Crush It versus the Four Hour Workweek
Books
For today's blog, we're going to look at how two books at opposite ends of the spectrum can help you achieve your goals.
Today, I want to discuss two of the most influential books I've read recently - Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It and Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek.
If you've read both of these books, you can see the irony in reading them back-to-back. Gary Vee's entire approach is to bust your ass to get ahead; using hustle to outwork the competition and leave them in the dust.
Tim Ferriss, on the other hand, writes about an end goal of literally only working 4-Hours per week. If it seems unfathoable right now, read the book to see just how Tim pulled this off.
But before I discuss this any further, let me give you some brief insight about all this.
I actually read the 4-Hour Workweek several years ago. I remember Alwyn Cosgrove quoting things out of it like it was the Bible, so I figured if it's good enough for AC, it's good enough for me.
I read it, and at the time, I was like "Meh. Some good stuff, but nothing earth-shattering here."
As I've come to realize, I wasn't ready for the lessons in this book. But as the saying goes, I can now see the light.
If you're interested in social media, Crush It is a must-have. Gary Vee has built an entire business around social media and the Internet. I can see how important this is going to be going forward, and it's why I've made a concerted effort to improve my web presence.
After all, there are enough clowns out there who don't even train people who are talking about training all day on the Internet. The least we can do is get more actual coaches who train people for a living on the Internet to balance the power a bit!
On the other side of the spectrum is Tim Ferriss' book. As I stated up front, I wasn't ready for it the first time around. I wouldn't have thought twice about picking the book up again, but one of my clients at IFAST gave me an updated copy as a gift, so I figured the least I could do was flip through it again. (BTW - thanks Allen!)
Before I finish, you'll be happy to know, my goal is not to work 4 hours per week.
However, my goal is this - to become brutally efficient at everything I do. Here are some of the things I've realized I need to do to get this accomplished:
- Only check e-mail once or twice per day, versus constantly leaving it open and responding to e-mails whenever they come in.
- Batching all work - in fact, I was already doing this to an extent, but my goal now is to write all blogs in one sitting, all training programs in one sitting, etc.
- Never check e-mail first thing in the morning. In fact, you should shame me twice for this one - I'd read it from Tim Ferriss, but I even have another book titled "Never Check E-mail in the Morning" and I was still doing it.
Most importantly, I've realized I can no longer confuse "being busy" with productivity. This is a crucial lesson that I will never forget.
I feel that these are two amazing books. I love the idea of hustle and busting your ass from Gary Vee. Just don't confuse hustle and busting your ass with efficiency and productivity. This it the trap that I was falling into.
You may not strive to work 4 hours per week, but don't fall into the trap that that's all the book is about. I read it too literally the first time around. Now I'm utilizing all the tips and tricks available to become more efficient, and to really see how much I can accomplish.
What books are you guys reading? I have a short list of what I'd like to read next, but any thing that you all would suggest for me to check out? Leave your responses below!
All the best
Mike
PS - Both books can be found at Amazon.com.
Comments on This Entry
Posted by Daniel Clough at 07:07AM on February 18, 2010
I've never understood the obsession with four hour week myself. The concepts of delegating and spending time in the right areas and setting up businesses that run themselves and keep money coming in 24 hours of the day are all good, but nothing genious and Tim comes accross a little as one of these spammy internet guys where it's all about the money and not actually doing anything worthwhile.
I haven't read the crush it book though, I just ordered it,.
MAN, you;re spot on with the emails. I try to do a mornings work before answering them. These end up being the most productive mornings ever because your head is not full with the crap you just answered and you;re not continually checking for replies to emails you sent. And checking them only 2-3 times a day at set times is SO key or it just ends up being one task that distracts everything else.
Can;t remember if I got this from the four hour book, but you have to have 1 or 2 big things each day that you nail that once you look back on the day if you did them you can feel good about it. Otherwise your days just get filled with crappy little things..
Nice blog post Mr R. Oh and I replied to your email yesterday so I will wait until this afternoon for a reply ha ha
Posted by Clara at 07:50AM on February 18, 2010
I've got Guerrilla Marketing on my waiting to be read list from the business book side. I also strongly encourage you to check out anything by Jeff Gitomer.
I'm also getting set to finish up Omnivore's Dilemma. I read In Defense of Eating earlier in the month. Both are books I strongly recommend checking out. Some very interesting info about where some of the roots of the current obesity crisis have come from.
