The 4 hour workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

“Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.”

This short quote is from the introductory chapter in the book. I was so blown away, because it expressed my feelings and what I knew about the world so strongly that I couldn’t stop continue reading the book until I’ve devoured all the 300+ pages of it in one go.

That quote above is how we really spend most of our lives, and if we continue the quote it would include something along the lines of: ‘and live this life right until you’re old and weak and can’t enjoy the fruits of your hard labor any longer anyway’. This book puts the world as we know it upside down. For real.

I knew something was not right with the way I am plowing through life every moment between 9-5 day in, day out. But I thought it’s something wrong with me: most probably I’m lazy, and I am not a proud member of the society which so heavily applauds ‘work hard’, ‘don’t slack off’, ‘you’ve gotta give a lot to society’, ’self-sacrifice by staying long hours, pushing the envelope for others, being bored out of your wits, etc, etc, doesn’t matter as long as you’re performing for your boss, and you’re rewarded with a nice fat (average) check that will allow you to pay for your next car within the next 5 years (if at all).

But this book reveals that there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. It shows that life can be enjoyed without having to feel guilty of wanting more for ourselves, wanting to live life NOW, and not when we’re 65, when we’ve left our most physical capable years of our life behind.

Now there is nothing wrong with working 9-5 every day for the next 45 years of your life. Not at all. Some people are looking for job security, for that order and discipline that such a job gives one. Take my parents, for example. All their lives have lived working hard after going to university, and secured for themselves a nice average job of engineer and higschool professor. It paid good, enough to allow all of us to take every year a 2 weeks vacation to the seaside, to live in a nice appartment, have a family car, live a relatively middle class life style and continue this cycle year after year after year right until retirement. For most of the people this (or a variation of this)  is the regular lifestyle that is ingrained in us since childhood.

For some others though, the thought of living an average 9-5 dayjob life until we’re past our best years, so we can finally enjoy retirement with the little money the inflation rate has allows us to save throughout the years, is something that brings about fear, panic, dread and even paralysis. And this is how I feel exactly. This is how I felt for the last 5 years, without being able to pinpoint the cause exactly. How could I, when another lifestyle was unheard of, unless you were born rich, or won the lotto big time, or you married a millionaire? Which for me either way was out of the question.

This book opened my eyes and voiced all that I was feeling throughout the years, making me understand I can change all that. Timothy Ferris did it, and a whole bunch of new internet marketing entrepreneurs did it and still do it. Just look at John Reese, Ewen Chia, Tristan Bull (this guy is only 21 and he is making millions in interne marketing back in Australia). Look at so many others that made it. They all read Timothy Ferris’s book (I know because I am reading the Warrior Forum, and this book was first highly recommended as ‘hot and life changing’ (which it is indeed) by the biggest names around. This book changed their lives by simply opening their eyes, showing them a new way and giving them a step by step blueprint to achieve that life.

Do  you think I will follow that blueprint to escape the 9-5 rat race? You bet I will! And if anything you’ve read above even remotely reminds you of your feelings of dread, helplessness and fear of having to live a boring life for the rest of  your best years, then by god, buy the book, read it and implement it. It only costs like $13 or so.

And if you’re still not convinced, go read the Amazon reviews (over 800 of them, talk about famous!!) and you’ll see the light. Trust me, Amazon is one of the best sources to read true and unbiased reviews of books I’ve ever seen. And this book deserves all the credit it can get because it will show you that light at the end of the short tunel.