The-lie-of-the-four-hour-work-week

The Lie of The Four Hour Work Week. | Illuminated Mind

Jonathan Mead Nasman wrote:

Guess what?

No amount of freedom of time will quench your desire to make a difference, to live with purpose.

As Rolf Potts represents in his awesome book, Vagabonding, you can only live so long sipping martinis on a beach. Sooner or later, you’ll be bored. You’ll want to actually do something that matters.

(Note: I did learn a lot from The Four Hour Workweek. I think Tim has some great ideas, like mini retirements, following a low information diet, etc. I also think he did an awesome job pointing out the stupidity of “work for work’s sake.” However, I do think the central idea of the achievement of a four hour workweek solving all of your problems is misleading. Tim defines work as something you really despise, and I just think that’s confusing things more, rather than bringing clarity to the situation. I guess it’s all about semantics, though, right? As Clinton said during the Monica Lewinski case, “Please define sexual relations.”)

Despite all the head-drilling society does to make you think work equates slavery, there are many possibilities for work to be a joy. Here are a few people I know that are working hard to give light to the possibilities of doing what you love and making a living at it:

* Finance Your Freedom – A really awesome blog about lifestyle design by my good friend Clay Collins. Clay just released a free business idea test see if your business idea is worth pursuing before you start working on it. He also does day job killer consulting, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. You can follow him on twitter.
* Productive Flourishing – Charlie Gilkey is the person to go to when it comes to project and creativity coaching. If there was a religion made out of his blog, I would be knocking on your door at 7am on Sunday morning about it. You can follow him on twitter.
* Career Renegade – Jonathan Fields just released an insanely awesome book about doing what you love and making a living. It’s the most solid resource I’ve seen on creating a solid plan for monetizing your passion. Jonathan’s on twitter as well.
* IttyBiz – Once you’ve figured out how to monetize your passion, Naomi will show you how to market it.
* Pebble Storm – Awesome blog by Aaron Ross on how to make money through enjoyment. I hear he’s got a really cool webinar coming up that’s totally free, you might want to check that out.
* Delightful Work – Yet another kickass blog on doing what you love and making a living out of it by my good friend Tom Volkar.

Oh and there’s my book, Reclaim Your Dreams, too. That enough?