79 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not aimed at balancing competing work projects, but good if you are completely disorganized, February 24, 2010
This review is from: Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You (Paperback)
I did not find this book very useful, however I acknowledge that I am absolutely not the target market for the book.
I pre-ordered it before release, so I wasn't able to check it out in a store first. I should have researched the authors, as this would have indicated it was aimed at the same market as [...] and [...]. I assumed from the blurb that it covered techniques for balancing work projects and fighting procrastination, but on reading it is clear the book is aimed more at a domestic manager (aka mom) who is trying to manage a large variety of day to day domestic, personal and family tasks, but failing to do so though a lack of basic skills and/or an internet addiction.
For example, the chapter entitled Daily Scheduling: Move Smoothly Through the Day is about very basic domestic self-care. The morning routine (p. 172) is:
Wake up: at a set time
Jump up: actually get out of bed
Make up: make the bed
Eat up: have breakfast
Wash up: have a bath or shower
Brush up: clean your teeth
Dress up: dress with care from head to toe, including shoes, and makeup for women
Look up: turn your heart upwards to God
Clean up: pick up clutter and care for breakfast dishes
and the evening routine (p. 172-73) is
Eat up: have a meal planned ahead so all ingredients are on hand
Clean up: get the whole family to help clean up the kitchen
Straighten up: Set a timer and have the family help strighten the house for ten minutes
Start up: Do a to-do list for tomorrow.
As well, there are a suggested five daily duties, including tasks such as emptying the dishwasher, washing drying and folding a load of clothes, putting on makeup, reading the bible, making an inspiration point (one place in the house that is kept beautiful and sparkling at all times) and planning weekly meals (p.174-75).
These domestic tasks are the only contents of this chapter on daily scheduling, and this was the biggest let down in the book.
I guess because of this home-based target market, I found many of the case studies to be teeth-achingly cutsey. These include;
Kim, who can't invite new boyfriend Randolf over because the house is too cluttered.
Linda, who wants to manage her time to achieve her perfect life. To her this means having 30 mins a day to play with her son, to "spend more time with her mom, soaking up her wisdom", "go shopping for frivolous things", and talk about social things with her friends.
Bev, who is so busy running errands for her family she has no time to plan her family reunion.
Terrie, a volunteer at a religious retreat, who doesn't make a to-do list and so is derailed by things that pop up.
Eileen, who forgot to pick her father-in-law up from the airport because she didn't write it in her diary.
Alan, who missed the departure of his family holiday cruise through chronic lateness.
The book is designed to help people who have little or no skills in time management. There are practical techniques in the book that are transferable to the paid workplace. The book's main message is to have a to-do list, keep a current diary/calendar, monitor where your time goes, prioritize jobs, challenge perfectionism, and be prepared to say no to people. These are all good tips. They discuss the Pareto Principle, Stephen Covey's priority quadrant method, and David Allen's Getting Things Done method. If you are having VERY basic time management problems then the book would be very useful. It may suit someone who was starting their first job out of college.
My specific challenge is juggling multiple work projects simultaneously. I'm a single mom, working full time, caring for older family members, finishing my PhD, with a part-time job as well. I can schedule personal, family, and short/medium term work commitments perfectly, and anything to which I have to liaise with or report to someone else. However I am having trouble working on long term projects (specifically writing articles for publication), because although these are absolutely essential to my career, they are projects with a distant deadline, no-one else will be affected by my failure to complete them, and they have no immediate pay-off: therefore I schedule in everything else first. I was looking for a way to approach my daily organization that would help me pick away at some of these longer-term projects. This book did not help: I did not need a book to tell me to brush my teeth every morning. However, it's clearly not aimed at me.
As an alternative suggestion, I did find 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield very helpful, and I recommend this if you have mastered basic time management and are looking to commit larger blocks of time to your life's purpose, but being derailed by important tasks (but not ones that will add as much to achieving your long-term goals).
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