Amazon.com
With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.
Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)
As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"
That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy
Book Description
In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:
€ Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
€ Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
€ Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
€ Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
€ Feel fine about what you're not doing
From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.
Download Description
"""The personal productivity guru"" (Fast Company) delivers powerful methods that vastly increase your efficiency and creative results-at work and in life In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to: Apply the ""do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it"" rule to get your in-box to empty Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations Plan projects as well as get them unstuck Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed Feel fine about what you're not doing From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down."
Customer Reviews:
Incredible Book.......2007-10-22
David Allen's methods (in conjunction with Merlin Mann's Inbox Zero series) have changed how I handle my work, for both my personal and professional life.
I am getting more done, and my stress level is drastically diminished. An empty inbox makes me happy. : - )
get SAVED now with simple, direct organizing techniques.......2007-10-15
Read GTD one time through. Hard to put down. Read it again to outline and make the knowledge my own. I'm like a born-again GTD evangelist. Like a true holy-roller I started doing as much as I could, as fast as I could because I have seen the light!
Projects that have been languishing on the back burner are now active and moving forward. Multiple stacks of piled paper are now neatly organized in a new lateral file cabinet. I didn't really have an inbox. Now I not only have an inbox, I'm spouting profound truths like, "there is no vision without an inbox."
Using my pda is no longer painful. I know right where my planning notes are. I can make notes that transform into clear thinking, then projects, then actions by context.
Save yourself, brother. GTD. This is the way.
Some Good Advice!.......2007-10-12
Allen's approach to managing yourself and your world is very good advice on how to be more productive and satisfied. This book is filled with practical, hands-on ideas, tips, tools, and techniques for more effective self-management. Many of us feel overwhelmed and out of control in today's fast-paced world. This book and the book Understanding: Train of Thought are great ways to get a handle on all that "stuff" in our lives and figure out how to better manage the flow of information that never seems to stop. Five stars all the way!
If you are not already naturally organized, then his process would be excruciating torture to you........2007-10-10
#1 if you are not already naturally organized, then I can only expect you will toss this book in the rubbish bin because his process would be excruciating torture to you. It is an in-depth, deep clean.
If you are already naturally organized and yet feel you are not truly maximizing the effort you are putting into it, then this is well worth the time to read.
I easily related to this book and took away a few productive processes. It is over all a helpful book on organizing beyond the ubiquitous to do list. He has clear steps to get stalled projects moving forward. Hammering the point that the frustrations you face in getting things done are in actuality your lack of dealing with the hard question of what is the next physical action I need to take with this to deal with it. That may very well be toss it in the rubbish or Make a phone call...
Unfortunately, more often than not his example of the next action step is make a call... I started to cringe half way through the book whenever he wrote "Finally, when it's time to actually do an action, LIKE MAKING A CALL..." Towards the end of the book I was saying out loud and laughing "What is our next action step... Oh, of course make a call!"
That one criticism aside, I am trying his tickler file concept and do find it useful. I have implemented his mind sweep to organizing myself before the week so as to be prepared to face all of the inevitable interruptions and schedule changes with ease while accomplishing my weekly objectives. Although, in my case frequently the next action step is "turn off the phone, IM and email" so that I can work.
It's That Next Step that Matters..........2007-10-09
David Allen's concise and useful guide is built largely on the idea that, while people "think" in terms of entire projects, human action can only be practically applied to one aspect of a project at any one time.
In order to be effective, and work intelligently,we must first diligently construct our catalog of things that "need" doing and then proceed to priortize them in terms of their relative importance. This is only list making, however the act of breaking each project down, in order of importance, into discrete action steps is a more complex intellectual process, and is where we often fail. It is not a complex concept, but even the very intelligent lose sight of it under the pressures of life and work.
I found it interesting that many of the key points emphasized by Allen were articulated by Earl Nightingale, a famous radio commentator, decades ago. They are no less true today. The difficulty is forming and maintaining the habit structure that enables us to be masters of work, rather than slaves to unfinished business.
Bob Moffit
Retired Executive & Industry Consultant
Amazon.com
Susan Scott believes that interpersonal difficulties--at work and at home--are a direct result of our inability to communicate well. Fierce Conversations is based on principles from her international consulting practice, in which she teaches executives how to conduct such exchanges more dynamically and ultimately more effectively, thereby improving the relationships they enjoy with their various dialogue partners "one conversation at a time." Using identifiable anecdotes from her experience to inspire and inform, along with a series of practical exercises designed to impart the requisite skills, Scott walks readers through the individual steps she's developed to build better associations through more robust and honest discourses. Addressing all aspects of the process, from several methods for listening more attentively to specific ways she's fashioned to confront and resolve issues "that stand between you and success," Scott offers the type of concrete advice and confidence-building counsel that should help even the most reticent improve their communication skills dramatically. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
The Wall Street Journal bestseller, now with new material.
