The 4-Hour Workweek: L for Liberation

Lesson 4 of 4-hour workweek is: L for Liberation. In today’s article, we will share how to escape the office – the Disappearing Act.

Sherwood is a mechanical engineer and is producing twice as many designs in half the time since implementing the timesaving tools from the previous lesson: E for Elimination. He has also used the tips of "Interrupting Interruption and the Art of Refusal" to cut unimportant and repetitive e-mail volume in half. The increase in productivity has increased his value to the company, making it more expensive to lose him and thus his request for remote working is approved by the management. How did he achieve this?

Step 1: Increase Investment

First, he requested for additional training to help him better interface with clients, being sure to mention the benefit to the boss and business. Sherwood wants the company to invest as much as possible in him so that the loss is greater if he quits.

Step 2: Prove Increased Output Offsite

He calls in sick the following Tuesday and Wednesday, to showcase his remote working productivity. He ensures that he doubles his work output on both days, leaves an e-mail trail of some sort for his boss to notice, and keeps quantifiable records of what he accomplished for reference during later negotiations.

Step 3: Prepare the Quantifiable Business Benefit

The quantifiable end result was three more designs per day than his usual average and three total hours of additional billable client time. For explanations, he identifies removal of commute and fewer distractions from office noise.

Step 4: Propose a Revocable Trial Period

Sherwood confidently proposes an innocent one-day-per week remote work trial period for two weeks.

Step 5: Expand Remote Time

Sherwood ensures that his days outside of the office are the most productive to date. He sets up a meeting to discuss the results with his boss and prepares a bullet-point page detailing increased results and items completed compared to in-office time. He suggests upping the ante to four days per week remote for a two-week trial.

Sherwood continues to be productive at home and reviews the results with his boss after two weeks. He realizes that, just as you want to negotiate ad pricing close to deadlines, getting what you want often depends more on when you ask for it than how you ask for it.

It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains. —THOMAS H. HUXLEY.

In short, the New Rich are defined by a more elusive power than simple cash—unrestricted mobility. This jet-setting is not limited to start-up owners or freelancers, employees too can pull it off!

 

Reference:

Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek