Tim Ferriss’

The 4-Hour
Work Week
10 Minute Snapshot
A Summary of Everything You Need to Know
DISCLAIMER

This report does not constitute personal legal, financial, business, or

accounting advice. It’s just general information to hopefully help readers
in their financial journey. All businesses and investments involve risk of
loss of money and you should speak to a qualified advisor when making
financial decisions.
 THE 4-HOUR WORK WEEK – 10 Minute Snapshot

CONTENTS
Who is Tim Ferriss? 1

The Deal Process 3

D is for Definition – Tim’s Ten Rules 4

D is for Definition – Confronting Your Fear 6

E is for Eliminate – Dreamlining 7

E is for Eliminate – Learning How to Do Less 8

E is for Eliminate – The Time Wasters and Consumers 9

A is for Automate – Offloading Tasks 9

L is for Liberation - Living Your Life (And the New Rich Mistakes to Avoid) 11
WHO IS TIM FERRISS?
When’s the last time that you had some real time for yourself?

We’re not talking about the snatched couple of hours that you might get tonight. And we’re not
talking about the occasional weekend where work isn’t in the back of your mind.

We’re talking about real time that you can use to pursue your passions.

A lot of people barely ever get that sort of time. You might not even remember the last time you
had it, if you’ve ever had it at all.

Tim Ferriss found himself in the same position as you. He had the job and the house. But
he didn’t have any time. Instead, he worked his fingers to the bone to be a “success” while
neglecting everything that makes life worth living.

Once upon a time, Ferriss ran his own supplement company. It made a lot of money but it didn’t
bring him any joy. His life was his work and it was draining him. The constant stress meant he
could never escape from the pressures of his business.

Then it happened. During a trip to London, Ferriss had a breakdown. His body told him that
enough was enough. He needed to find another way.

That’s when he stepped back and took a real look at his business. He was so entrenched in it
that he’d failed to see how it had consumed his life.

Tim started hiring virtual assistants and putting processes in place that would allow him to step
away.

Suddenly, he had all of the time in the world. He started travelling, with his journeys taking him
to destinations all around the globe. He even found time to learn how to tango. Not only that,
but he got so good that he was a semi-finalist in the Tango World Championships. And in 2006,
he set a world record for the most tango spins completed in a minute.

In 2007, Ferriss realised that there are so many people out there in a similar situation to the one
that caused his breakdown.

It was about time that he started helping them to achieve the same freedom that he had.

In 2007, Ferriss published The 4-Hour Work Week. In it, he detailed the philosophies and
strategies that helped him get to where he is today.

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Tim is now an internationally-renowned speaker and author. Most importantly, he’s living his life
on his own terms.

You can do the same.

This report offers a summary of the key lessons from Ferriss’ book. Start applying them to your
own life to escape the grind and achieve freedom.

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THE DEAL PROCESS

Ferriss breaks his whole philosophy down into what he calls the “DEAL Process”. These are four
steps that you have to take to break the chains of modern life and live how you want to live.

It works like this:

D is for Definition

You learn the rules of the game and define the path that you’re going to take.

This may require you to step back and take an honest look at your life, just like Ferriss did in
London.

E is for Eliminate

You reset your entire life by eliminating all of the unnecessary burdens that drag you down.

This extends beyond your work. The toxic people and the bad habits that pull you down also
have to go.

A is for Automation

You create automated processes within your business that allow it to run without any input from
you.

This means investing time now so that you have freedom in the future. Automating may involve
implementing new technology. Or, it might involve getting tasks off your plate by outsourcing
them to other people.

L is for Liberation

Go out and live your life!

The first three steps give you freedom. But too many people pour all of that saved time back into
their work.

That’s because they don’t know what to do with themselves without work.

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D IS FOR DEFINITION – TIM’S TEN RULES

With Ferriss’ first step, you’re going to take an honest look at your life. That means assessing
where you are so you can lay the foundations for where you want to go.

Ferriss offers up 10 rules to follow as you go through this process.

Rule #1 – Retirement is the Worst-Case Scenario

Retirement is the end goal for so many Australians. But it’s actually not the ideal.

Instead, you want to prepare for a life that’s so fun and fulfilling that you never want or need to
retire.

Rule #2 – It’s Never the Right Time

You’re waiting for the right time to start living your life.

You want to pay off the house first or you’re waiting for the kids to grow up.

There’s always something that’s stopping now from being the right time. Recognise that there is
no right time and stop putting your new life off.

Rule #3 – Avoid Distress

The toxic people who drag you down will never offer anything of benefit to your life.

Identify them and get them out of your life. The same goes for anything else that distresses you.

Rule #4 – Focus on Strengths Over Weaknesses

People always want to fix their weaknesses to become better.

That’s not the way to do it. Instead, focus on and emphasise your strengths. Use them to their
fullest while having others cover for your weaknesses.

