We scrolled through our kindles, cupboards, and the backseats of our cars to bring you the best books on efficiency that weren’t full of fluff and were suitable for authors. They all contain efficiency hacks making them efficiency experts, but we’ll let you be the judge…
THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE: POWERFUL LESSONS IN PERSONAL CHANGE, BY STEPHEN COVEY
It’s a classic!! From the time-warping 1989!
This classic is all about goal setting, working out your priorities, and becoming proactive while being nice about it. It’s all about the big-picture, of having your end goal in mind while keeping a positive win-win mindset.
Not suitable for those who don’t remember using an analogue television to know who the author is referring to in the book. Still a classic, says those of us nodding as we sit in our creaky rocking chairs on the front porch.
Book Quote: “To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”
THE ONE THING: THE SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE TRUTH BEHIND EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS BY GARY KELLER
It’s a remarkably simple and powerful process of focusing on one thing at a time to help with your work productivity and other areas of your life.
There. Is. So. Much. Going. On. In this book.
What you need to figure out is your One Big Thing, and then you get to hammer on it. You’re to drill down as you limit your distractions while culling out the options to focus on The One Thing.
And if you focus on that One Thing, it’ll pay off in the long run!
An entertaining book found on AMAZON>>
Book Quote: “You can’t focus effectively on two things at once … When you focus, it’s like shining a spotlight on what matters. You.”
ESSENTIALISM: THE DISCIPLINED PURSUIT OF LESS BY GREG MCKEOWN
Again, it’s all about prioritising your goals and tasks. It totally booted the idea of multi-tasking out the car door to leave it behind on some long-forgotten freeway.
It’s like spring-clinging your mental closet of tasks YOU DON’T NEED.
It’s about getting rid of all the non-essential tasks, with a gladiator war-cry of enthusiasm that shouts N.O.
You’ll learn to get hyper-focused and forget about tweaking your website for the thirtieth time that day, where you’ll choose to slam out your word counts tally of the day, instead.
This book helps you to prioritise what’s worthy of your time — your big-picture goals.
Book Quote: “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK (ESCAPE 9-5, LIVE ANYWHERE, AND JOIN THE NEW RICH) BY TIMOTHY FERRISS
So, with the reservation of an old-school professor stoking on his greying beard, we erred on the cautious side of adding this book to the efficiency list. It’s here because we all had a copy tucked away.
Here’s why we hesitate…
The $50k per year, Princeton graduate, dishes out his brass-knuckle-dirt book on efficiency secrets, which is all about hiring people in poorer countries to do all the work for him. And that’s it.
This book is more about living for today. There are a lot of handy tips and strategies to help you, where you learn about the art of delegating and about working smarter, not harder. So, you be the judge.
Book Quote: “Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner.”
MAKE TIME: HOW TO FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS EVERY DAY BY JAKE KNAPP AND JOHN ZERATSKY
This was a fun book on learning how to say NO by taking control and shutting out the noise to knuckle down.
It’s a book on efficiency such as sharing tips on deleting email, blocking out time on their calendars, and removing distracting apps from your phone. It covers the benefits of batching the petty stuff to clear space for the big stuff in this easy-to-read book with plenty of cool pictures.
The thank you list of people who helped the authors of this book is phenomenal.
Book Quote: “Perfection is a distraction—another shiny object taking your attention away from your real priorities.”
ATOMIC HABITS BY JAMES CLEAR
The planet’s most popular book on efficiency gives you a proven strategy that by changing habits bit by bit, can lead to some amazing results.
There was lots of useful information about building good habits, replacing bad ones, and how to become more efficient with your time. It’s not you — it’s your system that is letting you down. Ah-ha!
It’s those bad habits that tempt, taunt and grind away at your willpower until there’s nothing left but powder dust from 1911. This book can help you achieve your goals via the compound effect of one tiny step at a time towards remarkableness. It’s those small daily habits that add up to the bigger picture.
Book Quote: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
DO THESE BOOKS ON EFFICIENCY WORK?
That depends on you. If anything, you may pick up some hacks to improve your productivity and efficiency, but it may also give you that inspiration to strive higher for success.
It’s all about investing your time in yourself.
These books offer time management tips and efficient organisational hacks to help you get more out of your day to achieve your goals. They can help you clarify your priorities and hopefully lessen stress.
Hey, just taking the time to sit back and read will help you too. So, take five and read about improving what you do.
But they won’t do anything for you unless you know what you want in Your Author Goals, but we can help with that HERE >>
