Personal Productivity Books

The idea of the book is good, if you don't take care of the little things when they first appear, they end up snowballing and becoming big things. However, I thought the book would include more to read and digest rather than just drawings of paperclips. OK I get the message now offer some insight on motivation. The message didn't need 109 pages of paperclips to get the message across. One cartoon would have done. It took me all of 5 minutes to "read". Sorry, wanted more for the money.

I first read "The Lesson of the Chopsticks" and must say that I was not disappointed reading "How to Keep Life's Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones"! Ms.Greenlee's unique view of life's everyday challenges is one we all can identify with on some level.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a boost to handle procrastination and prioritizing. Ms. Greenlee's uncovers a profound truth using vivid illustrations and metaphors to convey her point and shift us out of our "comfort zone". And, it's a LOT CHEAPER THAN THERAPY!

Finally, a most enjoyable and interesting book filled with practical and useful guidance that can be helpful for every age and every level. Each lesson is deeply meaningful, yet stated so simply. A true Gem!!!

Who knew that paying attention to inanimate objects could be so powerful? In "Paperclips", Ms. Greenlee has humorously and quite consciously given us a roadmap to sorting through the habits we all develop when faced with discomfort. Reading it again and again gives the reader a fresh way of envisioning life's way of offering opportunities to grow.

This charmingly simple book spoke volumes to me about the dangers of a disorganized life, and brought to mind several practical applications. If I don't hang up my clothes every night, my bedroom is soon an unworkable mess. If I don't take care of my mail (and other paperwork) diligently and often, it soon becomes overwhelming, and I can't find that piece of paper I really need. If I don't spot-clean the kitchen and baths (almost) every day, things get disgusting quite quickly, and germs can grow. And the list could go on. It's so refreshing to see a simple, highly useful truth presented in such an engaging way, and I look forward to the next "lesson." Way to go, Gina!

I recently bought both this and Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity in order to stimulate my thinking about how to take charge of my incredibly busy job as a software development manager in an e-commerce company. I manage about 8 people directly and am also the prime facilitator for another project team of about 15 people, half of which are contractors. Like most people, I also have my own work projects and initiatives, as well as huge laundry list of personal items to keep up with.

At first I was a little turned off by the 55 super-short chapters, each of which is 1-2 pages in length and has a "What? So What? Now what?" layout. The writing quality seemed only average, and I was left thinking "Is that it?" after each chapter. However, after I finished the book rather quickly and then got bogged down in Getting Things Done, I realized that this is a pretty good layout for the target audience - people who feel too busy to read a book on productivity.

Many of the observations seem obvious, but that is one of the key messages of the book: we're all making this stuff away too complicated. How many of us take ten minutes each morning to set a focus and key priority list for the day? Or do we omit that simple step, or fall into the trap of checking email "just for a few minutes" first and then get seduced into following little shiny objects all day while missing the big picture?

The "Five Decisions" chapters - Discard, Delegate, Take Immediate Action, Put in a Reference File, and File for Follow-up - are important but I think are covered better in the other book. About half of the other chapters really resonated with me, which made it worthwhile overall. However, the author lost me when he spent 10 chapters describing a paper filing system with folders for each day of the month plus various other files. I agree that people shouldn't expect software and tools to solve all their problems, but I think a PDA or list software like Remember the Milk is much better than a paper system for anyone who works in multiple locations or is "on the go". I felt like he was being a bit techno-phobic, sort of like the guys who insist that LP records are better than CDs or MP3s.

Really the best way to improve your organization habits is to browse several books and articles on the topic, note the themes that recur (like planning time, grouping tasks by project or goal, etc.) and then choose a couple of things to focus on. I'd recommend this book as one of those resources but not the best-written or only one.

Chris Crouch's "Getting Organized: Improving Focus, Organization and Productivity" is a fine read which accomplishes what all good teachers do best: Imparting with vivid good humor and simplicity the wisdoms of processes taken beyond the classroom. The target audience here, primarily workers in any workplace, calls for a most delicate balancing act: Being thoughtful and succinctly explaining the theory, practice, and results of a disciplined approach to Organization. Mr. Crouch accomplishes this masterfully with anecdotes, explanations, and his "master teacher" persona.

