Is the Four-Hour Workweek Actually Possible?
The Four-Hour Workweek is a self-help book written by Tim Ferriss, and arguably set the tone for the more hustler-oriented culture of the 2010s. In this book, Ferriss emphasizes the concept of lifestyle design, which involves designing your life in a way that allows you to have more free time and engage in activities that you enjoy — the ultimate goal of which being that titular “four-hour workweek”. But is this lifestyle design even something possible or practical for the rest of us?
The first issue with the book is that a lot of its suggestions may not be so simple if you already have a full-time job. Ferriss suggests that having a full-time job and working on lifestyle design is possible, but most of his prescriptions are not valid on this. Your employer would absolutely refuse to allow you to use a third-party virtual assistant for job tasks (honestly, virtual assistants were something that were much more trendy when the book was written anyway) , and your co-workers will likely fight back if you try to offload tasks to them in the name of “designing your lifestyle”. Moreover, most full-time jobs assume that you are at your desk from 9 to 5, even if it is remote work. For example, even if you do work for your full-time job, your boss will probably expect you to pick up a last-minute phone call or meeting with the assumption that you are ready and able at a given time. If you suddenly go off-grid, they’ll know something is up. So much for those daiquiris in Bali!
Of course, Ferriss mostly assumes you take on entrepreneurship, in which case my previous two complaints are countered. Fair enough. The problem is, however, that entrepreneurship comes with its own set of risks and challenges. For someone who might know exactly what they want to do, and are already entrepreneurial minded, this isn’t as big of an issue. But Four-Hour Workweek is meant as a prescription for everyone — after all, who wouldn’t like to spend most of their waking hours focusing on what they find important?
I won’t spend much time talking about the risks of entrepreneurship, since they are mostly known to everyone. However, I will spend some time to chide on Four-Hour specific anecdotes. Many business ideas discussed in the book, such as dropshipping, are already saturated or out of fashion. Moreover, there is no guarantee that, even if your entrepreneurial venture is a success, that it will only require ~4 hours a week — in fact, it might even require more than your old job.
At the end of the day, though, I do have to give Four-Hour Workweek some credit where credit is due. I do think, at the end of the day, that lifestyle design is possible. I just wouldn’t phrase it in perhaps the same way Ferriss did. For example, you can try combining remote work with a meeting-lite job, where the KPIs and progress is mostly project-oriented — giving you the ability to be able to automate a lot of it away. Additionally, you can work on entrepreneurship during your now cut-down full-time work and nurture it into something you can launch into fully (and less riskily) later.
And, to Ferriss’ credit, I don’t think he would write Four-Hour the same way again if given the chance. The real evergreen concept in the book is just the idea that you do not need to be tied down by traditional standards of work and career, and that is very much valid. What changes is how it all looks.
[Originally posted at jacob-robinson.com on 2023-05-07]
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Always figured the only one who actually got the 4-hour work week out of that book was Tim Ferriss.
Once you automate everything...
I think it's possible if you build a high cost/high margin B2B niche SaaS product (which I have) and get it the point where you don't want/need to grow it. Realistically, I think 6-10 hours is more reasonable. For me, I think I could run my business on 8 hours per week. Actually, last summer I worked about 90 minutes per day to spend time with my kids. It was awesome and memorable but not without tradeoffs.
Personally, I don't think it's healthy, productive or sustainable to "work" in such small quantities (even 10 hours a week is not a lot of time). I found that I easily got bored and unproductive and it started to impact my life and my motivation.
The first company I started before selling it in 2021, I worked 50-60 hours per week for 17 years (sometimes more since I was constantly thinking about the business or dealing with issues after business hours). This led to a serious case of burnout and why I sold. But working too little is not a panacea either. It's why many people who retire early (especially during the peak years when they still have energy and a lot to give) often get bored after a year or two and go back to work (I saw this a lot due to running a financial advisory firm for HNW clients). In most cases, they thought retirement is what they wanted but they were really just suffering symptoms of being burned out and/or stressed.
To me, the sweet spot of highly engaging and enjoyable work is probably 20-30 hours per week which is where I am at now (partly because I want to see how far I can grow it). Some weeks a little less but usually no more. I think it also depends on your mindset and whether you look at what you do as simply a job or your work. I enjoy my "work" - it's fun, meaningful and challenging (and sometimes really hard). But building competence and experiencing success (however you define it) provides a lot of personal satisfaction. I took a risk and sold a really successful advisory in my mid-40's that I founded in 2004 because I listened to too many IndieHacker episodes from 2018-2020 (😂) and (crazily) thought I could build a fintech product for financial advisors. The first year was really hard but I'm so glad I did it because I've never had more fun while also maintaining a well-balanced quality of life. My first company became a job but the second act feels like the work I was designed to do. Just my .02.
