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.
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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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.