BEING a millionaire is so totally easy. You’re not one yet? Hmm. Sucks to be you.
See, all you have to do is be ignorant of world affairs, almost never check e-mail, outsource everything and disappear for weeks at a time to remote regions of the world while leaving your co-workers with absolutely no way to contact you whatsoever!
Oh, and while you’re at it, you should also learn to tango.
Believe it or not (psst, don’t), that’s the premise of the latest, hottest, stupidest business self-help book to sweep the management world. Called “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich,” it’s currently No. 8 on Amazon’s best-selling books list.
It’s definitely a good comedy to read the next time you tire of the hilarity strewn throughout your well-worn copy of “Dianetics” or, say, “Who Moved My Dianetics?”
But wait … there’s more! Like the fact that 29-year-old author Timothy Ferriss, who paints himself as a sort of renaissance man meets superhero meets guy you want to punch in the face, has drawn substantial criticism from skeptics.
Why? Well, the haters doubt some of his more outlandish make-you-worship-him claims, like on his blog when he says that he gained 34 pounds of muscle in only four weeks. Or in his book when he talks about a dying kid who sent him a weepy poem (see Page 284) – which, oops, then turns out is actually an ancient, widely circulated chain letter from the Internet. (Might try spending a little more time online, guy!)
Ferriss’ amazing secrets to success?
“Put a Post-it on your computer screen or set an Outlook reminder,” he advises readers after advising them to not check Outlook, “to alert you at least three times daily with the question, ‘Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?'”
Are you? What about now? What about now? What about – now?
Or, check out a sample “challenge” he puts forth.
“For the next two days, do as all good 2-year-olds do and say ‘No’ to all requests,” he writes. “Don’t be selective. Refuse to do all things that won’t get you immediately fired. Be selfish … Potential questions to decline include the following: Do you have a minute? Want to see a movie tonight or tomorrow? Can you help me with X?”
Uh, can you give me my $19.95 back?
Another big rule is becoming totally ignorant of world affairs by reading only headlines from newspaper boxes. Also, when you go on his “media fast,” don’t read any books. Oh, wait, let’s look a little closer at that one.
“No reading books,” he instructs, “except for this book and one hour of fiction pleasure reading prior to bed.”
How convenient – you can kill two birds with one stone!