I read the 4HWW almost two years ago when I was on vacation at the beach with my family. I
remember it well, because I kept reading parts of the book to my wife, bothering her to no end. I am a
developer and enterprise administrator for a large financial institution in Atlanta, Georgia. Part of my job
is supporting the large complex document captures systems that I help build. Due to the importance of
these systems I am expected to be reachable 24/7/365. That is good for job security, but can be bad for
my family life. I have four beautiful children and I strive to be a true “hands-on” dad who is present in
my family’s daily lives. So armed with your book and a fresh (ocean air) perspective, I set out to put
many of the 4HWW principles into practice.
First, I worked on changing my e-mail habits. I took a hard look at my inbox and used several of the
techniques outlined in the 4HWW to eliminate all the waste and noise. I formed new habits around
batching my e-mail sessions and it didn’t take long to achieve a zero inbox using the “trusted trio” folder
method. I also applied the less is more philosophy to composing my e-mails. I went to great lengths to
ensure I am as clear and concise as possible. Only communicating exactly what is needed to the right
audience and not to the world. By eliminating all the noise and fat from my e-mail diet it became much
more clear what “actions” or “to-do’s” were important.
Meetings and conference calls were the next area of attack. I scrutinized each meeting invite and
began declining requests left and right. Most of the time I would claim I had too much going on to
attend. I started asking for the minutes of the meeting or for someone to IM me if they had a specific
question I needed to answer. When I do attend a meeting it is almost always via a conference call. Due
to conference room restrictions and geographic challenges in our company most of our meetings are
done virtually anyway.
Less wasted time meant more time to focus on work and tasks that really mattered. I felt like I was
doing less but getting more things done and with better results. The right people were starting to notice
and the perception of my ability to get the job done had never been better. I was making my management
look good, and when that happens they stop asking questions or micromanaging daily activities. I kept
proving to them I can do it without interference. Now was the time to make the push for what I really
wanted and that was to go virtual!
Going virtual was actually very easy. I had a solid foundation with my manager and others in the
chain of command. Almost all of my daily work was already remote-ready. At home, I have a great
dedicated office in our finished basement. It is situated well away from the rest of the house and is
mostly free of distractions. I have my own bathroom with shower and I even have a mini-fridge and
microwave. I dare say that my home office rivals the amenities of the top executives at my company.
Most of all, I have a wife and family that totally understand and respect the rules I set for myself to
continue this success.
At first, I worked one or two days a week from home, but it didn’t take long before I found myself
working four out of five days a week from home. When the Southeast was hit by the gas shortage and
the price of gas nationwide was cresting $4 a gallon, the company made working from home even more
accepted and official. I became an overnight model for others to follow. As people around me were in a
panic as to how to get to work when no gas could be found, I was happily working away at home just
business as usual.
At this point, things were working better than I ever expected. Using my 4HWW skills I now had
more time to be that hands-on dad I wanted to be. I became a regular up at the elementary school. I eat
lunch in the cafeteria with my girls, especially on fried chicken day! I participate in a program called
D.E.A.R. which stands for Drop Everything and Read, where a few times a month I come in and read to
each class. I drive my kids to school and I get to see them when they come home. For my entire family, I
am present in their everyday lives, and can’t put a price on that. I felt like I had achieved my goal. That
was that. So I thought…
Other things started to happen. Without conscientiously knowing it, people around me at the school or
church had a weird respect for me. I say weird because people literally mistook me as a doctor or just
some sort of self-made millionaire. I am not kidding. There is this one guy who still calls me “Doc.” I
guess the reason for this is because most people still cling to the old stereotypes of what they think it is
to be “rich.” I always seem to show up for the school functions or just special days at the school, usually
in casual attire and never obsessing over time or my Blackberry. Now I have people nominating me for
things like committee chair on the PTA, and just recently I was elected to the board of directors at our
local swim/ tennis club. The cool thing is, I actually have the time to do those things and still be
effective at work and at home. It goes without saying that new doors are open to me now. More than ever
before.
With all of this going on around me I still come back to what my daughter said to her teacher. In truth,
I am at a point where if I wanted to “sit around and watch Star Wars all day,” I certainly could. But, I
find myself filling the extra time now doing things that really mean something. Being present in the
everyday lives of my family, helping my community, or volunteering at my church. Now I have a plan to
take it to the next level and write my own book. The project I am working on is called The Virtual
Employee Handbook. It is a collection of tips and how-to’s on all the tools that are essential to the
modern virtual employee, like me. We will see how that goes. One thing I do know is that I wouldn’t
even dream of what I am doing now if it wasn’t for The 4-Hour Workweek! —W. HIGGINS
91. Maya Frost, The New Global Student (Crown, 2009).
92. A simple, actual proposal is provided.
RESTRICTED READING
The Few That Matter
A hypocrite is a person who—but who isn’t?
