Never Check E-Mail In the Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work [Paperback]

Julie Morgenstern (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 27, 2005

Named one of the five best business books by Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines, in The Wall Street Journal

The New York Times bestselling author, Oprah's favorite organizing expert, and America's number one problem solver presents a revolutionary book. It will help readers achieve the seemingly impossible: boost value and job security without sacrificing personal life. Morgenstern teaches innovative "grab and go" solutions that can be processed in as few as fifteen minutes to dramatically improve performance and efficiency, including:

Beware of multitasking. Scattering your efforts makes for a longer day.

Dance near the revenue line. Making or saving money is where your greatest

value lies.

Crunch your container. Shorten your workday by thirty minutes and you will

get more done.

Trust your truth. Never undervalue your unique self, skills, and point of view.

If you've ever wondered, Is it me or is it them? Julie Morgenstern's practical "inside out" approach will help you diagnose the source of each workplace problem and solve it quickly.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Until you change the way you work at things, the things you work at will never change. Julie teaches how to change those things and become more energetic and efficient at work. This book is a must for anyone who loves to work." -- Pat Riley, president, the Miami Heat

"Written in the same to-the-point approach as her Organizing from the Inside Out, this volume...makes a whole lot of sense [and] is practical and applicable to the real world." -- Publishers Weekly

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and The On-Time, On-Target Manager This book is brimming with great ideas for making our working lives better. And when work is working for us, that's when we can serve ourselves and others best.

Brian Tracy, Author of Time Power Wow! What a great book. Here in one place you learn how to get organized and get more done faster than you ever thought possible. This is a handbook for personal success.

About the Author

Julie Morgenstern, founder and owner of Task Masters, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Organizing from the Inside Out and Time Management from the Inside Out. Her column, "Getting Organized," appears monthly in O, The Oprah Magazine. A speaker, media expert, and corporate spokesperson, she lives in New York City.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Reprint edition (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743250885
• ISBN-13: 978-0743250887
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julie Morgenstern, founder and owner of Task Masters, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Organizing from the Inside Out and Time Management from the Inside Out. Her column, "Getting Organized," appears monthly in O, The Oprah Magazine. A speaker, media expert, and corporate spokesperson, she lives in New York City.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 102 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Work Place Productivity on the Market November 10, 2005

By E. Nowack

Format:Paperback

The last reviewer must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed the morning he decided to review this book, because even the cover of Never Check Email in the Morning states that it was "Originally Published as Making Work Work"...and does it really matter anyway?!

I can honestly say that Ms. Morgensterns' book has had a huge impact on my life...at work AND on my time off. First and foremost, her advice about never checking email the first hour of the day is genius. My first thought...wishful thinking. Being in sales I was initally hesitant to believe that this was possible in my position, and that I would lose out on client opportunities if I didn't check email immediately. But when I actually understood what my email addiction was keeping me from, was when I finally decided to give it a try. And I was AMAZED at the results. Because I am now able to use my first hour on strategic planning, my sales and client retention have actually increased!

But don't get me wrong, this book has much more to offer than email advice. In fact, any one of her "grab and go" strategies will directly increase your productivity and improve your relationship to your job. More than anything, her simple strategies allow you to take back control of your workday, which in this fast paced world seems to have slipped away. And possibly more importantly, she recognizes the need for a work-life balance, giving us permission to leave work at work and use our time off to refuel ourselves with what's most important to us.

I thoroughly recommend this book! It will not disappoint.

64 of 75 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Time May 7, 2008

By jeffery Morris

Format:Paperback

Ironically a book on time management and organization takes 72 pages to get to the first time management tip, "focus on tasks that are closest to the revenue line". The first chapters are wordy cliché discussions such as work life balance, develop an entrepreneur mindset...blah blah blah. I found myself skimming the paragraphs looking for any specific original material. She has endless bullet points and numbered lists that are shallow random thoughts that read like a collection of Oprah magazine articles. Even worse are the self indulgent verbose romance novel examples, including this gem from page 165 "A news writer for a national trade magazine, Claire was a five-foot-one dynamo transforming her industry. Working alone, she was a one-women wonder, churning out cutting edge stories from an office as wild as her mane of curly black hair. Claire's eyes sparkled with a sense of adventure, and her face was always on the verge of a huge, warm smile....." This dribble goes on for 3 more long paragraphs. Morgenstern undermines her credibility with these exaggerated fairy tale descriptions. She should purchase a copy of Strunk and White Elements of Style, save us the sophomoric prose and write a 50 page concise, focused time management and office organization book. A terrific alternative is 4 hour workweek by Timothy Ferris which covers many of the same points in a more compelling, concise and convincing manner.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A different approach to organizing for efficiency June 27, 2007

By K. Howard

Format:Paperback

I read this book with some trepidation since I've read lots of organizing and efficiency books over the years. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this one, since it offers nine "competencies" that all should master, and number one is "Embracing your work/life balance". With this as the foundation, she builds all other competencies on this one. So, when discussing competency three (Choose the Most Important Tasks) or competency five (Control the Nibblers), they aren't described as in typical efficiency/organization books. Typically, these types of tasks are encouraged to allow us to 'get more done', but in this book, taking control of these types of issues is encouraged to allow us to achieve the ultimate goal of work/life balance, instead of making us more efficient cogs in the corporate wheel.

A nice approach, and well done.