Work a Four-Hour Day: Achieving Business Efficiency on Your Own Terms

A guide to spending less time at work and more time enjoying life helps readers find the "rhythm of life," set a four-hour workday, break through the time barriers of resistance, paperwork, and other people's agendas. 25,000 first printing.

While many books on time management explain how to accomplish tasks better and faster, some, like this one or like Hyrum Smith's recent The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management (1994), concentrate on time management as a total self-improvement program that takes into consideration one's value system and goals and how one actually spends one's time. Motivational speaker Robertson and freelance writer Proctor emphasize the need to distinguish and reconcile one's agenda and agendas that are set by others. They offer practical advice on discovering and utilizing one's "rhythm of life," those personal factors that make one "run well," and they show how to maximize the use of "transition time," time that often goes wasted as one moves from one activity to another. David Rouse

Despite predictions that technology and increased productivity would provide workers with greater leisure time, most Americans find themselves working longer hours. Robertson, a motivational speaker, and Proctor, a freelance writer, outline a plan for spending "less time at work and more time enjoying life" through understanding personal time rhythms, preparing a time budget that reflects personal values, using time management techniques, and overcoming barriers to efficiency. Is a four-hour day possible for most workers? The single chapter on implementing a shorter, more productive work day offers few surprises: those with substantial control over their own time (entrepreneurs, senior professionals, CEOs) stand a better chance than those at lower levels on the corporate chart. Readers are likely to feel that the title of this slim time-management guide promises more than it can deliver. Not recommended.
- Mary-Ellen Mort, Univ. of California-Berkeley Extension
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.