The four hour work week
May 15, 2007
I have read some good reviews of this book and not surprisingly it has been getting a great deal of attention in the internet marketing and blogging world.
I am currently in Vietnam so I am not sure how I can get my hands on a copy of this book. Many of the topics the author raises in his book are things I believe in. His point of “less is not laziness” is something which I struggle with some of the time. I have achieved my goal of being able to travel full-time, but I do sometimes feel guilty that I can live a comfortable life, while working less than I used to and have almost unlimited free time to do the things I want to do.
Having worked in Japan for a number of years I have experienced working with people where their whole life is work. Even though they might get 3 or 4 weeks of holiday a year, most will only take about one week off. Many also work until their last train, sometimes around 11 or 12 pm.
I have a theory that most people, especially people working in offices only do 2-3 hours of real, productive work a day. The other time is spent attending pointless meetings, reading irrelevant emails, writing reports that no-one will read or take action on. People work to satisfy the demands of their bosses, bosses create work for their employees to make it look like they are doing a good job.
Maybe I am cynical, but I found that in Japan it was expected of employees to work long hours, whether they had work to do or not. If you have a long time to complete a task you tend to take your time and pace yourself so you won’t be completely bored while you have to be at work.
In his book he proposes getting your most important tasks done by 11 am. I think this is great advice for anyone. Most people are freshest in the morning. The longer you delay doing a task that requires some concentration the harder it becomes to complete. If you apply this to working on the internet complete your “must do” tasks in the morning and more passive tasks, like reading forums/blogs in the evening.
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5 Responses to “The four hour work week”
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G’Day Mate,
I t looks like you are living some of the parts of the 4HWW by travelling /working in Asia. If you get to Europe I created a quick video on my blog about a site that gives details of cheap flights in Europe.
The video is at http://www.gavinallinson.com
best regards
Gavin
Thanks, I will check it out. The more reviews of the book I read, the more I want to get my hands on a copy. I will probably have to wait until I go to Thailand again to buy it.
Its a great book. Its nice that someone out there can put your thoughts in to black and white. I definately agree with you there that people are most productive for a couple of hours a day - the rest is pap. People just accept that what the majority does is the right thing to do, bosses just don’t understand this principle. Its a great book and Tim is orchestrating a master plan. You Digg?
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