I just finished reading a book that changed my life. “The Four-Hour Workweek“, written by Timothy Ferriss, has a very simple message: don’t wait until you retire to start enjoying life. Many of us work 40, 50, 60 hour weeks with the thought in mind that, one day, we can retire and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Ferriss however points out that we are in the prime of our lives right now, and should not be waiting until “someday” to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
Ferriss makes a compelling case, and shares his experience working fewer hours to free up time to live. He works minimal hours per week, by running his own web company, outsourcing duties to employees and even hourly workers in India, and avoiding administration. He is brutal with email (checks business email every two weeks), does not attend meetings, and does not believe in multi-tasking.
From a business perspective, his message is: 20% of your effort gets you 80% of your success. So minimize. Focus on the 20% of customers who generate 80% of your business, and re-evaluate whether it’s worth it to spend the other 80% of your workweek to pursue the other 20% of the business.
There are some excellent videos of Ferris on YouTube. I highly recommend this book. This approach may not work for everyone, but I’ve been following this advice since reading it in early 2008 and it has had made huge improvements in my personal and professional life.
Posted by brucegab 
