The 4-Hour Workweek

Timothy Ferris is a New York Times bestselling author and a Princeton grad. His accomplishments range from being a successful investor, blogger and speaker to kickboxing champion, world traveller, horseback archer and world record holder for tango. He has been described by Newsweek as "the world's best guinea pig".

We have come to accept that keeping busy at work and accomplishing {insert your number here} or more tasks is the measure of one’s productivity. We sleep better at night thinking that we have that many fewer things to worry about, whereas in reality, that number is fictional and the list of tasks, whether new or recurring, is endless.

Tim talks about a few different things in the book. First, he makes it clear that one does not have to be abundantly flushed with money or time to do the things they have always wanted to do. He gives examples of single mothers and families taking year long trips abroad and seeing the world. He defines two new terms here, lifestyle design and new rich.

Next, he talks about eliminating all the things in our lives which take up a lot of time and distract us from our important tasks. His advice is effective in certain situations such as cutting down on email and unnecesary information absorption.

Thirdly, he talks about automating as many things as possible. He advises everyone to try a virtual assistant for a little while.

The book is scattered with exercises, useful links and lots of qonderful quotes. The book has some very practical advice but also some not-so-good ideas about venturing into startups.

All in all, I felt the parts around eliminating distractions, automating chores and finding the time to do the things we have always wanted to do is excellent advice.