Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Ratings146
Average rating3.6
Apa pekerjaan Anda? Pertanyaan itu bisa membuat Tim Ferriss kesulitan menjawabnya. Dosen tamu kontroversial di Universitas Princeton ini dapat memberikan jawaban berbeda setiap kali ditanya karena pada saat itu ia bisa sedang berada di mana saja. “Saya sedang balapan motor di Eropa.” “Saya sedang bermain ski di Andes.” ”Saya sedang scuba diving di Panama.” Atau, “Saya sedang berdansa tango di Buenos Aires.” Tim Ferriss menghabiskan lebih dari 5 tahun mempelajari rahasia menjadi Kaum Kaya Baru, suatu cara untuk keluar dari “rencana hidup tertunda” (menjadi budak -> menabung -> pensiun). Ia lebih banyak mengendalikan mata uang baru, yakni waktu dan mobilitas, untuk menciptakan makna baru tentang gaya hidup mewah. Siapa pun Anda, seorang karyawan yang terlalu banyak tugas atau pengusaha yang terjebak dalam bisnis sendiri, buku ini akan menjadi kompas memasuki dunia baru. Bergabunglah dengan Tim Ferriss dan ia akan menjadi kawan Anda mempelajari tentang: perbedaan penting antara pendapatan absolut dan pendapatan relatif; melatih bos Anda untuk menghargai kinerja daripada kehadiran Anda; memiliki pemasukan rutin dan bagaimana mewujudkannya dalam waktu 2-4 minggu; menentukan prioritas dan menciptakan waktu yang efisien dengan menyaring akses informasi; dan rahasia manajemen para CEO jarak jauh. Percayalah, Anda bisa memiliki segalanya. Tak ada satu pun alasan untuk menunggu. Apakah mimpi Anda adalah mewujudkan kebahagiaan, melakukan wisata keliling dunia, mendapatkan penghasilan bulanan yang jumlahnya besar, atau menikmati hidup dengan sedikit bekerja? The 4-Hour Workweek memberikan rancangan sempurna untuk Anda! -GagasMedia-
Reviews with the most likes.
Honestly... this book felt like a bit of a joke to me? Roughly the contents of the book are as follows:
* The first third of the book talks about how you can be a jerk to your colleagues
* Ferriss very enthusiastically recommends everyone to get a virtual assistant (VA) in India who you can pay dirt cheap to do your actual job for you (and also send your spouse gifts if/when they get mad you)
* In the last third of the book, it shifts gears and starts becoming more of a travel book. Ferriss recommends everyone to move to Southeast Asia or Central or South America where the cost of living is much cheaper than in North America or Western Europe. This assumes that everyone can do that easily, but people like me and so many other who have weak passports can't just pick up their bags and move to a different country. I don't think everyone would want to just pack up and move around the world either.
Overall this book feels like it was written from a privileged viewpoint without regard to the fact that the world is so diverse and people come from all sorts of backgrounds. I'm really surprised that this ended up becoming such a big hit and was even on multiple best sellers list. There are actual small bits of useful productivity tips sprinkled throughout the book but overall... not worth the read.
Useful to everyone, with caveats:
I'll start with the bad - The author had a good philosophy marred by a blind indifference to the stakes and consequences the average person considers when deciding whether to 9-5 it. But maybe that's the attitude you need to write this kind of book.
The good: While you're reading it you'll be motivated to think about what you want, why you want it, and to take action to get there, but not necessarily the steps in this book. It's not a how-to for everyone even though the author positions it that way. His approach is: here's how you should live your life, and here's the way I accomplished that. He doesn't really make it clear that there are ways other than his own, which can be discouraging if you can't see yourself taking his approach.
I'm being vague for a reason - if I knew his approach before I started reading I probably would never have picked it up, and would have missed out on a really valuable perspective.
I appreciate the premise: How do you do the least amount of work possible? For any developer that's a goal. That's not the goal because then you can take off though - it's so you can get more done. Most of the projects suggested in the book contribute nothing to society, and are usually self serving.
I don't necessarily agree with many of the ideas Ferriss puts out, but I'm happy I took the time to read this book. I've heard a lot about it from personal finance bloggers, and its principles of mini-retirements, minimalism, and conscious living and working really appeal to me.