Crux
In The 4-Hour Workweek Timothy Ferris seeks to persuade the reader to invent a product or service, hire an administrative assistant and other employees, then let them run it while you check in periodically throughout the week (four hours total) and travel and enjoy yourself.
The Negative
In full disclosure this is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Ferriss’ entire goal of working only four hours a week is predicated upon other people working a 40-hour week. He denigrates delayed-gratification. In one amusing anecdote, he even boasts about winning the kickboxing championship by intentionally DQing opponents through a loophole he discovered. He suggests lifehacks, which upon further research are not true.
Theologically speaking, Ferriss essentially advocates for idol replacement. He wants to replace the idol of work with the idol of relaxation. Ferriss admits, even from personal experience the void that is left by quitting work. Yet, the only solution he offers is to fill your schedule with more trips in hopes that the emptiness will eventually fade away. He also mentions the sadness that comes with missing community in the workplace. But again, he promises travel and leisure will drown it out.
In casting aspersions on work, Ferriss fails to realize that work is a gift and something God made us to do. That means it’s something we were meant to do. Of course, like anything we can make it an idol, but completely removing it isn’t the answer.
Another blindspot of the book is that his proposed 4-hour work week suggests constant travel and leisure which doesn’t leave room for family or meaningful relationships. It’s a lone ranger life, perhaps with a spouse. In Ferriss’ eyes this is true living. However, sacrifices for family and community, though demanding, bring great joy and purpose to our lives. Ferriss may say he offers freedom, but in actuality he proposes a sort of slavery to leisure and travel. As wonderful as travel and leisure are they can’t give us true joy and freedom. True freedom and joy is found in loving and obeying God. We need another master than our heart’s bottomless pit of bucket list leisure activities and travel destinations. We need a good master. God is that master and we have joy when we obey him.
The Positive
Despite a severely flawed framework of thinking that undergirds the book, there are some helpful tidbits. He has some practical advice on travelling cheaply. He also has some good thoughts on productivity and prioritization (80-83).
Though I disagree with Ferris’ view on delayed gratification, an opposite fault is possible. It’s common for people to work constantly, placing everything in their life on hold, until they make millions and retire at an early age. Often, it’s too late before they realize they have wasted much of their life and now don’t have a family to share the rest of it with. Many of these people would speak to the importance of taking time for leisure or travel, particularly with loved ones. The delayed gratification mentality that is summed up in Dave Ramsey’s catch phrase, “Live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow,” is generally helpful, but we should realize God made us finite beings that need rest and time to enjoy the good gifts he’s given us to a healthy extent.
Overall, this book likely isn’t worth the time. If you have an idea for a new product or service and want to know practically how to outsource the work (ethically) and use your new income and time in a God honoring way, I suppose sections of the book would be helpful. The additional lifehacks are perhaps worth it for some readers. For those who do read it, they should keep in mind the holes in the argument of the book as well as the areas that are theologically problematic and discontinuous to Scripture and how we are to obey it.
Mike McGregor
Mike McGregor (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is Director of College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter at @m5mcgregor.