You won't get rich from simply reading a "How to Get Rich" book and you won't get organized and productive from just reading any book - you have to take action and implement the ideas.

I have used the principles and ideas outlined in "Getting Organized" for several years and found them to be extremely valuable.

Becoming more organized and productive is not a matter of what type of filing system or PDA you use, it involves making a habit of organized and productive behavior.

This book provides concrete tools for forming those habits. Simply outstanding!

Crouch has some very solid ideas here, with practical applications. Worth looking at.

More at: Some thoughts from the book "Getting Organized" by Chris Crouch
[...]

This is a very good book to help you get organized. I originally had a three star and changed it to a four star. So many of this book's best elements are also found in David Allen's Getting Things Done. I read Allen's book last year and it knocked my socks off. When I read this, I wasn't as impressed as I would have if I read Crouch's before Allen's (they're both obviously drawing some of the best tidbits from some of the same material that preceded them). They have many, many of the same very helpful tips. The advantage of Crouch's is that is has short digestible chapters. However, an overall approach does not clearly emerge, just a bunch of big and small organizing ideas. An advantage of Allen's is that you get a clear, overarching approach into which all those good tips suggested in these books fit. Allen's chapters are longer, and though very readable, can get a little bogged down compared to Crouch. If I had only one book to buy, I'd get Allen's. However, I'm glad I read Crouch's because it has given me a refresher.

Getting organized is a major issue for many of us (I work two jobs, both of which require me to maintain an office). While one book may do it for some, I strongly believe that major habit changes will more likely come if you really plunge into an area like this. That means reading Crouch's book, Allen's book, and even Julie Morganstern's Organizing from the Inside Out. While Allen and Crouch focus on the office and home office (mail, home files, etc.), Morgenstern also covers garage, basement, closets, etc. I'm serious, to change the way you look at things, you need to read several books and make yourself an "expert." Otherwise, it will be a book you read that you're not likely to act on.

I read them in the order of 1) Allen, 2) Morgenstern and 3) Crouch. If any readers will choose to read all three of these, I'd recommend Crouch first, then Allen, then Morgenstern. Crouch will lure you in with his short little chapters (once you get past his too many introductory-type chapters before you get into the good stuff). Then, reinforce what you learn by reading a lot of overlapping stuff in Allen's book, but Allen will give you an outline or framework that ties it all together. Then, move on from the office to your closets and garage with Morgenstern. Of the three, Allen was the best for me, but I needed the others to sustain my momentum. Good luck!

I was introduced to the book recently, with the author presenting at the local public library. Over 100 people showed up from all walks of life, and all seemed to have benefited from the approach he takes on creativity.

The book is an excellent guide on how to change your critical thinking processes into creative thinking processes.

His work even helps deal with stressful issues- you shortly find new ways to tackle problems - and sometimes even find new opportunities. I recommend this book to anyone who is ready to realize the importance of creative action in their lives.

Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

This book is based on the outstanding premise that how we think is more important than what we know. Tim explains why thinking skills are likely to be even more important in the rapidly changing future. The book then expands on exactly what productive thinking is and why we need to do it! Although initially based on the proven concepts of the Osborne Parnes Creative Problem Solving Model, Productive Thinking takes the ideas of divergent and convergent thinking, and together with an excellent choice of thinking tools and techniques, weaves them together in the 6 step Productive Thinking Model. Elegant in design, thoroughly researched and proven in practice. An easy to read and very informative piece of work. Well done Tim.

Ken Wall - Australia

Thinking is intuitive. Thinking is common sense. Thinking is hard wired into humans. If all this is true, more people would put common sense into common action. It's not the case, though is it?.

When one understands, one can make decisions more easily, more quickly and more correctly. Tim Hurson's book whacks it out of the park so well, we purchased 150 copies for clients and will follow up with them to make sure they read it and, well "Think Better" to dramatically improve their business.

As Tim writes on page 10 of his must read book, "The ability to think better will soon become the most significant competitive advantage companies and individuals can claims. Thinking better is what it's all about."