Software engineers and remote workers have the highest potential to break free from the traditional 9-to-5. By utilizing right tools and establishing a daily routine grounded in 3-4 hours of deep work, you can still be a top performer working about five hours each day(since you can't do just deep work).
The key here is committing the freed-up time to investing in your personal growth. Much like financial markets, the earlier you invest in yourself, the greater the eventual returns.
I would like to point out the part about drop shipping being a problem because it's oversaturated, I think the problem it's that you don't add any value when you sell with drop shipping, you just offer the same sh*t as any big famous Chinese market place, but overpriced. I don't see a problem with entering an "oversaturated" market if you can add value to your customers. There are thousands of restaurants, tattoo shops, bakeries... And it doesn't stop people from opening new ones every day
I agree, and the reason restaurants and tattoo shops can still be made is because each one has a different unique flavor or spin. Dropshipping is all, for the most part, the same. So I think we're getting at the same point :)
It is a lot easier to practise this when you have already done several 40 to 80-hour work weeks. For a starter? Highly unlikely
I agree, you have to learn how to work hard before you can learn how to work smart!
I think it is really hard. At least actually. But not all places in the world ar the same. For must of us, we must wait years... Probably
The Four-Hour Workweek provides valuable insights on crafting one's lifestyle, but its relevance may differ from person to person. For aspiring entrepreneurs, the advice fits like a glove, but individuals with traditional full-time jobs might face difficulties. Striking a balance between designing one's lifestyle and conforming to a traditional work structure demands creativity and may not suit every situation effortlessly.
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4-hour work week is possible.
But you'll be limiting your earning potential for sure.
Because competitors in your niche will be outworking you, and before you know it your "passive income" starts dwindling due to competition/switching.
Agreed!
Great guide!
In my opinion those who really like their job, they don't actually need four-hour workweek. My job is also my hobby, so it's not a problem for me to spent much time on it :).
I'm in the same boat -- I work about 60 hours a week because I choose to, because it's work that feels fulfilling and enjoyable to me!
It probably won't lead to the next Apple or Amazon, but I do believe that if you can put in a sustained period of significant working hours it is possible to set yourself up in the future to have a low maintenance operation that provides more than enough for yourself.
Agreed -- income generators > startups!
Of course it's possible. TF wrote mostly about selling physical products and outsourcing admin work, but these days the play is more about selling a digital product and eliminating the need for any VA at all. Here's how I solved for this: Find a tiny problem experienced by a specific group of people that can be solved with a digital product that people are already searching for and paying for. Build the product (should be linked to your own personal experience), build a site, and write excellent long-tail keyword blog posts about that problem/solution to generate organic leads through SEO. Then my friend, you own a passive income generating digital asset.
That's a pretty great summary of how to build modern income generators -- thanks for the comment!
The book was an interesting read and I am happy for himself and anyone who can take some inspiration from it.
But just because a single person provides their single point of view in their environment and situation, doesn't mean it is relevant for many or even all. That is a general problem I have with most of these books.
A single book will never be relevant in the same way it has been for the author. Books transfer knowledge and it is for the reader to grasp that knowledge to apply it, and not to follow a military 101 ruleset that applies to 8 billion people...
Is a four-hour-week possible? Sure, if you do only work 4 hours, there you go. Is it what you aspire? Can you live with the consequences for your environment? Those are the questions to be answered.
We don't have time, we make our time! We decide for the importance of (h)our spent time. But, we live in a complex system in relation with other systems, so we cannot expect that our ideas fit well with other systems.
Entrepreneurship is hard, you said it, and I agree to that. But it us who make it harder or easier. I think we have more options today than in the past and especially in the IT area. And to gather ideas and inspiration is why we are here on IH ^^'
Use them, make your own "whatever-hour-plan" that works for you, the same way an Instagram influencer gym routine might not work for you, But maybe that one exercise... that one recipe... Maybe I can learn and grow...!? :)
Agree with this take! Even within just Ferriss I've found that I enjoy all his other books beyond Workweek (in particular 4 Hour Chef). I think the main goal of learning is to figure out what people have already done and then find which of those strategies work for you personally :)
Sounds interesting. I needed to read this! Thanks for sharing.
No problem, thanks for reading!
Addendum: Second paragraph was written pre-ChatGPT. I'm sure you could have all sorts of fun with that virtual assistant and delegating stuff now ;)
This take questions if the four-hour workweek is realistic, pointing out challenges in applying Tim Ferriss's ideas to a full-time job. It suggests alternatives for work-life balance, acknowledges entrepreneurship risks, and emphasizes the evergreen idea of breaking free from traditional work norms.
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