Books, Books, Books: Sharing the Wealth

I’ve always been an avid reader on non-fiction for a long time.  Specifically, any book that taught me how to do something that I didn’t already know how to do generated a great interest in me. 

I’ve collected books as long as I can remember.  My current library has over 700 books in it.  So today, I’ll share the wealth and share a list of my books on the topic of time management from my collection:

• Getting Things Done – David Allen (I had to have two copies (the hard covers) of this…you just never know what’s going to happen.  I also own the CD collection, the templates and “Getting Things Done…Fast”  CD collection.)  Hey, David: I should at least get an email for that! 
• Ready for Anything – David Allen (Yep, got a spare for this one, too)
• The On Time, On Target Manager – Ken Blanchard
• How to Make the Most of Your Day – Peg Pickering
• Time Management for Dummies – Jeffery Mayer
• Time Management Made Easy – Peter Turla & Kathleen L. Hawkins
• Do It Now!: Break the Procrastination Habit – William J. Knaus
• Time Power – Brian Tracy
• 201 Ways to Manage Your Time Better – Alan Axelrod & Jim Holtje
• Eat That Frog – Brian Tracy
• The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey – Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr, & Hal Burrows
• The 80/20 Principle – Richard Koch
• Getting It Done – Roger Fisher & Alan Sharp
• Make Things Happen – Edited by Steve Smith
• The Organized Executive – Stephanie Winston
• Time Tactics of Very Successful People – B. Eugene Griessman
• Time Management for Busy People – Roberta Roesch
• Take Back Your Life – Sally McGhee
• No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs – Dan Kennedy
• The Overwhelmed Person’s Guide to Time Management – Ronni Eisenberg w/ Kate Kelly
• To Do…Doing…Done! – G. Lynne Snead & Joyce Wycoff (A new addition…liked it so much I bought a second copy)
• Make Time – Kris Cole
• The Procrastinator’s Guide to Success –  Lynn Lively
• Time Power – Charles R. Hobbs (My first time management book I purchased in the mid 1980’s)
• The Time Trap – Alec MacKenzie
• The Personal Efficiency Program – Kerry Gleeson
• Organized for Success – Stephanie Winston
• Time Management from the Inside Out – Julie Morgenstern

::: Key :::

Easy to incorporate into my system and whose strategies I use on a daily basis.  I would buy this book again.  I would run back in my burning house to get this one.
These are books I find were too philosophical for my taste (I like concrete things I can do and systems I can follow).  If my house was on fire, I’d leave it.  If you have it and like it, don’t take offense…I just wasn’t that into it.

What books out there have I missed?

Comments

[Kevin]

Great list for anyone to get started in this GTD craze. Yes, stuff that lets you get up and go straightaway appeals to me too.

[Percy]

I'm surprised that you've put so many books on the list but you don't have First Things First (Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill, Rebecca Merril) on there. Surprised because you seem to have read a LOT on this subject. Anyway, I like the concepts presented in First Things First, they've helped me a lot. I'm trying to get a hold of GTD (yes, I'm one of those heathens who've not read it yet) but I've not been able to find it so far in bookstores in Bangalore.

[Bert]

I knew I forgot one...I actually have the hardcover for that one as well. Covey, is more philosophical than David, until David hits those higher perspectives. For the most part, David is nuts-and-bolts heres-what-to-do! That is why I like him so much.

[John Richardson]

Time Management Tip: Get the audio version of the time management book so you can listen to it in the car while you are driving or put it in your I-pod and listen to it while you are running. :-)

Thanks for the reviews Bert... I agree with you that GTD should be on the top of the list!

[Steve Pavlina]

I agree with your assessments on many of these books, Bert. There are a couple books I'd recommend though where you gave a thumbs down:
Eat That Frog -- I loved this book. It's short and direct and is loaded with ideas.
The Time Trap -- An outstanding book with a great overview of time management. While I agree that it isn't really a complete system, I didn't find it hard to find ways to apply the ideas.

An audio program on time management I highly recommend is Brian Tracy's How to Master Your Time. I bought it in 1992 and have listened to it dozens of times, each time gaining new distinctions because the recordings are so densely packed with ideas.

[GBGames]

Nice collection! I am definitely adding some of those books to my already long wishlist.

This year I am keeping track of the books I read. Up until recently I didn't read much at all, but I am trying to do what many others do and read a book a week.

http://gbgames.com/BooksRead.txt

[Brian]

The Now Habit, by Neil Fiore
Published in 1988, before computers took over everything, but still an amazingly helpful book for me. I just finished reading the library's copy and ordered one for my permanent collection.

This, along with GTD, is all I think I need lately. Behind the GTD method is an assumption: If you know what you have to do, you'll do it. That's not always true for me - I tend to put off unappealing tasks more than I should.

I think of GTD as "Keeping Track of Things You're Committed to Doing." The Now Habit is, for me, how to actually get them done. The two of them together make a wonderfully helpful whole.

(Funny - at Amazon today, they've paired it up with Ready for Anything. I must not be the only one to find the combination helpful)

[wyn]

that's a great list you have. i'm impressed that you've read so many books on the topic. my usual tactic is to mutter creeds/truths that resonate with me. for example, "you're procrastinating because you dread your work. you're better off liking it and then you won't procrastinate." or by timing my tasks. or by dangling some sort of incentive in front of myself. but, hey, i'm not a time management champion most days.
i only suggest that you had grouped the list you made into a "thumbs up" group and a "thumbs down" group of easier perusal of which ones you personally recommend over the other group.

[Karen]

I agree with the thumbs up for Time Power by Brian Tracy. It has tons of fantastic advice tips.
I would also recommend checking out Jack Canfield's The Success Principles. Although it isn't wholly focused on time management, it's an unbelievable good resource to have because, in my opinion, Jack's incorporated all the best advice from his previous book into this one huge book.

[Bert]

Karen--

Thanks for the tip on "The Success Principles"! I'll have to pick uup a copy!

Bert :)

[Bert]

Wyn--

I could have sorted them by "Thumb Direction", but I just listed them as they were arranged in my book case. It was just more time-efficient to leave them that way.

Bert :)