Disappointment
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Had high expectations after reading GTD. Unfortunately, quite disappointed as the text is very philosophical and difficult to link with day-2-day life/actions. I still like David for GTD.
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Productivity and Self Discovery
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David Allen's "Ready for Everything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work & Life" is excellent! As the companion book following his widely popular "Getting Things Done", it is a great addition to enhance personal productivity. I found myself revisiting the book time and again to get back on track whenever I felt overwhelmed. It inspired me to look with clarity and I discovered that it is entirely possible to make things happen with less stress and more effectiveness.
Another great resource I found that has helped me tremendously are books and podcasts by Ariel and Shya Kane. If you like David's approach, you might enjoy the Kanes' "Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment", and "Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation". Though not specifically tailored for productivity, the Kanes' books have made a huge impact on my work and life because they have inspired me to look at the root- how I operate in my life and not to judge what I have done or see. It is very freeing to learn to live in the moment. I can be appropriate to what's showing up in my life and this helps me get things completed with satisfaction. I highly recommend them!
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A motivational resource
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I greatly enjoyed David Allen's "Getting Things Done" and still read it regularly. Likewise with this book which makes an effective companion volume. Although it is not as detailed and systematic as his earlier book, it is a full of ideas that can be taken on board and developed. It is a good book to carry around for when you have a spare moment as each of the 52 principles are distilled into a short chapter complete with motivational quotes. My only reservation about the book is that there are so many of these quotes that they often distract from the main text.
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Another superb book
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David Allen has written another superb book on a subject everyone could make better use of. This book gives guidelines on how to improve ones overall method of dealing with life on a day-to-day basis. It does not preach to the reader about what must and must not happen. It does however give relevant examples that most people will be able to identify with. David explains how most people tend to deal with these situations and why this increases stress. He then demonstrates why his recommendation can add to an organised work method and thus relieve stress. David has a wonderful writing style that is easy to read. His use of the English language coupled with his clear examples makes this book a joy to pick up. This book is much broader in content than "Getting Things Done". I would recommend reading "Getting Things Done" if your life is one big mass of confusion, contradiction and generally not moving in one direction. "Ready for Anything" is a secondary phase to give more direction to all aspects of your life. All in all I enjoy reading David Allen's books. The information in them is invaluable and should be adopted by everyone. I will be keeping my copies and making regular reference to them.
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Packed with Knowledge!
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Author David Allen lists 52 basic principles for productivity, including: write everything down, do the jobs that nag you, focus on the matter at hand and so on. As he notes, the principles are both simple to understand and difficult to implement. The book is essentially a collection of gleanings from the author’s previous writings, so it does not present a systematic or unified approach to time and productivity management. However, Allen’s straightforward tips are handy, if sometimes duplicative. The number 52 suggests that you might find one helpful tip to use each week in a one-year program of self-improvement and productivity management. In that case, repetition is probably a good thing, since bad habits tend to spring up again like weeds and require the same remedies often. The author is relentlessly upbeat, optimistic and witty, like a motivational speaker. That might be hard to read in a big chunk, but it is easy to digest if you spend a little time every week reading a recommendation and implementing it. We recommend this book to anyone who urgently needs help with time management and productivity.
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