—DON MARQUIS
I know, I know. I said not to read too much. Hence, the recommendations here are restricted to the
best of the best this book’s interviewees and I have used and named when asked, “What is the one book
that changed your life the most?”
None of them are required to do what we’ve talked about in this book. That said, consider them if you
get stuck on a particular point. The page counts are listed, and if you practice the exercises in “How to
Read 200% Faster in 10 Minutes” in Chapter 6, you should be able to read at least 2.5 pages per minute
(100 pages thus equals 40 minutes).
For additional categories, including practical philosophy, licensing, and language learning, be sure to
visit our comprehensive companion site.
The Fundamental Four: Let Me Explain
The Fundamental Four are so named because they are the four books I recommended to aspiring
lifestyle designers prior to writing The 4-Hour Workweek. Still well worth reading, here is the sequence I
suggest:
The Magic of Thinking Big (192 pages)
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
This book was first recommended to me by Stephen Key, an ultrasuccessful inventor who has made
millions licensing products to companies, including Disney, Nestlé, and Coca-Cola. It is the favorite
book of many superperformers worldwide, ranging from legendary football coaches to famous CEOs,
and has more than 100 5-star ratings on Amazon. The main message is don’t overestimate others and
underestimate yourself. I still read the first two chapters of this book whenever doubt creeps in.
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas:
An Entrepreneur’s Guide (272 pages)
BY DAN S. KENNEDY
This is a menu of options for converting ideas into millions. I read this when I was in high school and
have read it five times since. It is like steroids for your entrepreneurship cortex. The case studies, from
Domino’s Pizza to casinos and mail-order products, are outstanding, even if outdated in a few instances.
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It (288 pages)
BY MICHAEL E. GERBER
Gerber is a masterful storyteller and his classic of automation discusses how to use a franchise mind-set
to create scalable businesses that are based on rules and not outstanding employees. It is an excellent
road map—told in parable—for becoming an owner instead of constant micromanager. If you’re stuck in
your own business, this book will get you unstuck in no time.
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (224 pages)
BY ROLF POTTS
Rolf is the man. This is the book that got me to stop making excuses and pack for an extended hiatus. It
covers bits of everything but is particularly helpful for determining your destination, adjusting to life on
the road, and re-assimilating back into ordinary life. It includes great little excerpts from famous
vagabonds, philosophers, and explorers, as well as anecdotes from ordinary travelers. This is the first of
two books (the other was Walden, below) that I took with me on my first 15-month mini-retirement.
Walden (384 pages)
Reducing Emotional and Material Baggage
BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU
This is considered by many to be the masterpiece of reflective simple living. Thoreau lived on the edge
of a small lake in rural Massachusetts for two years, building his own shelter and living alone, as an
experiment in self-reliance and minimalism. It was both a huge success and a failure, which is what
makes this book such a compelling read.
Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty—An Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices in Praise
of Simplicity (336 pages)
EDITED BY GOLDIAN VANDENBROECK
This is a collection of bite-sized philosophies on simple living. I read it to learn how to do the most with
the least and eliminate artificial needs, not live like a monk—big difference. It incorporates actionable
principles and short stories ranging from Socrates to Benjamin Franklin and the Bhagavad Gita to
modern economists.
The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur (192 pages)
BY RANDY KOMISAR
This great book was given to me by Professor Zschau as a graduation gift and introduced me to the
phrase “deferred-life plan.” Randy, a virtual CEO and partner at the legendary Kleiner Perkins, has been
described as a “combined professional mentor, minister without portfolio, in-your-face investor, troubleshooter
and door opener.” Let a true Silicon Valley wizard show you how he created his ideal life using
razor-sharp thinking and Buddhist-like philosophies. I’ve met him—he’s the real deal.
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less (288 pages)
BY RICHARD KOCH
This book explores the “nonlinear” world, discusses the mathematical and historical support for the 80/20
Principle, and offers practical applications of the same.
Muse Creation and Related Skills
Harvard Business School Case Studies www.hbsp.harvard.edu (click on “school cases”)
One of the secrets behind Harvard Business School’s teaching success is the case method—using real-life
case studies for discussion. These cases take you inside the marketing and operational plans of 24-Hour
Fitness, Southwest Airlines, Timberland, and hundreds of other companies. Few people realize that you
can purchase these case studies for less than $10 apiece instead of spending more than $100,000 to go to
Harvard (not that the latter isn’t worth it). There is a case study for every situation, problem, and
business model.
