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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
The 4-Hour Workweek summary
Tim Ferriss
Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
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4.3 (1804 ratings)
28 mins
12 key ideas
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What is The 4-Hour Workweek about?
The 4-Hour Workweek (2009) describes the life of the New Rich, people who’ve emancipated themselves from the slavery of office work and built a life centered around happiness in the here and now. If you want to lead such a life too, you’ll have to start by being more productive and finding a source of continuous – and almost entirely passive – income. These blinks will show you how.
About the Author
Tim Ferriss is a successful investor and advisor to technology start-ups. He was involved in the creation of companies like Uber, Facebook and Alibaba, to name just a few. He is also the creator of a renowned podcast series, The Tim Ferriss Show. His other books include Tribe of Mentors and Tools of Titans.
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Key idea 1 of 12
For the New Rich, wealth means luxury in the here and now.
So you’re working 40 hours a week. Maybe you’re working even more than that. You’re constantly exhausted. You’re constantly stressed. You’d give anything to extract yourself from the daily grind – but it feels like you just can’t. You’re stuck in your job. You need your job.
Well, there is a recipe for escaping the nine-to-five. There is a formula. And that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring in these blinks. But, before we get to the formula, let’s talk about where you’re escaping to, and how the author got there.
The goal is to become a member of the New Rich. The New Rich is a subculture characterized by mobility and financial freedom. They’re tied down by nothing. They decide where they go. They decide what they do. They’ve realized that the right moment to live your dreams, to really live you life, is now.
But how do you do this? How do you live your dreams, how do you live your life to the fullest, right now? Well, here’s something else the New Rich have realized. Basically, you only need two things to accomplish this: you need more freedom and more free time.
See, what most people associate with millionaires – extensive travels, extravagant hobbies, maybe a butler – essentially add up to two things: more freedom and more free time. And you can have those things without having millions of dollars in your bank account.
So that’s the goal: get more freedom, get more free time, and join the New Rich.
The author got both of these things sort of by accident. Back in 2004, he was in a situation that, maybe, is similar to yours. He was overworked. He was exhausted. He was actually so overworked and exhausted that he suffered a burnout and had to take a break. But this break turned out to be a blessing. During his time off, he traveled around the world and realized that he could run a profitable business from wherever he was. And that he could do it with minimal effort. And, just like that, he joined the ranks of the New Rich.
Sounds like magic – but it’s not. Remember, if you want to live a life of luxury, all you need are two: more freedom and more free time. They are the prerequisites for the ability to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it, and from wherever you want to do it – and neither can be achieved by working a standard 40-hour week.
So let’s get to that formula – the formula that’ll give you all the freedom and free time that you could ever wish for.
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Who should read The 4-Hour Workweek
- Anyone sick of the nine-to-five rat race
- Employees who dream of a lifestyle of travel and leisure
- People who aren’t sure how to achieve their dreams
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