The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants her readers to succeed. To do that, she explains, one must transform everyday conversations employing effective ways to get the message across. In this guide, which includes exercises and tools to take you step by step through the Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, Scott teaches readers how to:
€ Overcome barriers to meaningful communication
€ Expand and enrich conversations with colleagues, friends, and family
€ Increase clarity and improve understanding
€ Handle strong emotions-on both sides of the table
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2007-08-24
Extremely useful in both personal and professional life. I've attended many classes & seminars in the last 30 years but still learned a host of valuable info. Highly recommended.
Very Engaging .......2007-08-14
I settled in for an average book with and interesting title about communication. What I recieved was an invitation to look in my life and my business for fierce conversations. As a trainer and a business coach communication is my my tool.Fierce Conversations gave me tools that work,ways to assess my progress and stories that assist me in seeing what would be possible in my business and in my life if I had authentic, direct conversations with people.If you have to pick one communication book this year, it's this one!
An Insightful and Very Informative Approach to Communicating.......2007-08-08
Fierce Conversations provides an opportunity for the reader to gain information while participating in a self-discovery process. It takes the idea of communicating thoughts and ideas to a new level and challenges us to think before speaking by considering the ramifications of what others will hear. We are reminded that any "single conversation can change the trajectory of a business, a career, a marriage or a life." This is an awesome statement and the author proved her point repeatedly through examples.
I am determined to address my most challenging "Mineral Rights conversation (you'll have to read the book to know what I mean) in the very near future. I will also recommend my writers' group members review this book as an example of quality writing that captures the audience, propels them to action, and encourages completion of task.
Transformational .......2007-05-19
Susan Scott has a way of getting to the heart of the communciations problem. People say what they think you want to hear, and they are rarely authentic because they are afraid to be. They are even afraid to be honest with themselves. An excellent read.
Connect Better.......2007-05-12
It is rare that I read a book cover to cover. I read lots of books; however, I find most books contain little or nothing new. Susan's book is different.
In my line of work, I am only as successful as my ability to connect with others. Having an arsenal of powerful questions and a strong framework for presenting are key to my success. Susan's book contains the best tools I have found to connect deeply with others.
Book Description
The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and
quality of energy available to us is not. This fundamental insight has the power to revolutionize the way you live.
As Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz demonstrate in their groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance. Their Full Engagement Training System is grounded in twenty-five years of working with great athletes -- tennis champ Monica Seles and speed-skating gold medalist Dan Jansen, to name just two -- to help them perform more effectively under brutal competitive pressures. Now this powerful, step-by-step program will help you to:
· Mobilize four key sources of energy
· Balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal
· Expand capacity in the same systematic way that elite athletes do
· Create highly specific, positive energy management rituals
The Power of Full Engagement is a highly practical, scientifically based approach to managing your energy more skillfully. It provides a clear road map to becoming more physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned -- both on and off the job.
Download Description
"We live in digital time. Our pace is rushed, rapid-fire, and relentless. Facing crushing workloads, we try to cram as much as possible into every day. We're wired up, but we're melting down. Time management is no longer a viable solution. As bestselling authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz demonstrate in this groundbreaking book, managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance. The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. This fundamental insight has the power to revolutionize the way you live your life. The Power of Full Engagement is a highly practical, scientifically based approach to managing your energy more skillfully both on and off the job. During the past decade, dozens of Fortune 500 companies have paid thousands of dollars to learn the Corporate Athlete training system. So have FBI swat teams, critical care physicians and nurses, salesmen, and stay-at-home moms. The Power of Full Engagement lays out the key training principles and provides a powerful, step-by-step program that will help you to: . Mobilize four key sources of energy . Balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal . Expand capacity in the same systematic way that elite athletes do . Create highly specific, positive energy management rituals Above all, this book provides a life-changing road map to becoming more fully engaged on and off the job, meaning physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned. "
Customer Reviews:
Pragmatic, useful ideas to improve the quality of your life.......2007-10-11
I loved this book because it offers simple, practical ideas that overloaded people can use to improve the quality of their lives without having to make significant behavioral changes or significant time commitments. This type of counsel is hard to find. The book itself is a quick, easy read -- perfect airplane reading.
Manage Energy - great insight........2007-08-23
We need to manage our energy to perform the most important things. We often take our energy for granted and are not aware of our ebbs and flows.
We need to do the most important things when we have the most energy. We need to eat and sleep to have more energy. It originally comes from a sports performance model, but has been adapted for executives. It is also important as we grow older. Truely a new insight for me that unified a few things I ahve been learning.
Push Past Your Limit To Grow.......2007-06-04
I felt this book's main premise was a useful idea, but nothing novel. Expanding past one's limit, followed by a rest period resulting in growth whether physical or psychological. I liked the informational nature of the book, however, I didn't care much for the examples of actual people written about in it. I understand it is used to help prove the points, but it appeared to be fluff to me and I would have liked more information to drill the point home and more sources to back up the info.
Those opinions aside, it is worthwhile, to the point and contains enough information to satisfy reading it once, but I don't expect to re-read it.