Our company trains insurance agents (Throw the eggs now) to help their employer clients better understand what they pay so dearly for. The word insurance seems to connote the worst images...an intangible concept that is difficult to understand, costs too much and does not perform when one needs it.

Page 88-Perceive a problem. Pick a solution. Do something. Finding the real problem to create broader solutions takes training. Tim shows one how to analyze properly, find the solution and implement. Not only is one step difficult for too many business people, but putting all three into action, is almost impossible for most. Isn't the goal to at least beat Paretto's 80-20 principle?

The insurance business is replete with "This is how it's always been done. This is the way to do it now." If readers will follow Tim's Productive Thinking Model framework, it will help them think better, think more effectively, and think more powerfully. We'll finally hear no more "This is how it's always been done."

Makes sense to us. It will to you also.

Tim Hurson's "Think Better" is not a treatise for armchair philosophers but an action-packed thriller, an exciting travel guide from theory to practice.

Productive thinking, Hurson argues, generates new things, as opposed to reproductive thinking, which refines what is known. It is the deliberate search for breakthrough rather than incremental change and it is powered by the alternation of creative and critical thinking.

The book presents a model which includes a rigorous method and superb practical tools and techniques that have been designed, developed and successfully tested in real life by the author. In the process, thinkers are urged to balance facts and feelings, information and imagination, aspirations and action and persevere through the "third third" of the brainstorm - that final stretch where the really great ideas emerge.

The clear writing style and the well-organized content are enhanced by quality story-telling that gives the book soul, with true stories (hospitals, insurance companies, furniture, space travel) as well as imaginary ones (how an airline might make its middle seats attractive).

Tim Hurson has clearly done a lot of productive thinking about productive thinking in this contemporary and comprehensive work, which constitutes a major contribution to the literature of creatively confronting challenges.

THINK BETTER by Tim Hurson is a thorough presentation of highly useful working tools for creative idea generation to creative problem solving.

Though I have been teaching the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process Model since 1978 I learned many things through the complete presentation that Tim makes in THINK BETTER.

In the book he provides his interpretation of the OP CPS Process and adds several excellent tools to make the OP CPS Process more effective in either workplace or personal problems.

This is an excellent book for people who are trying to learn much about how to use a complete process fro examining challenges, generating ideas, narrowing down those ideas into potential solutions and developing workable plans and to go through a planning process in order to increase the potential results.

I'm so thankful to have stumbled upon this book. It's the first one that truly addresses my work situation. Many similar books focus on managerial skills and delegating. If I could delegate all my work away, I wouldn't need a book! This book shows you strategies and gives you tools to get on top of huge amounts of work/information coming at you every day. The author obviously has a passion for his subject matter and his eagerness to impart it to those in need is apparent as the book is fun and inspiring. There are actually 21 points you can ponder and/or implement - my favorite is what the author has dubbed The Turtle, a prioritized pile of active tasks. I actually keep a turtle keychain on top of my pile! There are strategies to work with it, as there are for all the points covered (others include focusing, e-mail, voicemail, sorting, filing). If you follow the author's advice, you can trust the process as your job runs like a well-oiled machine!

When I read other reviews I was skeptical that a book could help me be more productive. But, I knew that I needed help and I decided to buy and read this book. I am so impressed with the help and guidance given in this short manual, I recommend it highly to everyone. I was able to quickly purge my office and workspace and organize my projects and work. Read It!

This book made me think, and gave me some good ideas about personal productivity. I disagreed with some parts of his system, but still a useful read.

More at: Some thoughts on the book "The Instant Productivity Toolkit"
http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2006/07/some-thoughts-on-book-instant.html

If you want to become organized, read Len Merson's Instant Productivity Toolkit. As a student, I had taken organizational classes; as a Mayor and a business person, I spent countless hours asking others about their organizational systems, adopted some, discarded others, but all failed in the end. I needed a system for the vast number of e-mail, voicemail, letters, faxes, texts, meetings and other demands placed on me from multiple directions. I needed ways to communicate multi stepped processes to others without confusion. I always felt there was a system that met these demands, and became convinced there were elements of success that were eluding me.