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Rule #5 – It’s All Relative

What do you look at when you examine your income?

If it’s the overall amount that you earn, you’re looking at it all wrong.

The key is to look at your income relative to the amount of time you spend generating that
income. Why spend 40 hours per week to earn $1,500 when you could do it in a tenth of the time?

Rule #6 – Money Isn’t the Ultimate Solution

Having more money can help you to achieve the freedom you want.

But it’s not the ultimate solution to your problems in life. You can earn tons of money while
working yourself to death. Your goal is to figure out what you want out of life beyond the cash.

Rule #7 – Understand the Energy and Interest Cycles

Arrange your life so that you cycle between work and leisure activity.

This essentially means that you should plan mini-retirements instead of full retirement. This
gives you time to rest so that you’re ready to throw your all into your work cycles.

Rule #8 – Forgiveness Instead of Permission

Don’t ask if you can do something.

Just do it and ask for forgiveness later if it all goes wrong. Learn from those mistakes the next
time you do something.

Rule #9 – You’re Not Lazy for Doing Less

Society tells us that it’s good to work hard, no matter how much it’s killing us. By doing less,
you’re lazy.

That’s nonsense!

Break this mindset and understand that you’re working smart when you’re doing less.

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Rule #10 – It’s Possible to Get Too Much

Enjoy all good things in moderation.

It’s possible to get too much of something you love. And when that happens, the thing you love
becomes a burden to you.

D IS FOR DEFINITION
– CONFRONTING YOUR FEAR
Ferriss says that it’s fear that holds people back from the lives they want to lead.

It’s why you haven’t quit the job you hate. It’s why you’re sticking with the people who make you
feel terrible.

Confronting your fear is crucial if you’re to define a new path for yourself.

Here’s how Ferriss says you should confront fear:

1. Put a face on your fear and define it. Figure out what the worst-case scenario is. You’ll often
find that it’s really not that bad.

2. Work out what you’d do to fix the worst- case scenarios.

3. Identify every idea and ambition that you avoid due to fear.

4. Figure out all of the benefits that would come if pursuing your ideas and ambitions actually
worked out. What do you get if it all goes right?

5. Identify the costs of avoiding your ideas and ambitions. Look at more than the money too. Is
sticking with the life you have right now hurting you?

Finally, ask yourself this question:

“If I got fired tomorrow, could I survive financially?”

You may find that you’re in a better position than you thought. And by defining your fears, you’re
able to see that it’s not so bad if taking the risk doesn’t pay off straight away.

So, why are you waiting to get started?

Once you’ve defined your fear, it’s time to get past it and start making changes.

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E IS FOR ELIMINATE – DREAMLINING

Before you can eliminate the bad influences from your life, you have to reset.

That means you need some goals.

But Ferriss goes beyond simple goal setting. A goal is some ambiguous thing that doesn’t have a
structure applied to it.

Ferriss uses a technique that he calls “Dreamlining” to help you create goals that will fill the void
when you’re not working as much.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Create lists of the things that you would do if you knew there was no possibility that you
could fail. Write down five things you’d do in six months and in 12 months. According to
Ferriss, unrealistic goals are also the most effective goals.

2. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, imagine that you’re going to wake up tomorrow
with $100 million in the bank. You’re free, so what are you going to do with your time? The
goal is to eliminate money as a barrier to your dreams.

3. Your goals are essentially states of being that you want to achieve. Identify the actions that
you need to take to achieve the state of being. Ferriss calls these the “doing” steps.

4. Now that you’ve got your list, pull out the four big dreams that would change everything.
These are the things that would have the biggest effect on your life and are what you aspire
most towards.

5. Figure out your Target Monthly Income (TMI) for each dream. Your TMI is the amount of
money that you need to achieve the dream. Take your current income and expenses into
account.

With your Dreamline, you now have a structure for your goals. You know what they are, what
actions you need to take, and how much money they’ll need.

Now, create three steps for the four dreams in your six-month Dreamline. Start working on them
today! 

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E IS FOR ELIMINATE
– LEARNING HOW TO DO LESS
Ferriss is a huge proponent of the 80/20 rule.

He says that using it helps you to understand that efficient doesn’t always mean effective.

Completing a task efficiently isn’t going to help you if the task doesn’t serve you in the first place!

With the 80/20 rule, he shows you that 20% of your inputs directly result in 80% of your outputs.

That means investing 20% of your time and effort to achieve 80% of what you want.

Ferriss also uses Parkinson’s Law to demonstrate his point. This law says that you see a task as
more important if you have more time to do it.

If a task has a seven-day deadline, it seems so much larger than a task that has a one-day
deadline.

Even if it’s the same task in both cases!

Ferriss says that using these two rules together allows you to shorten your work time and only
focus on the most important tasks.

That means you do less while achieving the same outcomes that you’re getting right now!

Ferris says you should ask yourself the following questions:

• If a heart attack meant you could only work a couple of hours per day, what would happen?
What if a second heart attack pulled you down to two hours per week?

