Jonathon, which lesson is your favorite?

interesting to see the point about the "amazon review overload" where he sent out 1,000 pre-release copies and asked people to take 30 seconds to review on the day of the big debut. But beyond that, it's amazing to see how much goodwill Tim has built with his fans and followers.

It really is amazing how much goodwill he has built up given that his message is about shortcuts rather than hard work.

I would have thought people would stop looking for quick fixes, but I'm wrong. Perhaps it's human nature to look for shortcuts?

I don't think it's shortcuts as much as finding more efficient methods. I think Tim offers a way for readers to "work smarter" instead of just harder. For example, I'm reading Four Hour Body and have been fascinated by the concept of "Minimum Effective Dose." 

He emphasizes the principle quite a bit when it comes to weight lifting, but I believe it's described best in this passage: 

If you need 15 minutes in the sun to trigger a melanin response, 15 minutes is your MED for tanning. More than 15 minutes is redundant and will just result in burning and a forced break from the beach. During this forced break from the beach, let's assume one week, someone else who heeded his natural 15-minute MED will be able to fit in four more tanning sessions. He is four shades darker, whereas you have returned to your pale pre-beach self. Sad little manatee. In biological systems, exceeding your MED can freeze progress for weeks, even months.

I see. I read "the minimum I need to do to achieve X" as a shortcut whereas he sees it as a way to maximize efficiency. What he's trying to teach people is a mindful mindset. 

I think it's the use of "Minimum" here that is distracting and lends itself to misinterpretation. When you use a term like "minimum", our brains naturally jump to the idea of maximum. In the case you cite Jonathon, he's actually saying this is the minimum AND maximum safe and necessary dose; if you do more than this, you are going to injure yourself and set yourself back. The key is actually the "effective" part of MED rather than the "minimum" part, but everyone knows a three-letter acronym sells better.

I do agree with you that his goal is to work smarter, not harder (or not longer anyway... a lot of the stuff he advises works by trading off unpleasantness for brevity). But in my experience the kinds of people who are attracted to his methods are gung-ho maximalist types who find it hard to stop themselves from the "if a little is good, a lot is better" mindset. Call me old-fashioned but when it comes to things like fat loss I still believe that relatively slow is better because it gives you more time to deal with the mental aspects.

You make a really good point.

The mental aspects of weight loss are tougher to maintain than the physical aspects.

It's hard to confidently declare, "This is who I am going forward" when that is so different from the past. 

Yup.  Mindful mindsets on what works best in practice... as opposed to what others tell us and teach as popular theory.

It takes a lot of practice to become mindful, I'm finding. 

Agreed, just cleaning and foundation training the body is an ongoing chore and everyday work... wax on, wax off... and that's just prepping the temple so mindfulness can naturally arise.

To be ready for the package, first prepare the vessel.