I feel I am a smart person, but organization just seemed to escape me. Perhaps it was not possible to juggle so many things at once. Though I had the desire to learn and could imagine what it might be like to be more organized, I could not seem to achieve it.

One day, on a whim, I went to Borders to look at books on organization. I looked at the Idiots and Dummies books, and many others. I bought Len's book in the end because he promised a system that would make sense. It struck a chord and once I bought it I dug in. I have dog-eared it, book marked it, read it backwards and forwards, taken notes, and feel that it is an easy program to understand. It is simple. It centers on minimizing distractions and maximizing efficiency.

How many times do you move a paper, note or pile? Do you even know? When I first bought the book, I had no idea and tried counting one day to see how many times I moved different items on my desk before I actually dealt with them. Some items got moved 13 times prior to completion!

If you want to learn simple techniques - not tricks, not illusions, not gimmicks - read the Instant Productivity Toolkit. Len teaches you how to be organized. He shows you what to do with different pieces of information such as how to identify them and properly place them into a workflow system. The system in turn helps you identify next steps in advance of deadlines so that you look good at work, feel good about your work, and feel great leaving work.

If you want to reclaim your life, invest a few dollars in your technique and buy the Instant Productivity Toolkit. It is the best book on organization and fulfillment you will ever purchase.

I can't speak highly enough of this book, it is the answer to many of my problems around getting things done timely: lack of clarity, procrastination, endless mind chatter around tasks. Within one week, following the book's instruction and using its process flow, I finished several big personal tasks/projects that have been laying around for months in some of my many trays at home. I was so happy and proud looking at my clean/empty office room and the tasks I was able to accomplish efficiently with undivided attention.

I always had the motivation to get things done, read widely about the subject, tried different systems... with quite limited success at home. I constantly felt the deep pain of not being able to effectively get personal projects done, it wasn't until this weekend did I realize that how much energy those mental chatters have cost me: it literally deflates the spirit. I didn't have a good system; luckily I found this book -- it offers an excellent and simple system.

One key benefit I reap from reading this book is that, I was able to finish 4 evening/weekend sessions of self-study on my chosen subjects outside home this past week, guilt free and highly concentrated: because the other tasks had been/was being taken care of effectively so no worries. 20% of our activities produce 80% of the accomplishments according to the 80-20 principle, for me studying these subjects and applying them is one of my core value-producing activities; however before I was so bogged down by my unfinished tasks, therefore most if not all my time was spent on those 80% low-value producing activities. Now this is the start of freedom...

I know for a fact that the inability to create clarity and order in their lives has cost some people so much: inner peace, relationships, money (in terms of lost opportunities), time could be better spent in nature and/or with family. It's literally life losing touch with its unlimited nature. Worse, I think some people live in mild depression simply because the sight and feel of not processing their tasks timely hunts them day and night... this book could change life. I think productivity & being organized is one of the very few core skills that is mandated if we yearn for personal/inner freedom, and this book offers such a wonderful , brilliant solution.

It's time to create clarity within and externally, I wrote this to encourage myself and fellow travelers. Many thanks to the author!

This book presents some interesting concepts on Process Design and Performance.

Don't let the date this book was published influence your decision to buy - it is timeless. I am on my second copy of this book and would characterize it as the best book on business process management that has ever been published. This is "The Book". Everyone I know in the Business Process Management field has this book. I recommend it to every client and every business improvement team member that I work with.

The information contained in this "gem" can help anyone involved in process improvement. Consultants, executives, managers, process team leaders, process team members - it doesn't matter whether you are working in manufacturing, finance, logistics, sales or human resources. It also doesn't matter whether you are new to BPM or have been in the field for 20 years. This book will change the way you think about organizational structure and approaching business process.

Trying to characterize what parts of the book were best, would be like trying to dissect what parts of the blue sky you like best. It is all great stuff - each chapter is better than the next, and will help you understand what needs to be done to make business improvement initiatives work. It is well written, easy to understand the concepts, with hundreds of useful illustrations and models to learn from.

I would give this book 6 stars if I could ...

This book will survive the trends, since most of the trends are based on the principles in this book. The names will change (Quality Circles, Just In Time, TQM, Re-engineering, Six Sigma, ...), but these principles and how well they are implemented will determine a companies' efficiency and quality.

