Customer Reviews

Successful Time Management For Dummies

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I read the book end to end and though there were some ideas I could use; it wasn't what I was looking for.

The book is more tailored foe sales and business oriented people. There are 6-parts to the book. The first covers the myths and beliefs in managing time and you conduct a self survey of your strengths and weaknesses. You do the classic goal setting exercise and scheduling your day. This is all like I've seen in many books on time management. Part 2 used the 80/20 rule in accomplishing the important tasks first that makes the most impact and not just routine unimportant activities to stay busy. This part also goes over setting up a work area and some techniques of managing the paper blizzard. Not much detail on what to look for. The book got off track in Chapter 6 on Technology. He talked about the obvious use of email clients, PDA but mostly about CRM. Customer Relations Management software. Considering all the technology out there to save time, he should have covered more topics. I'm just an individual. He then covers traveling light and efficient which was useful. Part 3 covers challenges for you to stay on track. He did this by setting appointments and being hard to get hold of. He wants to schedule all calls for a certain time of day. Emergencies knows no schedule. This is why it's so hard to call companies when everybody is doing the same thing and nothing is syncing up. I did like the guide on writing effective emails and making decisions. Part 4 - He follows by applying time management to the work place including your boss. As a boss, he even covers points that if a person isn't being time efficient to "his" standards then he would fire them. I know with downsizing some people are doing the work of 5-6 employees and that some employers don't realize that employees can't do everything well. They don't realize this until they've gone through 3 or 4 people and they all perform the same. Part 5 is more specialize with each chapter covering Salesperson, Owners, Admin, Executives, and coaches. Finally, Part 6 had parts of ten covering behavior, habits, technologies that should have been in the earlier chapter but still lacking and personal life that I found odd. Personal life covered only hiring maids, gardeners, detailers etc so you can have more free time to do stuff. That's advice for a rich person and not somebody living in a one bedroom apartment. Summary - The book has many ideas that a person can use but is more geared for the business world and not every day people just trying to add more organization to their lives. I read the front, back cover of the book but there was no hint that this is a business book. Only 100 pages are of any use and most of those are common knowledge. Plus the referenced websites wants your email in exchange for test results.

First things first, as a real estate broker and team leader who owns almost all of Dirk Zeller's books, I will admit to being a bit biased in his favor. This prolific author simply writes cleanly and clearly, in a language that we can all easily understand. His latest book is one of his best and is a MUST READ for anyone who has ever felt the pain of "too little time" in their business or personal life. I have found this book to be life changing and have been surprised at how easy many of the concepts are to implement in my daily routine. As Dirk notes early on, Dummy books do not have to be read front to back; instead, you can do what I did and start with areas that hold the most interest for you. In my case, this meant going right to Chapter 5, "Setting Up and Maintaining a Productive Workspace." Using the simple steps in this chapter I got my massive desk cleaned up, moved tons of "to do" items into Outlook tasks, refined my workflow with my wife (the vice president of the company :o) and otherwise got my space turned into a much more productive and sharp looking workplace. Next stop for me was Chapter 10, "Overcoming Procrastination, a Notorious Time Thief." More organizational goodness ensued... I bought this book for all the obvious reasons but mostly because I knew that many of the holes in my business and personal life are centered on time or the lack thereof. If (like me) you have become honest enough to admit you could improve your time management, this book is FOR YOU. I think it would be especially good for business readers but others can still benefit from its practical advice and suggestions. Lastly, if you are in any way involved in real estate, you owe it to yourself to check out Dirk Zeller's many other fine books; his work is easily on par with Gary Keller, Stephen Covey and Michael Gerber (to name a few). This book is amazing, it really is, check it out...