Have you ever wondered what you are doing with your life? “How was your day honey, what did you do today?” It often elicits a somewhat hollow response to fill the void as we reflect on the discrepancy between our hustle and actual accomplishments. Tim Ferris has to be laughing, with his eulogy of THE 4 HOUR WEEK, though he must give it “great respect” for such a great book title. Who would not be convinced of that Holy Grail? The premise of this gem of a book is that retirement is wasted on retirees. He asserts, with a dazzling account of life experiences and personal achievements, that the goal is effectiveness. Not the activity per se. Ferris posits a major paradigm shift in the way we spend our time. This digital age that offers all the services and information resources one could possibly need at the tip of our Google finger, also allows us to uniquely outsource the mundane in our lives.
‘Your Man in India’ seems like the kind of guy we’d all love to have at our beck and call. Organizing our time-consuming trivia, with panache and, dare I say, enthusiasm. Eliminate the mundane, the drudgery, the important but uninspiring, and what do you have left? Frankly speaking, about 4 hours a week, to be super effective, clutter-free, and invincible. Whether he thinks he can metamorphose into a super-productive, semi-retired, superhuman, filthy-rich WINNER is debatable. Ferris does a good job of arguing through her own life experiences that living outside conventional and cultural expectations of what it means to be productive is now a choice.
A pretty convincing one too. Even if you dismiss the premise, as fiction, the book is a fascinating and entertaining read, as you follow the journey of this modern-day Indiana Jones by following his own somewhat hedonistic life. Ferris is generous with his resource annotation. almost as if he were challenging us to overcome our procrastination instincts. “Look, I’ve done it too.” If ever a book inspired you to question his world view, fire the boss, move to France and buy a vineyard, this is it. It’s unlikely we can pull it off with as much ease, grace and savvy as the incredibly accomplished Tim Ferris. Just don’t call it busy!
