-Lifestyle
Coughlin’s Law – “Live your life every day.”
WOW!! I could end my review right there. No need to go any further.
For some, this book will be exactly what you are looking for. For everyone else you can take a good chuck of it and apply it to your life to get back to working to live instead of living to work. Applying the advice in this book will take some courage and that is where the homework comes in at the end of each chapter. The exercises at the end of each chapter are designed to help you overcome some fears of asking the hard questions or negotiating for the best deal.
If I had to summarize the 4HWW in a sentence I would say it is a way to get your life back. Most of us have to work to earn money but why not condense it down to what needs to get done instead of watching the clock. Get your job done and get on with what is great about life.
The author, Timothy Ferris, advocates in taking mini-retirements or extended vacations instead of working hard all of your life and then retiring once your best years are behind you. I think most people would be happy to have more time off to be with their family or to pursue their passions.
The 4HWW is broken up into four sections or DEAL – Definition, Elimination, Automation and Liberation. The author explains in each section on how to gain more time for yourself and less time for work. Less time for work really should be expressed as being more focused doing what is needed to be done. Eliminating distractions, eliminating the unnecessary and applying the 80/20 rule to your life and work so you will have more time to devote to the things that mean something to you and make a difference.
Some key points that everyone can relate to:
- figuring out your worst case scenario. Once its defined it’s not really that bad. Then you will be able to make a better decision about if you should take a chance on a better opportunity.
- scheduling email /IM / social media checking to very seldom from always
- Only have 2 to 3 things per day on your ToDone list. This makes you focus on what is truly important. Accomplish the first one before you check email or voicemail
- Answer the phone (when you answer it) by saying “how can I help you?”. Avoid the small chit-chat and get to the point. Another way is to start off with “I am right in the middle of X, how can I help you?”. Once again, focusing the caller to get to the main point. The second choice gives you the option to cut the phone call short if it runs too long.
- Only attend meetings that have an agenda, a set start time and a set finish time.
The 4 Hour Work Week finishes with some real stories of how people have applied the book’s advice to make their life better. All of them are very inspiring and also very different. This is a book that I will look to quite often over the next few months as I make some improvements in my life.
Have you read the book? I would love to hear what you thought and what you have accomplished so far.
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Robert specializes in CRM, xRM, SCRM and SharePoint Solutions. Robert is a husband, a proud father and organic farmer