Has anyone successfully implemented the 4 hour workweek? | Hacker News Reader

Has anyone successfully implemented the 4 hour workweek?

25 pointsbokenator9 comments

Curious to have a discussion surrounding whether people have successfully maintained a four hour work week. Also included can be those that have completely automated businesses too. On a personal note, I find freedom in being able to not work the 9-5 job. If I were to work 9=5 this would be certainly side income with the hope to then quit the 9-5.

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Tim Ferriss has mentioned coming up with the title as something flashy to make for more sales.

Even he says it's not about a literal 4-hour week of work. The thrust of the book is about how to break things down into systems, and figure out how to make your work (and life in general) more efficient.

You do this by deconstructing things, and figuring out what pieces you can do more easily to get bigger gains.

I'd highly recommend listening to his podcast, as it's almost like the gift that keeps on giving. I say this because of the people that he interviews, and the questions he asks. He helps figure out what successful people do, that makes them successful.

I'm talking him up, but it's only because there have been a few things that I've gotten between the book and a couple of the podcast interviews that have been very helpful in my personal life.

Long story short: tried it twice, the second time was the charm as a freelancer. Earning less money as I was full time, but steadily going up and getting close. Sidenote: changed my life, I'm more productive in general.

Don't want to make a blogpost of a comment. The how? It depends on two things mostly: lifestyle and family. As I'm 25 and single it was easier for me to do that because I can tweak my lifestyle as I want. I think it's a bigger challenge for those who have someone to support. And by tweaking I mean push yourself little by little to spend less, you get used to it quickly.

That's amazing, I have spoken to many people who have read the book, and I haven't met anyone who has even attempted it. I have tried it a couple of times as well, but I haven't been able to get it to sustain.

Actually I didn't know there was a book about that. I remember reading a post of a guy doing that here on HN though. I had some savings and an opportunity arose, after some serious doubts and thinking, I took the leap. But for those who have a startup or do freelance work, I think it's highly probable to be able to do it as well.

I have also a friend who does UI/UX web development who's been doing this for a couple of years too.

The guy behind the BuiltWith site is probably the most succesful (not sure if he implemented the 4-hour workweek stuff from the book, but he surely lives it)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10316060

http://www.startupdaily.net/2015/09/builtwith-is-perhaps-one...

https://medium.com/@andrewjrogers/the-story-of-builtwith-e3b...

If you take a look at the "Ask HN: Passive Income?" posts of the past you'll see a few people who crack 5 digit monthly recurring profits on small, niche SaaS businesses, and who have automated it quite well:

The guy who built this site: https://www.s3stat.com/

Claims that he only puts a handful of hours a month in.

I'm not saying that I see a lot of these people, but I'd say a handful every year seem to pop up.

I think the 4 hour week is a red herring.

IIRC the author did it by making a business more efficient and use less of his time. But his starting point was an insanely successful business. That's the prerequisite for following his steps!

Alternatively he suggests getting a job you can work remotely then outsource cheaply to take yourself out of the equation. Yeah right. Good luck with that!

The goal really is to build enough wealth so that you can work 0 hours per week. Probably doable by investing wisely and cutting back on lifestyle.

It is becoming hard to negotiate remote work deals because many bosses have also read the book! lol

I'm about halfway through the process as described in an underpaid non-profit position (ie, going remote, setting up automated systems, wasting less time in meetings/emails). Although I'm not now because what I'm working on is analytical and research-dependent, I will be able to outsource parts of my job in the future. A successful business is not a prerequisite. If you give it another read looking for other paths, they are there, they just aren't the flashy "automate your business"

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