Not a silly self-help book.......2007-05-17
At first look, the subtitle "Managing Energy, Not Time" smells of another 'just do this and your life will be great' self-help book. However, this book avoids most of the simplistic approaches other books take. Outlined is excellent, yet straightforward guidance on how to bring into balance a work life that is out of control or at least a bit out of whack. The simple advice given (which regretfully requires some basic self discipline - I prefer to avoid self discipline) is both helpful and if followed, effective. The book is relatively careful not to imply that applying its principles or introducing self discipline is easy. It is, however, unapologetic when suggesting that making a set of changes in how one manages one's life will make a difference. The book also lays out a very helpful distinction between one's energy and one's time - and it is a very helpful distinction - describing a truth that I had not before carefully considered. The book includes numerous case studies of actual people with which the authors have worked. I think you will be able to identify with a number of these case studies. If you feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and/or lack balance in how your work life, home life, and downtime function, take a look at this book.
Disappointing.......2007-03-21
Nothing new here. Eat right, get plenty of sleep and drink your water and you too can have more energy. I have to agree with other reviewers that state that this book is poorly written. Instead of providing a method for creating your own energy plan, the authors give simple hazy case examples.
Book Description
Unrelenting e-mail. Conflicting commitments. Endless interruptions. In Take Back Your Life! Special Edition, productivity expert Sally McGhee shows you how to take control and reclaim something that you thought you'd lost forever--your work-life balance. Now you can benefit from Sally's popular and highly-regarded corporate education programs, learning simple but powerful techniques for rebalancing your personal and professional commitments using the productivity features in Outlook. Learn the proven methods that will empower you to:
*Clear away distractions and loose ends and focus on what's really important to you and your business. *Take charge of your productivity using techniques and processes designed by McGhee Productivity Solutions and implemented in numerous Fortune 500 companies. *Customize and exploit the productivity features iOutlook to help you create balance at home and on the job. *Special Edition features: Get even more on-the-job resources with an easy tear-out card of Sally's workflow diagram, a quick guide to key Outlook tasks, and great articles on the CD to help you save even more time.
When you change your approach, you can change your results. So learn what thousands of Sally's clients worldwide have discovered about taking control of their everyday productivity--and start transforming your own life today!
Customer Reviews:
Author completely misses Outlook's powerful heirarchical capabilities........2006-11-08
The result of using Outlook the way this author recommends is that you'll essentially have two separate lists: one list of all your projects and another list of all your "next actions". Since you'll be able to sort your next-action list according to the context in which each action will be done, this arrangement is better than nothing. But the problem with this arrangement is that with it, Outlook maintains neither project-to-next-actions connections nor next-actions-to-project connections. The author would have you list "next actions" within each project's Notes field to link the project to its next actions, and the author offers no link of each next action back to its project.
The author has missed a simple, powerful solution to this problem. When using Tasks in Outlook, the Tasks folder offers a heirarchical directory structure in which it's very easy to add folders and subfolders, just as one might do in Windows Explorer. Each of these folders that you create can be named to represent a project, and the next actions for each of these projects can be stored within the project's folder. Then all you have to do to see a list of all your next actions (across all projects) is to run a quick "Advanced Find" on your Outlook Tasks folder. Once you get the criteria of your search the way you want them, your search criteria can easily be saved, allowing you to recreate your "next actions" list with current data whenever you want it. If you include the "In Folder" field to display in your search results, then this field provides your next-action-to-project connection; and when you're reviewing your Outlook Tasks folder, the directory list of folders is essentially your project list, and within each project you see only the next actions associated with that project, so it's easy to maintain a project focus when planning your projects. Also, when using Outlook this way, many additional Outlook features can be used as well.
This book offers a few good ideas, but by failing to describe a simple and powerful way to have Outlook itself maintain the association of each project to its next actions, this book cannot be strongly recommended.
Great book to start getting organized.......2006-09-11
This book gives you great ideas about how to get organiazed and get things going. The only thing is that you will really need to use and get along MS Outlook pretty well, else you'll miss some of the tips and tricks in the book.
Pretty good start-up place for those who need some pointers at how to classify and prioritize tasks, events, items, and almost everything.
Take Back Your Life!.......2006-07-10
I'm not even to the end of the book and I already have my e-mail box emptied to zero, all my documents and files organized on my computer into an easy reference system so I know what information I already have. I am going to apply the same principles to my paper files this week. I had so much information stored and coming in that it is a huge relief to gain control over it all! All because I applied what I learned from this book.
Stong Emphasis on Up Front Planning.......2006-07-03
I am a veteran Franklin Covey planner user and consider myself very well organized and a strong time manager. Our company recently made the move to outlook, and I purchased this book hoping to get some tips on how to make the most of planning with outlook from someone who had a time management orientation. What I didn't expect was to learn anything more about time management. Boy was I wrong! Sally provides some real eye openers about spending more time up front planning tasks to get to "Strategic Next Actions" - tasks you can actually do without any dependencies. She also packs in excellent tips on setting up a reference system, handling email, and using the outlook task categories to their full potential.
