I’m like everyone else. When I see books with names like The 4-hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join The New Rich, Crush It: Cash In On Your Passion and Purple Cow: Inspire Your Business by Being Remarkable, my eyes squint and I go all hunchy. Eww.
Yes We Can
The 4-hour workweek and Purple Cow are NYT booklist best sellers. Gary Vaynerchuck, Seth Godin and Tim Ferris are internet sensations. Millions of people—including arugula-eating elitists like myself—buy their books.
“Hope” might explain why Tim Ferris can convince us that we can achieve success in 4 hours a week. We want to believe. Because, what if? What if I really could crush my purple cow in four hours a week and make a million dollars and be happy?
This aspirational thinking and pumping ourselves up are pretty adaptive—they make us aim higher and push our limits. Like when you were little, for example, and wanted to be on star search, and jumped off the roof for practice. Maybe you didn’t end up on star search, but did you learn how to take a fall like a man? Yes we can.
Of course, getting yourself amped over any one idea comes at a cost. Because in exactly 2 seconds you will land on the ground. And when you do, your knees will kill.
Beware Populist Propaganda!
Self-help business books may be aesthetically problematic. But the real problem is that they reduce the complexities of “being successful” to a single (marketable) thesis. Nothing is ever that simple.
For most people, there is no magic bullet for success, beyond persistence, resilience, intelligent risk-taking and riding inspiration when it hits.
Plus, it takes years of hard work to nail it in 4 hours a week. And it takes sacrifices in other areas of your life to CRUSH IT. And purple cows only get you so far.
Post Script: Actually, maybe there IS a magic bullet. Read Get Businessing.
4 Comments
Tee hee. Thanks for linking that PS.
I find Gary V endearing. To be fair, he talks a lot about persistence, hard work, and sacrifice. But I do think that the reason he’s a sensation is that he pumps people up. So yeah, that may give people a false sense of flying, when they’re really about to fall on their knees.
Beware indeed.
I read “4-hour workweek”, not because of the (awful) title, but because of the rave it was getting. To be honest, I was downright disgusted with the ethics proposed in it by mr. Ferris, who actively encourages people to lie and manipulate others. Not my style at all.
Often, these books are not for doers. They are for dreamers. I read maybe one or two a year if enough people I respect recommend it. Or if I know the person who wrote it. I would estimate that in two our of three cases, I can’t finish reading books like this. And when I do it’s always a struggle.
Last one I read was Steven Pressman’s “The War of Art”. First two thirds were awesome. Last part almost made me toss the book into recycling. Yet, as the arugula-munching creative elitist bastard I am, I keep looking…
Steven Pressfield. Not man, man. Don’t know how I messed that up.
Melanie: I agree. I almost didn’t include Gary V in this, because he’s so sweet. But yeah, it’s just that landing on your knees part.
Rasmus: Totally agree that the first 2/3 of War of Art were awesome. Got me really pumped up. I’ll have to check out the last 1/3 again, cuz I don’t remember.
Thanks guys!
TJB