Ferriss Wheel

If you've ever wondered what Londo Mollari meant by 'cute, in an annoying sort of way', here's the answer.

 

This is Timothy Ferriss. He's a self help guru. He's written books on how to get rich by doing nothing, how to become a ripped sex god by doing almost nothing, and...um, how to cook. Specifically, how to learn any skill with no effort, but in particular how to learn cookery.

Notice a common theme? If there's one kind of bullshit that always sells, it's the 'no effort required' schtick. Odd how the people who swallow the line that 'all success is from hard work and all hard work leads to success' are the same ones who want to exempt themselves from that rule.

Ferriss' "Four Hour Work Week" method of how to stop being an office drone and start being a millionaire playboy comes down to this:

1) Sensible time management
2) Pay poor people to do you job for you

The former is a matter of things like checking your email once a week instead of every few hours, and making lists of things to do.

The latter has some interesting implications. Like, exactly what kind of tasks can be outsourced, as he suggests, from North America to strangers in India? What kind of things can be done equally well by someone with no training or specialist knowledge who isn't even in the same continent, as by Tim Ferriss?

Answer: The kind of thing that's done by the CEO of a company that does nothing but invest in other companies.

The kind of CEO who spends all his time out of the office running marathons, climbing mountains, living the globetrotting good life, and giving sciencey sounding seminars on getting rich quick, 'superfoods', learning languages without effort, and how easy it is to become like him.

Oh, and also the kind of man who claims to be a world champion kickboxer, but has no record of ever participating in a kickboxing championship. Which does rather cast his claims to marathon running etc. into doubt.

Some con-men work by selling something which doesn't exist. L. Ron Hubbard, Deepak Chopra, psychics and mediums, owners of pyramid schemes, and anyone who wants you to overthrow the government for them.

Others sell you something valid but trivial disguised as something secret and new. Kevin Trudeau, Richard Bandler, Paul McKenna, and anyone who's ever written a diet book.

I reckon Tim Ferriss is of the second kind.