I was able to achieve my basic objective with this book. My planning system was one where I used my Franklin Covey Plan Plus for Outlook software to create a daily task list each day with only items I could do that day, and used a collection of spreadsheets and word documents to track more complex "projects." Sally show how to integrate all of this into outlook with both planning and action tasks.
If you are looking for an indepth book on outlook however this isn't it. Instead its what it is advertised to be - a book on organizing first that tells who how to use outlook to implement the organizing system Sally has developed. The outlook information you need to implement the system is provided in a concise fashion and was very helpful to me.
Outlook on Steroids.......2006-04-02
I discovered this book while searching for something to help me manage the relentless flood of email coming at me every day (I had 900 unread emails at the time). I thought if I could become an outlook power user, I might be able to manage that number down. This book helped me learn the ins and outs of outlook, but more importantly, taught me a compelling approach to managing my crazy, demanding, overcommited, multi-tasking life. Mind you, I was a Franklin Planner flunky and a Day-Timer drop out, which made me a motivated learner. I literally devoured this book - read it cover to cover in just a few days (with a highlighter). Along the way I configured Outlook the work way the author recommends. I discussed it with friends. I actually implemented my own "IMS", which I think is what sets this book apart from David Allen's "Getting Things Done". You could read GTD, but the content may just "wash over you" and not make a practical difference in the way you work. This is specific, hands on, step by step instruction that if you're serious, will change the way you work in Outlook for the better. Highly recommended . . .
Book Description
The legendary Eat That Frog! (more than 450,000 copies sold and translated into 23 languages) provides the 21 most effective methods for conquering procrastination and accomplishing more. This new edition is revised and updated throughout, and includes brand new information on how to keep technology from dominating our time.
Customer Reviews:
Eating Frogs!.......2007-09-15
I learned of this book from a friend who has the older version of it. I glanced through her copy and noticed her notes. She said you have got to get this, it will organize your life. I purchased the 2nd edition version, read the book through, then reread it marking the tasks that I feel will help me find the missing hours in a day, so things get accomplished, instead of brushed under the rug. Sometimes it just seems to be amazing that it is end of the day, the week or even the month and it seems that nothing or not a whole lot seemed to be accomplished. I work in Direct Sales so it helps there also. It help me find the time to take care of the household, spend time with each family member and take care of their needs, and still be able to spend time with clients to be able to service them better allowing them to pass recommendations of me around. I also picked up his book Goals!, keeping them both close at hand so I can glance through and get that boost of energy again, with the "Yes I Can" attitude. "Eat That Frog", will get you out of procrastinating and working with goals, while "Goals!", will get you into setting goals, keeping them and accomplishing them, it is such a win-win!
Great Ideas to Improve Time Management!.......2007-08-28
Brian is a great writer and this little book is another one of his gems.
If you want a simple guide to time management buy this book!
"Last Friday...Was I Scared!--My Boss Almost Fired Me!".......2007-08-26
Do you procrastinate on important tasks? Do you wait until the last minute to do the most important of things both personally and on your job? If you are like 90% of all people, you have become prey to the monster of procrastination. Procrastination has nothing to do with laziness or lack of ambition, but has everything to do with the "fear of overwhelm". As humans, we can all become victims of overwhelm, but at last there is a solution. The absolute best book on "procrastination busting" I have ever read is Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. After reading and following the advice Mr. Tracy lays out in this remarkable book, you will have conquered procrastination forever! Yes, I said--forever!! Remember, unless you conquer procrastination you CANNOT succeed at anything. Buy this book, and say goodbye to procrastination for good.
Other great titles by Brian Tracy are:
Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed
The Ultimate Goals Program: How To Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Thought Possible
Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals
Thank you, Mr. Tracy for helping us to rid ourselves of the demon of procrastination for good!
This book will change you! .......2007-08-22
I think of all of Brian Tracy's books-- this is my favorite.
I teach "day management" over time management. So our opinions differ a bit on this. Brian has you prioritize the things you must do each day-- eating the biggest ugliest frog first. This is two fold. It eliminates procrastination and dread. I tell clients to do the thing they dread the most first. Why spend the day dreading that awful phone call? Anxiety builds and so does the discomfort. We are saying the same thing different ways.
Where we differ is that because I teach sales and self promotion-- you can find any frog uglier than your marketing responsibilities. My clients create their marketing plan, with daily action items they commit to doing-- no matter the number of frogs out there.
The energy over the visual of eating a frog is so emotional, it sticks. That is what makes this such a great book. I use the language with my clients, and I'll often hail an accomplishment accredited to "I just sat down and ate the frog".
This book will change your attitude on procrastination. I didn't believe it, because although most people tell me I do more than anyone they know-- I can dig my heels in as stubbornly as another. But when I feel that wave coming on-- I just "eat the frog".
Eat That Frog.......2007-08-17
A quick read with clear,concise, actionable steps to improve time management. A good resource for any field.