As a business process and systems analyst, I have used the techniques in this book extensively to document existing and proposed processes and systems.

The diagramming techniques ensure thorough identification of all relevant interfaces and will assist in identifying those frustrating and toxic business processes that defy verbal description, but once diagrammed, seem to become clearly understood. I cannot count how many "Ah-ha" moments I have seen when confused managers, too deep in the trees to be able to see the whole forest, finally see the problems with their business laid out in clear pictures drawn with the techniques taught in this book.

This is by far the first book that dealt with process improvement and change from all angles. This book provides examples that will help the novice in preparing and implementing change. Packed with examples and worksheets to guide the reader thru the whole process. However, since it was written in 1995, this book does not cover prevailing technologies but is still useful in understanding the foundations for change. If you are looking to implement business process change/improvement, read this book in conjunction with a more recent book by Paul Harmon "Business Process Change" who happens to be a student of Mr. Rummler. Paul Harmon's book cover such topics as CMM and Six Sigma when implementing process change.

This is a fantastic book that has provided me with some vital tools for altering my life in almost every facet for the better. The key in reading this book is to take away the nuggets of wisdom and apply them to your own life. Dr. Fiore provides some easily-accessibly techniques that a reader can use to identify and overcome the fears and hesitancies that have been holding him or her back. As the book explains, the origins of those psychological obstacles that prevent us from making the best decisions in our lives usually lie in experiences buried in our pasts. Unfortunately we tend to let our past experiences control our present actions, even when we realize that may not be the best course of action. This book can shows how you can get out of this quandry. Whether you want to break away from the detrimental influences of your past and start a new chapter of your life, or if you just want to improve some aspect of your behavior (and I would say almost every human being has something that he or she should look to improve on), this book has much to offer.

Awaken Your Strongest Self: Break Free of Stress, Inner Conflict
and Self-Sabotage
(McGraw-Hill; November 2006; $21.95, 0071470263
Author: Neil Fiore


Neil Fiore has written a masterful book on self-empowerment. He invokes the latest neuroscience to point out that the destructive habits that limit our creativity and productivity arise from the primitive drives and fears of the lower brain mechanisms. To break free of these limiting patterns, Fiore suggests that we make use of the "new human brain" located in the prefrontal cortex.

The primary strategy presented in Awaken Your Strongest Self is to shift gradually from a limited sense of self, shaped by outdated beliefs and coping dynamics of the primitive brain to one's "Strongest Self." Fiore outlines five negative patterns that can be reduced or resolved through the Strongest Self program: Stress and fear, inner conflict and procrastination, overwhelm and confusion, self-criticism and self-blame, and struggle and loneliness.

The author includes many practical, highly effective tools to help the reader in this quest within a four stage model: Making Up Your Mind, Committing to Change, Taking Action, and Maintaining Long-Term Success. Chapters follow that teach readers how to engage their strongest selves. For example, the book suggests imagining that five years have passed and feeling the pain of staying the same as part of the decision to change; rating the strength of intentions and motivations as part of the commitment stage; catching yourself doing something right during the action stage, and emphasizes ways of overcoming setbacks as part of ensuring long-term accomplishment.

Particularly helpful are the chapters on how to awaken specific qualities of the strongest self. I especially liked the focus exercises "Create A Psychological Safety Net to Stop Unnecessary Stress," the "Now I'm Aware of..." exercise, "One Rapid, Focused Breath" and the use of mission statements to move progress along.

Any reader interested in permanent self-change will benefit from this well-conceived book. Don't miss out on this one!

Yes, the book description and the customer reviews sound like they came straight from an infomercial. Yes, of course you've read more self-help books than you can count, and they didn't really help because a lot of the stuff in them didn't apply to you. Yes, this is a hardcover book and yes, I too prefer paperbacks. Now buy this book. You'll be doing yourself a favor. Then buy it again when it comes out on trade paperback, because it really is that good! Many thanks to Dr. Fiore for writing the last self-help book I'm ever gonna read. And also my apologies for not reading The Now Habit first.

