Customer Reviews

10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to think that Hyrum W. Smith was a rough and tumble, hard line executive type whose first and only lust was the bottom line.

I was so wrong.

This is a pleasant book with a conversational tone, along the lines of Dale Carnegie. I wish my other books were so simple, and were plainly written and plainly taught. Shakespeare mentions "Simple truth miscalled simplicity," (Sonnet 66) and that "Brevity is the soul of wit." (Hamlet, Act 2, sc. ii), and Mr. Smith demonstrates his ability, again and again, to plainly teach the ten natural laws.

In fact, the tone of this book is almost grandfatherly.

The book is divided into two halves, the first half dealing with your time, the second half dealing with your life.

The first laws are (Don't get mad-you could Xerox these from a library copy!):

1. You control your life by controlling your time.
2. Your governing values are the foundation of personal fulfillment.
3. When your daily activities reflect your governing values, you experience inner peace.
4. To reach any significant goal, you must leave your comfort zone.
5. Daily planning leverages time through increased focus.

The laws regarding controlling your life are:

6. Your behavior is a reflection of what you truly believe.
7. You satisfy needs when your beliefs are line with reality.
8. Negative behaviors are overcome by changing incorrect beliefs.
9. Your self-esteem must ultimately come from within.
10. Give more, and you'll have more.

I think that the central principles are first, controlling your life and not being controlled, and second there is an objective reality, despite all the braying and bleating of the relativists. The issue, then is one of organizing and prioritizing, and not just being a forty-year old teenager living from stimulation to stimulation.

As has been observed, this book is geared for the big business executive, but I have found that I can adapt the principles to my less busy and less hectic life. That may be another underlying factor: wanting to want something. You must want the principles to work for them to be effective. "Stick-to-itiveness" I think is the word.

There has also been comment about the values and the similarities of this book to other books, specifically Covey's "Seven Habits." It shouldn't be surprising, since all the arrows of moral laws hit one target. We do not have a male and a female law of gravitation, and the electrons do not drive on the wrong side of the road in the UK. We are all talking about the same thing. C. S. Lewis in "The Abolition of Man," traces the similarity of moral laws across many cultures and time. True, manifestations and understanding of truth may differ; it is all fundamentally the same. You can do math by Roman numerals, but Arabic numerals are far easier.

Moreover, Franklin and Covey merged a few years ago, so the two books have really become one in the hands of the company.

As to the hidden agenda, what can I say? If you are smart enough to spot any hidden agenda, then you are also smart enough to know how to avoid any entanglements.

As always, the hardest part of any self-help book is the implementation of the ideas.

This is one of the very best and easy to read personal development books. I view this as a classic in aligning your value system with your day-to-day activities to help you achieve success. Should be required reading for any person who struggles with life purpose and management of day-to-day tasks. Also, perfect for people who are looking to discover meaning for their life and how to make it much more rewarding.

I was very skeptical about reading another book on time management. Sometimes I have the feeling that many authors who write time management aids have spent their last several years living on the planet Mars. Hyrum W. Smith is an exception to the rest of them. His book unfolds like a story with many dramatic and funny episodes that have occurred throughout his life which seduce the reading into continuing until they reach the very end of the book.

The whole system is based on your own values but also helps you in determining what is the most important thing in your life, which is the base for his whole system. Once you have discovered your values, it is easy to start prioritizing events and work related matters in your life. At the same time, he creates one of the most beautiful formulas for keeping appointments and "things to do list".

I found several of the sales pitches for his "Franklin Day Planner" a bit negative, however all of the things that he talks about are also achievable without this planner. I have been able to integrate most of the conceptions of this book's time management on the Microsoft Outlook. At the beginning when he started mentioning religion, I became annoyed by this but as he writes in the book; These are his values and it is for everybody to discover their own.

Before reading this book, my time management consisted of writing one line messages on those nice yellow stick-it notes and hoping I would not forget them. I would only find myself accomplishing a small fraction of what I set out to do.

I have had a backlog of many things I wanted to do with my family and projects to accomplish at work. I was never able to sort out the good from the bad and ugly until I read this book. I have my act together and am plan on visiting one of their seminars in London this fall to reinforce the written material.

I have read quite a few of the available crop of time and life management books and this is the first one that worked for me. The exercises are useful and the prose is free of new-age/youcandoit/religious cant. I do not agree with the three star reviews that allude to hidden agendas. However, the book is often sold with the Franklin Day Planner kit (Franklin has merged with Covey/7 Habits to form Franklin Covey), and makes the most sense when used in conjunction with the day planner. I recommend both the book and the planner with no reservations.