Product Description
This book teaches you best practices of task and e-mail management, using Microsoft Outlook. If you feel your e-mail is out of control, or you have way too much work on your plate, this book is for you. With it you will learn: - How to regain up to 25% of your workweek by increasing the efficiency with which you accomplish tasks. - Eight proven best practices of task and e-mail management that will propel your career ahead. - Techniques that allow greater work-life balance. - Secrets of using Microsoft Outlook effectively for Time, Task, and E-mail Management. - Methods for getting all important work done each day, so you can leave work on time, guilt free. - How to get your e-mail under control so that you do not drop actions and so you can respond to e-mail in appropriate time frames. - How you can consistently empty your Inbox. - Outlook task management based techniques to eliminate the "everything is a fire" approach to work.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Book! One week in and already far less stress!.......2007-10-04
I've practiced David Allen's system for about a year now, but still couldn't get the "techy" end of it working smoothly. After only a week on Michael's system, my stress level is low, I'm leaving the office at the end of the day with my Daily Task list empty, and my inbox flutters around 5-6 items (previously getting my inbox under 100 was an accomplishment). Michael walks you step-by-step through the implementation of the system. My only words of advice: If you're going to do it, commit 100% -- do not ease up or the inherent trust you have in the system will collapse.
Total Workday Control.......2007-10-03
This book is a great way to learn how to manage your Outlook e-mail in an easy to follow, step-by-step methodology. I had taken David Allen's seminar, Getting Things Done, and this book really helped to close the loop on implimentation. Well worth the time and money spent.
Outstanding Book!.......2007-10-02
I am a professor at a major research university in the US. I have struggled with dealing with multiple tasks and emails for years...until I have embraced the fantastic system described in this great book. If you use Outlook as your major portal for email and tasks, you MUST read this book. The approach here is logical and work for you. It is that good.
David Drake
This really works.......2007-09-30
I have been using Michael Linenberger's system for about 3 months now and my productivity has increased tenfold. With this system, I have a way to track important tasks and I feel that I am on top of my job.
Finally! A 'Real World' Implementation of Outlook that really works!.......2007-09-22
I TOTALLY agree with all of the 5 star reviews...after struggling with David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) system for 6-9 months I finally found what really works.
In this book you'll get an actual implementation that works--meaning a regularly empty inbox (and I deal with hundreds of emails a week), a fantastic way to organize and systematically get dozens of tasks (including those you delegate to others with a perfect way to close open loops) w/ a corresponding sense of accomplishment and feeling of being on top of it that is incredible.
I have done it all: Day Timer, Covey's system, used Palm Pilots/Treo's, etc and nothing has ever even come close to Michael Linenberger's system.
I have already implemented this with two of my direct reports and they are ecstatic with the fact that they too have a empty inbox, no more sticky notes, etc.
My only request is for the author to get out a version of this book that is 100% targeted/customized for Outlook 2007 ASAP.
Book Description
The Hamster Revolution is a timely solution to both the widespread problem of email overload as well as most people's inefficient (or nonexistent) systems for categorizing and storing email messages. This book provides the practical steps needed to deal with these problems and become more efficient in our work.
Customer Reviews:
Quick Read Can Make a Diffference in Managing Email.......2007-09-26
Taking cue from The One Minute Manager, Zapp!, Fish! and Who Moved My Cheese?, The Hamster Revolution uses a parable to show how to better manage and organize e-mail and information. The hamster represents people endlessly running on the wheel of e-mail. Right away, I start using concepts from the 90-minute book. Considering I'm an organized person, that says something.
In the story, Harold the Hamster receives a visit from an information coach to help him with e-mail and information management. Harold is a person who turned into a hamster because e-mail and information trapped him on a figurative hamster wheel.
Harold and his coach think aloud as they explore his e-mail habits and inbox to find the problem areas. The banter between the two gives the reader insight into why something doesn't work and how to fix it. Their comments mirror what many of us think when we're drowning in messages. Though cheesy at times, the story quickly explains the how, what, and why without confusing readers with dry writing.
I was eager to discover the secret of COTA, the concept for creating folders named Clients, Output, Teams and Administration. COTA also represents the order of priority. The Clients folder receives top honors on the hierarchy than Output. Administration gets thrown to the bottom of the pile where it belongs. But this concept isn't as foolproof as the authors make it sound.
They state that you won't run into a situation when an email or document belongs in two folders. However, if that should happen -- then the document belongs in the one higher up on the COTA ladder. Furthermore, the system serves departments and teams best.
COTA won't work well for personal use (the authors apparently have another system for this, but information isn't available yet) or a small business like mine where I'm a freelancer working on a computer that houses both business and personal information.
Furthermore, not everyone will know what some things mean such as EOM (end of message) or NRN (no reply needed). These require teaching others and a team setting would adapt to that better than a lone person who must explain it in many individuals. EOM and NRN should become as standard as smilies, but they're far from there.
Some advice might sound common sense or old news to some people, but the authors share lesser known or new concepts. The book has had positive impact on my e-mail habits, and for what it is worth, that opinion comes from a long-time e-mail user (the days of BBSes -- pre-Internet).