If you have any troubling self doubts or irritating habits that you would like to change, Dr Fiore has written this book for you. While the book is relatively small the ideas contained in it are not. What you will find is a well considered, well organized, complete program to help you make the changes that you want. The program starts with assessing motivation for change and concludes with relapse prevention techniques. Exercises, rating scales and worksheets are included. The reader is asked to use a notebook to record their answers to key questions and to track their progress. It's all here for anyone seriously considering changing themselves.

This amazing book is like an owner's manual for the human brain. It also captures the reader's interest, which is a novel attribute for any self-help book. It provides you with a complete set of tools for coping with any situation. My copy has become a reference book, riddled with tape flags.

Dr. Fiore initially illustrates and explains the components and attributes of the human brain, providing a foundation for understanding common human reactions to life's challenges. He then guides you through a remarkable process of replacing ineffective, self-sabotaging thoughts and behavioral patterns with new and powerful mental strengths, greater wisdom and self-confidence. The accounts of his own and his clients' experiences help to reinforce the process throughout the book.

By practicing the simple exercises at the end of each chapter, you learn how to access and utilize your inherent genius and creativity by awakening your Strongest Self, with all parts of the brain working together. Achieving goals and taking charge of your life becomes a simple process. Whatever issues confront you -- feeling overwhelmed, anxious, struggling, depressed -- can be dealt with calmly and competently.

I believe everyone would benefit by reading this book, as I certainly have, and predict that it will soon play an essential role in psychotherapeutic treatment.

Upgrade Your Life is a great book. I've followed the blog for several years, but it's nice to have an analog version when you want to practice the best techniques available.

Recommended for information or technology workers who need to get more productive to survive and/or avoid insanity.

I suspect most people will find some useful tips in this book. As always, they are only useful if you actually do them. But many are fairly simple to implement which helps! And the book is written so you can go immediately to those areas of most interest to you, if you like.

Great book. Very good to organize your life and ways to work. It should include more contents special for geek and very technical computer user. It is a must have for those who worry about get organized and get the things done! :)

I'm not the most disorganized person on the planet, but I'm not the most organized either. I found the book to be a good reference and helpful in getting things organized. The chapter on e-mails - first chapter - actually worked. I feel my inbox is managed well. 200 new messages a day (that's not as much as some folks!) and I'm breezing through them without backlog. On the down side, I found a few tips a little too "organized" for my taste. I'm more about simple effective solutions and this book provides quite a few. It's well worth the investment.

This is a collection of hints, tips and hacks for the technologically inclined. Areas covered are email, organizing your data, tricks to overcome your procrastination, clearing your mind, focusing your attention, streamlining common tasks, mastering the web, honing your computer survival skills and managing multiple computers.

Not at all ironically, the people for whom this book will be most useful - real geeks - will already know some, not all, of these things. I am most definitely a geek, but I did learn many new things and happy for that.

In some ways, the book will a half-loaf for many. There's a lot of Macintosh stuff that will not be helpful to Windows users and vice-versa. There's Windows Vista material that will not be useful to those (most of us, perhaps?) who are sticking with Windows XP. But this is not a major problem: the book has so much good stuff in it, that there is plenty for everyone.

Trapani's writing style is wonderfully clear, direct and concise.

Overall, other than calling it useful, versatile, eclectic and well-done, this book is difficult to classify. It merges real life (remembering to pick up the milk) with the technical (setting up a VPN) and lots, lots more. It is definitely a fun book to browse, packed with lots of great information.

A very worthwhile addition to your library.

Jerry

Life at the human resources salt mines has been transformed since reading Richard Whiteley's excellent motivational guide. He found new zest and enthusiasm in his career and so did I and his personal testimony is genuinely moving. "Watching the contestants actually getting excited being on my show used to give me a kick, but it soon palled. Slopping up this pre-primetime pap day-in-day-out was quite frankly doing my nut in and, though it may not have seemed that way, my ability to engage in on-screen anodyne banter was affected. I was in a rut. Career worries spilled out into my private life, and I wince when I think of all the drunken I-could-have-been-a-contender speeches I made to all those anonymous barflies. I'll be honest with you - I wanted Call My Bluff, and yes, I did once say that I wanted Robertson whacked." But Whiteley pulled himself back and the rest is history.

