The 4-Hour Workweek

by Tim Ferriss

Musings and wild ideas caused by the book

I got this audiobook as a free download on Audible.com. I've heard about it before and thought it a scam. But, since it was a freebie, I put it on my iPhone with intention to give it one quick listen during the commute from work. There's nothing better to do while driving anyway.

Now that I gave all the possible excuses for listening to a book of such sort, I can admit that it made me think. I don't know if, with my set of skills, I can really find a business model that could be so automated as to allow me to work no more than 4 hours a week, although the way it is explained, it doesn't seem a complete rubbish, nor completely impossible. It did, however, make me re-evaluate my job, and follow the advice to empower co-workers enough to remove the requirement for my permanent presence in the office. It's a fine balancing act and a pretty slow process, especially because my company insists that everyone shows up at work every day. There are some exceptions, though. I already got a remote access to our network, so I can work after hours if needed (that was my explanation). But it also enables me to work from home, instead of commuting to the office. I suggested to work from home one day a week, but my superior didn't think it was a good idea. I decided to give it a try anyway. One of the things this book suggests is "don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness". In other words, do your thing and, if they scold you, ask for forgiveness, or prove them wrong, but don't give them a chance to refuse you by asking in advance. Today I took half a day off, but I was on email, proving I can work even if I'm not in the office. If no one noticed my absence, I'll test it with a whole day soon.

Another thing the book preaches is taking "mini retirements". Author suggests traveling to a destination of my choice, or rather moving there temporarily. It's quite an unorthodox concept, but when I think of it, not at all undoable. It requires having guts to do it. If I convince the bosses that I can work remotely, great, if not, I would need to quit my job, rent out our house, sell unnecessary stuff and we could go. In many countries around the world we can rent much cheaper than what we'd pay in Toronto. Additionally, we could find an easy part-time gig to supplement our income from the rent of the house; we could give English lessons, or freelance for some western media, or teach something else. Best of all, we could stay in an exotic location for months. If we get tired of it, we could move to another location or go back to Canada.

The only problem I see with this concept is - if we don't have a business to sustain our globetrotting, going home to Canada may prove too expensive. Finding a job will be next to impossible for people our age. We could be forced to stay in permanent exile. So, before we start discussing the mini-retirement scheme, I'd like to work out the additional source of income, something that can be done remotely.