Great new tips for email.......2007-06-20
Purchased the audio tape for the car. Easy listening and great tips on productivity for managing email overload. Makes you think before you send an email, sculpt it, use categories for easier identification/prioritization and shows new system for filing and finding anything anytime. It worked for me and can warmly recommend to everybody! Join the Hamster Revolution!
I want my 90 minutes back........2007-06-13
If you have any system of organizing your email already in place, don't bother reading this book.
First of all, this book is written in a "For Complete Morons" "Who Moved My Cheese?" style which I found to be a complete turn-off.
The first half of the book tells you what's wrong with your email style, which is news only to those that don't know how to conduct business communication in the first place. "Is the content of your email appropriate and professional?" I should hope so. Then it goes on to say you should convert your coworkers to the wonderful time-saving methodologies you've learned in this book, and direct them to the book web site. Any student of human nature can tell you, you can't really force anyone to do anything they don't want to do, you can only set an example and hope that they want to emulate it. If you are the boss, I suppose you can order people to follow the guidelines in this book, but otherwise it suggests giving your peers critiques of what's wrong with the email they've been sending you, a technique that's sure to make you near and dear to their hearts.
The second half of the book, which I eagerly anticipated, makes suggestions, then breaks its own rules, resulting in a confusing set of directions that aren't ultimately very useful. For example, the book states that you should be able to sort any email you receive into one folder, without wasting time deliberating over the decision between folders. You are supposed to organize your emails into Clients, Output, Teams, and Admin folders. If something falls into two folders, for example, some Output for a Client, it goes into the first folder in the COTA order-- the Client folder. But when would you ever create output that doesn't have a Client? And Clients in this case includes external AND internal customers. If your organization has a lot of output that isn't created FOR anybody, you have bigger problems than email.
Some of the other suggestions are obvious but presented as epiphany, such as, use subfolders within the COTA folders. Has it ever occurred to you that you could use email subfolders? Does your organization already use instant messaging for asynchronous messages? Guess what, you don't need this book.
In a FAQ at the end of the book, there is a tip that was not new to me, but which has worked for me. Turn off your email notifications (popups, sounds, etc.) and check your email about twice a day for a dedicated block of time. Otherwise every time you receive an email, you are interrupted from your flow of work.
What will happen with email? It is indeed a growing problem, I can't argue with that. I hope that Outlook develops better search technology, like that embedded in GMail. If you are one of the many Outlook users, you know that when your folders reach a certain size, an advanced search can take 15 minutes or more. However, creating a new folder structure isn't likely to do much for you, except cost you the time it takes to reorganize all of your mail.
A must-read for everyone who uses email.......2007-05-28
Getting overloaded with emails over the last 3-4 years. So decided to buy some books on the subject to improve. Bought 3 books from Amazon - Emails, Conquer Your Email Overload and Hamster Revolution. Find Hamster Revolution the best. I can see Hamster in me with over 500 emails in my in-box and having problems in relocating some of the infor later. This book is NOT about how to use Outlook. What I like is the story-telling method the authors used to bring across, otherwise a dry and technical subject, with interesting, lively and useful ideas. Strategy 1 is an eye opener for me. So simple and yet so useful ! Find it so enlightening and useful that I am thinking of asking the company to engage them for an in-house workshop ! Well done, guys !
It's a parable for a practical email management course which really works.......2007-05-19
If email is demanding more and more of your business time, it's time to take in THE HAMSTER REVOLUTION, which tells of an HR director who meets an efficiency coach and learns a simple management system. It's a parable for a practical email management course which really works, includes a case study showing how over 2,000 Capital One associates cut their email time by 23 percent, and tells how to add quality into email management strategy for optimum results. Busy managers in particular will relish its advice, making THE HAMSTER REVOLUTION especially recommended for business libraries.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
- Great Household Help
- Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things: 2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time
- 2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time
- fun and useful
- Good for the non-handy
|
Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things: 2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time
Reader's Digest Editors
Manufacturer: Readers Digest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Household Hints
| How-to & Home Improvements
| Home & Garden
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General
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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Over 1,200 New Doctor-Tested Tips and Techniques Anyone Can Use to Heal Hundreds of Everyday Health Problems (Doctors' Book of Home Remedies)
ASIN: 0762106492
Release Date: 2007-03-22 |
Book Description
Save the day with over 2,300 clever, ingenious, smart ways to use everyday household products—all guaranteed to save you time and money!
