Do you really even want a 4-hour work week?

Last Sunday’s New York Times featured a profile of Timothy Ferriss, author of a new, bestselling book, The The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Ferriss is causing a big stir, particularly among the workaholic Silicon Valley set, for suggesting that rather than fantasize about having more time off, it’s simpler to work fewer hours.

Time management is especially tricky for the self-employed—it’s so easy to get distracted—it’s not hard to see why Ferriss is generating a lot of buzz. But as the article suggests, it could be that the book isn’t leading to any real life changes. In fact, the 4 hour workweek could just be another escape fantasy for those who buy (and maybe even find the time to read) the book. Just as we buy cookbooks with complicated recipes we never get around to trying and diet books that promise hard bodies in a matter of weeks, Ferriss fans seeking Easy Street might be visiting Delusion Road.

Not that Ferriss doesn’t make some valid points about time consumption. He talks about what a time eater email can be — I have no argument there. Last week I sent out 170 emails. If each one took “only” an average of three minutes, that’s 8.5 hours. That’s a work day. That’s time I could’ve spent taking a class, visiting with friends, getting some damn exercise, or just sitting on my butt not doing email.

Ferriss uses his time saved to trot the globe, learn obscure skills like horseback archery, and hang out in restaurants. Bear in mind, though, the guy makes enough money from a company he pays other people to run that he can outsource his non-work related work, too— everything from answering emails to procuring online dates. So you might need to be pre-rich to afford a 4- hour workweek. Plus he counts speaking gigs (and the time spent preparing for them, I assume), going on a book tour, and being interviewed by the NYT for this recent article “evangelism,” not “work,” which opens up that whole What Is Work vs What Is Play can of worms I’ll address another time.

Perhaps Ferriss’s true key to relaxing—and apparently the key to earning admirers who think they wish they had more time—is that he’s actually willing to make time to play. If you think about it, some of the folks seeking Ferriss out as a guru could probably afford to up and quit their jobs and have a zero-hour workweek, and live off the interest of money already in the bank.

Therein lies the rub. You can say you wish you had more time. But maybe the thrill is in the work. All play and no work can, in my experience, make for a boring existence pretty quickly. We all need a little friction, some exciting challenge to tackle. Which is why I’m leaving the fantasy of the 4 hour workweek to others.