If you want to read a couple of business books that are truly different then look no further than Tim Ferriss – The 4 Hour Work Week and The 4 Hour Chef.
If you think everything is too complex these days then you will like Tim’s style. He is very successful in cutting through clutter, seeing the big picture immediately and getting to results. This certainly resonates with me when I see an increasingly complex industry with increasingly more complex processes, products and rules.
Tim has many interesting and funny stories to tell.
For example he won the gold medal in the Chinese Kickboxing National Championships. Not because he was any good at Chinese kickboxing but because he read the rules and looked for unexploited opportunities. Much to the annoyance of the Chinese judges, he won the competition snatching victory from those who had 5 to 10 years experience. If you read his story you will learn how he literally pushed them out-of-the-way.
Now I know that your first thought when you look at The 4 Hour Work Week will be, “That’s not possible.”
However the 4 hours is not really the point. What he demonstrates is how to cut the complexity and the bureaucracy and the clutter in our lives and focus immediately on results.
Tim Ferriss’s other book , The 4 Hour Chef, is also a captivating read. Again you don’t really expect to become a chef in 4 hours, although there are some amazingly tasty recipes in this book that are genuinely easy to cook and wouldn’t look out-of-place in a Master Chef final.
Have a look at the “Sexy-Time Steak” recipe. Truly mouth-watering results.
Here’s the thing. The book isn’t really about learning to cook. It’s about learning ANY new skills. And it’s about learning those new skills quickly, and successfully. Once again Tim describes how to cut the clutter from the learning process, allowing you to focus on results. As business books go these are entertaining, insightful, funny and in some instances, a revelation.
Now it’s your turn: Have you read Tim Ferriss’s business books The 4 Hour Work Week or The 4 Hour Chef? What did you think? Have you tried any of the techniques? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below or post a link to your own reviews.