Is anyone actually working 4 hours a week?

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Hi. Yes, I am working on the principles I learned from The 4-Hour Work Week (4HWW), they work, and they are likely to serve me well, long after 2020. To be honest, I have combined the principles learned from other places with 4HWW, which is usually how people succeed in this area. Indeed, the principles of the book are a fantastic starting point. My working hours have been drastically reduced. I am close to actually working 4 hours a week.

First I want to be clear because the times have changed a little. There are actually a lot of people out there only working roughly 4 hours a week. But not in the way the author describes. These are barely-employed people, usually older or very young and fresh into their first employed gig. They might have some kind of task they can do for someone once a week, such as yard work, or they have an online gig that only offers them enough work to do 4 hours. And it pays better than a 4 hours half-shift at a coffee shop or whatever, but make no mistake, this is not what Tim Ferris teaches. That is just under-employment.

So yes, working for very little hours is not that uncommon, but the real goal, what I’m sure you’re wondering, is whether anybody works only 4 hours a week and makes a real livable wage.

The answer to that is absolute yes.

One of the early concepts 4HWW discusses is the Pareto principle, also known as the 80-20 rule. Basically, most people only get results from 20 percent of what they’re doing. So if someone has an office job, they only really need to be there for about 20 percent of the workday, and the rest is busywork and just being in the office out of protocol. I think anyone could agree that we waste way too much time at work. But the Pareto principle goes beyond avoiding waste and into capitalizing on that 20 percent. If 20 percent of your daily activities as an entrepreneur are what actually net you a profit, you need to redesign your lifestyle so you are spending ALL your work time on that 20 percent, and eliminating or outsourcing all the rest.

In other words, it’s actually very possible to work only 4 hours a week and make a major living. Any top-level freelancer would concur.

First, in my opinion, you have to get out of an hourly wage arrangement. Traditional 9-to-5 jobs don’t pay you for results. They pay for your time. Get paid for getting people results, such as in freelance, and suddenly time becomes a lot more flexible.

This stuff is all very possible and is becoming more common over time. The caveat is that it isn’t easy to get to that point. It takes work. The easy route is to continue working as you usually do, which is what most people are more comfortable with. You do have to have an entrepreneurial spirit, a drive to really see your life change drastically.

Put simply, you have to have a real reason to cut down your time spent working. If you just hate working, and that’s your only motivation, the book can’t do anything to help, because there’s nothing inside yourself to make you commit. Having a goal as an artist, wanting to spend more time with family, things like that are what determines whether a person succeeds at this lifestyle-design stuff. You have to be willing to put in work, step out of your comfort zone, and embrace new ideas.

4HWW basically teaches everyday small business owners and mid to high-level employees the lifestyle secrets that only the 1 percent really know about and employ. Largely those secrets boil down to Focus on what’s most effective at making money and get other people to do the grunt work.

The book is highly focused on virtual assistants. I have implemented VAs myself and couldn’t recommend them enough. After hiring them, now I have time for bigger tasks and get the same amount of important work done without putting aside time for my other life goals and for free time.

Imagine a fresh workday where you have planned to do research for a new business idea, which you want to get up off the ground as soon as possible. As you are about to start, you see a customer service email for your current business that takes a lot of your time. Ultimately, you end up not finishing your daily goal and this disrupts your schedule and creates more problems. In such a case, hiring a virtual assistant for customer service matters and email management can be of great help. Of course, that’s just one example, and the book itself offers plenty more.

4HWW can be one of the best guides for anyone who wants to be an online entrepreneur because it reminds people that this online money making stuff is supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be liberating, allowing us to make money passively and for only a little bit of work at a computer.

With many inspirational stories, it teaches the concept of financial independence better than any other book I know of. Honestly, 4HWW has been a life-changer for me, and I’m not alone. That’s the reason it’s still my topmost recommendation to anyone who wishes to be an online entrepreneur or is stressed out with his/her typical nine to five job. The book’s ideas are still valid in 2020 and hopefully well beyond that. The reason I have used the word ‘hopefully’ is that with technology, everything is moving and changing, but I still think now is a better time to get into this stuff than ever.

I have a detailed review of the book on my website. If you are interested, you can check it out through this link.

I appreciate your choice of reading 4HWW. It’s a must-read. I would suggest you start to implement its teachings as you proceed further. I know firsthand that this stuff works.

Please feel free to reply to me if you need clarification.

Good Luck!

Thanks,

Cleo



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