The Productivity Project
A comparative test of the main productivity methods.
Author(s): Chris Bailey
Publisher: Crown Business
Date of publication: 2016
Manageris opinion
This book stems from a unique idea: the author tested himself, during one year, the most recommended productivity methods.
On a rather congenial and humorous tone, he also shares his failures and disappointments; the lessons he draws from them can probably make us gain time, for example by not starting our day at 5 in the morning when we are definitely not an early riser!
The author essentially presents the practices that helped him most. Some are already known, such as the fact of setting ourselves at the beginning of the day three high-priority tasks to complete. Others come from research in neurosciences and are more surprising. For example, while launching into an important activity, projecting ourselves in the future by visualizing the moment when we have achieved it: this minimizes the procrastination temptations and helps our brain make the right choices. Indeed, we prefer immediate rewards rather than those in the longer term. By projecting the moment when we stand on the podium, we find it easier to start work immediately!
This book can be read as a catalogue of good practices in which you can pick and choose those that suit you best.
See also
Taming procrastination
Tending to postpone until the next day what we could be doing that same day is a natural mechanism to manage our emotions. Rather than fighting this temptation, how can we channel it, or even take advantage of it?
Improve your personal productivity
Paradoxically, the productivity of business organizations has decreased over the past few years. Thus, our tendency to confuse being busy with being productive leads us to waste 25 to 40% of our working time. How can we gain back these lost hours?