4 hour work week book review / overview: part 2 of 4
June 12, 2007 by Cash
ELIMINATION
The difference between actually BEING busy, and appearing busy is striking. In this section, Tim gives suggestions for proving you can do more work in less time (which is an excellent bargaining tool when it comes time to sell your boss on the case for telecommuting).
In fact, if you want to move up the ladder in most of corporate America, and assuming they don’t really check what you are doing (let’s be honest), just run around the office holding a cell phone to your head and carrying papers. Now that is one busy employee! Give them a raise.
This is sadly very true at my own place of employment, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Efficency and effectiveness are not the same thing. Tim is a huge believer in Pareto’s law; basically that 20% of our tasks account for 80% of our work. He suggests the following;
1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20).
2. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important.
Giving yourself tight deadlines will increase effectiveness, which is the goal.
Another huge piece is what Ferriss calls the “Low Information Diet”. This involves reducing the amount of non essential reading and writing you do, especially in regards to news.
It is imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant or unactionable. Most are all three.
I followed his recommended one week media black out, and have continued it to a large degree. So much of my day used to be consumed with Digg, Lifehacker, Reddit, Drudge Report, etc. I’ve reclaimed several hours a day just eliminating these.
Meetings are another adversary of productivity and T4HWW suggests several ways to avoid them, beginning with the somewhat obvious “Use email instead of meetings to solve problems”. Slightly more innovative is his suggestion that you always ask to see an agenda before a meeting begins, and request that your piece be moved to the top of it so you can leave early.
This is part II of a series. See part I here, and watch for part III, Wednesday at 9AM.
I can testify that sitting at work, it’s more about appearance than it is about work performed.
Peter: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can’t see me and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob: Uh? Space out?
Peter: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
[...] This is part of a series. See Part I, Part II and watch for Part IV tomorrow at noon. Filed under: Music & Media, Lifestyle | Author: Cash | [...]
[...] Check out part II, Elimination, which will be available tomorrow at noon. Filed under: Music & Media, Lifestyle | Author: Cash | [...]
[...] This article is part of a series. Be sure to check out Part I, Part II and Part III Filed under: Music & Media, Lifestyle | Author: Cash | [...]
[...] We’ve written a fair amount about the 4 hour work week, and now it’s time to put it to the test. Starting next week, we’re assembling a limited group of just 5 people to form an entrepreneurial club to see what we can do to live this life of luxory. [...]