Did you know that tea can hide gray hair? Or that aspirin can revive a dead car battery? How about the power of table salt to make panty hose last longer? Or that shaving cream can remove rug stains? Yes, there's a treasure trove hidden in your pantry, medicine cabinet, garage, and basement. This remarkable book shares amazing secrets to save you time and money—and shelf space in the process. Fully illustrated and written in a clear, down-to-earth style, this practical guide contains over 2,300 handy tips about using more than 200 common household items like aluminum foil and dental floss in exciting new ways. Don't spend your hard-earned money on expensive storebought products. Restore, replace, repair, or revive practically everything in your home with this indispensable handbook that features:
• Nearly 400 full-color illustrations
• Easy A-to-Z format to find items easily
• Clear, step-by-step instructions
• At-a-Glance section provides the Best Uses for every item
• Hundreds of sidebars full of extra tips and informative ideas
• Complete index for cross-referencing
Throughout, Did You Know?, Science Fair, and Kids' Stuff sidebars add to the wonder and fun of this easy-to-use reference. From Alka-Seltzer to baby shampoo, pepper to pillowcases, vinegar to yogurt—discover the untold value of hundreds of everyday items with
Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things.
Customer Reviews:
Great Household Help .......2007-09-09
Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things offers recipies for many environment friendly cleaning products, quick self help, beauty remedies ,and even introduces ways to entertain kids budget friendly.
Some of the remedies explained are well known, others seem a little far off, but all in all this book certainly can help to cut cost of cleaning products etc.
If you are willing to experience "new" methods, that were old timers for your grandparents this is the book to get. It also is fun just to cross read, and be in awe of some of the things one can do.
Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things: 2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time.......2007-07-27
So much information that really can be used. Can not absorb with one reading. Marked most useful and will re-read balance over time.
2,317 Ways to Save Money and Time.......2007-07-09
This is a very good resource for solving problems with household care, health issues, and just about everything. Easy to use, and simple to read
fun and useful.......2007-06-24
I never thought I would enjoy this book as much as I have been. It is 400 pages of fun facts with all those things you would find in your home and all the normal problems you would run in to. For example, onions remove rust stains from silverware, use bananas as a face mask, nail polish to remove warts, vinegar for carpet stains and to defrost windsheilds, beer and salt to make windows frosty for the Christmas holidays, use a vacuum nozzle with a pair of pantyhose to find that valuable object on the floor without sucking it up, etc.. I love this book! =)
Good for the non-handy.......2007-06-08
This is an excellent book for those (like me) who are rather unimaginative when it comes to making/fixing/cleaning things. I was quite impressed with many of the ideas.
Book Description
“Bernstein has become a guru to a peculiarly ’90s group: well-educated, Internet-powered people intent on investing well—and with minimal ‘help’ from professional Wall Street.”--Robert Barker, BusinessWeek
William Bernstein is one of today’s most unlikely financial heroes. A practicing neurologist, he used his self-taught investment knowledge and research to build a popular investor’s website. Now, in the plain-spoken The Intelligent Asset Allocator, he shows independent investors how to build a diversified portfolio—without the help of a financial advisor. A breath of fresh air for investors tired of overly technical investment tomes, this book will help investors:
• Learn the risk/reward characteristics of various investment types
• Understand and apply portfolio theory for an improved risk/reward ratio
• Sharpen their focus, and take control of their investment programs William Bernstein (North Bend, OR) runs a website—www.efficientfrontier.com—known for its quarterly journal of asset allocation and portfolio theory, Efficient Frontier.
Customer Reviews:
A classic book on investing.......2007-07-07
Anyone who is serious about investing in marketable securities should read this book and keep it handy as a reference guide.The author is a brillant student of the market and passive investing techniques.All of the supporting data in the book has been developed by the author and his assistant. I would recommend this book for the investor.
Another book for the beginner and the experienced invesror as well How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission
Jewel for long term contrarian investing from a US perspective.......2007-04-19
This book is for investors with a time scale of decades. So think about saving for a comfortable retirement. It argues from a point of view of an US American investor (types of asset classes and their behavior in time, all in US dollars, US tax laws, US investing instruments) but the described principles are general and also well suited for residents of other countries.
Bernstein has the ability of a very clear and down to the earth way of thinking. Even more important his prose is as clear as his thoughts. He takes you by the hand and leads you through quite difficult terrain. But as long as you hold his hand everything is clear and makes a simple impression.
His advice is solid and can be employed easily in practical investing. He even has advice for somebody with only thirty minutes of time for investments a year (Put it into the four asset types: domestic small caps, domestic large caps, foreign stocks and bonds of up to five years of duration. Split your assets in equal proportion to those types. Try to aggressively save fees maybe with Vanguard funds. Adjust the portions of those four asset types once a year to their original proportions.) Clearly this is good advice. If you read this book you also learn a lot of why this is effective. But if you do not know more than this advice: Will you follow it through thick and thin? Just imagine one asset type gets out of favor and loses a lot of value for a few years in a row. Then you have to pour yearly a lot of fresh and good money in exactly that asset type (Bernstein is a moderate contrarian). It is hard to believe that anyone has that strength without a well developed own opinion on that matter. Yes it is exactly the opposite of a stop loss. It is buy more of the losing types and sell the winning ones. The hope is to buy low and sell high.
So enjoy the ease of reading and Bernstein's brilliant simplicity, but don't be fooled by it. You will have to work hard to gain your own standpoint. And you have to invest actual money for a few years to get to know yourself.
