The 4-Hour Workweek promoted total self-optimization rather than less work.

Evidence

But Ferriss himself embodied the contradictions of hustle culture. A friend told The New Yorker, “Tim is a total fraud, you know. ‘Four-hour workweek’? He is constantly busting ass.” Ultimately, Ferriss’s philosophy was less about escaping work and more about fully optimizing every aspect of life. As Rebecca Mead of The New Yorker wrote, his book promoted “a kind of hyperkinetic entrepreneurialism of the body and soul, with every man his own life coach, angel investor, Web master, personal trainer, and pharmaceutical test subject.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 319

Categorization

• SHARE: The Rebecca Mead line — ‘every man his own life coach… and pharmaceutical test subject’ — is a perfect nerd-share for anyone in the productivity/self-help space.