The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

​‘The 4-Hour Work Week' is a fantastic book written by Timothy Ferriss. It's a resource, a guide and an inspiration to many.

The book revolves around 4 major sections, namely 'Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation', in short, 'DEAL'. It is basically a very specific step-by-step guide for those who wish to leave 9-5 office work to explore and enjoy life itself.

In 'Definition', Timothy suggests us to define what we want our lifestyles to be and what is it that we want out of our lives. Not every one of us wants to be a multi-millionaire. In fact, not many will know how to deal with that kind of money. So it is about realizing what we desire out of our lives and how to implement them. 

'Elimination' means minimizing distractions from your life. Some of us have workaholic symptoms, packing our schedules day and night, checking our emails every hour and so on. These habits can burn out a person really easily. Instead, we should eliminate things in life to simplify it. Check emails only once per day, and make it clear to call in case of emergency. There are not a lot of emergencies and the world does not revolve around us, so there isn't really that much for us to worry about. Timothy also suggests cultivating selective ignorance. For example, reduce absorbing excessive information, whether it may be the news or social media.

'Automation' is not only about outsourcing your business, but your life too. It may be difficult to outsource for employees but for other small business owners, it is something to take notes on. There are a lot of redundant and trivial tasks in life and we will be glad to live without it. There are actually a lot of service providers that help you sort things out, even your daily life. 

'Liberation' is about a macro view of life. Some people hustle until retirement age only to realize the limitations of the body. Timothy believes we should not work for retirement, instead, we should have mini-retirements. It is not that difficult to do since we only need to make a list of what we want to do to calculate its costs. We deserve a long vacation once in a while.

All in all, Timothy Ferriss is brilliant and he has been an inspiration to many, myself included. I call this book the bible for small business owners. It captures the perfect balance between theory and practicality. Concepts are revolutionary and intriguing, challenging the norms of the world we live in. There are very specific resources and advice as well for us to implement these concepts. It has always been a pleasure to read this book and I would recommend it to anyone who seeks to break away from the straps life has given you.

Written by Ryan Pun, Brand Ambassador at RAW Compliance