For further reading this book has an excellent bibliography and the author runs a great website. I highly do recommend this book.
Fianance........2007-04-01
This is a great book. Don't make it your 1st finance book, but a great follow up to a "Random walk down Wall Street"
Clearly explains the theory, its background, and use........2007-03-26
This is one of 3 books that I have on the subject .... and it complements those books each of which has its own particular bias.
The book is well worth buying, reading (with a few different color highlighters), and keeping it on the shelf for reference (.. in other words to keep one going back onto "track").
There is a bias towards using index funds; and this bias does use all the conventional wisdom -- wisdom that everyone else will be trying to employ. Therefore, there is a lack of ways to "jump-start" a portfolio -- ways that must be obtained from other books and newsletters.
Efficient Frontier - Now I understand.......2007-01-31
This book can "turn on the lightbulb" for all types about what the Efficient Frontier really means! This is the best investment book I have read that attempts to focus the individual on risk - the most important facet of investing.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Life Management Book
- A Lifetime Guide
- What's important in your life?
- great getting it together tool
- Good Book
|
First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy
Stephen R. Covey ,
A. Roger Merrill , and
Rebecca R. Merrill
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Time Management
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| Covey, Stephen R.
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ASIN: 0684802031 |
Amazon.com
What are the most important things in your life? Do they get as much care, emphasis, and time as you'd like to give them? Far from the traditional "be-more-efficient" time-management book with shortcut techniques, First Things First shows you how to look at your use of time totally differently. Using this book will help you create balance between your personal and professional responsibilities by putting first things first and acting on them. Covey teaches an organizing process that helps you categorize tasks so you focus on what is important, not merely what is urgent. First you divide tasks into these quadrants:
- Important and Urgent (crises, deadline-driven projects)
- Important, Not Urgent (preparation, prevention, planning, relationships)
- Urgent, Not Important (interruptions, many pressing matters)
- Not Urgent, Not Important (trivia, time wasters)
Most people spend most of their time in quadrants 1 and 3, while quadrant 2 is where quality happens. "Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things," says Covey. He points you toward the real human needs--"to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy"--and how to balance your time to achieve a meaningful life, not just get things done. --Joan Price
Book Description
I'm getting more done in less time, but where are the rich relationships, the inner peace, the balance, the confidence that I'm doing what matters most and doing it well?
Does this nagging question haunt you, even when you feel you are being your most efficient? If so, First Things First can help you understand why so often our first things aren't first. Rather than offering you another clock, First Things First provides you with a compass, because where you're headed is more important than how fast you're going.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Life Management Book.......2007-06-22
I read the 7 habits of Highly Effective people a few years ago and was very inspired at that time to take more control of my life and try and implement the habits into my daily life. In particular, i really found the third habit on time management useful and could see the benefit. However, at that time i did not put the habits into effect in any real way.
Then recently, i discovered this book again which mainly deals with the third habit and some of the second habit and found that i was now ready to not only read about it but to actually start doing it by using the tools and techinques outlined to take control of my life and focus on the things that really mattered.
It may seem simple but starting with a vision of my life and then writing out my goals for incorporation into my monthly, weekly and daily planning has alreaady had a tremendous effect on my life and i find that i am scheduling important things in my life such as meditation and exercise and doing these which is giving me a more balanced work life balance. I also find it very effective for my job in which i am now scheduling important activites into my calender and doing them rather than just reacting to the urgent day to day requests at the expense of these more important long term activities.
A Lifetime Guide.......2007-02-05
I have bought this book for four years, read over it for many times.
If I can only take one book with me to another world, I will take this one. It is a good guide to how to live for a lifetime.
It begins with the foundamental principles, then gradually teachs you how to live a better life based on those principles. Every sentence is a sentence of truth. Everytime I have setback, I go back to this book; and everytime, I find that I have violated a principle.
Over four years, I become a different person.
What's important in your life?.......2007-01-23
What's important in your life? What do you really want to accomplish? What do you want to see completed at the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of the month, at the end of the year, and, ultimately, what do you want to have accomplished by the end of your life?
Getting things in line in your life, learning to set priorities, not just for money, purchases, and trivial things, but for more important things. How about family, relationships, and career?
great getting it together tool.......2007-01-18
I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for someone special who told me since reading the book he has been able to adapt a positive change in his busy and hetic life in a very positive way. He has been able to put in priority and balance the pressures, responsibilities, expetations of both his personal and business life,
Good Book.......2006-12-06
I bought this book because I needed some guidance to start putting things back in order in my life. Eventhough it focus on business and work, it provides some helpful hints to apply on you personal life.
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- Got What It Takes?: Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- How Organizations Learn: An Integrated Strategy for Building Learning Capability (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)
- How to Win Friends & Influence People
- How to Win Friends & Influence People
- How To Write A Proposal That's Accepted Every Time
- How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You'll Ever Write
- How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You'll Ever Write
- Human Side of Organizations, The (9th Edition)
Books Index
Books Home
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Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook: The Eight Best Practices of Task and E-Mail Management
