Simple but effective
|
|
As someone who has done the rounds with various Time Management approaches/systems this book comes highly recommended by me. It took me a little time to shift from a 'to do list' and prioritising mindset to the DIT approach. However now I have established the recommendations in the book I have been able to keep totally upto date in my work. This book has helped me to become a Producer of work, rather than an Organizer of work. The DIT approach is simple (much simpler than some other systems out there) yet it is very effective. The only downside for me was possibly an absence of models/diagrams and the basic presentation of the information. However this drawback may be compensated in the relatively low cost of the text, and for that matter, why overcomplicate it anyway!
|
|
Disappointing if you do a service-oriented job
|
After reading all the amazing praise for this book I bought it immediately, but I have to say that upon reading it I was slightly puzzled as to why everyone had been raving about it. I can only guess that these people are devoted fans since reading his previous work, as I found that the book was lacking for my purposes.
I did pick up some good tips, such as the use of a task diary rather than a to-do-list, and the tips on filing systems were good. The book also made me question whether I really wanted to 'commit'to many of the tasks I burden myself with, after which I decided that many of them aren't really that important.
However, my major problem with this book is the main concept of doing everything tomorrow. I think this idea would probably work fine if you work from home or by yourself in an office, and find that procrastination is a problem. If you do a more service-oriented job like mine though, I don't think you will find the information is very applicable. He does admit this at one point in the book, but doesn't offer much alternative advice if this is the case. For this reason I found most of the book pretty useless.
I also have to admit that I found his writing style pretty boring, he seems to spend most of the first half of the book telling you what he is going to tell you later in the book, then recapping everything at every possible opportuntity. It felt like reading an undergraduate dissertation!
|
|
|
great book, advice that works
|
Picked this book up over a weekend and its had a massive impact on my organization, really useful advise which is refreshing and looks at the source of the problem. Its also well written and easy to digest
The book goes beyond simple tricks and techniques for sorting things out and assess all of your time, with realism and a understanding of free time
|
|
Too much `fool yourself' mind theory waffle and not enough useful 'How to' tips
|
You could skip pages 1-108 and not really miss very much at all!
The author has some good tips and ideas to pass on, but unfortunately spends far too many pages presenting his theories on the way we think and feel; the side of our brain that plans versus the side that reacts; how to get one to fool the other.
There seems to be a laborious amount of repetition of these theories, I'm afraid those 100-odd pages are best described as waffle.
The form, presentation and layout of the book could also be a good deal better. Most contemporary books in this genre would make use of illustrations, relevant pictures, quotations etc. This book has none of these embellishments; it consists of 200 pages of plain text. The book contains many question & answer exercises, often running to ten or so questions, causing the answers to be 2 pages on from the relevant question - trivial, but believe me tedious when it has occurred enough times.
Another odd thing about the book is that the author has chosen to present a 'quick start' guide on one page as a preface before page 1:
"This book will tell you much more about how to do this, but the method essentially consists of these four steps"
1 - Put all the work you are behind on into backlog folders and put it where you can't see it.
2 - Collect all your incoming work during the day and deal with it the next day. Group similar tasks .... Aim to clear the lot every day.
3 - If anything is too urgent to leave for tomorrow, write it down and action it at a convenient time. Never take even the simplest action without writing it down first.
4 - Spend some time clearing the backlog folders every day. When you've finally cleared them, find something else you want to get sorted and start doing that first thing every day instead.
I can understand the principle of "tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em", but there's just no hook or wow factor in that preface, to then follow it up with 100 pages of waffle!!!
The final chapter seems completely at odds with the bulk of the book, one can almost sense that this time management guru was almost late for his deadline and wrapped it up quickly. After so many verbose chapters we are very directly and succintly told the best way to file (lever arch folders) and that it's best to keep these on a bookshelf and to always replace the most recently used folder at the left hand end - an interesting alternative to filing cabinets, I could see it working, I reckon it's probably a good idea. These ideas are presented in a few pages of greyed-boxes, looking different to the rest of the book.
The author refers to his use of Microsoft Outlook, and of striving for a single collecting point, then advocates a day journal, and a page-a-day diary, and a determination to write everything down before doing anything.
In my humble opinion, if you want help and a methodology for managing the modern ills and overloads of email, tasks, time scheduling and project management it would be a far better use of your time to read 'Take back your Life using Microsoft Outlook' by Sally McGhee. I read this book and bought copies for several colleagues. We all had Outlook, but by using that book gained a greater understanding of the capabilities of the software AND a common language for managing work effectively.
My apologies for going against the crowd, I anticipate that I run the risk of negative feedback from the many 5-star raters who have gone before. Might I ask that if you disagree with my review and decide to award me negative feedback that you also take just one moment to add a comment as to where we disagree? (Thanks for that)
|
|
|
Simple and clever
|
After I reading Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I weaned myself off TV by disconnecting the aerial. We need to employ little tricks to get us into good habits and Mark Forster is great at formulating ways of fooling your mind into being effective and disciplined.
If you're self-employed and working from home, I would say this book is absolutely indispensable. There is no end to the tricks you can pull on yourself to convince yourself you're actually working. Forster gives practical advice on how to structure your day to maximise your creativity.
My favourite passages included the one about making commitments: "Never say yes to anything unless you can say it whole-heartedly." And strategies to trick your reactive brain, like resolving to do nothing more than put on your running gear and trainers and stand outside the front door. Usually the going for a run bit will follow, but it's getting to that position that is hard.
Tell yourself you're really not going to do it, but take the first step and you get results. Genius!
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada