This week sees the launch of a new series at lifehack.org: We Ask, You Answer. Every Monday I will post a question for the lifehack.org community for you to answer. The following Monday, I will post my answer along with a selection (depending on how many there are) of your responses. The idea is to give you a chance to share your knowledge with the rest of the lifehack.org community — and to give you the opportunity to see what your fellow lifehack.org readers are doing!
This week’s question is:
- Imagine you have a friend or colleague that’s struggling to manage all of their commitments and is visibly sinking under the pressure. What productivity book (or books) do you recommend to them, and why?
Let us know your answer in the comments.
At the risk of being obvious: “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Also, the follow-up book “Ready For Anything: 52 productivity principles for work and life”
101 ways to have a business and a life by Andrew Griffiths
Not 100% focussed on productivity but plenty of practical stuff for business owners and consultants
The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/)
It’s thought provoking, particularly with the focus on the 80/20 principle and eliminating those things that don’t return the most for your investment.
[...] We Ask, You Answer: Productivity BooksBy Dustin WaxThis week’s question is:. Imagine you have a friend or colleague that’s struggling to manage all of their commitments and is visibly sinking under the pressure. What productivity book (or books) do you recommend to them, and why? …lifehack.org – http://www.lifehack.org [...]
Zen To Done: The simple Productivity E-Book. If you want to get things done, this is the book for you by Leo Babauta.
http://zenhabits.net/2007/11/zen-to-done-the-simple-productivity-e-book/
Time Power, by Charles R Hobbs. It is out of print, but my thinking around productivity always comes back to his idea of firmly establishing “unifying principles”, developing goals which have “congruity” with these principles, and applying a “concentration of power” to work those things which are most important.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and The Now Habbit by Neil Fiore. In my opinion slick systems on how to be more productive are great once you have figured out why you struggle with being productive. However systems without any understanding about your personal demons will be discarded and you will go back to your more familiar unproductive ways.
I believe in Stephen Covey ‘s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the bible for all the productivity principles and it has the core of productivity principles.
The only book I’ve read related to productivity is “Getting things done” by David Allen. It’s a wonderful book.
“Zen To Done” by Leo from Zen Habits is simply the best productivity book. Its power lies in its simplicity plus he emailed me a free copy too!
This depends I guess on what kind of person my friend is.
First of all. Some of my friends don’t read a lot of books. For those I would say: “Buy the abridged audio version of Getting Things Done for 10 bucks over at Itunes and listen while you’re mowing the lawn.”
If it was someone prone to read a book I would try to guess whether it was a personal leadership problem, or a lack of efficient productivity tools problem.
For personal leadership, I’d recommend Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people.
For more personal efficiency, I’d recommend David Allens Getting Things Done.
I know they are the “usual suspects” but these are the ones that made the greatest impact in my life by far.
Thnx for a great blog!
- Jens Poder
To be totally honest, I’ve never read a Productivity book. However, I do write on productivity just based on the whole nut & bolts of it from my own experience.
If you’re looking for a sure way to get more done prior to the Holiday Season, you’ll want to read,
‘How To Super Charge Your Productivity’
http://www.stephenmartile.com/2007/12/03/how-to-super-charge-your-productivity/
Stephen Martile
http://www.stephenmartile.com
To throw a monkey wrench in the discussion, I’d suggest that you might be starting with the wrong question. If your friend is struggling and sinking, there might be important personal and cultural factors coming into play. That said, I’ve found that getting on top of all our incoming *does* free up the brain to ask higher level questions like “*Why* am I so overloaded?”
Also, I’ve found that reading books are effective for some people, but making a major change in how you work is difficult. It’s a process of mastery, and can take a long time to adopt. So consider hiring an expert to help :-)
The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
I like this book over others bc while it does offer a system, it discusses over all your energy, esp the idea that you need recovery time. When you are stressed and struggling, the hardest thing to remember is that IT’S OK TO STOP AND TAKE A BREATH. This book reminds you that’s downright healthy.
“Seize the Workday” and “Total Workday Control” by Michael Linenberger.
If you’re in management, you must read The Effective Executive, by Peter Drucker. It is timeless. Read it, then read Getting Things Done.
For Christmas, I just bought my mom a copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. She really needs to get her stuff in order. Though I doubt if she will be able to have a full blown system running, I just hope she gets into the discipline of writing things down, prioritizing, and filing. She’s a freelancer for the World Bank and I would hate to see her disorganization impact the development of the third world.
Different advice depending on where they are.
If they’re buried, and need to get started, let alone out from under it, “Get Everything Done and Still Have Time To Play” by Mark Foster.
He’s got another book “Do It Tomorrow” which is better when you’re not completely drowning, but looking at how to keep up with what comes in each day.
I actually found a few of the ADHD organisation books the most helpful.
Neil Fiore: The Now Habit
the best book on overcoming procrastination and possibly the only one not telling you “you just have to do it”
@Kevin – I completely second the Four Hour Work Week. Incredibly thought provoking (despite a slightly odd detour into infomercial marketing).
@Sangrail – Could you recommend any particular ADHD books?
A slightly off-topic suggestion, but the biggest productivity booster I’ve ever found was attending a yoga class a few times a week, and I recommend this for all of my drowning friends.
My favorite is Michael Linenberger’s Total Workday Control.
It’s the best book on getting up to speed quickly with the Getting Things Done system.
I love the way Linenberger uses Tasks in Microsoft Outlook. Fantastic!
Craig
Time of your life by tony robbins
[...] week, I asked you to recommend your favorite productivity book to a friend or colleague you saw struggling to keep on top of thing. You responded with several [...]
I just finished reading The seven habits of highly effective people and I loved it. I may try a few books mentioned here too.
Good Stuff!