"Love the Work You're With" is about what you can do to improve your current work situation...no matter who you are or what your job is. It makes a strong case that virtually anyone who works can find more fulfillment in their current job situation than they are currently experiencing. The message isn't about not changing jobs. Rather it is about auditing your situation and finding out what you can do to improve it before you take such a step. The book has self-assessment diagnostics to help the reader determine where he/she stands on vital issues and also offers many exercises that support him/her in creating a strategy for change. The last chapter is specifically written for managers and leaders to help them create the kind of work environment the will help people who work for them to love their work.

Your job can be a prison or a palace. For most of us, work probably falls somewhere in between, but we usually don't acknowledge - or even realize - how much control we have in the matter. If you've ever wondered what you can do to improve the satisfaction and pleasure you get from work - without making a wrenching career change - this book is a wonderful place to start. I read a lot of self-help books (and occasionally even write them). This one is chock full of practical wisdom. Buy it.

The dot-gone economy has taught millions that changing jobs is not the solution to success in work or life. Love The Work Your're With provides a road-map and tools to find personal and professional fulfillment at work. Each of the six steps in Whiteley's approach provide specific assessments, tools, and strategies to increase your level of engagement and energy at work. This book is highly readable, entertaining, inspiring, and filled with great examples. It is a must have self-help tool-kit for workers in today's complex work world. As a professional coach, I find this book to be essential for both my clients and their managers. If you've ever struggled with committment at work, read this book!

An excellent addition to my growing Richard Whiteley collection, this book does not disappoint! I have used Mr. Whiteley?s strategies/thinking from his previous works to effectively shape my company?s customer experience model. While the principles in this new book have certainly helped me personally become more motivated/productive, I have begun to use the principles in LTWYW to shape a more positive internal employee culture, thus extending our productivity and enhancing our customer service experience. An excellent book with a clear purpose and applicability!

I wish that this book had been written years ago. It is an excellent read.
A close friend recommended this remarkable book to me. I'm greatful he did because I was in need of this book.
I can tell the author has done his due diligence in researching goal setting and time management, and that he really enjoys writing about these subjects. I would pass this book on to a friend or family member in a heartbeat!

Self-help books rarely accomplish what Le Blanc is able to do in ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES MADE EASY! For starters, he does give his readers easy ways to set goals, manage time, and be more successful in their professional and private lives. In short, by accomplishing his own goal to offer practical tools and techniques, he helps us to make our lives more than simply manageable but more meaningful.

Le Blanc has clearly accomplished this in his own life, and nothing is more inspiring than knowing an author practices what he preaches. Presenting us with simple ways to help balance our days, select priorities, and have plans of action, he offers a platter upon which we can place our clutter, eliminate energy drainage and avoid the pitfalls of procrastination. Ultimately, he empowers us with motivation, the motivation we all need to be successful.

In the fast-paced rat race of 21st century life, Le Blanc offers building blocks to living with less stress, thereby increasing the potential for us to be more spiritual, while improving our finances, as well as our professional and personal relationships. He provides not only techniques but wisdom. Most importantly, perhaps, he gives us hope that dreams can be realized! Bravo! A real contribution!

Linda Appleman Shapiro, Psychotherpist,
Author: FOUR ROOMS, UPSTAIRS: A Psychotherapist's Journey Into And Beyond Her Mother's Mental Illness

Thanks to this book I'm able to do much more in less time ! Now I understand how important setting goals is and even more important how easy it is and the fun and joy it brings.

I've been jazzed to read the incorporated wisdom/life benefits of self-management as presented by the author.

This book touched my soul! I wanted to apply many of the insights and tips immediately. I highly recommend!

This book provides a great tool to de-stress and learn the important things in life. Don't get hung up on the little things that you turn into big things. A must read for every couple juggling work and family especially the new generation of 30 something that grew up living at a faster pace.

We all need to learn ways to de-stress and provide balance in life. Neetti has guided me through this path and offers her lessons here in this great book. Full of insights that are uncommon from the traditional "self-help" book, Neeti shows us the tools and mindset to discover what matters most and to do so with less stress.