• What three activities are time fillers that you only do to feel productive?

• If someone put a gun to your head and told you to stop doing four out of every five activities,
which would you stop doing?

• What’s the one thing you need to do today to leave yourself feeling fulfilled?

He also says to apply the 80/20 rule to your life. How are the 20% of people who create 80% of
your positivity?

And who are the 20% who create 80% of your pain and stress?

Answering all of these questions helps you realise how much time you’re spending on the things
that don’t matter.

Now, it’s time to focus on the things that do.

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 E IS FOR ELIMINATE
– THE TIME WASTERS AND CONSUMERS
In Tim Ferriss’ world, ignorance truly is bliss.

But he’s not talking about ignorance in an educational sense. He’s saying that you need to learn
how to ignore the things that don’t matter.

These are the time wasters and consumers that stop you from living the life you want to lead.

Ferriss highlights plenty of these in his book. But here are a few that most people deal with daily:

• The dozens of emails that you get every day.

• Time that you waste on unnecessary phone calls.

• Meetings that do nothing more than define a problem. Every meeting should focus on
solving a problem else it’s wasted time.

• The many tasks that you do that take up tons of time for very little output. They may even
be essential tasks. But they’re distracting you from what really matters.

That last one’s especially important. Identifying all of these manual and time-consuming tasks
provides you with the launching point for the third step in the DEAL Process.

A IS FOR AUTOMATE – OFFLOADING TASKS

Once you’ve figured out the tasks that take up loads of your time, you have to automate.

Automation doesn’t mean that you’ve got to drop loads of money on technology.

According to Ferriss, automation starts with getting a personal assistant to take some work off
your shoulders.

Ferriss identifies the key question that everyone asks at this point:

“What about the cost?”

You can complete the tasks better than an assistant. Why should you pay any money to someone
who can’t do it as well as you?

Ferriss says it’s all about the time.

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Your goal is to stop doing all of the boring and repetitive tasks that destroy creativity and take
your focus away from what matters.

He gives us two golden rules for this:

1. Every task you delegate must have a clear definition and be a big time consumer.

2. Have some fun with it.

So hire an assistant, even if you don’t think you need one right now. Identify the five work and
five personal tasks that you can assign to them.

The work tasks are the five most time-consuming things that stop you from applying your energy
to the important stuff.

The five personal tasks are just for fun.

Assign those to your assistant and synchronise your calendars so you both know what’s going
on.

Go on Autopilot

Your new business venture might involve selling a product.

If that’s the case, Ferriss says you need to choose a niche market that’s affordable and reachable.

Ferriss discusses how it’s easier to identify a market and work backward to find the perfect
product than it is to create a market from scratch.

He says that your product needs:

• A main benefit that you can write about in a single sentence.

• A price point of between $50 and $200.

• No more than a 4-week manufacturing period.

• An 8x to 10x profit margin.

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L IS FOR LIBERATION - LIVING YOUR LIFE

(AND THE NEW RICH MISTAKES TO AVOID)
Ferriss says that getting all of this right means that you’re finally free to live the life you want to
live.

But there’s a problem.

Most normal people don’t know how to lead a rich life where they have loads of free time.

You’ve never experienced it before. And nobody’s taught you about it.

Boredom is a killer. Yet you may run into it if you haven’t got a plan for all of the time that you
now have on your hands.

Ferriss says that you need to learn how to appreciate all of this new time. As he puts it:

”Learning to replace the perception of time famine with appreciation of time abundance is like
going from triple espressos to decaf.”

He says that most people find themselves asking what’s the point of having so much time on
their hands.

If you’re not working, what are you doing?

Ferriss says that pushing these thoughts to the back of your mind is the key. If it’s not something
that you can act on, it’s something for you to forget.

Liberation isn’t as easy as you might have thought. It’s a minefield of potential mistakes that
could pull you right back into the grind that you’ve done so much to escape from.

Ferriss concludes his book by going through the 13 “New Rich Mistakes” to avoid.

These include the following:

1. Blowing the little things out of proportion.

2. Always trying to achieve perfection when you only need to strive for “good enough”.

3. Thinking that one job or product is the end-all and be-all of your existence.

4. Losing track of the dreams you create and starting to work for work’s sake.

5. Feigning urgency in your work just to give yourself something to do.

6. Doing work in the places where you sleep or should otherwise relax.

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7. Taking on tasks that you could outsource or automate.

8. Micromanaging the people you bring on board so you can fill up your time.

9. Helping your people through similar problems more than once.

10. Dealing with emails that you know won’t result in any sales or other direct benefits.

11. Failing to fill your time with the social rewards that you’ve earned.

12. Failing to analyse your life using the 80/20 rule every month.

13. Chasing customers when you don’t need to.

If you can avoid those mistakes, you’re truly liberated from the grind.

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