Posted by Tim Dallinger at 08:49AM on February 18, 2010
Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubrick is an interesting book on training. I like reading about the methods of strength development from the fathers of weight training.
Do you read fiction? Gates of Fire is a novel based on the battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield. I really enjoyed it and the historical research he is did on Sparta is impressive. It's much more in depth than "300."
I am in the middle of The Count of Monte Cristo and it is enthralling.
Posted by Glenn Harris at 12:23PM on February 18, 2010
Mike,
I could not agree more with your post. Becoming efficient at accomplishing tasks is a goal of mine too. I have read both books. Most recently I finished "Crush It" and was re-energized after finishing it.
Your 3 goals are ones that I hope to accomplish as well. Thanks for a great post.
Glenn
Posted by Chase Karnes at 07:20PM on February 18, 2010
Great post!
I am currently reading:
"Think And Grow Rich" (2x)
"The Way To Live" - Old book on training methods recommend by Jim Wendler. You can read it free online here: http://tinyurl.com/yga39s2
On the shelf to read:
"Good to Great"
"Training for Warriors"
"Talent is Overrated"
"Made to Stick"
And this line from the post:
"After all, there are enough clowns out there who don't even train people who are talking about training all day on the Internet."
...is so very true.
Keep up the great post!
Posted by Will at 08:04PM on February 18, 2010
I think everyone here has kinda summed the same sort of books - clearly all like minded people here.
On the business/marketing/productivity side of things, I've got 4 Hour sitting on my shelf & is the very next in this catergory for me to read.
Probably the only other couple of these type of books I've got that aren't mentioned above are "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley, and "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferazzi.
And I've gotta mention, despite their simplicity, I still love the Spencer Johnson books - "Who moved my cheese", "Yes or No" "The Precious Present" and the "One minute" series, etc.
All can be read so quickly, with such simple messages, but I think everyone can still get something valuable out of them.
There's a thousand good training/nutriton books out there (and a million that are garbage!). I've read heaps, got heaps in the "to read" pile too.
And @ Clara: Yeah all of Michael Pollan's stuff is excellent. In defense of food I am always recommending to everyone.
I've got "Food Rules" sitting on the shelf unread, but I think it's just a summary of In defense, and is very short, so it's a good one to recommend to people when trying to get his basic message across.
Posted by Amanda Thebe at 09:05PM on February 18, 2010
I love this post - I have started a blog, along with doing a fitness business and a graphic design business, all whilst having 2 young kids most of the day. I only get through the day by being super organised and planning my time BUT I definitely know how to waste time and not get things achieved. Only checking email 2 x per day is a great idea, unfortunately I have my BB now, maybe I could read them but not respond to them? My kids might want me to play but I will pop back to the laptop to see what has come in......arghhh somebody stop me.
I might pick a new rule to implement each week and see how effective that is. I also write my blog posts on a Sunday night for the whole week, a big glass of wine (which is mandatory) and 2 hours is normally all it takes.
Long time follower of blog, first time commenter. Thanks for this.
Posted by Erik Ledin at 09:35PM on February 18, 2010
Good post Mike. I've read both of these books as well; similar to you, the Four-Hour Work Week a couple years ago and Crush It more recently.
I had similar feelings the first time through Ferris's book - some good stuff, but meh. But like yourself I'm now seeing it's a lesson in efficiency.
Email however, is still a tough one for me. I leave it open all day and respond often as it comes in if it's not something that would take me too long. The thing is, clients like this and appreciate the responsiveness, so it's a bit tougher to justify checking only once or twice per day.
I like your 'batching' idea though. I'm going to have to adopt that as well.
Posted by Ernie O\'Malley at 01:46AM on February 19, 2010
Hey,
I'm readin Dan Ariely's "Predictably irrational" at the moment. Very very interesting how actually our decisions are made and in what kind they are influenced by clever marketing and so on.
There is a great talk by him on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html
Posted by Mike Robertson at 07:21AM on February 19, 2010
Great feedback everyone. Next time, I'll have to throw up the fitness books - but I figured this would be a good start ;)
A few random thoughts...
@Daniel - I found the first half of 4HWW the most helpful. Start thinking about efficiency, what you really want to get out of life, etc. I think that's the major message - the second part of the book just tells you how to do it. Tim Ferriss will tell you if you enjoy work, though, don't try to work 4 hours per week! Just make sure you enjoy it. I think Tim and Gary Vee agree on this 100%. Just don't work for work's sake.
