You may have noticed a recent backlash against productivity in some parts of the personal development community. If you have found yourself second guessing the value of this subject, it may be worth going back to a very simple question: “why be productive?”
The first idea in The Little Book of Productivity, the new e-book written by Scott Young, is to understand the reasons for wanting to get more done in less time. Many of you will be familiar with Scott’s work from his regular contributions to Pick The Brain over the past year and his own self-titled blog, Scott H Young.
Of course everyone will have their own individual reasons for wanting to be productive. Personally, productivity is a subject I have taken an interest in due to the pressures of working two jobs and being the father of two boys under the age of two. I need to be able to get things done quickly and efficiently. As Scott points out, by becoming aware of these reasons you will be naturally motivated to stay productive instead of slipping into lazy habits.
There are many more excellent ideas in this book, including timeboxing, sprinting theory, Hofstadter’s Rule and operant conditioning. And that is exactly what The Little Book of Productivity is: a book of ideas. Scott’s book looks at 99 ideas related to productivity, with each idea taking up one page.
The book is very well organized (as you would hope a productivity book would be) and covers the following topics:
- Beating Procrastination
- Becoming Organized
- Staying Energized
- Getting Things Finished
- Automate Your Routine
- Productivity Hacks
- Doing the Right Work
Returning to my first point in this review – the backlash against productivity – I would like to point out that a book such as this doesn’t pretend to be answering life’s big questions. But there are plenty of other books for that. The Little Book of Productivity does, however, hope to improve your life. And as I’m sure you will agree, sometimes it only takes one idea to do this.
If you are interested in The Little Book of Productivity you can purchase a copy for $9.95 USD by clicking the following button:
If you would like to know more about this e-book, Scott has made the first chapter available to read for free here.
Thanks for the link to the first chapter. I’ll be looking at this book tonight.
I downloaded the first chapter and it’s very helpful. Thank you Scott and Peter.
Great to hear Marelisa. Sales have been strong so it seems many people have enjoyed that first chapter.
It is interesting this backlash against productivity. I have to admit to sitting on the fence, despite articles of mine like this – http://snurl.com/lazydude
On the one hand I am pretty busy and fond of getting things done effectively.
On the other, I despise twiddly, look-at-everything-in-minor-detail kind of thinking that a lot of productivity proponents recommend. I also hate that stressful feeling I get when reading these kinds of articles.
Maybe that’s where the backlash lies – against the stress reaction to these kinds of articles – which is funny because people who embrace productivity do it to reduce stress!
I think I am pretty happy to muddle along in a state of blissful chaos, but then I get to work doing things I really enjoy which is very motivating.
[...] the Brain is offering The Little Book of Productivity for just over seven dollars. Peter also has a great, in-depth review of the book if you want to know more about it. The [...]
Peter,
Thank you very much for this link. I have purchased the book!
I am a huge proponent of productivity. Whether it means getting more done in the same amount of time, or getting the same done in less time, either way I have more time to do the truly fun things in my life.
Whenever I start to work on my own personal productivity, I get backlash. It’s my old habits saying, “I don’t want to do this. It’s hard. I have to be disciplined. Why can’t we go back to the old way of just doing whatever is the most past due? I get a major adrenaline boost out of always being behind. Maybe I’m addicted to that panicky feeling of not knowing what isn’t getting done.”
Ugh. It makes me feel crazy. I hate that