In my free time, I have been reading two non-theological books. Both are thought-provoking.
The first, The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, encourages you to focus on doing less and eliminate distractions. Tim Ferriss says you should just check email at noon and 4:00 pm. You should do the one thing you need to do that day before 11:00 am.
I was inspired to try to get my wife Amy and I to "batch" all of our household chores (like laundry, cleaning and finances) until Saturday except for daily tasks like washing dishes and making meals as opposed to always looking for things to do whenever I have a down minute. I have changed my home page of my internet browser to google.com because it is not distracting rather than gmail.com with tabs for igoogle.com and Twitter and Facebook.
Disclaimer: I need to add that the advice of the author (Timothy Ferriss) should be received with lots of skepticism. This is self-help literature of the most dubious kind. See the scathing New York Times review of his newest book: New! Improved! Shape Up Your Life! By DWIGHT GARNER Published: January 6, 2011
The second book, Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, stresses the importance of relationships and teaches you how to relate well. It is a generally reputable book that gives an overview of psychiatry literature.
Both would be worth reading with your spouse.
Neither encourage blogging. But I will still see you here from time to time.
3 replies on “Booknotes: The 4-Hour Workweek and Social Intelligence”
Hey Andy,
I just checked out the 4-hour Work Week from the library. Now I especially look forward to reading it hearing your experience. Any other good tips you got from it?
Peace,
Tom Arthur
Tom,
Always good to hear from you. You and I think alike on a lot of this stuff. I will be curious to hear what YOU take away from it. You got the revised and expanded 4-Hour Workweek, right? I got mine from the Durham County Library as well. I have also started to read Rework which is an even faster read. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307463745?tag=besne-20
I wonder, Tom, whether my blogging, twittering, blog-reading self is part of the problem (i.e. that it is distracting me from what I really need to focus on) or if that is actually part of my gift. That is what is so difficult to discern.
Andy
I read about this book in an interview with the author in Wired magazine. The interviewer mentioned that he has read the book but doesn’t work just 4 hours. The author responded that no one wants to just lounge around all day so we find things that are meaningful to us to spend our time on. Perhaps that is a role that blogging plays for you and me. I find myself really enjoying it and I’d enjoy having more time for it. Perhaps the 4 Hour Work Week will help us have some more time to do what we enjoy (and/or are called to)!