@Clara - Omnivore's Dilemma is eye-opening and a great read. I read it on our Alaska trip 2 years ago, along with In Defense of Food.
@Tim - I'm not too into fiction, although I could be swayed ;)
@Glenn - You'll love Crush It. And thanks for the comments!
@Chase - Everyone one of those I've either read, or will be reading soon. Think and Grow Rich will change how you look at business. Best advice in there - "If you don't like, trust, AND respect the person, don't do business with them." I use that process every single day.
@Will - Let me know about the Millionaire and Never Eat Alone. I've heard of both but never picked them up.
@Amanda - Read 4HWW re: e-mails. So little of what we do is actually urgent. Most can wait 'til the next morning, especially so you have more time to spend with friends and family. We all have to designate boundaries in our lives. Most rational people will understand ;)
@Erik - I think you're right on w/regards to e-mail. I still have problems NOT checking, but again, it's more the thought process. Is what I'm doing really efficient and helping me achieve my goals? Eventually, we'll have an admin assistant at IFAST to take care of all those. If you run a fitness biz w/clients, perhaps you could do the same? Batching is the greatest thing ever - I do that all the time w/blogs, articles, programs, etc. MUCH more efficient.
Ernie - I will have to check that out. Thanks!
MR
Posted by Mike T Nelson at 01:58PM on February 19, 2010
Good stuff MR as always!
BOTH books should be required reading, for like, everyone! I LOVED both of them and even bough the second ed. of the 4HWW and read it again. Great stuff. I would add Davida Allen's "Getting Things Done" in too.
I think Tim Ferris's whole point was that what you do for money does not HAVE to be the same as what you spend your free time on. If it happens to be both, great; but you have to do something you are passionate about in life.
I am still working on email and most times I am good, but I know when I get tried I fall into the email loop. I hired a VA about a year ago and that helps a ton.
Cool part was that Jodie and I took a vacation and I only checked email once (had blog preloaded) and phone did not work---we survived just fine and had a blast.
Current books
Mike Boyle's Advances in Func Training
Supertraining (6th ed)
Recent Favs
Super Freakonomics (first one was a bit better)
Predictably Irrational
Outliers (good, but Blink is still my fav)
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Posted by Howard Gray at 09:19AM on February 20, 2010
I think we all could be more efficient. The busier we get, the more important this becomes.
Please keep posting up books you find useful - I need to expand my reading list from physiology resources!
Great new podcast by the way. Thanks!
Howard
Posted by Allen at 10:19AM on February 21, 2010
Mike, glad I could give you a little bit of a push. The most important lesson for me was that work for work sake doesn't make you an inherently better person. There is more to life than getting things done.
Posted by Lance Goyke at 12:38PM on February 21, 2010
Good stuff. Being more efficient can help you keep more people happy too... friends, girlfriend (or girlfriends if you're Tiger), bosses... because you have time to devote to everything.
Posted by Mike Roussell at 10:05AM on March 05, 2010
Hey Mike,
I got around to reading Crush It! on the plane this past week per your recommendation. Really good. It was one of those things where I needed to read it at this time in my life. His message of constant and unending movement towards being an authority is really good - more people need to read it.
I've read the four hour work week several times. It think it is good too. I don't necessarily find all of it to be relevant (as I have no desires to travel the world with just a laptop). But you're right about the email, efficiency stuff - gold.
Thanks again for having me on your podcast.
-Mike Roussell
Posted by Vin - NaturalBias at 10:30AM on March 19, 2010
Hi Mike,
I think an important distinction to be made between these two books is passion. The 4 Hour Work Week is about making more money in less time so that you have more free time to do what your passionate about while Crush It is about making money directly from your passion.
The 4 Hour Work Week provides a lot of great ideas, much more so than Crush It, but I think it misses this critical point. It's difficult to make a living on 4 hours a week, even with all of Tim's great ideas, and if it's something you're not passionate about, 4 can start to feel like 40. I like Gary's perspective about working hard and the time not making a difference. Anyone who knows their passion can likely relate to this. However, I don't necessarily agree with him about grinding it out until 3 AM every morning to make extra time. He says family comes first, and I agree, but health should too.
Another great book on this subject is Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields.