explores the world of using virtual assistants, making all payments automatic with a credit card, using auto responders to limit email, and a whole lot more. Mr. Ferriss shares examples of businesses set up on true autopilot that provide a consistent cash flow with very little involvement. This section is truly a must read for anyone seeking true freedom.

4) In the liberation section, Mr. Ferriss shares how the truly free person is free to roam the earth and conduct business anywhere. Modern technology does make such a lifestyle more attainable. The ability to plug in, connect and communicate is an indispensable piece of the puzzle. It is an interesting lifestyle; however it may not be for everyone. The extensive use of automation, surrogates and virtual assistants, does have it limits and dangers. One can gather a few tips on traveling and conducting business throughout the globe.

For anyone inclined toward the life of an entrepreneur, Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek is a must read. It will challenge some of your beliefs. It will cause you to rethink how you do "work". And most of all, it may change the way you do business.

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