Book Review: The Other 8 Hours

The Other 8 Hours is an inspirational book by Robert Pagliarini, author of The Six-Day Financial Makeover and president of Pacifica Wealth Advisors. You may have seen him on Dr. Phil or 20/20.

Publisher & Book Info: St. Martin's Press, hard cover, 301 pages

Review: The Other 8 Hours

The main premise for The Other 8 Hours is that everybody's day is split into three eight hour parts: work, sleep, and everything else. Rob's hope is to get you motivated to do more during the everything else portion to maximize your own potential

First of all, I don't know anybody who only works 8 hours a day. 10 hours of work a day seems more realistic. Second, who gets to sleep 8 hours a night? Sounds like elusive bliss to me. Money never sleeps, so why should you?

Let's assume 6 hours of nightly sleep instead, which ironically leaves the same 8 hours of time for everything else!

The Other 8 Hours is an enjoyable read because each chapter contains not only practical advice, but real life inspirational stories to help motivate readers to action. Too many times we just come home, plop on the sofa, and do nothing. That's no way to live. 

Below are Rob's top 10 things he recommends doing with your spare time to help increase wealth and purpose.

Top 10 Creator Channels:

1) Blogging

2) Inventing

3) Writing Books, Screenplays, Music

4) Starting A Company

5) Reselling, Affiliating, and Licensing

6) Taking Advantage of Fads/Stunts

7) Working for Stock in a Company

8} Advancing or Jumping Careers

9) Freelancing

10) Turning Hobbies into Income

Blogging definitely has the potential to earn you a few shekels with enough time and dedication. I've daydreamed about sitting on my yacht somewhere in the south of France writing to you about saving money on champagne and caviar! Then reality sets in. However it's always good to dream.

The item that most interests me is #2. Rob dedicates a chapter to each of his 10 creator channels, which is very useful because many don't know where to start. He provides a road map, highlights the pitfalls, and ends each chapter with actual resources you can use. For inventing where do you go to develop a prototype, receive independent reviews, and hire an agent? Many answers are all addressed.

A Warning That Needs Following

One of Rob's key messages, which I wholeheartedly agree, is to NOT jump head first by quitting your job and investing everything you have in your business idea. I'm sure there will be plenty of those will disagree with this premise. How can you succeed if you don't put everything you have into your idea? You can, but simply during the other 8 hours!

We always hear the tremendous entrepreneurial success stories, but we seldom ever hear of the failures. Trust me, there are tons of failed ideas. And if you were to invest everything you have in a failed idea, it's going to take a lot for you to get back to your previous financial state. 

Be methodical in your approach, test out your product thoroughly, and make sure you see signs of success before you quit your full time job.

The Other 8 Hours Conclusion

Who wouldn't want more time, more money, and a better life? It's simplistic to say a book will give you all that.  However, The Other 8 Hours helps provide a catalyst to get you going. You won't just read a book that tells you what to do. The Other 8 Hours helps shows you how.

Do you think quitting your job to dedicate everything to your side project makes sense?

Regards,

Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”

Further Reading

24 thoughts on “Book Review: The Other 8 Hours”

  1. jobs hiring

    Jeremy, you’ve been doing a great job on your site so keep it up!
    .-= jobs hiring´s last blog ..JOBS HIRING =-.

  2. What do I do in my “other 8 hours?” Trying to market our website MoneyObedience.com, a virtual financial coach that “talks”to its users. The site targets people who are not very comfortable with numbers and finances which is why we translate numbers into text. We don’t want to accept the excuse that “I am not good with numbers. I can’t do much about my finances.” All human beings are different. To focus on the “personal” in personal finance, we created a product that will help a segment of users who are not served by conventional personal finance products.
    .-= ctreit´s last blog ..Why I Don’t Need to be Financially Independent =-.

      1. I am glad that you find the site interesting. I don’t think there is a comparable product out there. Users enter their financial data and our algorithm creates a text report for various areas of a user’s financial situation: net asset, debt, life insurance, etc. For example, the program translates our financial models into 6000 unique texts for debt alone, 2500 for net worth, and so on. We want to render an independent opinion, which is why we don’t accept ads and charge a $5 monthly fee instead ($22 to sign up, cancel anytime – budgeting and expenses are free). You can read more about it on and

  3. Between blogging, helping my husband with his business, and bookkeeping, I don’t think I have the full other 8 hours! However, I do get 8 hours of sleep, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to make it through my 12-14 hour day. I’m not giving up any of those hours! ;)
    .-= Little House´s last blog ..Tuesday Tips, Week 7 =-.