“This business has legs”: How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the $100,000,000 Thighmaster
Craze: An Entrepreneurial Adventure Story (206 pages)
BY PETER BIELER
This is the story of how a naïve (in the best sense of the word) Peter Bieler started from scratch—no
product, no experience, no cash—and created a $100-million merchandising empire in less than two
years. It is a mind-expanding and often hysterical case study that uses real numbers to discuss the fine
points of everything from dealing with celebrities to marketing, production, legal, and retail. Peter can
now finance the media purchases for your product: www.mediafunding.com.
Secrets of Power Negotiating: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator (256 pages)
BY ROGER DAWSON
This is the one negotiating book that really opened my eyes and gave me practical tools I could use
immediately. I used the audio adaptation. If you’re hungry for more, William Ury’s Getting Past No and
G. Richard Shell’s Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People are
outstanding. These are the only negotiating books you’ll ever need.
Response Magazine (www.responsemagazine.com)
This magazine is dedicated to the multibillion-dollar direct response (DR) industry, with a focus on
television, radio, and Internet marketing. How-to articles (increasing sales per call, lowering media costs,
improving fulfillment, etc.) are interspersed with case studies of successful campaigns (George Foreman
Grill, Girls Gone Wild, etc.). The best outsourcers in the business also advertise in this magazine. This is
an excellent resource at an excellent price—free.
Jordan Whitney Greensheet (www.jwgreensheet.com)
This is an insider secret of the DR world. Jordan Whitney’s weekly and monthly reports dissect the most
successful product campaigns, including offers, pricing, guarantees, and ad frequencies (indicative of
spending and, thus, profitability). The publication also maintains an up-to-date tape library from which
infomercials and spot commercials can be purchased for competitive research. Highly recommended.
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big (256 pages)
BY BO BURLINGHAM
Longtime Inc. magazine editor-at-large Bo Burlingham crafts a beautiful collage and analysis of
companies that focus on being the best instead of growing like cancer into huge corporations. Companies
include Clif Bar Inc., Anchor Stream Microbrewery, rock star Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records,
and a dozen more from different industries. Bigger is not better, and this book proves it.
Negotiating World Travel and Preparing for Escape
Six Months Off: How to Plan, Negotiate, and Take the Break You Need Without Burning Bridges or
Going Broke (252 pages)
BY HOPE DLUGOZIMA , JAMES SCOTT , AND DAVID SHARP
This was the first book to make me step back and say, “Holy sh*t. I can actually do this!” It steamrolls
over most fear factors related to long-term travel and offers a step-by-step guide to taking time off to
travel or pursue other goals without giving up your career. Full of case studies and useful checklists.
Verge Magazine (http://vergemagazine.com)
This magazine, formerly known as Transitions Abroad, is the central hub of alternative travel and offers
dozens of incredible options for the non-tourist. Both the print and online versions are great starting
points for brainstorming how you will spend your time overseas. How about excavating in Jordan or ecovolunteering
in the Caribbean? It’s all here.
From the website: “Each issue takes you around the world with people who are doing something
different and making a difference doing it. This is the magazine resource for those wanting to volunteer,
work, study, or adventure overseas.”
BONUS MATERIAL
This book is not just what you hold in your hands. There was much more I wanted to include but
couldn’t due to space constraints. Use passwords hidden in this book to access some of the best I have to
offer. Here are just a few examples that took me years to assemble:
How to Get $250,000 of Advertising for $10,000
(includes real scripts)
How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months
Muse Math: Predicting the Revenue of Any Product
(includes case studies)
Licensing: From Tae Bo to Teddy Ruxpin
Real Licensing Agreement with Real Dollars
(this alone is worth $5,000)
Online Round-the-World (RTW) Trip Planner
For this and much more reader-only content, visit our companion site and free how-to message boards
at www.fourhourblog.com. How would you like a free trip around the world? Join us and see how simple
it is.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, I must thank the students whose feedback and questions birthed this book, and Ed Zschau,
übermentor and entrepreneurial superhero, for giving me the chance to speak with them. Ed, in a world
where deferred dreams are the norm, you have been a shining light for those who dare to do it their way.
I bow down to your skills (and Karen Cindrich, the best right-hand woman ever) and look forward to
cleaning your erasers whenever the call comes—I’ll make a 220-pound bodybuilder of you yet!
Jack Canfield, you are an inspiration and have shown me that it is possible to make it huge and still be
a wonderful, kind human being. This book was just an idea until you breathed life into it. I cannot thank
you enough for your wisdom, support, and incredible friendship.
To Stephen Hanselman, prince among men and the best agent in the world, I thank you for “getting”
the book at first glance and taking me from writer to author. I cannot imagine a better partner or cooler
cat, and I look forward to many more adventures together. From negotiation to nonstop jazz, you amaze
me. LevelFiveMedia is the new breed of agenting, where first-time authors are developed into bestselling
authors with the precision of a Swiss watch.
