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The 4-Hour Workweek - A Manual For New Productivity Or a Guide to Cheating?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Timothy Ferriss seems to have mastered the life of leisure and delegation. His product, brainQUICKEN, is run without his direct intervention. He travels the world and has had some fascinating experiences. But many would not call him successful, they would call him shiftless.

In The Four-Hour Workweek, Ferriss shares his life story and lessons he thinks will help you become someone who works the barest minimum necessary to sustain your lifestyle. He provides tips and tricks for getting out of the office and into, well, whatever you want.

Get Creative

But not all of the lessons are very practical. The story of how he won a kickboxing title sums up his philosophy: Ferriss read the rules very carefully and found that if one opponent falls off the platform three times in a match, the other opponent wins be default. Rather than training and working to become the best kickboxer, he endeavored to knock every opponent off the platform three times. His adherence to the letter of the rules, not the intent of the sport, got him a title. But, he freely admits it was a title given grudgingly by the judges.

Work from Home

He suggests that employees who want to use their time more wisely yet continue to collect a paycheck force their employer to allow them to telecommute. When you telecommute, he argues, you can spend the time needed getting the job done, and spend the rest doing what you want. One of the techniques to get your boss to agree to telecommuting is to artificially lower your productivity on days you are in the office. This may not be the most ethical way to get your boss to agree to a telecommuting arrangement, but it is likely to work. Most employees would be reticent to engage in seemingly unethical behavior.

A quick Google search or visit to the book's customer reviews at Amazon will show bloggers and readers who have pointed out a lack of ethics inherent in Ferriss' recommendations, but a lack of ethics is not completely evident in the book. Ferriss takes an interesting way of looking at the rules of the game and uses them to his advantage. He doesn't screw people over to get what he wants; he just exploits flaws in the system to do it.

Will It Work for You?

The value in The 4-Hour Workweek doesn't lie in the specific examples. Instead, you should read the book to shock yourself into thinking differently about the world around you. How can you exploit the loopholes to make your life better and happier? And how can you do it in a way that doesn't violate your personal ethics?

The 4-Hour Workweek is a hard read if you prefer a book with solid linear flow. If you are a chunker who picks and chooses sections based on your needs, however, you will love the book.

Jennifer Roland is an experienced writer and editor from the Portland, Oregon, area. Her nonfiction covers such areas as educational technology, personal finance, entertainment, pets, and health and fitness. She also writes fiction, including paranormal and contemporary romance and urban fantasy. Find out more at http://jennifer-roland.com/.

The Six Must-Reads For Your Encore Career Bookshelf

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AppId is over the quota

People often say that books are like old friends. I'm thinking that sometimes they can be better than old friends, because a good book can offer wise advice, brilliant inspiration, and great ideas without any hidden agenda. Books give us the opportunity to explore a notion in its embryonic form and go deeper if desired.

So, if you're contemplating an encore career and you're in need of reliable guidance, there are six books you simply must read. The first three are foundational:

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez with Monique Tilford. How do you know when you have enough money to live the life you most want to be living? The recent update to this first-published in 1992 best-selling classic will help you discover how much is "enough", uncover how you most want to spend your "life energy", learn that you can live well on less, and realize that financial independence is easier to achieve than you think.

Don't Retire, Rewire: 5 Steps to Fulfilling Work That Fuels Your Passion, Suits Your Personality, or Fills Your Pocket by Jeri Sedlar & Rick Miners. Do you know what drives you (or why you really work beyond the money)? This talented husband and wife team found in their extensive research that there are actually 85 different "drivers" for why people work. Knowing yours is a powerful first step in finding meaningful work. A nice balance of down-to-earth, practical advice and real-life stories plus great exercises to help you rewire your thinking and find work that is best suited to your passions and interests.

The Power of Purpose: Find Meaning, Live Longer, Better by Richard J. Leider. How do you live on purpose? What is your purpose? How do you discover it? This recently revised and expanded edition of the best-selling book that was first written nearly 25 years ago explains why having a clearly defined purpose is critical to your success (and longevity) in this next stage of life, Here's the good news -- you already have your purpose within you. The detailed, practical methods for finding your calling will help you access it. The real-life stories will inspire you.

The last three books will give you insight into three possible paths to your encore career:

What Color is Your Parachute? 2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard Nelson Bolles. This nearly 40-year-old best-selling bible for job hunters has been updated annually for years, and just keeps getting better and better. If you know your encore career lies within the existing job market, this book is essential. Starting with identifying your strengths and preferences and moving through a step-by-step how-to of job searching in the 21st century, you'll even learn how to find a good job when "there aren't any jobs"!

The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber. If you are even remotely thinking of starting your own business, don't take another step until you read this book. It's a brilliant primer for how to design your business as a system so you can make your business work without working so hard yourself. E-Myth offers an expanded view of why you want to be in business and a fresh approach to how to get there successfully.

Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know by David Bornstein and Susan Davis. This book is hot off the presses and the first to give an excellent overview of what being a social entrepreneur is all about. You'll learn what the difference is between a social entrepreneurship and a regular business venture and traditional non-profits. If you think you want to innovate unique social solutions to unique social problems for your encore career, this is the place to start.

Make sure you read the updated versions of the classics named here. These six books will give you a strong foundation and excellent possible paths for your "retirement" career -- your encore career.

Lin Schreiber, founder of http://www.revolutionizeretirement.com/ is the author of the "ABC's of Revolutionizing Retirement with a Meaningful Encore Career". Want a meaningful Encore Career? Discover outstanding 21st century strategies that you can put into practice right away from 12 top life/work transition experts. Check out the Encore Career TeleSummit for Women 50+ at http://www.encorecareertelesummit.com/