Four hour work week - NOT

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."                                                                            

                                                                             Thomas A. Edison

It's not that I don't believe in the possibility of a four hour work week.  It's that I wouldn't want one.

There is certainly pleasure to be found in self-indulgence, but very little contentment. Indulgence, as many wise people have noted, tends to breed dis-content.  Our human capacity for wanting more, if left unchecked by purposeful living, seems almost limitless.

But, as Maxwell Maltz pointed out, "We find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve."  

The real opportunity, in my opinion, is the chance to do something that matters.  For the entrepreneur that means addressing a client's need, in a powerful, direct, and unique manner.  It is the privilege of making Magic in a meaningful Market.

The entrepreneurs I know seldom want to succeed in order to retire.  They want to succeed in order to play the game again. 

And, just to be really philosophical, I'll quote Jonathon Mead.

"Work is sacred" he says.  "Work is giving yourself. It’s creative self-expression. It’s opening your heart and providing value to others. It’s exchanging a part of yourself with someone else. It’s a possibility for you to make a difference in the world."

That difference, and its personal meaning for us, is where our Moxie comes from.

Comments

[Björn Wilmsmann]

The four hour work week is not at all about meaningless self-indulgence. It's about cutting time-consuming yet useless bullshit from work. It's about working efficiently instead of pretending to be working while in reality you're just killing time. It's about escaping the utterly meaningless 9 to 5 grind.
It's also all about doing something meaningful in your life and yes: That includes running a successful business that a you truly love.

[Anne Clelland]

Thanks for the inspiration, Jim. I wasn't able to write a comment - it took a whole blog post:

http://www.handshake20.com/2009/07/show-up.html

[Jim Flowers]

Bjorn,

Thanks for your take on the four hour concept.

Jonathan Mead sees it a bit differently. Check out his comments at http://www.illuminatedmind.net/2009/03/17/the-lie-of-the-four-hour-work-week/.

None of us can know the real motivation behind a proposed life "system"; but we can perhaps infer a bit from the promotional sub-title on the book's cover. "Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich." I don't see anything there related to giving, only taking.

For additional counterpoint, take a peek at http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/756 . It's how Walt Whitman thinks we ought to live - from the Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855 Edition).