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81 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent and refreshing book on a familiar topic., 10 Oct 2000
By A Customer
Another time management book? Another list of ideas on how to do things better, another reminder of how much more there is to do? A closer look at the title suggests something rather different "How to get everything done, and still have time to play". This book obviously isn't going to be just another conventional book repeating old formulae. When you then read in the first chapter, that Mark Forster is far from organized himself and that he regards himself as the kind of person who does his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, you know that this isn't going to be some super-efficient robotic approach. Mark's own efforts to manage his time led him into an examination of familiar time management techniques, such as "do it now", and the first part of the book is an exploration of these techniques. He shows how they might be useful, and also illustrates their limitations. He then goes on to show us that what is more helpful is to develop a "time-and-life management" system, something that can apply all of the time, rather than only in specific circumstances. Crucially, he also recognises that the reason a lot of time management schemes fail is that we have some psychological resistance to the tasks or processes in hand. Where this book excels is that Mark understands these resistances from his own experience, and shares with us his tried and tested methods for working with these resistances. Rather than suggesting techniques that go against the grain, he has developed a system that takes you through your resistance. For instance, he acknowledges that, in general, people often tend to work better in short bursts rather than long slogs. Rather than trying to change this behaviour, he his system takes full advantage of this. Reading the book and seeing the system unfold, mixed in with Mark's personal experiences, is like seeing the light. What he suggests is simple, and what is best it works. In one of the "intervals" in the book, we learn what Mark was able to achieve one "leisurely" Sunday. He runs through a whole list of achievements, work, domestic and leisure. Just when you are wondering how anyone could get so much done, he then throws in that he was also away from home for eight hours delivering presentations! As Mark says "If you want to be able to work without resistance or procrastination, so that you feel totally on top of your work without stress and pressure", then read this book. As a coach, I read a lot of personal development books. This is one I can highly recommend. It is like a breath of fresh air and will change your approach to time management forever.
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