I bought this book 5 years ago and after my first reading of it I began to call it my "Second Bible." This is by far the best book of its kind surpassing many others in its field including the Anthony Robbins' books and tapes, Stephan Covey's works and many others. I don't mean to put the others down because they are also very good, especially the Anthony Robbins books/tapes/CDs/etc. However I have noticed that when my life was going well it was because I was following the principles in this book, when my life was not going well it was because I was not following the principles in this book. It's that simple. Everybody alive should have a copy of this book. And for the price it's a far better deal than all the workshops, seminars, 10-part development programs etc., that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars and they don't come anywhere near the practicality and ease of what is contained in these pages. I cannot highly recommend this enough. Get it, use it, and treat everything else as a supplement if you need more (which you might not). After 5 years with this my title of "Second Bible" still holds. Enjoy.

This is, quite simply, the best book on time management and goal setting I have ever read. I've had my own dog-eared version for over 10 years, and whenever I feel as though life's getting a little out of control and I'm not achieving what I set out to (even on a daily basis), I refer to this and it puts me back on track.

I am so convinced of the power of the tools provided by this book that it has become my favorite gift to those I care about. If you only ever buy one book on time management - THIS IS THE ONE!!!

I got the book at a second-hand story and as I read it, it was if someone had taken Charles Hobb's book Time Power and rephrased it. It even used the what would you cross a beam between the world trade towers for to discover what you valued most. It's a good book, but I think Hobb's is a much more useful book.

Most Time Management books teach you how to make lists, and complete tasks faster with their unique "tricks." Rather than delve into _why_ you must do something, most books teach you just how to speed it up. The result is that you climb up the wrong tree with even greater vigor.

Hyrum Smith takes a fundamentally different approach to Time Management than most every other author. In his opinion, the tasks that bring the most benefit are the ones that are in accord with your governing values and long range goals. This is the central theme of the book. The book is full of interesting anecdotes and easily understood thoughts. Hyrum is a gifted speaker and writer.

I have used this book for two years and have found it indispensable, both in my personal life and in my profession.

The principles in this book, together with a fairly inexpensive Franklin Planner will ensure you get the maximum return from every minute you spend.

I have a very mixed feeling about this book. I like it much. That's for sure. However, it's so strategic (On the other hand, the author's another book "What matters most? The power of living your values" is even more strategic or less tactical)that talks much about the importance and benefits of time and life management. For those who dont know so, you will definitely gain much if you start acting on them. However, for those who want to further improve themselves and sharpen their edge by learning more tactical advice, they might not be very satisfied. For your own judgement, below please find a copy and paste of the 10 Laws. Hope you find them helpful.

Part I Managing your time:-

L1: You control your life by controlling your time
L2: Your governing values are the foundation of personal success and fulfillment
L3: When your daily activities reflect your governing values, you experience inner peace.
L4: To reach any significant goal, you must leave your comfort zone.
L5: Consistent daily planning leverages time and increases focus.

Part II Managing your life
L6: Your behavior is a reflection of what you truly believe.
L7: You satisfy needs when your beliefs are in line with reality.
L8: Negative behaviors are overcome by changing incorrect beliefs
L9: Your self-esteem must ultimately come from within.
L10: Give more and you'll have more.

p.s. I like the chapter on Law 10 the most. It's the author's own story of how to give more and have more by being a servant leader in the army. Really enlightening.

If you buy only one self help book this year then this is the one.

This is the best self change book ever! I have read virtually everything you can imagine (& I even used the Waitely & Robbins tapes too), from Covey to Robbins, from Carnegie, Clement Stone,Swartz, You name it I have tried it.

Ok what makes this so good?

In one book of 217 pages you will by the time you finish:

Understand that you cannot control time but can control events (This is very powerful)

You need to understand what your values are to lay the faoundation for personal fulfilment, two powerful illustrations are given

Understanding that you get peace when what you do daily links with your values (This was an eye opener the 1st day I implemented it)

The need to get out of the comfort zone to reach any significant goal. (Yes its hard but the story of the labourer turned Dentist is amazing)

Daily planning leads to results from focused efforts

Each one of the chapters I read was the equal of the best books by other authors. This book really gets you going and implementing.
This guru developed the Franklin Planner that is still used 2 years later by 90% of the people who buy the planner. If you love Covey but find it difficult to implement I believe this book (By his business partner) is for you. I intend to do a further write up as I use what I have learnt.

I believe that this gives you the tools that you can embellish later. The main advantage here is that you will apply what you have learnt. I recommend it highly.