Why I don’t Want a Four-Hour Workweek
February 18th, 2008 by Liz Fuller
Perhaps you’ve read Tim Ferris’ book The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
I thought it was good advice, especially for Women Entrepreneurs, who tend to sweat the small stuff.
But, I never took it literally - I mean I never thought that having a 4-Hour Work Week was anything more than a catchy advertising gimmick!
However lately I’ve been hearing more and more people talk about trying to cut their business back to a 4-hour work week. I’ve even read some blogs in which the authors are monitoring their progress on getting to that point. They write about their fun-filled lives spent not working, earning passive income, while lying on a beach while other people handle the daily details of their business.
While I’m all for work-life balance - I think this idea is taking a dangerous turn.
As women we’ve fought the battle of having to be SuperWoman for too long. For years, we’ve thought we had to build a successful career, raise brilliant kids and run a perfect home.
Only lately have we started admitting that we’re human. We’ve tried - but we simply can’t do it all.
And that’s okay.
Women today are starting their own businesses at twice the rate of men. Many are motivated by a desire to integrate the separate parts of their lives - enabling them to live and work with passion according to their own schedules.
But just as they’re starting to learn the challenges of running their own business - along comes the idea of the Four-Hour Work Week and the impossible expectations are raised once again.
Now, all of a sudden, if you can’t make a six-figure income in four hours per week, running your own business, doing something you love - you’re a failure! And guess what? There’s no one to blame but yourself - because everyone else appears to be doing it!!
Well, I’m here to tell you that I don’t think anyone is doing it - not even Tim Ferris.
And even if they are, I don’t think that’s a worthwhile goal.
If you are going to build a business - then build it.
Make it something that you want to work in and work on.
Make it something that gets you out of bed in the morning because you are so excited to start the day.
Make it something that lights you up inside and gets your heart racing and your mind jumping.
Make it something that you can’t help talking about because it is so precious to you.
And when you do, the hours that you work will fly by in seconds. You may work 40 or even 50 hours per week - but it will feel like only four. Your life will be truly integrated because you won’t know when you are working and when you are playing - it will all feel the same inside.
So, no, I don’t want the added presure of trying to build my business in only a four-hour workweek. I’ll settle for work so engrossing and fun that I sit down to work, and look up four hours later - wondering where the time went!!
What do you think? Is your goal to work as few hours as possible? Or to have work so meaningful, rewarding and fun that it doesn’t feel like work?
Photo Credit: Anders Ljungberg
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Wow Liz this topic has been floating around in my mind for a few days now.
I’ve gone back and forth on the idea of Tim Ferriss’ “Four hour work week” and one of the things that is consistently overlooked is that his book is about Doing What You Find Passion In Doing. After reading it, a more appropriate title would be “Earning your Income in 4 hours a week”. Not quite as sexy.
The real intent as I see it, is that most of the people do not find passion in going to their job day in and day out. They might enjoy 4 hours of it a week, so why not find a way to pare it down and enjoy those 4 hours and still earn enough money to do all those other things we are passionate about doing.
It’s not really about building a business in which you only work 4 hours a week, unless you want to, it’s about Working in ways which suit the life you want to live, IF you must work.
We are all too guilty of postponing dreams we’ve held onto, until we finally reach a stage when we believe they can’t come true because…
It really boils down to finding the things in life that will truly empower ourselves and then following through with them. If we are married or have children, there are more things to consider, but again, it’s not about building a business in 4 hours a week, it’s about building a life in which we have the knowledge, will and means of: writing that book,
visiting exotic cultures,
learning to dance,
immersing our children in other cultures,
cultivating ideas and accomplishing all those things we might have (but seriously never even consider doing because…)on a “bucket list”. It’s an experiential culture and mindset and is not for everyone.
Sometimes it really is just about the tool of money, so we can do all the other things that make up our lives. He’s really talking about being creative and using what is in front of us and not making assumptions about what can or cannot be done. As a new entrepreneur, that is what I am building. I think he was trying to get us to again focus on the WHY and his particular HOW was to pare down his business working hours to 4.
He works much more than that, and like you say, “life will be truly integrated because you won’t know when you are working and when you are playing - it will all feel the same inside.”
He has integrated all that into his life and he only wants to play at earning a substantial income, for 4 hours, yet he loves working at so many other things using the remaining 164 hours a week.
That’s what I’m aiming for.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
A thought provoking post. I want to retire from my current job (teacher) but, my motivation is not to have hours of free time. My motivation is to be able to spend more time doing other things. Free time can easily be waster.
Best,
Tejvan
February 18th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Hi Ria
I agree with many of the things you say - I do agree that that was the vision that Tim Ferris was trying to get across - in as eye-catching a manner as possible.
I get worried by the people who are taking it too literally and think they should be able to support themselves on 4 hours per week - not a realistic goal for most people. And not a life-enriching goal in my mind.
Liz
February 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hi Tejvan,
You’re right - all the free time in the world won’t make you happy if you are not spending it doing something fulfilling. Since most people have to work the ideal would be to work at something that you feel passionate about. Many of today’s retirees (baby boomers) are planning to continue to work both out of necessity and out of a desire to fulfill their passions.
Is that what you have in mind?
Liz
February 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Working four hours a week is not only unrealistic, it’s unhealthy. Both our bodies and minds are strengthened through exercise.
The key is to allow our passion and talents to drive our work styles. This way our work is fulfilling, not a clock-watching exercise.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Hi Towanda
I really like your comment - our bodies and minds are strengthened through exercise!
I think it’s that we have labeled work a bad word - but the real goal is to find work that is fulfilling and exciting so that it seems exciting.
Thanks for sharing.
Liz
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
[…] Fuller has served up a nicely thoughtful (as in full of thought) blog post about the newly popular book The 4-Hour Work Week, in which she expresses her dismay upon […]