Genres: Productivity
Atomic Habits – James Clear
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This is my second read through Atomic Habits (my original review) and I didn’t come into it thinking it would be all that great. I expected that all these years later I’d look at it like many productivity books I read, simplistic and missing so much context for anyone that wasn’t a white dude. I’m…
Four Thousand Weeks – Oliver Burkeman
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Four Thousand Weeks is a productivity book less about cranking out more tasks every week and more about making you take stock of the things you’re doing so that you don’t waste your time with meaningless tasks. As the book states, you have about four thousand weeks on the earth, so what are you going…
Eat that Frog – Brian Tracy
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This book is all about doing the hardest thing in your day first so that if you don’t get to much else, at least you’ve got the hardest things done. While I felt it was a rehash of many of the ideas I’ve read about in productivity books, there are a few new ideas and…
Against Creativity – Oli Mould
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In Against Creativity, Oli Mould, takes a critical look at the creativity the world wants to push on us. Your boss cuts funding and says that you need to be “creative” to provide the same level of service with half the employees. What they really mean is you should work extra hours for the same…
Saving Time – Jenny Odell
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This is Jenny Odells attempt to make sense of time outside of how capitalism tells us we should view time, the relentless pursuit of productivity at the expense of inhabiting the life around us. This is much more a philosophical book than practical one. Jenny offers little advice on how to break out of working…
Clear Thinking – Shane Parrish
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Shane Parrish, of Farnham Street fame, brings us a book that is intended to help us think clearly. The first half is all about defining the enemies of clear thinking and the second is about putting clear thinking into practice in our lives. While there are many good tidbits to take away from the book…
Slow Productivity – Cal Newport
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Slow Productivity is Cal Newport’s 4th book looking at how to be productive and maximize your career. As such it blends portions of all the previous books, adding a few bits and rehashing many of the same principles explore in earlier books. As the title suggests it focuses on working a slower pace, on fewer…
So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport
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This is Cal Newport’s investigation of what it takes to be so good at your job, that you can’t be ignored. Unlike many online personalities, he doesn’t tell you to follow your passion, in fact he feels it leads to a life of disappointment as you continue to fail to find the “right” career and…
Barking Up The Wrong Tree – Eric Barker
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Eric Barker is going to be the new guru that saves us from all the other gurus that purport to know how to achieve success, by turning to science to tell us what matters in our quest for success. Yes it matters more if your boss likes you than if you are good at your…
I Didn’t Do The Thing Today – Madeline Dore
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Madeline Dore takes a hard look at the poisonous productivity culture that has permeated our lives and gives readers tools to reject it. No you don’t need to find the best morning routine on YouTube, or the best task manager and system to use it. You need to take a break, visit a friend with…
