Just 4 hours a day?! Is that all you need to be a successful entrepreneur? In today’s world of hustle culture?
Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, introduced the idea of working for four hours on an average in a week. This concept is based on the Pareto Principle that says 20% of the things get you 80% of the results. Even if you work just for four hours, finish off high priority tasks that will move the needle for you.
This concept can be easily misunderstood as well. A successful business cannot be built with just four hours of work per day. It needs day and night’s efforts. But once you create an empire, you don’t necessarily have to work the entire day. A focused four hours of work is better than a distracted eight-hour workday.
More hours of work doesn’t translate to more productivity. Parkinson’s law says people stretch out a task to fit the amount of time you give them to finish it. So, prioritizing the right tasks is the key and it significantly improves productivity.
Also, the reason why this concept emerged is to give equal importance to work-life balance. The time spent on friends, family, the time spent on self-care or vacations, is also part of life, apart from work. So instead of spending our time efficiently, we have to do it effectively. Also, in the long term perspective, overworking only would burn you out. “Doing less is not being lazy. Don’t give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.”- Tim Ferriss.
This is an eye-opening concept that drastically shoots your productivity. But is it practical? How can we put this into practice? The instructor gives answers to all of these questions. Since he has adapted this concept in his work life, he gives suggestions on how to overcome obstacles in the 4-hour workday. He also addresses the elephant in the room by talking about people who work eight to nine hours a day and how it differs from a 4-hour workday.
Thus we can say that time isn’t equal to money, but the right work equals money. The instructor says by doing the right work he made over $1000 per hour of work as opposed to $20 per hour when he considered time is money. In conclusion, balanced life full of every joy is the reward for working 4 hours a day 7 days a week.