The 4-Hour Workweek

1. Define Your New Rich Lifestyle

The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.

Reject traditional retirement. The New Rich focus on distributing "mini-retirements" throughout life instead of waiting for the end. They prioritize experiences and freedom over material possessions.

Embrace relative income. It's not about how much money you make, but how much you make per hour and how free you are to use your time. A person making $40,000 per year working 10 hours a week is "richer" than someone making $100,000 working 80 hours a week.

Optimize for excitement. Instead of asking "What do I want?" or "What are my goals?", ask "What would excite me?" Focus on activities and experiences that bring joy and fulfillment in the present moment.

2. Calculate Your Target Monthly Income

Defining the nightmare, the worst thing that could happen, is critically important.

Conduct fear-setting. Identify your worst-case scenarios and realize they are often not as bad as imagined. This exercise removes the paralysis of fear and enables bold action.

Determine your Target Monthly Income (TMI). Calculate the monthly cost of your ideal lifestyle, including:

• Housing
• Food
• Transportation
• Entertainment
• Travel
• Other personal expenses

Add a 30% buffer. Increase your calculated TMI by 30% to account for unexpected expenses and savings. This becomes your financial goal to work towards.

3. Eliminate Time-Wasters and Automate Tasks

Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.

Apply the 80/20 principle. Identify the 20% of activities that produce 80% of your desired results. Focus your energy on these high-impact tasks and eliminate or delegate the rest.

Batch similar tasks. Group together similar activities (e.g., email, phone calls, errands) and perform them in dedicated time blocks to increase efficiency and reduce context-switching.

Implement Parkinson's Law. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. Set aggressive deadlines to force productivity and prevent unnecessary work.

4. Create a Low-Information Diet

Lifestyle design is based on massive action—output. Increased output necessitates decreased input.

Practice selective ignorance. Consciously choose what information to consume. Avoid low-quality inputs like gossip, news, and social media that don't contribute to your goals.

Develop an information consumption strategy:

• Limit email checking to 1-2 times per day
• Use an RSS reader to aggregate important content
• Set specific times for reading news and social media
• Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters and notifications

Focus on actionable information. Ask yourself: "Will I use this information for something immediate and important?" If not, ignore it.

5. Outsource Your Life and Business

If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.

Start with small tasks. Begin outsourcing low-risk, time-consuming tasks to build confidence and learn the process. Examples include:

• Research
• Data entry
• Scheduling
• Travel planning

Use virtual assistants. Hire remote workers to handle both personal and professional tasks. Popular platforms include:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Virtual Assistant companies (e.g., Fancy Hands, Time Etc)

Create detailed processes. Document step-by-step instructions for recurring tasks to easily delegate them to others.

6. Escape the Office: Remote Work Strategies

Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

Increase your value. Before proposing remote work, ensure you're a top performer and indispensable to your company.

Conduct a remote work trial. Start with one day per week and gradually increase as you demonstrate productivity.

Address common objections:

• Communication challenges
• Productivity concerns
• Team collaboration issues

Utilize technology. Leverage tools like video conferencing, project management software, and cloud storage to stay connected and productive while working remotely.

7. Design Your Ideal Lifestyle with Mini-Retirements

The simple willingness to improvise is more vital, in the long run, than research.

Redefine retirement. Instead of one long retirement at the end of life, take multiple extended breaks throughout your career.

Plan strategic mini-retirements:

• Duration: 1-6 months
• Frequency: Every 1-3 years
• Location: Explore new cultures and environments

Maximize learning and growth. Use mini-retirements to acquire new skills, languages, and experiences that enhance your personal and professional life.

Overcome common obstacles:

• Financial concerns
• Career impact
• Family responsibilities

8. Start a "Muse" Business for Passive Income

It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor.

Identify your muse. Create a low-maintenance business that generates income without requiring your constant attention. Ideal characteristics include:

• Automated systems
• Outsourced operations
• High-profit margins
• Scalable model

Focus on information products. Consider creating and selling:

• E-books
• Online courses
• Membership sites
• Software or apps

Leverage your expertise. Identify valuable skills or knowledge you possess and package them into sellable products or services.

9. Test Your Business Idea Rapidly and Affordably

Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocre. Therefore, competition is fiercest for realistic goals.

Use minimum viable products (MVPs). Create a basic version of your product or service to test market demand before investing significant time and resources.

Employ low-cost advertising. Utilize platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to test different marketing messages and target audiences.

Analyze key metrics:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Lifetime customer value

Iterate quickly. Use feedback and data to refine your offering and business model rapidly.

10. Liberate Yourself from Fixed Location

To enjoy life, you don't need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize that most things just aren't as serious as you make them out to be.

Embrace geoarbitrage. Take advantage of currency differences and lower costs of living by earning in a strong currency and spending in a weaker one.

Develop location-independent income streams. Focus on businesses and careers that can be managed remotely, such as:

• Online businesses
• Freelancing
• Remote work arrangements

Optimize for mobility:

• Use cloud-based tools and services
• Minimize physical possessions
• Develop a network of international contacts and resources

Overcome common challenges:

• Visa and immigration issues
• Cultural adaptation
• Maintaining relationships across distances

Last updated: January 22, 2025