Heather Jackson, your insightful editing and incredible cheer-leading has made this book a pleasure to
write. Thank you for believing in me! I am honored to be your writer. To the rest of the Crown team,
especially those whom I bother (because I love them) more than four hours a week—Donna Passannante
and Tara Gilbride in particular—you are the best in the publishing world. Doesn’t it hurt when your
brains are so big?
This book couldn’t have been written without the New Rich who agreed to share their stories. Special
thanks to Douglas “Demon Doc” Price, Steve Sims, John “DJ Vanya” Dial, Stephen Key, Hans Keeling,
Mitchell Levy, Ed Murray, Jean-Marc Hachey, Tina Forsyth, Josh Steinitz, Julie Szekely, Mike Kerlin,
Jen Errico, Robin Malinosky-Rummell, Ritika Sundaresan, T. T. Venkatesh, Ron Ruiz, Doreen Orion,
Tracy Hintz, and the dozens who preferred to remain anonymous within corporate walls. Thanks also to
the elite team and great friends at MEC Labs, including, but not limited to, Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Aaron
Rosenthal, Eric Stockton, Jeremiah Brookins, Jalali Hartman, and Bob Kemper.
Refining the content of this book from pulp to print has been torturous, especially for my
proofreaders! Deep bows and sincere thanks to Jason Burroughs, Chris Ashenden, Mike Norman, Albert
Pope, Jillian Manus, Jess Portner, Mike Maples, Juan Manuel “Micho” Cambeforte, my brainiac brother
Tom Ferriss, and the countless others who honed the end product. I owe particular gratitude to Carol
Kline—whose keen mind and awareness of self transformed this book—and Sherwood Forlee, a great
friend and relentless devil’s advocate.
Thanks to my brilliant interns, Ilena George, Lindsay Mecca, Kate Perkins Youngman, and Laura
Hurlbut, for meeting deadlines and keeping me from imminent meltdown. I encourage all publishers to
hire you before their competition does!
To the authors who have guided and inspired me throughout this process, I am forever a fan and
indebted: John McPhee, Michael Gerber, Rolf Potts, Phil Town, Po Bronson, AJ Jacobs, Randy Komisar,
and Joy Bauer.
For helping to build schools around the world and for funding projects for more than 15,000 U.S.
public school students, I wish to thank—among countless others—the following readers and friends:
Matt Mullenweg, Gina Trapani, Joe Polish, David Bellis, John Morgan, Thomas Johnson, Dean Jackson,
Peter Weck and SimplyHired.com, Yanik Silver, Metroblogging, Michael Port, Jay Peters, Aaron Daniel
Bennett, Andrew Rosca, Birth & Beyond, Inc., Doula Services, Noreen Roman, Joseph Hunkins, Joe
Duck, Mario Milanovic, Chris Daigle, Jose Castro, Tina M. Pruitt Campbell, Dane Low, and all of you
who believe karmic capitalism is possible. It is.
To all of the readers and lifestyle designers who shared their experiences and helped create this
expanded edition—thank you! It wouldn’t have been possible without you, and I am humbled beyond
words by your generosity. I hope you never stop thinking big and doing the uncommon.
To Sifu Steve Goericke and Coach John Buxton, who taught me how to act in spite of fear and fight
like hell for what I believe, this book—and my life—is a product of your influence. Bless you both. The
world’s problems would be far fewer if young men had more mentors like the two of you.
Last but not least, this book is dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferriss, who have guided
me, encouraged me, loved me, and consoled me through it all. I love you more than words can express.
About the Author
TIMOTHY FERRISS, nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” is
an angel investor and author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller
The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been sold into 35 languages.
He has been featured by more than 100 media outlets, including the New York Times, The Economist,
TIME, Forbes, Fortune, CNN, and CBS. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from
wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003,
where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.
Copyright © 2007, 2009 by Tim Ferriss
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division
of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK is a trademark of Timothy Ferriss and is used under license.
Originally published in slightly different form in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2007.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to David L. Weatherford for permission to reprint “Slow Dance” by
David L. Weatherford. Reprinted by permission of David L. Weatherford.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ferriss, Timothy.
The 4-hour workweek: escape 9–5, live anywhere, and join the new rich /
Timothy Ferriss—Expanded and updated ed.
1. Quality of work life. 2. Part-time self-employment. 3. Self-realization.
4. Self-actualization (Psychology). 5. Quality of life. I. Title.
II. Title: Four-hour workweek.
HD6955.F435 2009
650.1—dc22 2009021010
eISBN: 978-0-307-59116-6
v3.0