I recently completed the 4 Hr Work Week, and really enjoyed it. Through the reading, I often found myself referring to it, and even purchased a copy for my father. He recently retired, but is already looking for something to occupy his time. I felt this was in line with my father’s life: he is not working to dedicate all his time to a 9-5 job. What I realized after I gave it to him, however, is that he IS looking for something to do, he doesn’t actually want to completely stop working (as this book would like to ultimately drive you to).

Through reading the book, I was immediately able to see where I could stand to make some changes in my work. I’m not sure I could convert to only checking my email twice a day, although I do understand the rationale behind it.

Checking email at noon and 4pm — you should already know what you have to accomplish when you get to work in the morning. Do it without distraction. Then you can open yourself up to other, less important tasks. There is also the idea of multi-tasking. I am a dedicated multi-tasker, but I do understand how it can make you less efficient. I use feedreader to subscribe to many RSS feeds, and when something new is published, up it pops in the bottom of my screen (the same place outlook notifies me of new email). Naturally, the movement catches my eye and distracts me from the task at hand. Do I intend to attend to the message immediately? Generally, no, yet I allow myself to lose a few seconds looking at the notice.

The other day we were talking about business practices and ROI. Some of the ideas of determining the value of someone’s time came to mind. How much can we save by creating a good, intuitive interface and cutting back the need for as many customer service reps? The book speaks of the Pareto Principle — 80% of profits come from 20% of clients. So focus on those. Your time is worth more than working with troublesome clients for minimal gains. As well, it frees up time to find other clients who more closely align with those who are bringing big returns. In discussions with a coworker after the fact, he brought up the fact that truly embracing this principle would not allow us to work to support minority groups - not looking at users of assistive technologies, or less popular browsers.

There is definitely a vibe of …elitism, perhaps?.. through the book. The author is very much looking out for himself. My father even commented on this — the author tells an anecdote about being a kickboxing champion by ‘finding loopholes’. His fashion of attacking the problem made him a winner, but it certainly didn’t make him popular. I suppose it comes down to your principles, what’s really important to you. The means, or the ends?

The second half of the book provided a wealth of resources for starting your own business. I will admit, he made it sound pretty easy! While I am not sure I am ready to set out on my own and start outsourcing my life, it is wonderous to think about freeing yourself from email and busy work and focusing on what’s important.

On that note, I’m going to get off the computer and cuddle with my puppy…