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When I read the Four Hour Workweek, I quickly shifted to a literal Four Hour Workweek. And it most definitely was NOT because of being a productivity monster. I

When I read the Four Hour Workweek, I quickly shifted to a literal Four Hour Workweek. And it most definitely was NOT because of being a productivity monster. I've never, ever, ever worked 80 hours in a week. I've rarely ever worked more than 40 hours in a week. If you want to have a "muse", it's all about building a system that amplifies the work you do -- and ideally makes you you an unnecessary component in the business. It is most definitely NOT about working tons of hours.

vinceguidry 11y ago
I'd be interested in a treatment of the specifics concerning radically restricting the hours you're working to four actual hours. I do about four real hours of work a week here, but I'm still chained to my desk for 35 or so of them. I could push for a more WFH arrangement, but honestly that's not the needle I really want to move here. A muse is a very specific type of lifestyle business. It works with certain kinds of products and a certain kind of mindset. If what you want to bring to the world doesn't fit that kind of product and that mindset, then a muse isn't really going to be all that much different than any other business you build that's not a good fit for you. Because you'll end up having to learn all kinds of things you don't really want to learn and work the way you don't really want to work. Of course in the end you'll be able to take yourself out of the equation, but what if you don't want to? It's not really workable for someone not interested in going through life the way Tim has. Certainly some of the ideas Tim brought to the table re: Internet businesses are really good, but he has yet to really tie it all together. I actually went to the back of Tim's book and read all four of the books he recommended. They were all really good reads, but mostly orthogonal to what I wanted to do.
- graeme 11y ago
  I built a business following the 4HWW. I happily spend more than four hours on it. But the book gave me something very important: a systemization mindset and a wariness of administrative overhead. Most of the stuff I've built runs pretty automatically. I spend my time building new stuff to add to it. Once that's built, it runs automatically too. So I could take two months off if I wanted to and still earn most of my money. And I have done similar things. That's the freedom I really want. So I've taken myself out of parts of it, but I'm still in it. Working on your business, not in your business, as the e myth revisited puts it. Send me an email and link to this thread if you'd like more details. Emails in profile.

vinceguidry 11y ago

I'd be interested in a treatment of the specifics concerning radically restricting the hours you're working to four actual hours. I do about four real hours of work a week here, but I'm still chained to my desk for 35 or so of them. I could push for a more WFH arrangement, but honestly that's not the needle I really want to move here. A muse is a very specific type of lifestyle business. It works with certain kinds of products and a certain kind of mindset. If what you want to bring to the world doesn't fit that kind of product and that mindset, then a muse isn't really going to be all that much different than any other business you build that's not a good fit for you. Because you'll end up having to learn all kinds of things you don't really want to learn and work the way you don't really want to work. Of course in the end you'll be able to take yourself out of the equation, but what if you don't want to? It's not really workable for someone not interested in going through life the way Tim has. Certainly some of the ideas Tim brought to the table re: Internet businesses are really good, but he has yet to really tie it all together. I actually went to the back of Tim's book and read all four of the books he recommended. They were all really good reads, but mostly orthogonal to what I wanted to do.

graeme 11y ago
I built a business following the 4HWW. I happily spend more than four hours on it. But the book gave me something very important: a systemization mindset and a wariness of administrative overhead. Most of the stuff I've built runs pretty automatically. I spend my time building new stuff to add to it. Once that's built, it runs automatically too. So I could take two months off if I wanted to and still earn most of my money. And I have done similar things. That's the freedom I really want. So I've taken myself out of parts of it, but I'm still in it. Working on your business, not in your business, as the e myth revisited puts it. Send me an email and link to this thread if you'd like more details. Emails in profile.