The 4-Hour Workweek is a non-fiction book written by entrepreneur and writer Timothy Ferriss. When Ferriss began his career, he started at a technology company, where he would, presumably, be working full time. Ferriss eventually realized that full time was true to its name - he spent most of his once "free-time" at this job, that he didn't really enjoy.
To try to improve his living conditions, Ferriss began his own company. Free of the strains of working for someone, he could now do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted - or so he thought. As it turns out, running your own business takes a major life commitment, and Ferriss ended up spending even more time running his own business than working for someone else. There had to be another way - right?
Well, actually, yes. If you look hard enough for something, you can find it, and that is what Ferriss did. The 4-Hour Workweek describes how Ferriss learned of Pareto Principle, which states that, if you put in a 20% amount of effort, you will get 80% of results.
Just out of college, Ferriss didn't need 100% results in his own business, so he decided to try it out. By eliminating the other 80% of his "productivity" by computerizing or automating it, he found that you could do and get a lot more with a lot less. Ferriss argues that many people simply don't realize this because they are the ones putting in the effort that people like him are living off of.
In this context, The 4-Hour Workweek as a title doesn't really make much sense. A typically workweek is 40 hours, and 20% of that is 8 hours. But, presumably, Ferriss is just trying to emphasize that he now has to do little to no work, hence the title.
In writing his book, Timothy Ferriss made four key points that one must follow to achieve a "new realm of productivity". The first step, of course, is outlining what you want in yourself. By asking yourself what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it, things will be much easier for you in the long run.
The second step is one of the most important - that is, eliminating from your life what it is that distracts you. Many people easily get caught up in a web of communication, and once they do, it is hard to get out of. But, to be completely productive, you need to get rid of distraction and temptation of distraction.
The third step is only relevant in today's modern environment. Ferriss advises you to "automate" your cash flow. This step was for sure taken directly out of Ferriss' learning experience, as he outsourced much of his business so he didn't have to put much in. In essence, this is a good plan - letting the virtual world take over most of your work - but never let yourself become too distant from the excellent customer care that makes a good business worthwhile.
Lastly, Ferriss tells readers that you should become more mobile in the world. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to move around the country, but allow yourself to have the time to do things when you want to do them. Many people get stuck going to school or working jobs where they simply don't have the time to do anything else - this was, of course, Ferriss' original scenario. However, in order to live a relaxing life, you need to have the freedom from your schedule.
