The commonsense rules of the “real world” are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions, according to Timothy Ferriss in his book The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. People work away for years at low-paying jobs while harbouring dreams of living a millionaire lifestyle, and yet those who do manage to get promoted to high-paying jobs rarely have the time to enjoy the lifestyle.
Instead, the author recommends that you find a way of generating a passive income stream, and then ruthlessly eliminate from your life those activities which take up a lot of time but add little value. Stop going to meetings. Encourage people to be brief on phone calls or, better still, not to call you at all. Check your emails only at predetermined times. Outsource all the running around and research to a virtual assistant.
There is some wisdom in what the author has to say. It is not a good idea to spend your life in an unsatisfying job if there are better alternatives available. It is foolish to think of the accumulation of money as your principal goal in life. On the other hand, some aspects of the book are less appealing. The author’s use of a virtual assistant in negotiating with his wife seems to be taking the idea of outsourcing several steps too far, leading to a suspicion that he might be a bit self-centred, treating others as commodities to serve his own ends.
This is a well-written book, and the reader who is able to sift out the good bits from the not-so-good bits will find plenty of useful time-saving advice and lists of resources, no doubt compiled with the assistance of low-paid virtual assistants.