  4. This book makes a lot of good points. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I like how he suggests using “down” time like cooking or cleaning the house to listen to audio books, podcasts, etc. Makes those mundane tasks feel more rewarding and it really does help to get more things done. I also use my commute time to read and study new things, but I don’t think every moment needs to be spent doing/learning something simultaneously, otherwise we’d all burn out. Sometimes using commute time to meditate is way more rewarding than trying to read emails or surf the web.

  5. Robert Pagliarini

    Sam – Thanks so much for the awesome review. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the book. I am also inspired by reading all of the comments. You’ve got some ambitious readers!

  6. Hey Sam,

    My other 8 hours include:

    1. Blogging
    2. Tutoring
    3. Studying for the CFA
    .-= Mike´s last blog ..How to Invest in the Economy: The Best Investments for Each Business Cycle =-.

  7. I REALLY want this book!

    I have been studying for/taking the CPA for way too long now during my other 8 hours. I’m 3 for 3 on the tests and still have one more to pass. Fingers crossed I’ll be done in May!!

    P.S. I just signed up for your feed a couple days ago. :)

  8. Ryan Martin

    Sounds like a great book.
    Advice I can share from experience is this: cancel cable TV; and don’t even subscribe to a basic package. Only have a plug in a TV for when you rent a movie.

    I dropped television eight years ago (I’m now 33), and can say I’m better for it. 99.9% of TV is garbage and a waste of your time.

    If you haven’t, commit to canceling your TV for two months; you’ll be amazed how you will fill your time with more worthwhile activities. And better yet, your mind won’t be overwhelmed with consumer ads and meaningless news stories.
    .-= Ryan Martin´s last blog ..How To Value A Company Stock – Price to Earnings Ratio =-.

    1. I’ll also echo Ryan’s recommendation on giving up TV. My new year’s resolution this year was to not watch any TV when I’m by myself. This is usually done at home after work, or on the weekends. Watching TV with friends in a social setting is okay though.

      In place of TV, I started a blog, read several books, and am trying to improve my blog now. I can say that I’ve been good with keeping up the resolution thus far, and see that it’s having positive effects.
      .-= Darren´s last blog ..How To Find The Right Financial Planner Using 10 Questions =-.

  9. Nunzio Bruno

    The project that I am working on is my own blog that is very much in tune with yours here..which is why I find myself here all the time :) I love the consulting that I do and I think that my site is like an extension of that. Some day I do hope to at least slow down the consulting so that I can just be there to work on my project full time. For me it would be like consulting on a much larger scale and there would be such easier availability of information instead of just one “me” running from client site to client site during the day. I’m a huge advocate for raising awareness for literacy too and my web presence would give me a better opportunity to branch out as well. This was kind of a long answer to a short question but YES if I had the means I would totally devote more of the other 8hrs to financiallydigital.com
    .-= Nunzio Bruno´s last blog ..Filing Late Taxes =-.

  10. Who doesn’t love a great book giveaway?

    My other eight hours definitely include blogging. I think the best way is to put your toe in the water before you jump in head first. You have to know something about the water before you can decide if you should swim.
    .-= CJ Bowker´s last blog ..Are you Tracking? =-.

  11. Simple in France

    I’m officially not entering to win because shipping it to France would be cumbersome.

    But I do like the premise of the book. When my husband and I stopped watching tv, way back in the day, we realized we had time for so many things! Graphic design classes (fun!), writing for me, guitar for DH. . .if I we had been interested in starting up a side business, it would have been doable. . .only, no one actually works 8 hours a day, right? so I think that ‘other 8 hours is maybe a little less than 8–but still substantial.
    .-= Simple in France´s last blog ..Radical simplicity, frugality–for couples only? =-.

  12. I have read this book and it’s absolutely amazing!
    .-= Moneymonk´s last blog ..After much contemplating, I decided to Join the Millionaire Club =-.

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